| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship had a familiar look as the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and drivers Philip Ellis and Russell Ward claimed their second consecutive championship. Joined by Indy Dontje for IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup rounds, Ward and Ellis seized the GTD points lead after winning the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for the second year in a row. That came after an under-the-radar but ultimately important comeback drive to fourth at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, recovering from a throttle assembly issue where they’d lost seven laps. They added another victory at the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca before encountering their only real setback finish of the campaign – a 16th-place finish at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International, the result of being swept into an accident involving two Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class entries in the wet early stages of the race. Watkins Glen may have been Winward’s worst result of the year, but it also demonstrated why they repeated as class champion. Just as at Daytona where the crew did not throw in the towel after the misfortune, the crew repaired the No. 57 Mercedes and got it back on track to earn valuable additional points. Winward won the championship going away, chasing the rough run at The Glen with a second-place finish in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and a third win at VIRginia International Raceway. A pair of fifths in the final two Michelin Endurance Cup races (the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) gave Ellis and Ward a comfortable 195-point margin in the final standings over Kenton Koch. “I think this one is probably the best one so far,” said Ellis, who was named a Mercedes-AMG Performance factory driver in 2022. “We were the class of the field all year, from Daytona. The team has done an outstanding job. Great chemistry on track, and we are good friends off track as well, and that goes into the team as well. “Russell likes the same kind of driving style and setup on the car that’s really easy to work around – and also with Indy coming in for the endurance races. It’s just super special to be part of this team.” Ward, 33, not only serves as the Silver-rated full-season driver for the No. 57. He’s the co-owner (with father Bryce) and Team Principal for Winward Racing, which recently moved into a new 40,000-square foot headquarters in Houston and may have further expansion plans within the WeatherTech Championship paddock. Ward qualified the Winward Mercedes-AMG in the top seven in all 10 races this year and claimed the Motul Pole Award at Road America. He and Ellis are the first drivers to score back-to-back GTD championships since Mario Farnbacher’s run to the 2019 and ’20 titles with different co-drivers at Meyer Shank Racing. “It’s harder to repeat,” Ward remarked. “The competition was stiff this year, and so was the racing. It’s just awesome to bring it home back-to-back. We ticked all the boxes again – we didn’t get the Endurance Cup trophy, but I’m happy to walk away with the overall championship. “I can’t give the crew enough accolades,” he continued. “They motivate me, they motivate the drivers and the rest of the crew. These guys are self-starters and I’m really proud of this organization and how far we’ve come in the last eight years. Now let’s go for the hat trick!” |
| Koch finally completed his first full WeatherTech Championship season but in an abnormal way. He started the season in the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG, but the team disbanded in early June. He quickly landed with Triarsi Competizione, and split time between the team’s No. 021 and No. 023 Ferrari 296 GT3s. He ended the year with three podium finishes in the last five races with Triarsi, including a victory at Road America. His consortium of co-drivers included Onofrio Triarsi and Ferrari factory driver James Calado, among others. Third in the driver’s points went to fellow first-year GTD driver Casper Stevenson, who co-drove the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo to the class win at Watkins Glen with Tom Gamble and Zacharie Robichon. The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and drivers Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson went winless and finished fourth, although Hawksworth (two) and Thompson (one) delivered a class-high three Motul Pole Awards. The No. 27 Aston Martin and the No. 12 Lexus finished second and third respectively in the GTD Teams championship. Steady, consistent seasons propelled Turner Motorsport (No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley), Wright Motorsports (No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R, Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer) and Conquest Racing (No. 34 Ferrari 296 GT3, Manny Franco and Daniel Serra) to fifth through seventh in points. Mercedes-AMG won the Manufacturer’s championship over Ferrari, despite only having one full-season entrant. “Congratulations to Winward Racing, Philip and Russell on their well-deserved title defense,” stated Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing. “This underlines the intensive and successful work we have done in integrating the new torque sensors (a technical change mandated by IMSA for WeatherTech Championship GT classes starting in 2025). Accordingly, we are very proud of the results and successes achieved this season.” |
| Other 2025 race winners included three additional full-time entries: Orey Fidani, Matt Bell, Marvin Kirchhoefer, and Lars Kern (No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R, Rolex 24 At Daytona); Danny Formal and Trent Hindman (No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) and Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff, and Ollie Millroy (No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, Indianapolis). Fidani beat Iribe to the Bob Akin Award in class after a clean Motul Petit Le Mans while Iribe’s race ended in a first-lap incident. Two part-time GTD entries also won races. GTD PRO front-running team AO Racing entered its dinosaur-liveried “Rexy” in the GTD-only Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, with Jonny Edgar and Laurens Vanthoor driving the No. 177 Porsche to a popular win. Meanwhile Simon Mann, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Lilou Wadoux captured both the race win and the Michelin Endurance Cup GTD championship at Motul Petit Le Mans in their No. 21 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3. Wadoux has now won IMSA races in back-to-back seasons with Af Corse in two classes, having won in LMP2 at Watkins Glen in 2024, and was the first female winner at Motul Petit Le Mans in 20 years since Liz Halliday in 2005. A total of 15 different entries scored at least one podium finish in GTD in 2025, and it was only down to poor luck that number didn’t include Robert Wickens in his sprint races aboard DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R he shared with Alec Udell. Fourth at Wickens’ home race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was the best result of a promising partial season that portends a potentially brighter, and longer, IMSA future for him ahead. |
