Fourth Two-Hour Race of the Season To Decide LMP3 Endurance Crown
By Tony DiZinno
Qualifying Results
Points Possibility Chart
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – There’s been three different race winners in the first three IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge rounds of competition in 2026. But only one car has scored the pole position.
That trend continued Saturday at Road America for the fourth and final two-hour endurance race of the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) season, as Oscar Tunjo secured his third and the team’s fourth pole in as many Airbnb Endurance Challenge rounds. Sunday’s race goes green at 10:05 a.m. CT and local time (11:05 a.m. ET) and streams live via the IMSA Official YouTube channel.
Tunjo qualified his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. entry fastest at Sebring International Raceway and Circuit of The Americas, while teammate Valentino Catalano grabbed the pole at VIRginia International Raceway as the team updated its previous generation Duqueine D08 chassis to a new D09 prior to VIR.
Today at Road America, once Tunjo set the pace on his second flying lap and improved it for three straight laps, he established an unbeatable gap.
The Colombian lapped the picturesque 4.048-mile permanent road course in Elkhart Lake at a best time of 1 minute, 58.819 seconds (122.646 mph) to lead the field by 1.630 seconds. Despite the gap, Tunjo was somewhat surprised with the pace as the Gebhardt team had not tested prior to the race weekend.
“Super happy to get another pole here at a new track,” Tunjo said. “It’s pretty tough competition this weekend. We have a very fast car, for sure, but we’re struggling a bit compared to others with more track experience.”
Lincoln Day qualified the No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 second, in the car he’ll share with Wyatt Brichacek. Brichacek led Friday’s first practice while the second Toney car led Saturday’s morning practice with Garett Grist. Tunjo topped the pre-qualifying practice session.
Grist’s teammate, Ari Balogh, qualified the No. 30 Toney Ligier third ahead of Brian Thienes in the No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier he shares with Patrick Kujala.
Points-Scoring Forecast
Sunday’s race will deploy both on-track competition and strategic calculations from “America’s National Park of Speed” as teams have to fulfill two mandatory pit stops and make a driver change mid-race.
Tunjo and Catalano enter the weekend atop the Airbnb Endurance Challenge points by 30 over Thienes and Kujala in their No. 77 Forte Ligier, and 40 over Balogh and Grist in the No. 30 Toney Ligier.
While Tunjo and Catalano are in a good position from the lead and would stay atop the charts so long as they finish ahead of their closest rivals, the two cars immediately behind them are lurking.
Thienes and Kujala have a chance to surpass Tunjo and Catalano if they finish two or three spots ahead of them on Sunday. A tiebreaker could come into effect depending on where the No. 77 car finishes.
Tunjo and Catalano have one Airbnb Endurance Challenge race win this year while Thienes and Kujala have none. The No. 1 car would hold that advantage on best finish if the No. 77 car does not win.
However, if the No. 77 car wins Sunday and the No. 1 car finishes second, the second-best result would come into play. On that front, the No. 77 car has two second place finishes to what would be the No. 1 car’s one, as both cars would have one win.
The Balogh/Grist No. 30 car, at 40 points back, has a win in its pocket and a decent chance too depending on the No. 1 and 77 car finishes. The Nos. 95 (Brichacek and Day) and 11 (Danny Soufi, Jacob Williamson in the PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine D09) cars remain mathematically alive as well but would need significant help to overcome the deficit.
“The two Toney cars are fast, and the Forte car will be there,” Tunjo explained about his mindset for Sunday. “Let’s hope we have a good race and maximize our speed. We also want luck in strategy. You never know in an endurance race. Now is the race and time to deliver a great show for the people!”
Thienes has another championship he’s chasing, too. In the season-long Bronze Cup standings, he has a 10-point lead over Travis Hill in his No. 2 Shopify Racing Ligier JS P325. Whichever of those two cars finishes ahead will lead those standings heading to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the last sprint race weekend of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season.