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GTD Team’s Growth On and Off Track Continues Trending Upward
March 31, 2025
By Mark Robinson IMSA Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Among the features of Winward Racing’s shiny new and expansive workshop is more space dedicated to displaying the team’s winning race cars. Good thing because Winward could be on its way to adding another piece of championship machinery to the showcase.
When Winward co-owner Russell Ward teamed with Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje to win the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) portion of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 15, it gave the trio the rare distinction of becoming back-to-back winners in the grueling race on the former airfield. It also pushed the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 to the top of the GTD standings as Winward chases a second consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season title.
Coupled with a fourth-place finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January, the Sebring victory gave Winward a 41-point lead over the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin GT3 Evo after two of 10 GTD races this season. It also culminated a hectic few months that included the official grand opening of the 40,000-square-foot new headquarters in Houston and pointed to an even brighter future for the team whose IMSA debut came in the Michelin Pilot Challenge in 2018 before joining the WeatherTech Championship three years later and winning at the Rolex 24 in that maiden race.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself,” admits Ward, who co-owns the team with his father, Bryce. Bryce co-drives the team’s Grand Sport (GS) class No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver Daniel Morad. “I’m an incredibly competitive person and come from an incredibly competitive family in everything that we’ve done together.
“In the time we were doing (only) GT4, we had a lot of expectations going in and really found it difficult to execute properly at the racetrack and get the result that the team’s been working for. For us, it’s been a learning experience. … We’ve started to gather the core group of people – one guy here, one guy there – who stuck around for years, and I really feel that that’s the success of the team. It comes from the blood, sweat and tears that is poured into that race car before every event here in the shop.
“We as drivers come in there and we’re prepared as well,” the younger Ward continued. “Sim time, going to the gym to make sure we’re physically fit for the event, but we also show up to what looks like a brand-new race car every time. And every time the drivers come up there, you think, ‘Damn! That thing’s well prepped and it’s gonna be fast.’ … It’s been a long road, but now that we’ve got a good core group, we can maintain this level of performance for the years to come.”
The core group of drivers has done its share as well. Russell Ward – who was named the Overall Pro Driver and Pro Driver GT3 awards winner at the 2024 Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Championship ceremony – and full-season co-driver Ellis have nine wins together. Dontje is the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup add-on and has joined them for five victories, including four of the last seven longer events (Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen in 2024, plus Sebring in 2025).
“We’re racing already quite a long time together,” Dontje said following the Sebring triumph. “We know each other really well in and outside of the car. I think that helps a lot. We have a really good rhythm in driving, driver-change practice, knowing what we would like in the car. I think all these things come together in this race. Not only in this race, but also in other races.”
Lucas Auer, who like Ellis is a Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver, was the fourth driver in the No. 57 for the Rolex 24, when Winward stumbled early with a throttle assembly issue that dropped the car seven laps off the pace while repairs were made. Unfazed, the team fought back and was in position to win the 24-hour season opener for a second straight year (and third in five years) until a late full-course caution necessitated an emergency stop for fuel. The ensuing penalty dropped the No. 57 to 10th place on the restart but Auer tore through the field in the final hour to finish fourth and perhaps save Winward’s hopes of repeating as GTD champions.
At Sebring, a pit-lane infraction led to a drive-through penalty that dropped Winward from the front. Again, the team rallied, this time with Ellis at the wheel. His bump-and-run pass on Jack Hawksworth in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 with just over 12 minutes remaining was for the lead and win.
“He’s one of the most top-class guys I’ve ever driven with,” Ward said of Ellis. “His speed is incredible, and I think over the years of driving with us, he’s also kind of understood what it takes to win a race here in in the United States. … He just was reserved until the opportunity presented itself and he capitalized and then was able to drive away. It was awesome watching that on the box.”
Ward is still a bit in awe of the team’s sparkling new facility as well. It includes carbon fiber repair and vinyl wrap areas that save Winward time and expense. What used to take several weeks to ship out damaged parts and have them fixed and rewrapped can now be done in-house in three days.
The shop also boasts entertainment space to host gatherings for team sponsors, along with opportunities to pitch new sponsors.
“We now have a beautiful venue where we can entertain, where we can really showcase the team and hopefully get some more money in here,” Ward said. And, he added, “more room to fit our championship-winning cars.”
Shop Photo Courtesy Winward Racing
