| Winward Racing Driver Named Manufacturer’s Top Overall Pro Driver and Pro Driver GT3 December 19, 2024 By Mark Robinson IMSA Wire Service |
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The magical season for Russell Ward continues. The driver and co-owner of the Winward Racing team that swept every possible 2024 championship in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class was honored last weekend by his manufacturer, when he was named the Overall Pro Driver and Pro Driver GT3 awards winner at the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Championship ceremony in Stuttgart, Germany. Ward topped Mercedes-AMG customer drivers from around the world to earn the honors. Drivers earn points competing in their respective races, but the amount of points earned is based on the finishing position in each race as well as the type and distance of the race. That in mind, it wasn’t difficult to see why Ward came away with the Overall Pro Driver and Pro Driver GT3 hardware. He and co-driver Philip Ellis won four GTD races this year in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to easily capture the driver and team championships, and spearhead Mercedes-AMG to the season manufacturer championship. |
| Three of those victories came in IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events: the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac and Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. That was enough for Ward, Ellis and endurance driver Indy Dontje to top the Michelin Endurance Cup driver standings and for the No. 57 and Mercedes-AMG to collect Michelin Endurance Cup team and manufacturer crowns as well. Ward was quick to credit the dedicated work of the Winward crew for the slew of championships they achieved this year. “It is really a testament to the hard work of the crew,” Ward said at the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans in October. “Lots of long nights, hard nights, and they deserve this after all of the nonstop work. Nobody sees that. We arrive at races and the car is well prepared, the trailer is organized and ready, and everything looks good. They are constantly working 12 hours a day to keep everything perfect. “We have one of the easier jobs on the team as drivers,” he added. “The team really made it easy this year. They did such a perfect job. They always had a great car, great strategy in the pit box. We were always one step ahead of the competition. As drivers, we just had to bring it home.” Ward also pointed to the drivability of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 for making it easier to succeed, the words any customer racing manufacturer yearns to hear. “The Mercedes has a couple of strengths,” Ward said. “I think one of them is drivability; it has a pretty large setup window that allows kind of anyone to get in there and be pretty close to the ultimate lap time of the car. “We’re also really good on the tire wear. I think that’s been one of the really strong points of the car we’ve had throughout the year. … The initial testing with the tire and how that’s developed over the year (was) one of our strong suits. We put a lot of time into it.” |
