Three Straight Wins Have Propelled Two-Time Defending GTD Champs Back to Points Lead
By John Oreovicz
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – No matter how you look at it, Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 are on a hot streak as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
This summer, Ellis and Ward have driven to the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class victory in the last three WeatherTech Championship races, moving them into the championship lead with two races remaining in the 2026 season. It’s been three years since anyone achieved four straight wins in IMSA competition, most recently by the Riley team in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) category.
The Winward duo’s hot streak also translates to the long term, because they are seeking their third consecutive GTD championship. Ironically, the momentum sustained over the last three years started at Indianapolis, where Ward and Ellis earned their only race win of a challenging 2023 season where Ward finished a distant tenth in the GTD standings.
The No. 57 Mercedes-AMG came out of the gate strong in 2024, as Ellis and Ward (partnered at IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races with Indy Dontje) won four of the first five races including the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and added two more podiums to run away with the GTD crown.
In 2025, the trio repeated at Sebring and Ellis and Ward posted additional wins at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and VIRginia International Raceway to notch a second consecutive championship.
This year again started strongly with another Daytona victory, but they found themselves sixth in the standings and 300 points behind leader Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello (No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo) after the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International in June.
But the last three years have shown that it’s never wise to count out the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG. Ward and Ellis have swept to GTD class wins in the last three races – the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America, and the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR – putting them back atop the standings by 36 points over Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher (No. 96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 EVO) as they arrive at IMS. Barrichello is third, 56 points back.
The Indianapolis race was run as a six-hour round of the Michelin Endurance Cup the last two years, but this year it reverts to a two-hour, 40-minute sprint format. Ellis and Ward won the last Indianapolis sprint race in 2023 before finishing fifth the last two years in the six-hour contests.
Winward’s successful ’23 weekend at the Brickyard also included a win in the four-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT4 with Bryce Ward, Russell’s father and Winward Racing co-owner, and Daniel Morad. Russell Ward also serves as the team principal. A Mercedes-AMG GT3 fielded by WeatherTech Racing also claimed the GTD PRO class win at Indianapolis in 2023.
In retrospect, Bryce Ward’s comments after that 2023 Indianapolis whitewash for Mercedes-AMG were very prescient. The Battle on the Bricks represented top-level sports car racing’s return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after nearly a decade’s absence.
“It hasn’t sunk in, how important the track is, how important the events are,” Ward said. “To get two wins, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, is absolutely amazing. We were racing against some of the best cars in the world, guys from the top levels who are just top notch. But we put our mark on IMSA, and I hope to be doing this with Mercedes-AMG for many, many years to come. I’m truly proud of the team, they did a magnificent job, they worked so hard.
“Let’s get everything together, and when Daytona comes around, I promise you we’ll be working for that top step again.”
Of course, the Winward Mercedes-AMG won the 2024 Rolex 24 At Daytona, kicking off that blazing start to an effort that has resulted in two consecutive GTD championships and counting. It’s no surprise that nobody panicked when the No. 57 duo dropped into a 300-point deficit after Watkins Glen, and no surprise that Winward fought back with three straight wins.
Porsche Penske Motorsport started the 2025 season with three consecutive overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class wins, while Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports put together two separate three-race win streaks during the 2021 campaign in the now-defunct Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) class.
After Winward completed IMSA’s most recent three-peat in the Michelin GT Challenge, Russell Ward reflected on what it took to turn the No. 57 car’s 2026 season around and the challenge of holding on at the top for a third consecutive GTD title.
“I think it’s just a combination of some clean racing and a swing in luck,” Ward said after he and Ellis led Foley and Gallagher and the No. 96 BMW to the checkered flag at VIR. “But there’s still two races to go and everyone is really tight in the points. Everybody is within two or three (race finishing) positions, to be honest. There’s still a lot of fight left, and I don’t want to comment too much on it because you never know what can happen in the next two races.
“One thing I can say is over the past couple of years, it’s really been a pleasure to compete against these guys in the Turner car,” he added. “Everyone wants to win, there’s a lot of egos coming through the paddock, but at the end of the day, the teams that tend to be successful are the ones that just really race the racetrack.”
While Ellis and Ward have mixed a pair of DNFs with their four wins in 2026, Gallagher and Foley have played the consistency card, finishing all eight races with three podiums and only once coming lower than seventh in class. Their finishes at Indianapolis the last three years are fifth, second, and fourth. Aston Martin’s top GTD class finish at Indianapolis is fourth in 2023 (best of second in GTD PRO in 2023).
Gallagher called the No. 96 Turner BMW’s Road America result “the most blue collar second place finish you could get.”
“As Patrick said, it’s a great day for our group,” added Foley. “On those days where you’re not quite quick enough to win, then P2 feels damn good. Going into Indy, we just have to have the same mentality, and maximize everything because, as we all know, anything could happen at Petit Le Mans. The car count goes up there and everybody in the endurance races is super strong.”
All four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar classes are back in action for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, which will be broadcast live on NBC from 3-6 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 20. Streaming is available through IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube channel.