MONTEREY, California. Winward Racing’s fourth-place finish led a run of three Mercedes-AMG GT4 teams in the top-10 Saturday in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Russell Ward and Nico Bastian co-drove the No. 4 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 to the fourth-place Grand Sport (GS) class result after battling in the lead pack throughout the two-hour race. In the weekend’s featured IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship two-hour and 40-minute race on Sunday, co-drivers Gar Robinson and Lawson Aschenbach improved four race positions to finish ninth in the GT Daytona (GTD) class in the No. 74 Riley Technologies Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Ward and Winward came into the weekend as the defending IMSA Pilot Challenge Laguna Seca race winners and, joined by co-driver Bastian in his debut on the 2.238-mile Monterey circuit, did all they could to secure the repeat victory.
Ward ran third for the majority of his race-opening stint with Bastian, also running in the top three early in his run to the checkered flag.
The No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss continued its run of 2020 consistency with a seventh-place finish Saturday. Mosing, Foss and the No. 56 Murillo team have finished in the top-10 in each of this season’s nine races to date, and moved to third in the Pilot Challenge GS standings with only the season-ending race at Sebring International Raceway in two weeks remaining on the 2020 calendar.
Winward Racing’s sister entry of co-drivers Alec Udell and Ward’s father, Bryce Ward, was the third Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing team to hit the top-10 on Saturday.
The No. 35 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 and co-drivers Jim Cox and Dylan Murry, and the No. 65 Murillo Racing entry of Tim Probert and Kenny Murillo, each led a race lap Saturday. The No. 35 finished 13th, one spot ahead of the No. 65 in 14th place.
In Sunday’s WeatherTech Championship race, starting driver Robinson drove from 13th to ninth in his first career race at Laguna Seca.
Taking over from Robinson at the 45-minute mark, Aschenbach improved to eighth early in his race-closing stint. On a late restart after a yellow-flag caution period with 20 minutes to go, the Riley team called Aschenbach to the pits for a fresh set of tires.
The move needed another yellow to successfully play out, but the risk still payed off as Aschenbach crossed the finish line in ninth, the same position he and Robinson held most of the race.
Next up for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams in both the IMSA WeatherTech Championship and IMSA Michelin Pilot series is the season-ending 12 Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway, November 11 – 14.
Russell Ward, Driver – No. 4 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “The good to take out of this race is the fourth place. It’s just one step off the podium, where we want to be. It’s always a blast driving here. I love Laguna Seca, and it’s pretty demanding on the drivers. The tires fall off pretty quick, and you just have to adapt to stay ahead. I think we had a pretty good strategy. There’s not really much we could have done. The cars behind us took a little more risk and it paid off for them, but there’s not really a risk that we could have taken. Sometimes that’s the way it goes here in IMSA.”
Nico Bastian, Driver – No. 4 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “I’m a pretty lucky guy to have Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca on my calendar as a replacement. It wasn’t planned at the beginning, but I was lucky enough to have these two races where I could come to IMSA for the first time. I had a lot of fun, the racing in America is great, the team is great. Everything was perfect, except I really wanted to have a podium finish. At the end, P4 and P5 is not bad, but it’s not the reason I took the 12-hour flight from Europe here to America. I hope I will come back one day. I really enjoy it, and it would be nice to do more in America. It’s great racing here.
Bryce Ward, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “It was a good race. I really enjoyed it. It was the first time I’ve been over and hour in the car, which is awesome. I felt really good on the start and the restart. I managed to bring the Mercedes-AMG GT4 in without a scratch on it, turned it over to Alec and he did a super job getting it home. I think we got it up to 10th, which was really good.”
Alec Udell, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “For me, the Mercedes-AMG GT4 was good. The conditions are always a little bit challenging at Laguna Seca, especially in the evening. You get the sun coming in and it’s challenging to see, guys are dropping wheels and there is sand and dust and dirt going all across the track which makes it abrasive on the tire. In that sense, I think we had a really good car. Overall, I’m happy with the car. The Mercedes-AMG GT4 is very good across a stint.”
Eric Foss, Driver – No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “I thought we had really good pace. We were one of the quickest cars at the end of the race. The Mercedes-AMG GT4 is just such a phenomenal car to drive. The balance is so good, and it was just really easy on the tires. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is known to be really hard on the tires, and our whole goal was trying to just manage the tire, and the car did a great job doing that. We’re looking forward to going into Sebring. We’re now one point ahead of the No. 35 car for third in the championship, and four points ahead of the No. 4 car. Unfortunately, we’re battling with two other Mercedes-AMG teams for third in the championship right now. I’d like to battle with other manufacturer cars, but at Sebring we’ll just do the best we can and execute and see where we finish.”
Kenny Murillo, Driver – No. 65 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “It was a really good experience to get back in the Mercedes-AMG GT4 after running other cars. The Mercedes-AMG is so driver friendly, it allows almost anyone to hop in and go fast. It gives you that confidence to go quick. Coupled with the Murillo Racing team, they always give you a good car, I’m really happy with the car’s performance and the team’s performance. The cards never really fell in our favor, strategy wise, we had the pace but couldn’t really race anybody. I was by myself for a good half of it. As a whole, the Murillo Racing team is leaving Laguna Seca very happy. It’s all going to come down to Sebring. That’s what we want, and we’re really excited for that.”
Lawson Aschenbach, Driver – No. 74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Hands down, we’re probably more excited about Sebring than any other track on the schedule. This was a difficult day for us, these things happen, that’s just the way it goes, but I thought we had some pretty good speed. The guys were good in the pits. Sometimes, in places like this where track position is so important, it’s just hard to do anything or move forward. All eyes are definitely on Sebring. I think everybody is kind of primed for that race. I think if we can have a repeat of our car at the July race, we’re going to be in really good shape there to win that one.”
