Colin Braun enters Sebring in different equipment than the last time he stepped foot at the famed Central Florida circuit back in March for IMSA competition. The Meyer Shank Racing driver of the No. 60 Acura GTP entry returns to GT3 racing this Saturday, competing in KellyMoss’ No. 017 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO alongside co-driver Michael Clark.

Braun is no stranger to GT3 competition, most recently competing with George Kurtz’s CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Mercedes program, making the move to KellyMoss feel like somewhat of a reunion for the GTP regular.

“It’s been great,” said Braun. “These guys obviously, in kind of a way, are also the Riley team that I drove for many years with George Kurtz and that whole program with another OEM. A lot of the same people. So, in many ways, it’s kind of just a different name to a lot of the same faces. But it’s been good. A new platform to kind of relearn, I think, from the KellyMoss side and from my side on the driving. Obviously, I’ve driven the Porsche a handful of times, even since the time in 2017 when I last raced it for a full season. But it’s a great platform, and I’ve enjoyed kind of learning some different things about it. I would say, with the Mercedes, we had kind of maximized what we were going to do with that from a setup standpoint, from driving, from all those little kinds of things. It’s fun to have a new challenge and a new thing to learn, so it’s been good.”

While Braun competes at the pinnacle of sports car racing with MSR’s Acura LMDh effort, the native Texan still enjoys the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a GT3 machine — a racer’s mentality through and through.

“For me, I think it’s just racing,” said Braun. “I love to race and compete. I like being able to do it with good people, good teams, and at a high level. For me, the amount of IMSA races—while I understand there’s the budget side and there’s all those kinds of things in play—doing nine races a year, I love to race. I want to race more. So, any opportunity I can get to go and race, again, with great people at a high level, man, I’m in and I want to go do it. For me, the GT3 cars are super fun cars to drive. I’ve enjoyed racing them in Europe at different events as well. They’re fast cars, and they’re a lot of fun, and the competition is good. I think if there’s a race, I want to be in it. I want to be driving something.”

The last time Braun competed full time behind the wheel of a Porsche GT3 car was in 2017, piloting the CORE autosport entry.

Since then, Braun has driven a variety of machinery throughout his sports car career, ranging from top-flight prototypes and LMP2 cars to GT3 machinery.

“I think in many ways, from 2017, I drove the car—I think back then it must have been like 2004 or something—at my very first Daytona 24-hour race,” said Braun. “I think it was like a 996-whatever GT car in Grand-Am back then and the engine was still in the back. So, they’ve refined it a lot over the years and it’s a really nice platform. In many ways, a lot of it is not so different. Obviously, you still have the fundamental design of the car with the engine in the back and some things that are pros and cons of that. So, I would say just trying to wrap our heads around more of the systems side of things. Obviously, the way that the ABS works, the way the traction control works, some of those features are pretty unique to the Porsche. And trying to understand and learn what is helpful and how to have those suit the style of myself and also my co-driver, Michael (Clark)—what works for our styles with those systems—is probably the biggest thing to figure out. And then on the setup side, obviously with the tire we’re on here in this platform, finding out the last little setup nuances to get the most out of the tire and the car package is always the name of the game.”

On the IMSA side, Braun and the Acura program have shown strong pace throughout the 2026 season.

Following the No. 93’s victory at Long Beach, the Acura ARX-06 continues to show strength as the series heads toward Detroit later this month.

“Yeah, I think good,” said Braun. “We’ve had some strong results recently. Obviously, the 93 grabbing the win at Long Beach was huge for Acura and HRC. Then in Laguna, we were able to be P4 and P5, right in the mix. The competition level is so high right now in GTP, and I feel like we are doing a great job as a team integrating the two cars and moving forward our setups, philosophies, and systems. Yeah, I think we’re very excited. I think we feel like we have a lot of opportunity. We’re coming to some tracks that have historically been very good for us in years past. Obviously, last year the 93 got the win in Detroit, and we got the win in Watkins Glen. We’re going to those events next. So yeah, we’re feeling like we’re in a good spot, got some momentum on our side, and can’t wait to get going.”

As Braun enters a strong stretch of races for the team, it also comes at a bittersweet moment.

With Acura stepping away from IMSA competition and pausing its ARX-06 program for the foreseeable future, the dynamic of the remainder of the season has shifted for the two-car outfit.

“For us, we just want to maximize what we can,” said Braun. “We feel like we have, whatever it is, the last five races of the season here to try to go out, be as successful as we can, make the most out of the opportunities we have, and really put it together. And I think, quite honestly—it might sound weird to say—but our approach really hasn’t changed. We just want to go out there and continue to execute, do as good a job as we can for Acura, for HRC, and get the results that we can. And we’re right in the mix, I think, on the manufacturers’ championship side and things like that. So there’s a lot to play for, and I think we’re just all heads-down focused on the goal.”

As for what comes next for the current MSR driver, Braun said:

“I think obviously everyone’s trying to work on where they’re going, what’s going to happen, where the pieces are going to fall into place. I think it’ll be interesting in the next handful of months to see what kind of all shakes out. I mean, there are a lot of moving parts to all those discussions and conversations, and that’s always kind of how it’s been. But it’s something that is not new in this motorsports world. We’re all well aware that these are not, most of the time, 10-plus-year deals. It ebbs and flows that way, and you’ve got to kind of roll with the punches and find the next opportunity. So in a way, it’s a fun challenge to try to put together the next piece and what that looks like. And it’s a lot of fun. For myself, I’ve been fortunate enough to be a pro at this level for 20-plus years. I don’t want to say I’ve seen it all and done it all, but I’ve definitely been a part of these kinds of things before. Yeah, you just keep your head down, do your job, and in the end, usually it’ll work out.”

As for the weekend ahead, Sebring takes on a new look compared to the last time GT World Challenge America visited the circuit. Featuring a brand-new three-hour format and an evening start time on Saturday, it presents a change of pace for the field.

While changes in format often bring strategic uncertainty, Braun is prepared to adapt as the weekend unfolds.

“I wish I knew the answer to the strategy. We’ve had two races so far. We’ve tried two different strategies just to see what can work. Definitely a different format style with the single three-hour race versus last year’s twin races. Yeah, I don’t know. Obviously, the series had run so many races in that hour-and-a-half format, I feel like everyone kind of optimized the ways to structure those races. But with this being fairly new, I think people are still trying to understand what the best way is to maximize that format and how long you run each guy. The challenge is no one can predict when the yellow flags come. That’s the biggest kind of randomizer, I think, of the races. So yeah, it’s tough to really know. I think conventionally, everyone’s been sort of starting their Bronze driver, running those guys at the minimum time, getting them out, and putting the pros in. We kind of tried a different strategy last weekend in Austin just to mix it up. We’ve analyzed it, looked at it, and I don’t know if we’re ready to make our decision yet on how we’re going to do it. But a lot of it could depend on the heat and the temperature here, too. If it’s super warm, it can be a challenge to drive these cars for an hour, 15 minutes or an hour and 20 minutes when you’re not used to it every week like a lot of the Bronze guys are. So that might drive some of the strategy, to be honest, too.”

Braun and KellyMoss hit the track for the first time this weekend beginning tomorrow, featuring three test sessions along with an official night practice at 7 p.m. ET. Saturday’s third round of the season takes the green flag at 5 p.m. ET.