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Mercedes-AMG Winward Racing Achieves Second Victory In IMSA GT Daytona Championship At Laguna Seca
Winward Racing, the reigning IMSA GT Daytona (GTD) class champions, secured another victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing team achieved a "repeat-repeat" win in the GTD class during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. This marked their second GTD class win of the season and their second consecutive triumph at this track.
Starting from fourth on the grid, Russell Ward and Philip Ellis drove the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to victory. Ward began the race from the second row and quickly moved up to third place on the first lap. He pitted from second just before the one-hour mark, handing over to Ellis, who maintained their lead after a well-executed pit stop.
Ellis took over as other contenders entered the pits, allowing him to seize first place. He held onto this lead until the end, finishing with a 5.459-second margin of victory. The team's strategic early pit stops ensured they stayed ahead throughout the race's final stages.
Winward Racing's success at Laguna Seca increased their lead in both driver and team championship standings. They now hold a 124-point advantage over their nearest competitors, with scores of 1,372 to 1,248. This win also helped Mercedes-AMG regain the top spot in the GTD manufacturer championship rankings.
The No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 team also contributed to AMG's success. Co-drivers Seth Lucas and Kenton Koch employed a reverse driver strategy that earned them their first pole of the year and a season-best finish in the Pro-Am-structured GTD class.
Koch secured pole position during Saturday's qualifying and led twice during his double stint opening the race. Lucas took over with an hour remaining, maintaining third place until a last-lap pass by a top international GT driver pushed him to fourth.
Team Efforts Lead to Success
Despite narrowly missing out on a podium finish, Lucas and his Korthoff teammates celebrated their fourth-place result as their best performance so far this season. Their combined efforts with Winward Racing saw Mercedes-AMG teams lead 88 of 114 laps in the GTD race.
The next challenge for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams is set for June 19-22 at Watkins Glen International during Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen event.
"In order to win one of these races you really just have to have perfect execution," said Russell Ward about their performance at Laguna Seca. "The Winward Racing team is always the best, and Philip and I did a good job keeping out of trouble."
Philip Ellis added: "I think we had the perfect race... We had some good out laps from the pits and were able to just jump everybody and lead in clean air."
Seth Lucas shared his experience: "I would have taken one finishing position more... I didn't have as much driving time before the race as I would have liked, but that's racing."
Kenton Koch expressed confidence in their strategy: "Maybe there was some question outside of the team on the strategy... We were able to execute it as planned."
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