The early form paid off for Winward in the IMSA GTD battle

Win enough at the start of the season and the rest can be a cruise. With this approach, Winward Racing won – intentionally or unconsciously – its first GTD title in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as a team, the Drivers’ Championship for Russell Ward and Philip Ellis, and the Michelin Endurance Cup for the team and Indy Dontje alongside Ward and Ellis. And along the way, they helped Mercedes-AMG win the manufacturers’ championship in both cases.

“That’s the end goal, isn’t it?” said Ward after securing the title at Motul Petit Le Mans. “You want to win races, you want to be competitive; But we all have our eyes on the championship and it was an incredible result for the team. It was difficult but exciting at the same time. It’s really nice to be able to bring it home.”

Winward has already had success in recent years – the team took victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in its first appearance in 2021 and has claimed victory in each subsequent season. But things really clicked in 2024, starting with a win at the 36 Hours of Florida, the Daytona (with Daniel Morad) and the Sebring double. They backed that up with a win in the sprint race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and added another endurance win at the next race, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen.

The rest of the season was not so successful. The team was unable to defend its victory at Indianapolis in 2023 and is still hoping for a win at Petit Le Mans. But it wasn’t exactly a coast either, with podium finishes at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and VIRginia International Raceway. This, combined with the large points lead they had accumulated in the first half of the season, secured them the title by a whopping 230 points ahead of Turner Motorsport and drivers Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley.

“The team made it really easy this year,” Ellis said. “You did such a perfect job. We always had a great car and a great strategy in the pits. We were always one step ahead of the competition. And as drivers, we just have to bring it home. I think we did the heavy lifting at the beginning of the year, in the first half of the season, and had a few more difficult races at the end, but we still stuck together. We didn’t really make a mistake.”

The Pasadena, Texas-based company Winward is of course not only active in IMSA, but also operates worldwide. From its headquarters in Altendiez, the team also takes part in DTM and GT World Challenge Europe races. Maro Engel and Lucas Auer won the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, Engel came third in the DTM classification. With its European and American teams – Bryce Ward finished seventh in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS – Winward is one of the largest Mercedes-AMG customer teams in the world.

“Congratulations to Winward Racing and our three drivers on winning the GTD class championship,” said Christoph Sagemüller, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. “This great success means a lot to us as a brand and concludes our most successful season in IMSA since the beginning of our customer racing program.” With Korthoff Preston Motorsports, Lone Star Racing and Winward Racing, we have strong teams at our side in North America that work together with everyone individual results are responsible for this success. Thank you to everyone who represented our brand so well throughout the season.”

For Winward, this was a memorable season that will be hard to top. But if the team can maintain some momentum starting in 2024, it will be tough to beat in 2025, too.