Ward Looks to Closeout 3rd Straight IMSA GTD Title, Foley Has Other Ideas
Photo: Jake Galstad/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
By Dennis Krause
Two-time and defending IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class champions Winward Racing look to make it three straight titles this weekend at the season ending Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Drivers Russell Ward and Philip Ellis have scored a GTD class high four wins this season at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Road America and Virginia International Raceway. But because of DNFs at Sebring and Watkins Glen International, they lead the No. 96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Robbie Foley and Patrick Gallagher by just six points.
According to Ward, if the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 is to close out the championship this weekend, it begins with qualifying.
“Yeah for us, qualifying is going to be important. It's so close right now in the championship points. We just we need to try to finish in front of the 96 car, which is going to be a tall order. They're usually really strong here at Petit. So for us, we'll start with qualifying, see if we can extend that points lead to a position greater than just being one car in front, and if we can do that, that'll give a ittle bit of a buffer room for us.
“We're just going to go in and race the racetrack and and see where it comes out. Looking forward to it. It's going to be a battle down to the end.”
Photo: Michael L. Levitt/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
Foley and Gallagher took a win at Indianapolis last time out and have been consistent throughout the season as evidenced by scoring four podium finishes from nine starts and top ten finishes in all nine races. Foley is looking to keep the Indy momentum going at Road Atlanta.
“We had a really strong Indy, which was great. Kind of put us more in the championship picture. We were always kind of there thereabouts, but I feel like the last couple years with the 57 sort of dominating, you have to win a race or two or three to really be in the conversation. So nice to get a good haul of points there. They finished second, so we didn't close too much of a gap,” Foley noted.
“I think it's going to come down to just having a good, clean race. That's kind of been our M-O all season, kind of always being in and around the top five and around the podium. So for us, it's really no different. It's just another race, but in the end, we're definitely going to be focused on what the 57 car’s doing in qualifying. And in the end, it could come down to one position.
“We were strong there last year in terms of pace. The race didn't quite work out. We had an incident or two that kind of took us out of of the front. But but yeah, just another race for us, and we'll keep up kind of the same mentality as what's got us kind of to this position.”
While the focus for the Winward Mercedes team will be on the championship this weekend, a win at Petit Le Mans has so far eluded the them. Ward noted the track has been a challenge.
Photo: Bandon Badraoui/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
“Yeah, on paper, it seems like a racetrack that should suit the Mercedes AMG GT3 really well, and certainly love driving the the racetrack. But every time we come into the race weekend, we seem to be missing a little bit compared to the competition, and so we've kind of added that onto our testing schedule. It's one of the closer tracks to us here in Houston, so it's pretty easy to test there. We went there last week and kind of threw the kitchen sink at the car, changed pretty much everything that we could to try to find differences in the setups and come up with a really, really sharp race car coming into the weekend.
“There's been two two races now that kind of eluded us on the calendar. As for Petit Le Mans, we haven't had a victory there or even a podium there, and we haven't had it at Long Beach either. To close those two out would be would mean a ton to the program.
“We're just gonna have to go there and see where we're at. You never really know until you start the race, and that track is just incredibly challenging. It's a really high commitment place, a lot of bumps there, which wreak havoc on the on the torque sensor system, with this being kind of a newer system to the Mercedes AMG, and not really something that was envisioned for the car when they when they designed it 10 years ago. So these are some of the things that we're out there testing and seeing seeing if we can make a bit of a difference.
“I know the Turner call will be super quick there. They're always good. So, it's going to be an exciting battle. We're just going to focus on the race, try not to look too much at what the '96 is doing. I think we learned our lesson there in the past. When you look at the competition and kind of change up your your methodology, you never really know what the outcome can be. So, really just need to focus on the race and going to maximize the result of a team.”
While not exactly a mutual admiration thing, both drivers have a healthy respect for each other’s teams.
Photo: Brandon Badraoui/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
“I think the 57 car has sort of written their own records,” Foley said. “They’ve been super dominant the last couple of years. We've always kind of been chasing them. We had a run at the championship with them in 2024, albeit wasn't as close as it is now. And we've shared the podium with them a lot.
“I think both them as a team, Mercedes as a manufacturer, their car, their group's been super strong. They also race very fair, hard but fair. I've had different run-ins with different cars at different times, and some different philosophies of how races are officiated, but I've always had good races with the 57, you know, hard but fair, light contacts here and there, incidental, but but never never anything crazy. And I think that that's probably why there's so much respect between the two because we always race each other well, hard but fair.
"I think we'll do the same at Petit Le Mans, and the best car and team will will come out ahead.”
According to Ward, racing against Foley and the No. 96 is what motivates his team.
“We've been racing against each other for quite a while now, even GT4. Really the respect from Robbie and the Turner side has always been there. Everybody wants to go out there and win the race. The tensions are high and everybody's working hard, to accomplish the same thing. So it's really just a pleasure to compete against them.
Photo: Michael L. Levitt/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
“They're great competitors,” Ward stated, “and honestly their consistency over the past couple of years is really, really impressive. I can't remember a race where they didn't finish in the top 10. They just plug it away, and those are the types of competitors that kind of scare you a little bit because you know that they're going to be there at the end. It motivates motivates us here at Winward Racing to really put the car and the whole team at a high level because you're really going to need it to have to beat the Turner Turner Motorsports Group.”
If Thursday’s three practice sessions at Road Atlanta are indicative of the team’s relative speeds, the No. 96 Turner Motorsports BMW was consistently faster than the No. 57 Winward Mercedes.
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute.