No. 64 Mustang Holds off No. 4 Corvette; No. 96 Turner BMW Gets Emotional GTD Win
By Mark Robinson
INDIANAPOLIS – Once one of Britain’s finest automotive brands peeled into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pit lane, the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class victory in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks came down to a classic American battle between Ford and Chevrolet on the final tour of IMS’ 2.439-mile, 14-turn circuit.
Neither iconic brand yielded an inch, down to the final nail-biting lap of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In the end, Dennis Olsen in the No. 64 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 fended – or maybe more accurately, fendered – off Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Nikita Johnson, the recently crowned Indy NXT champion, had attempted to go long on a fuel and energy run aboard RLL Team McLaren’s No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO. But once he pitted, it left the door open for door banging between the leading Olsen and trailing Catsburg.
Olsen was already in the thick of the action, having previously been sandwiched by the two Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) leaders inside the final six minutes. Then on the last lap, Catsburg attempted an outside pass on Olsen for the lead heading into Turn 7. Simultaneously, another GTP car was charging inside both GTD PRO runners, forcing Olsen a little wide. His Mustang made contact with Catsburg’s Corvette, pushing it into the grass.
Both cars continued, with Olsen bringing home the first win of 2026 for himself and co-driver Ben Barker by 0.993 of a second over Catsburg and Tommy Milner in the Corvette. Sandy Mitchell and Andrea Caldarelli completed the podium in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3, ending their two-race win streak.
The triumph is Olsen’s third in IMSA competition, the first for Barker and the second straight at Indy for the Ford Racing GTD PRO program.
“Luckily, we had a strong Ford Mustang GT3 that held up together,” Olsen said. “I had a lot of big battles in that last stint. Nicky is a good attacker and I knew what he was trying to do, but at the same time, I had a GTP coming up the inside and that made it really tight at the apex of that corner. We had some contact and we came out on the good side of it, which was great.
“It feels amazing that we can pull off this win,” Olsen added. “We’ve been chasing it for a long time with Ben this season and for the team and Ford Racing. Yeah, super proud.”
Catsburg had no issue with Olsen’s tactics, knowing the Norwegian couldn’t hold the normal inside line in Turn 7 with the GTP car to his left.
“Last lap, the team told me to be smart about this,” Catsburg said. “And I was like I’m only going to go for it when there’s a clear opportunity. I think there was, and we had a good, fair battle. That was pretty cool, we let each other live. He pushed me wide in (Turn) 7, but he had to because there was a car on his inside.”
Barker also credited the team’s timely strategy to pit just before a full-course caution with 65 minutes remaining in the two-hour, 40-minute race.
“It was pretty much everything,” the Brit said. “It’s part of the game of when you box (pit) and you’re always taking a bit of a punt. From myself boxing early, that kind of set the trend for the rest of the race and then, yeah, (the final stop) was obviously good timing. It shuffled us to the front. I don’t think we had the quickest car today, but we maximized what we had and came away with the win in the end.”
Catsburg, Milner and the No. 4 Corvette took the unofficial GTD PRO championship lead with the runner-up result. They hold a 47-point advantage over Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi and the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, which finished sixth at Indy. Caldarelli, Mitchell and the No. 9 Lamborghini trail the PMR BMW for second by just six points heading to the October 3 season finale, the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
GTD: Turner Motorsport Credits ‘Angel’ Guiding No. 96 BMW to Win
Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley believed they had an extra hand from above assisting their drive to the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class win. The Turner Motorsport duo drove the No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO to victory and dedicated it to Matt Dalton, a longtime IMSA competitor and supporter of Gallagher who passed away recently.
“No doubt, absolutely amazing to win at this place,” said Gallagher, who opened the race in the No. 96 before turning it over to Foley for the finish. “This was Matt Dalton’s home track. He supported me through my career, made a lot of things happen for me and it’s just probably the best guy I’ve ever met. Pretty emotional win. Given the everything that’s happened in the last three or four weeks, just kind of a great way to cap that off.”
Slated to start second in GTD, the No. 96 actually led the class to the green flag after the pole-sitting and championship-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 was moved to the rear of the field for not gridding the car by the scheduled time.
Gallagher was running second when he pitted some 30 laps in, with Foley taking the wheel. The key moment came when, like the No. 64 Ford in GTD PRO, Foley brought the Turner BMW in for its final pit stop just before the yellow waved with just over an hour to go. He re-entered in second but took the lead when the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO was penalized for taking more than emergency service during the caution.
Foley thought he was clear to sail home to the win at that point until he saw Philip Ellis closing in behind in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG.
“With about 10 minutes to go, I look in my mirror and I’m like, ‘Of course, if there’s any car coming it’s the (No.) 57,” Foley said with a laugh. “I had some more pace, our car was great today, so I just tried to manage the situation as best I could for us.”
Foley held off Ellis, who shared with co-driver Russell Ward, by 0.501 of a second at the finish. It marked Foley’s ninth and Gallagher’s second IMSA wins, the first for the Turner team since Road America 2024.
“A great day, kind of a storybook day,” Foley said. “I didn’t know Matt as well as Patrick, but he was a great friend to me in the short time I knew him. We miss him a lot and this is for sure for him.”
Salvaging the second-place finish allowed Ellis, Ward and the No. 57 to retain the GTD championship lead, by a mere six points over Foley, Gallagher and the No. 96 BMW.
“A bit of a setback at the start,” Ward said of the pre-race penalty, “but I knew that we had the car and the package to move through the field, and we did that. Good overtaking from Philip and my side part, we had some good strategy, a little bit of luck with the yellows, and that put us right back into the mix. Great result by the team.”
In third, 13 Autosport’s No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Matt Bell and Orey Fidani completed the podium. That result also unofficially moves Fidani to the lead of the Bob Akin Award standings in GTD over Brendan Iribe (No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO).
All four classes of the WeatherTech Championship will battle in the 2026 finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on October 3.