This weekend, the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge takes on the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course for the O’Reily Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio. For IMSA’s second-tier sportscar championship, this is a golden opportunity as they are headline event for the weekend. Forty-six cars across the two classes are ready to go racing for the second and final enduro of the season. As we look ahead, let’s find out who has what it takes to conquer the twists and undulations of Mid-Ohio.

GS: A Two Horse Race?

In the headline category for FIA GT4-spec machines, thirty entries are set to do battle on Sunday. At the head of the list are the main championship contenders.

Turner

Let’s start with Dillon Machavern. Machavern and his Turner Motorsports team must like where they are at. They are the defending champions of this race and they are the most recent winners in the series, last time out at Laguna Seca. If you weren’t confident about their chances before, let me talk about Machavern’s co-driver for 2026.

Luca Mars is the defending GS co-champion making the switch to Turner as his team from 2025 – RS1 – is focusing on GT3 this season. So far, Mars hasn’t dropped a beat. In fact, you can argue he has made Turner’s No. 95 BMW all the more competitive. In comparison, Machavern only had two podiums all 2025. He is already eclipsed that mark in three races this season. Back to Mars, he is one of IMSA’s rising stars. At only 20, he already has two IMSA titles. In addition to his aforementioned GS title last season, he won the GSX title in the VP Sportscar Challenge in 2024. At the pace he is going, he is on track to make it three titles in three years. And I am pretty sure the WeatherTech paddock are already making calls to have him in their lineups for 2027.

Winward

One familiar team begets another. Right behind Turner in the GS points is another IMSA mainstay in Winward Racing. The longtime Mercedes customers are showing the same trademark consistency that makes them championship contenders. Dutchman Daan Aarow is competing in his first full season stateside after select appearances in 2025. If you have not heard of the 22-year old, I am confident you will be hearing more of him soon. Aarow has been part of the Winward stable since 2024, driving for the team’s European operations. He has a Silver class title in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup from 2024. The youngster has shown speed and doing well in his first full season in GT4.

He and teammate Bryce Ward, father of team principal Russell, have started 2026 strong. Back-to-back podiums at Daytona and Sebring, with a strong fourth at Laguna Seca, bring the duo to Mid-Ohio thirty points out the lead. Winward finished second here last year and look to do one better this time around. Certainly, Aarow would have to match the heroics of Daniel Morad. After losing a lap due to an early incident, Morad drove through the field and got within a second of victory.

Hopefully, there won’t be no need of a comeback drive this time. The performance of the Mercedes-AMG GT4 around Mid-Ohio last year should be the confidence they need. Not that they need additional motivation, I politely remind you Winward is looking for their first win in Pilot Challenge since…(WOW) Indianapolis in September 2023! Hard to fathom Mid-Ohio was their only podium of 2025. As mentioned, that mark has already been surpassed this season. But after seven trips to the podium over the last two and a half years, it’s time for the next to be a win.

An (Inconsistent) Threat

Beyond Turner and Winward, there are multiple teams will help tell the story on Sunday. The biggest threat to these two teams is Accelerating Performance/Ibiza Farm Motorsport. Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky are contenders every week in their No. 44 McLaren. The team has the speed but they lack consistency.  Let’s use their 2025 as a case study. They won three races, but those were their only podiums of the season. Three DNFs did not help their case either. So far, 2026 is playing out in a similar fashion. While they have not suffered a DNF, an eighteenth at Daytona with the depth of the GS field feels like a DNF. Their ninth at Laguna could have been stronger and will need another big result here to assert themselves in the championship hunt.

 

McCumbee-McAleer Racing could very much factor into the equation this weekend Photo Courtesy: Ford Racing/Facebook

Quietly Lurking

McCumbee-McAleer Racing are looking to build off their first podium of the season. Robert Noaker is a Ford development driver who has dominated the first two years of Mustang Challenge. Nate Ciciero is in his first full season with the team after a one-off in 2024 and finishing 2025. Ciciero won with the team at Road America last August and put the car on pole at Laguna. This team of Silver youngsters are gelling and the results are improving. Do they keep the trajectory going at Mid-Ohio?

One team that is quietly putting together a strong start is the No. 27 Auto Technic Racing BMW. Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer have a sixth and a pair of top-5s. Consistency in a class where there are regularly 25-30 cars on the grid per race will go a long way. BMW has been strong at Mid-Ohio at the past. Is a step-up breakthrough weekend on the cards for this team?

 

Preston Brown and Denis Dupont look to keep their stronghold on the series’ endurance races Photo Courtesy: Hyundai Motorsport/Facebook

TCR: Meticulous Domination

When you think about the TCR in Michelin Pilot Challenge, one combination immediately pops to your head. Hyundai and Bryan Herta Autosport have been the class’s benchmark. Since arriving in the championship in 2019, they have won 32 out of 72 races in that time span. That’s a staggering 44%-win ratio. Unsurprisingly, they have won six of the last seven championships. JDC-Miller interrupted their run in 2024 with Audi before stepping up to GS.

BHA has managed this stranglehold while revolving through talented driver lineups. 2026 is no different. In fact, BHA sits first, second and third in TCR points going into Mid-Ohio. Leading the team right now is Bryson Morris and Mason Filippi. This duo is yet to finish off the podium, grabbing victory last time out at Laguna Seca. This team is in their second season together and a championship is the target.

Behind them in the BHA stable are Daytona winners Preston Brown and Denis Dupont. They followed their teammates home at Laguna Seca with a second. The hiccup that has them down on points was a fourteenth at Sebring. With that being said, these two love four-hour races. They won this race two years ago along with the last two season-opening four-hour contests at Daytona. Unless external circumstances strike, expect them to be in the mix come the end.

Finally, there is former champ Mark Wilkins with new partner Maddie Aust. Wilkins is the established veteran helping BHA and Hyundai win their first title in 2019. Aust is in her second year with the team. With Suellio Almeida in 2025, they produced eight top-10s, but only three top-5s. Relative inexperience is now paired with veteran leadership. Again, there is consistency with two fourths and a sixth to start the season. Can they make the next step?

Cupra Challenge

If there is a brand looking to replace Audi as the disruptor, Cupra is a great place to look. If you are a fan of touring car racing, you are familiar with the Spanish automaker SEAT. With the winning pedigree SEAT brings over from Europe, cousin Cupra is ready to contend. Gou Racing debuted the Cupra Leon at Daytona in 2025, but the car was only running part-time. Seeing an opportunity, the Victor Gonzalez Racing Team jumped ship from Hyundai to plant their flag with Cupra mid-season. The partnership paid dividends almost immediately winning in their third race together at Indianapolis.

Sebring was third win in a four-race run going back to Indianapolis last year. Safe to say the Puerto Rican racer has no regrets with his decision. Now the question is can they find the consistency? Seven races in and it has been feast or famine. When they have not won, they did not finish. That changed at Laguna with a seventh. But to make gains on Hyundai, finishing races and earning podiums is a must.

Regardless, they have the right lead driver. Floridian Tyler Gonzalez is in his fourth season with VGRT going back to when the team switched from Hondas to Hyundais. Crazy to call a 21-year old a veteran, but Tyler has racing in TCR since the age of 15, debuting during the 2020 COVID season. Between TCR, single-make success and GT4, Gonzalez has shown he will be a name of the future. Alongside him in the flagship No. 99 is Franco Girolami. Franco is new in American circles, but is a touring car veteran winning multiple titles on the European scene and in his native Argentina.

Can VGRT and Cupra find consistency and give Bryan Herta Autosport and Hyundai a run for their money?

Speaking of Honda

Before Cupra found their stride in the second half of 2025, Honda was the only brand holding a candle to Hyundai. The top Civic runner the last couple of seasons has been Montreal Motorsports Group (MMG). The duo of Louis-Philippe Montour and Karl Wittmer have shown the consistency to contend. The breaks sometimes fell their way (wins at Watkins Glen and their home race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park). And other times, they did not. All you have to do is look at the Road Atlanta finale. Montour and Wittmer entered the race with a slim 10-point lead. An early DNF squashed any hopes of taking the title.

Returning to Mid-Ohio could signal unfinished business as this race last year felt like one that got away late. Additionally, Laguna saw their first podium of the season after a slow start out the gates. This weekend should see them make ground and return as Honda’s top team.

Meanwhile, quietly consistent and currently the top Honda team is KMW Motorsports. Tim Lewis and Rocco Pasquarella have put together some solid finishes to start the new campaign. Keeping that momentum going can only spell good things. Could it mean a championship charge? Anything is possible in IMSA, especially with the large fields you find TCR. I will say stepping up from fifths to thirds does require an extra step. Let’s see if KMW can find it.

On-Track Timeline (all times ET US)

Friday

  • Free Practice 1 – 3:25-4:25pm

Saturday

  • Free Practice 2 – 10:45-11:45am
  • Qualifying
    • TCR – 4:10pm
    • GS – 4:30pm

Sunday

  • Race – 12:15pm (4 Hours)

Media Coverage

Fans can listen to race coverage and select sessions on IMSA Radio. Live coverage of the race will air on the official IMSA YouTube channel, available globally (NO Geoblocks) with IMSA Radio commentary. Peacock will also stream the race in the United States with the NBC Sports team providing commentary. Race coverage on IMSA YouTube and Peacock goes live at 12:10pm ET/9:10am PT on Sunday.

 

Headline Photo: Start of the 2025 Race at Mid-Ohio Photo Courtesy: IMSA/Facebook