By the Numbers – GTD
Wins –
#13 AWA Corvette (Daytona)
#021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari
(Road America)
#21 AF Corse Ferrari (Petit Le
Mans)
#27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin
(Watkins Glen)
#45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini
(CTMP)
#57 Winward Racing Mercedes
(Sebring, Laguna Seca, VIR)
#70 Inception Racing Ferrari (Indy)
#99 AO Racing Porsche (Long Beach)
Champions – Russell Ward and Phillip Ellis, Winward
Racing, Mercedes AMG
MEC Champions – Alessandro Pier Guidi, Simon Mann, and
Lilou Wadoux, AF Corse, Ferrari
Qualifying – Poles – Skeer (Daytona), Pier Guidi (Sebring),
Thompson (Long Beach), Koch (Laguna Seca), Robichon (Watkins Glen), Hawksworth
(CTMP, VIR), Ward (Road America), Stevenson (Indy), Patrese (PLM)
Team by Team:
Vasser Sullivan Racing – Lexus - 12 (Jack Hawksworth &
Parker Thompson, enduros Frankie Montecalvo)
Because
they were the only team to run a GT3 car in both GTD Pro and GTD, I think it’s right
to start GTD with the other Lexus...and it happens to be the numerically first
car as well. Before delving into specifics, my shocking discovery about the 12
Lexus is that their last win was Watkins Glen 2023, and the last win for this
team in GTD was in a one-off car for Long Beach 2024.
Although I’ve already gone through
the individual performances before, it is only fair to compare the 6 drivers’
numbers at once. Parker Thompson had qualifying duties for 5 of the races and
got pole at Long Beach, while Jack Hawksworth qualified 3 times and took pole
twice. Hawksworth, as established in the previous article, was the strongest
Lexus driver, in every category but he was also the only driver in GTD to take
multiple poles in 2025. Montecalvo was giving qualifying duties in two of his
starts. Hawksworth had the best driver rank at 2.2, narrowly ahead of Telitz at
2.3 and Barnicoat at 2.4. Thompson was 3.1, but he had the second-best average
position of 29.3, narrowly off of Hawksworth at 28.1. In the pro car, the best
was Telitz at 29.9 compared to Barnicoat at 40.3, but again Ben missed a lot of
the smaller field races. Class positions, the best was Hawksworth (14.5), then
Telitz (16.2), then Barnicoat (19.1) and Thompson (19.2). They were all very
close in that, but the close numbers were in the bottom of the chart. How was
the pace? Driver wise, the best here for average pace was again Hawksworth,
narrowly better than Telitz, but they were the only two out of six drivers who
managed to have an average pace of less than a second off. That is not where we
are accustomed to seeing Lexus drivers run. How did they stack up against each
other? Best for time off co-drivers was again Hawksworth, averaging 0.184 sec
off. The worst was Montecalvo, just under a second off. Barnicoat and Telitz
were fairly close to one another. Individually in the 12 car, Thompson was the
fastest in the car only at Daytona and Road America (where he was the 2nd
quickest driver of the class), and Hawksworth took the honor for the other 8
races. Although they got the 3 poles for the car, they weren’t the fastest car
in the race once this year.
I will put my hand up straight away
and admit when Lexus announced this pairing for GTD I thought they would walk
away with the championship after battling with the Turner BMW and the Winward
Mercedes. I didn’t think they’d go winless, but that’s what happened. 2nd
three times and 3rd twice meant they were on the podium for half of
the season, but their other finishes included 2 DNFs and finishes of two
finishes in 9th and one in 11th. Consistency was missing.
Speed in race was missing. Like I said for the team in GTD Pro, it’s time for a
new car to bring back the Lexus victories.
AWA – Corvette – 13 (Orey Fidani & Matt Bell, enduros
Lars Kern)
Rolex
winners. Akin award winners. Le Mans debut. 2025 was a big year for this team.
Their only top-5 finish was the season opener, but this team is proud of what
they accomplished elsewise. 9th in the championship, but they got
the coveted Akin award again, and after their trip to France in June, that
became the main goal to earn again. Orey Fidani qualified at every race, and
they had Fastest Lap at Daytona, thanks to Marvin Kirchhofer. It was a dead
split between the two teams running Corvettes in GTD as to which car was
fastest in the races, with Bell taking the honor of fastest GM driver in the
class 40% of the year. They were, however, the better finishing Corvette 60% of
the time.
Individual
performance wise, Bell had the best rank of all the full season drivers, tied
with Foley at 1.2. His overall position was 10th, 6th of
drivers who did every race. His position in class was better, 8th
and 4th of drivers who did them all. Time off pace, Bell was the
best of all Corvette drivers again, 0.912 sec off. Kirchhofer being fastest at
Daytona was the only time all season where Bell was bested, so his average time
off co-driver was 4th best overall. I’ll compare Fidani to the
people he was racing most over the course of the year when he was in the car.
His rank was 2.6, tied with Adelson and just behind Goikhberg and Iribe.
Average position overall and in class he was the worst of the full season
drivers, and put in the slowest fast lap of any driver in 4 races. Time off
pace, he averaged 3.027 sec off, better than Iribe only because Iribe’s average
was thrown off due to the Road America crash at the start, but more telling he
was off of Adelson’s average by more than a second. He was also the furthest
off of his co-driver at 2.166, compared to Adelson at 1.159 and Iribe at 1.103.
Kern did only the 5 enduros. His rank was 2, ahead of Dontje but behind
Sargent, Robichon, Wadoux, and Patrese amongst others. Pace wise he averaged
46.4 (better than Wadoux), class was 24.6 (tied with Wadoux), and his average
pace was two tenths off of Matt Bell although his average time off co-drivers
was three tenths and narrowly behind Robichon.
Van Der Steur Racing – Aston Martin – 19 (Valentin
Hasse-Clot and Anthony McIntosh, Rory van der Steur, Eduardo Barrichello Indy)
Enduros only.
5 starts in
2025, 3 DNFs, 1 top-10 finish, 1 Fast Lap, no times as the best finishing Aston
Martin in GTD but fastest Aston 3 times. 18th in the championship
for teams. Individual performances showed that Valentin Hasse-Clot deserves a
shot at a full season. He was the best driver rank and time off co-drivers
since he was never bested in the car when he got to drive in the race. His
position in class and overall was 2nd best of drivers who only did
enduros, albeit quite far off numerically from Calado but ahead of Alessandro
Pier Guidi. That’s quite a sandwich to be in! Pace-wise, he was behind both
Ferrari drivers, 0.971 seconds off. Anthony McIntosh and Rory van der Steur
were both super close, but at the bottom of every chart. Rory averaged 1.526
sec off pace while Anthony was 1.855. Position in class and overall compared to
drivers who only did enduros, McIntosh was ahead of Yoluc and Doyle, while van
der Steur was slightly better than Seth Lucas (who ran short races with fewer
drivers so it should’ve skewed the other way) and Filgueiras.
AF Corse – Ferrari – 21 (Lilou Wadoux, Alessandro Pier
Guidi, and Simon Mann) Enduros only.
Three DNFs
in 5 endurance race starts. Michelin Endurance Cup champions. Those two things
rarely go together. For this Ferrari team, on paper it looks bleak but in reality,
it was a lot to celebrate. The win at Petit Le Mans, pole at Sebring for Pier
Guidi, and best finish in the championship of teams only running the long-distance
races.
Driver
performance wise, none of the 3 had an impressive rank because they were all
fairly equal. Position in class and overall, Pier Guidi led the way ahead of
Mann then Wadoux. As far as pace goes, Pier Guidi was best and the only driver
less than a second off. Wadoux was 2nd and Mann third, with time off
co-drivers impressively close between Wadoux and Pierguidi, the two separated
by 0.013 seconds, with Mann only a further 0.13 behind. Every driver had a race
where they were fastest in the car, and Wadoux set the Fast Lap at the race
they won, Petit Le Mans. They were only the fastest or best finishing Ferrari
in that race. But they were victorious in the only championship they went for,
and for that the 21 Ferrari deserves the accolades.
Triarsi Competizione – Ferrari – 021 & 023 (Drivers
include: Kenton Koch, Onofrio Triarsi, James Calado)
Drama
surrounded this team all year. The 021 was the full season entrant with the 023
allowed only for endurance races. But the JG Wentworth car changed drivers
after Laguna Seca from Stevan McAleer and Sheena Monk eventually to Onofrio
Triarsi and Kenton Koch. Kenton joined the team for Watkins Glen after the team
he started the year with folded. There are a lot of questions surrounding the
departure of Sheena and JG Wentworth’s sponsorship and the team retaining the
car livery and to whom the entry had previously been awarded (the team or the
driver), but that’s irrelevant to this article.
Between the
two cars, 17 total drivers participated in at least one race. Monk, McAleer, Muss,
Balzan, Rovera, Waite, Scardina, Cheever, Hart, Miller, Skeen, Schiro,
Agostini, and Megennis were all also on entry lists for the team in 2025. But
for purposes of this examination, we will focus on Koch, Triarsi, and Calado.
The two
cars did not earn a pole. Triarsi qualified 6 times between the two cars, with
Koch only trying once, although Kenton did take pole and set the Fast Lap at
Laguna Seca for his initial team. The 021 did win Road America and finished 2nd
at VIR and Petit Le Mans, but they were only the fastest Ferrari in 3 races
(twice an honor achieved by Calado, once by Koch) and the best finishing
Ferrari twice all year. Kenton finished 2nd in the championship with
only one non-top 10s and 5 top-5 finishes. Onofrio, who didn’t run at Long
Beach, a race that was a disaster mechanically for the team when they had a
gearbox issue and missed most of practice, was 8th in points.
What do the
numbers say? It’s important to note that Triarsi Competizione was the only 2
car GTD team, so the rank for the long-distance races can be harsher than
single teams. Calado and Koch tied for rank at 1.8, a feat more impressive for
Calado since his average was based solely on races where there were 6 or 8
drivers he was being compared against and Kenton’s average had half of them
where it was a worst possible rank of 2. Triarsi at 2.8. The best position
overall went the way of Calado, and he was 2nd best for class and
for average pace. Time off co-driver is where Calado didn’t shine as much,
although he was still impressive. Calado was beaten by Hasse-Clot for the same
number of starts, but also by 5 full season drivers. Koch was the next best for
position overall, sandwiched between Formal and Bell for 9th, and
slightly worse than Bell but better than Hawksworth for class. Koch’s pace was
best of any silver, and he was 0.002 off Skeer and 0.011 off Hawksworth.
Compared to his co-drivers, Kenton was 19th best, 0.193 off which
was ahead of other Ferrari drivers Pier Guidi and Wadoux. Triarsi was mid pack
for Position in both class and overall, ahead of Hindman but behind Russell
Ward. Time off pace he was exactly in the middle, 1.123 sec off on average,
which put him behind Hindman and ahead of Ward. In time off co-driver, Triarsi
was in the lower 3rd, averaging 0.435 sec off, which meant he was in
between Thompson and Stevenson, two drivers with whom Kenton was fighting for
the championship.
Heart of Racing Team – Aston Martin – 27 (Casper Stevenson,
Tom Gamble [minus Laguna Seca and CTMP], enduros Zacharie Robichon)
2nd
in the teams championship, 3rd in drivers for Casper Stevenson in
his first full season. Win at Watkins Glen. Three 3rd place
finishes. 2 other top-5s. Pole at Watkins Glen for Robichon, and Indy for
Stevenson. Fast Lap at Road America thanks to Gamble. Fastest Aston in GTD in 6
races and best finishing every single week. Should heart of racing be happy with that?
Yes. Will they be happy with that? Realistically, probably not. This is a team
accustomed to winning several races, and they want to get back to championship
winning as well.
Numerically,
the most impressive rank of the trio is actually Robichon at 1.6, even more
impressive considering he only ran the long races. Gamble was 2nd at
1.8 and Stevenson 3rd with 2.3, and with that number Casper was tied
with Manny Franco. Position overall,
Gamble beat Schandorff, both of whom started 8 races, and Robichon was just
ahead of Stevenson. In class, Gamble was bested by 7 drivers, while Robichon
and Stevenson were in the top third close together. Gamble had the most
impressive time off pace of any driver, but was 14th for time off
co-drivers since Robichon was so strong. Casper was behind Farnbacher but ahead
of Hindman for pace, and was behind Triarsi to be 35th for time off
co-drivers. Robichon qualified 3 times, Gamble once, and Stevenson six times,
but a third of Casper’s qualifying attempts were in the enduros, so no excuse
for not getting new tires. Stevenson did have to learn the majority of the
tracks this year, so the expectation if he returns for 2026 would be to move up
in the championship, a hard ask when your debut season nets 3rd.
Conquest Racing – Ferrari – 34 (Manny Franco and Daniel
Serra)
7th
in the championship with 3 third place finishes. 2 DNFs and 5 finishes of 10th
or worse. They were only the best finishing Ferrari once all year, at Laguna
Seca. Serra qualified at Daytona but Franco took the responsibility for every
other round. Serra also set the fastest lap of the race at Sebring and was the
fastest Ferrari at Laguna Seca. Aside from that, the team didn’t really earn
that many accolades.
Individual
performances, Serra had the 3rd best rank, the second best position
overall for full season drivers and the best for the GTD class. He was third
best for average pace and second for time off teammates, since he was only
beaten by Giacomo Altoe at Daytona. Compared to the other non pro drivers, Franco
really came into his own this year. His rank tied Stevenson. His position was
ahead of Gallagher and just behind Mann and Patrese, with a decent gap to catch
up to Hindman. Position in class saw Franco again ahead of Gallagher but very
impressively just behind Udell. Pace saw Manny just over a tenth off of
Trairsi, but ahead of other Ferrari drivers including Iribe. Time off
co-drivers is where I was impressed most by Manny. Yes he was 36th
out of 50, but he was less than half a second off of Daniel Serra, the guy who
was most often right there for pace. Manny only started racing this decade;
he’s learned and developed so quickly. For anyone to be within half a second of
Daniel Serra in one race is impressive, but for that to be his average over 9
times where they both drove is staggering.
DXDT Racing – Corvette – 36 (Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc,
and Alec Udell for enduros, Alec Udell and Robert Wickens for sprints)
Before we
get into the drivers, I’ll examine the team as a whole. 5 enduros and 5 sprints
and four times DXDT was the better finishing Corvette in GTD (Sebring and Petit
Le Mans, CTMP and Laguna Seca). No poles or Fast laps, but they were the faster
Corvette in 5 of the races, with Wicken’s taking the honor twice. Impressively
for the sprints, they had no DNFs. The best finish of the year was at CTMP,
which was Wicken’s home race. In the enduros, they had 3 DNFs and a best finish
of 7th at Petit.
Qualifying
duties went mostly to Alec Udell, who did it 4 times. Wickens was up 3 times,
Salih Yoluc twice, and Eastwood took it at Daytona. I’ll start with the enduro
drivers. Yoluc drove in all 5, whereas Charlie Eastwood never got behind the
wheel at Indy. Position overall sees Udell in the bottom half, which is a bit
of a surprise, but Eastwood was 38th , which is a huge surprise, and
Yoluc 3rd to last. For class standings it was much the same, with
Udell ahead of Gallagher and Franco at least. Time off pace sees Udell behind
Russell Ward and Onofrio Triarsi. Eastwood is slower than Eric Filgueiras, who
drove both a Mercedes-AMG and a Lamborghini, and Yoluc moves up to 5th
from last. Time off teammates sees Yoluc in 4th to last, averaging
1.415 seconds off what Udell and Eastwood could do, but still Eastwood is only
just ahead of Ollie Millroy and Zach Robichon, behind Lilou Wadoux and Tom
Sargent. The struggles for the team to get a handle on the car at Daytona had a
huge impact on the numbers for the drivers. Udell, best of the drivers there,
was the 106th best GT3 driver. It was a long road back, and skewed
the numbers for the remainder of the season.
Wickens,
who did not do an endurance race, had the 3rd best position overall
and in class, but keep in mind he had to race against a lot fewer people than
the endurance drivers. His time off pace, however, was super impressive. He was
just behind Danny Formal and ahead of Alessandro Pier Guidi. For time off
teammates, he was 0.015 off of Udell’s average, and a smidge off of Lexus
legend Jack Hawksworth. He was better than Kenton Koch too, runner up in the
championship. Robbie Wickens deserves a full season in GTD.
Wayne Taylor Racing – Lamborghini – 45 (Trent Hindman and
Danny Formal, enduros Graham Doyle)
Win at
CTMP, 12th in the championship. Best finishing Lambo in only 4
races. Fastest Lambo in 5 races, but no Fast Laps, no poles. DNFs at Daytona,
Watkins Glen, VIR, and Indy. 7 finishes in the double digits. Good season for
WTR? No.
Hindman and
Formal each qualified 4 times with Graham Doyle doing the other two. As far as
the rank goes, Formal was tied for 3rd best at 1.3, with Hindman
just inside the top half at 1.8, tied with Koch. Doyle was on 2.8, tied with
Triarsi, Lucas, McIntosh, and Walker. For Position, Formal was quite impressive
at 27.1, behind Skeer and ahead of Koch. He was between Hawksworth and Foley
for class position, and just behind Matt Bell for average pace. Comparing the 3
drivers in Lamborghinis this year who I would consider pro drivers, Formal’s
time off pace was 0.927, ahead of Farnbacher at 1.075 and Hindman at 1.122.
They’re all tight, but Danny was still ahead. Formal was 15th best
compared to teammates, while Hindman was 31st and a smidge better
than Russell Ward. The weak link of the group was Doyle, 2nd worst
average position overall and class, and 2nd worst time off
co-driver. If I remove the anomaly that was Road America and skews Iribe’s
number because of that early crash (something I’ll address in their segment),
Doyle is last by six tenths. He was the slowest driver to turn a lap in GTD at
Daytona, Sebring, and Petit Le Mans, 3 of the 5 races he participated in for
2025. The same line up returns for 2026, and if you add some luck to the
equation, there’s no reason Hindman and Formal won’t win more races.
Winward Racing – Mercedes AMG – 57 (Russell Ward and Phillip
Ellis, enduros Indy Dontje)
Power.
House. Winward Racing has won 8 of the last 22 GTD races. They sort of repeated
history this year. Winning the championship, but also winning 3 races for the
second time, Sebring, Laguna Seca, and VIR. They only had one other podium, but
only two finishes outside of the top 5. Russell got pole at Road America. He
qualified 7 times, with Ellis doing the duty at Daytona, Sebring, and Petit Le
Mans. They were the best finishing Mercedes in every race except Watkins Glen,
and Phillip Ellis was the fastest Mercedes driver 60% of the season, including
getting the Fast Lap at CTMP. Ellis was beaten in his own car at Watkins Glen
and Indy, but still had the 5th best time off co-drivers. He had the
4th best average pace at 0.79 sec, 4th best average
position and 2nd best overall. Russell was slightly better in rank
than Gallagher, but was an impressive 21st in terms of position
overall and 20th for class. He was just behind Mario Farnbacher on
both. Indy Dontje was behind Wadoux, Millroy and Kern for position in both
senses. For time off pace, Ward was just behind Onofrio Triarsi and ahead of
Alec Udell, while Dontje was behind Millroy and Kern again. Time off teammates
is where Dontje jumped ahead of Ward, at 0.349 sec off compared to 0.396, so
both very closely matched. After 2 consecutive GTD championships, there’s no
reason why Winward should change the line up and no reason why they shouldn’t
be in the fight to win a third.
Gradient Racing – Ford – 66 (Till Bechtolsheimer and Joey
Hand enduros, Jenson Altzman and Robert Megennis sprints)
I’ll
examine this car in the same fashion as DXDT, as a team then by races. The car
was 13th in the championship. The best finish of the year was 5th
at VIR, and the best endurance finish was 6th at Watkins Glen. They
did not finish 3 races, including the heartbreak of wrong place wrong time on
the first lap of Petit Le Mans. Not only did the Ford not set a Fast Lap, the
fastest lap they set all year was good enough only for 11th in
category.
Till Bechtolsheimer
qualified 4 times, and Jenson Altzman got to do it 5 times for each of the
sprints. The silver driver for the endurance races changed after Watkins Glen,
so I’m only going to look at Joey and Till for this part. Joey’s Rank was tied
for 3rd best, while Till was 3rd worst. Both drivers were
in the bottom portion of the chart for position, Joey tying Charlie Eastwood
and Till coming in just behind Doyle for overall. In class, Joey was behind
Eastwood but ahead of Misha Goikhberg, whereas Till was slightly off of Doyle
(58.5 compared to 58.2). Average pace sees Joey just behind Megennis in both
categories, with Megennis setting the best times of any Ford drivers. The two
were separated in time off co-driver by 0.002, interesting since they never
drove together! Once again, Bechtolsheimer is close to last, 2.634 seconds off
pace on average and 1.342 off teammates. Altzman tied Wickens on rank, and
Megennis was right behind too at 1.4 for the former and 1.5 for the latter.
Position overall sees the two teammates together on the chart, their numbers
skewed by the fact that they only ran the short races. Compared to Wickens,
they were way off. Wicken’s class position was 11.4 where as Megennis and
Altzman are both in the 21s. Time off pace saw Altzman on 1.479 sec and
Megennis on 1.253, but Altzman was behind Jake Walker who also ran 5 races. He
was close to Megennis on time off teammates, and just off what Patrese was able
to achieve, and people are talking about the young Ferrari driver. Ultimately,
these drivers were hindered by what the car could achieve, and this year it
didn’t have the ponies in this class.
Inception Racing – Ferrari – 70 (Brendon Iribe and Frederik
Schandorff, enduros Ollie Millroy)
The win at
Indy felt so long overdue. This is a team that’s been knocking on the top step
of the podium for years. Brendon Iribe has been the most impressive Bronze in
years past, but finally they got luck on their side and that first sweet
victory. Championship wise it was a difficult year. 10th in points,
4 DNFs, just 4 top-10 finishes. Five times they were the best finishing
Ferrari, and 4 times the fastest Ferrari. Schandorf set the Fast Lap at VIR. He
only qualified Daytona, as Iribe did all the rest. They did not qualify at
Sebring.
How do the
numbers look? First, I’ll address the elephant in the data. Iribe did not get a
representative lap in at Road America. If I leave that in the average, it drops
his time off pace from 1.948 seconds off to 5.480, since he was technically the
slowest car in the race and 33.74 seconds off the fastest lap. I don’t think
that’s fair. Without the skewed number, Iribe was the 45th best
driver, but was very close to the average pace of Adelson, and was faster than
Fidani by more than a second. It was Iribe and Fidani battling for the Akin
award all year. Iribe’s time off teammates was 1.103, super impressive, and
ahead of Adelson and Fidani, but behind Franco by a lot. Iribe’s position was
behind Adelson but ahead of Fidani for both class and overall. Frederik
Schandorff had another mega season, but this year he was behind Tom Gamble,
Daniel Serra, and Phil Ellis for full season position overall. He was behind
Serra, Calado, Wickens, and Ellis for class. Time off pace he was 5th
best again, 0.804 seconds off, and he was bested by a teammate on two
occasions, so he was lower in that chart too. Ollie Millroy was fastest in the
car at Sebring and Watkins Glen. As far as enduro silvers were concerned, he
was behind Wadoux but ahead of Robichon and Kern. His average pace was mid-pack,
and position overall and in class were both in the bottom half, but still very
close to Udell.
It was
effectively year one with a new car, since they got the Ferrari at the end of
2024, and they finally got that win. They probably feel that they should’ve won
the Akin award, and you can guarantee that’s where they’ll be aiming in 2026.
They’ve got the right car, the right team, the right drivers. They just need
the luck.
Forte Racing – Lamborghini – 78 (Mario Farnbacher and Misha
Goikhberg)
Forte
didn’t win a race and only had one podium, but they were still the best
finishing Lambo in 60% of the races. They were the fastest Lambo half the time.
Still, 13th in the drivers championship is not what they were aiming
for. The 2 DNFs, the penalty at VIR moving them from 2nd to 12th,
and only eight finishes outside of the top-10 ruined any chance they had at a
good season.
Misha
Goikhberg qualified every race from Long Beach to Indy, 7 of the events. He was
tied with Iribe for rank at 2.4, and his average position overall and in class
were both better than Adelson but behind Gallagher for full season runners. The
pace was not there for this Lambo. Misha was toward the bottom quarter of the
chart, averaging 1.507 seconds off pace, but impressively only half a second on
average off Mario. Looking at Mario’s numbers, he was in the top-10 for time
off teammates, but 10th for time off pace at just over a second. His
position in class was behind Casper Stevenson and Parker Thompson, and overall
he was narrowly ahead of Russell Ward. That’s not where the two-time GTD champ
should be.
Forte had a
lot of trouble this year, and it looks like their time in GTD is done for now.
It’s a sad conclusion for the team that won Petit Le Mans in 2023.
Lone Star Racing – Mercedes AMG – 80 (Scott Andrews, notable
Wyatt Briachacek)
This team
ran the endurance races only, and are worth a quick blurb because they were the
quickest Mercedes in GTD in 3 of their 5 starts. Andrews was 5th
quick at Daytona, Hodenius 3rd in his debut at Indy, and Briachacek
2nd quickest at Watkins Glen before he crashed the car. Ultimately
they DNF’d Daytona, Watkins, Indy, and Petit Le Mans, with their only finish of
the year being 9th at Sebring. Andrews only drove in 3 of the 5
races as well. He’s been an endurance driver for many, many years now, and he’s
always capable of moving a car towards the front.
Turner Motorsport – BMW – 96 (Robby Foley and Patrick
Gallagher, enduros Jake Walker)
In the last
4 years, Turner Motorsport has only won 2 races. That genuinely shocked me.
Especially after seeing what an impressive year Robby Foley had. He was 2nd
for rank, only bettered in the car at Daytona and Watkins Glen, which also led
to him being 2nd in time off teammates. He tied Pier Guidi for
position overall at 32 but was behind both of the Lexus drivers. Foley was
behind Formal in position for class, and for time off pace he was the last
driver below a second off at 15th best. And that’s not to say
Gallagher was weak. He matched Hawksworth on rank, but was much further down on
rank in class at 24.5. Average time off pace is where Gallagher struggled,
clocking in at 33rd best and 1.328 seconds off. Only Goikhberg,
Adelson, Iribe, and Fidani were worse for full season drivers. Jake Walker was
in the bottom quarter as well for all the categories.
Is it the
M3 GT3 that’s been causing headaches for Turner Motorsport? Is it drivers?
Well, Robby and Patrick were 2nd in the drivers championship in 2024
and they didn’t forget how to drive. Still, a 5th place in the
drivers championship feels hollow. Half of their finishes this year were top-5,
and they never finished outside of the top-10, but still they were quite
anonymous. No poles, no trophies, no Fast Laps. Their fastest lap all year was
Robby’s 2nd best at Petti, but before that they were only 9th
quick at VIR. That’s not where BMW should be, especially considering where the
GTD Pro cars are. But more on that in the BoP article.
Wright Motorsport – Porsche – 120 (Elliott Skeer and Adam
Adelson, enduros Tom Sargent)
Daytona
looked like the start to a beautiful season for paddock besties Skeer and
Adelson. Elliott achieved a boyhood dream of getting pole at the World’s Center
of Racing, and they backed it up with a second-place finish. Unfortunately,
they’d only get one other podium, a second place at the race they’d won a year
before. From 11th in the championship in 2024 to 6th in
points 2025, they improved and grew, but the team started feeling like a
different organization. It is now Adelson’s team, since he purchased it from
Wright. It was a good year, but not a great one. Skeer qualified twice, with
Adam doing all the rest. They only had one finish outside of the top-10. Most
of the rounds they were the only GTD Porsche, but at Long Beach it was a
different Porsche who stole the win, showing that the car was capable of
winning.
How did the
Wright drivers stack up? Skeer had a great rank of 1.4, and Sargent was
respectable and close behind at 1.6. Adelson was slowest in the car every race,
but that’s a side effect of having strong co-drivers. Looking at position
overall and in class, Skeer was in the top 10. Sargent had an mid-pack result
for overall but was very close to both Pier Guidi and Robichon in class
position. Time off pace, well Skeer shone again. 0.828 sec off was in between
Hawksworth and Koch, and Skeer was just off of Ellis and Calado for time of
teammates. Sargent was between Thompson and Farnbacher for time off, and
between Pier Guidi and Wadoux for time off teammates. Adelson was on average
1.159 seconds off what his co-drivers could extract from the car, and 1.923
seconds off the fast lap on average. Position wise he was one spot worse than
Goikhberg, but several positions worse on average, and better only than Iribe
and Fidani for full season. In overall, Adelson’s average of 58.7 was again
slightly better than Iribe and Fidani but worse than Goikhberg.
There’s
something off with Wright Motorsports, and it really upsets me. Skeer more than
held his own again this year, and Sargent was an excellent endurance driver. I
thought with Adelson driving in VP Challenge, essentially the same car at the
same tracks, would benefit him, but they still weren’t close to winning a
sprint race. They are a team who belongs in the top 5 of points, yet if they
couldn’t get there this year when it was so diverse and arguably weak, I don’t
know what it will take to elevate them to the next level.
Non-Pro Silver or Bronze Driver of the Year:
This
took a bit of pondering. Both of the full season Bronze drivers earned their
first wins in GTD this year, with Fidani getting the Rolex and Iribe getting to
kiss the bricks. Russell Ward won his second consecutive class championship.
But my vote goes to Manny Franco, who just gets better and better. As noted
above, his pace compared to his factory Ferrari co-driver was impressive. Manny
does his talking on the track, and if he continues to improve at this pace,
he’ll be a champion before long.
Pro Driver of the Year:
This
could’ve gone to either Phillip Ellis or Daniel Serra, but it was Serra who had
a slightly better average pace over the year, which earned him the award. Also,
Serra didn’t get a race win this year, and Ellis got 3 as well as the
championship, so he deserves to win something. Kidding. Both drivers were the
reasons their cars were towards the podium at the end of races. Both drivers
were consistent sources of speed. One thing is for sure: as long as both
drivers are in IMSA, you can automatically assume their cars have a good shot
at winning races.
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