Mercedes-AMG's Decade-Old GT3 Just Delivered a Record IMSA Title Three-Peat
Winward Racing's No. 57 won Petit Le Mans after both title rivals broke down, capping a comeback from 300 points behind and a class-record third manufacturers' crown.
One of the oldest cars on the GT3 grid just finished the most complete title run IMSA's GT Daytona class has seen. Winward Racing's No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 won Saturday's 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and, with it, a third straight sweep of the GTD drivers', teams', and manufacturers' championships.
Russell Ward and Philip Ellis arrived in Georgia with a six-point lead over Turner Motorsport's BMW and left with a 235-point cushion, finishing on 3,078 points. Endurance co-driver Indy Dontje shared the win, Winward's first at Petit Le Mans.
The showdown never came
The title fight was effectively over within an hour. IMSA reports that Turner's No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO pitted 30 minutes in with a loss of water pressure that ended its race. The third-place Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, 116 points back, needed an overnight engine change, started from pit lane, and later retired. Aston's day still produced a GTD Pro win for its newest IMSA team.
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Ellis had already banked 35 points by taking Friday's pole. The win itself went down to the wire: Ellis passed Lilou Wadoux's AF Corse Ferrari 296 for the lead in the final hour, and a late full-course caution eased the fuel saving he needed to reach the flag. Mercedes-AMG puts the winning margin at 0.733 seconds. Manthey's Porsche 911 GT3 R finished second and DXDT Racing's Corvette Z06 GT3.R third.
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From 300 points down
The finale was easy; the season wasn't. Winward opened 2026 with its third Rolex 24 At Daytona class win, then hit four bad races, including Sebring and Watkins Glen retirements that Mercedes-AMG says weren't the team's fault. By midseason, the company says, the No. 57 trailed by 300 points.
The second half reversed that: wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Road America, and VIR, second place at Indianapolis, then Road Atlanta. IMSA calls it the second-largest comeback since it restructured its points system in 2021. Winward took five of the season's 10 GTD wins; no other team won more than once.
Mercedes-AMG says its third consecutive GTD manufacturers' title is the most for any brand in class history, breaking a tie with four marques on two apiece. It won by 173 points, with Lone Star Racing's No. 80 scoring for the brand at the two races Winward didn't finish. According to NBC Sports, Winward matched Scuderia Corsa's 2015–17 record of three GTD team titles, and Ward and Ellis are the first full-time lineup in IMSA's modern era to win three in a row. The result also clinched the Michelin Endurance Cup GTD titles, by a single point.
An old car, a new one coming
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 has raced since 2016, with an Evo update in 2020. Ward pointed to its durability anyway.
"It's a testament to the Mercedes-AMG GT3 that we've been spared any technical faults this season."
A successor based on the current AMG GT Coupe is in development, and customer racing head Stefan Wendl has told Sportscar365 it won't reach teams before 2027 at the earliest. Mercedes hasn't said when Winward will switch. The same afternoon, Cadillac swept the GTP titles; the 2027 season opens with the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test at Daytona, January 22–24.
