Ward, Ellis and No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Back Again for Another Season
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Winward Racing, the two-time defending IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class champions, will return for the 2027 season with an unchanged lineup of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis for the full season in GTD aboard their No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
But before they get to 2027, they may achieve a rare feat as they are one race away from potentially securing a third straight IMSA championship. They head into the 2026 season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Motul Petit Le Mans on Oct. 3, six points ahead of second place in the championship standings.
For a second straight race, the team will run with a special Austin Hatcher Foundation livery adorning its No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3, with the black and green replacing its traditional black and blue livery. Ward highlighted the efforts done by Amy Jo Osborn and the Osborn family with the foundation.
“We haven’t started the 2027 prep, but the 2027 prep will start the day that we get back,” said Ward, team owner and driver with his father Bryce, who races the team’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 with Daan Arrow.
Winward has been the standard bearer of GTD success since entering the WeatherTech Championship full time in 2022.
In total, Winward has 15 WeatherTech Championship wins, all with Ellis and Ward. The 2026 season marks the second time the team has won four races in a single year, in addition to 2024. Their three-race win streak was the first by any GTD team in six years, since Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus RC F GT3 did so in 2020. Third driver Indy Dontje, Winward’s regular IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup addition, has been a part of seven of those 15 wins across multiple iconic endurance race venues and lengths.
The team won on its GTD debut at the 2021 Rolex 24 At Daytona in its first start of a part-time WeatherTech Championship effort. Then after finishing fifth in 2022 and 10th in 2023, Winward went back-to-back in 2024 and 2025 before attempting the three-peat in 2026. Russell Ward credits that success to the people as a part of the Texas-based operation, which moved into a new shop just prior to the 2025 season.
“I think it comes down to the personnel that we’ve been able to gather really since the start of 2024; that’s when we got all of our kind of critical personnel organized,” he explained. “We have had bits and pieces starting in 2018 and moving forward. Now I think we’ve really got the core group of people that, you know no matter what happens, they’re dedicated to the program. We have a core group of people that really help you get the work done.
“For me, I think we’ve always had the passion and the desire, and we’ve put the effort forward to come here and be competitive. But I think really getting the key personnel dedicated to the program has been what I would say has been the final piece of the puzzle that has brought us to success that we’ve had over the last five years.”
Winward has won a GTD class-high four races in 2026, including the Rolex 24 At Daytona to open the campaign and then three consecutive races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Road America and VIRginia International Raceway to ascend into the GTD points lead. Winward’s European operation also won the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring in 2026, a significant achievement to win two major 24-hour endurance races globally in the same year.
Even so, Winward needed to overcome a 300-point deficit leaving Watkins Glen International, as issues both there and at Sebring International Raceway cost them hundreds of points.
“I think 2026 has been one of our best years,” Ward said. “We’ve had some bad luck at the start of the season with Sebring and Watkins Glen. To be honest, I think it would not be out of the realm to say that if we hadn’t have had those issues, we’d be another 200 points ahead. A top-five finish in both of those rounds was definitely possible. That would put us in, you know, basically the same form that we had in 2024 and 2025. It’s going to come down to Petit Le Mans. It’s definitely one of the more exciting seasons that we’ve had with Winward Racing.”
Winward will try for the triple at Motul Petit Le Mans on Oct. 3, then lean in fully to preparations to extend its title-winning streak in 2027 or regain the crown if one of their GTD rivals beats them at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.