IMSA MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 4, 2026

Russell Ward

Philip Ellis

Indy Dontje

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Indy, obviously this team continues to perform at the highest level in GTD. What can you attribute that to?

INDY DONTJE: Yeah, I'm really happy. Happy for the team. I'm only here as an extra endurance driver. Yeah, we had that championship already in the pocket not on the way we wanted. But then to win Petit Le Mans it was actually really high on my bucket list. Almost won all the endurance rounds on every track except for Indy, which is a shame with my name (smiling).

Yeah, really happy. Proud of the team from Philip, mega driver, also Russell. We all three did a mega job. Team did actual really well. Pit stop strategy. We were tight on fuel. Philip can take you a little bit deeper into that.

But yeah, really proud of the team. Just really happy.

THE MODERATOR: Philip, obviously qualified on pole. Converted that to a finish, first win here at this race. Obviously brings the championship with it. Tell us about that.

PHILIP ELLIS: Well, obviously we had a good car couple times here, never could really get a good result. This one was definitely our best finish ever here at the race.

Doing that in such a tough season as well, having so many tight competitors running for the championship so late into the season, was just amazing.

We had a great fight with a couple cars on track obviously in the last couple hours with especially the 120 and the 912, which wasn't too fun while I was in the car. Looking back, it was a lot of fun.

It was good, hard racing. Everybody was going for that win. Again, like to top off such a tough and up-and-down season like we had this year with a win here at Petit Le Mans, ups and downs in the race, was just amazing. I'm glad we could get that result for the team. I think everybody, all the boys and girls on the team, deserve that result today. To celebrate the championship with a win on the last race is something special.

I'm sure when my couple of beers sober up, I'll have some better words for you (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Russell, 300 points behind at one point this season. You bring it back to the championship. What does that say about this organization?

RUSSELL WARD: Hats off to the dedicated group of people. When we got taken out at Watkins Glen, involved in the incident between the 70 car and the 13, I mean, us three drivers were pretty sorry in the paddock, looking at the car, watching the mechanics just jump all over it.

From our standpoint we thought the race was done, let's pack this thing up, move on to the next. Those guys were like: Hell, no. We need to get out there and capitalize on points.

They really set the tone for the second half of the season. We can't quit, keep pushing as hard as we can.

We went on a five-race streak with podiums, four wins and a second in Indianapolis, which very well could have been a win as well. Could have been five wins in a row. That really just set us up.

Also, it's quite a bit of a shame to come into the championship and not get to race against the 96, the 12 and the 27. But I think that just gives a testament to the reliability of the Mercedes-AMG GT3. It's been a solid platform for over a decade and continues to outperform the competition, all these newer cars. That thing is rock solid. Hopefully the new machine carries the same reliability.

THE MODERATOR: Go to questions.

Q. Russell, talking about how the championship ended up playing out there, at the beginning of the race, for how this race ended up playing out, was it nice to have that pressure off your guys' back knowing you clinched the championship, you now can focus on the race, the extra championships that came along with it as well?

RUSSELL WARD: Our mentality coming in, we've learned this over the past, I think it's a mistake to shoot for a result. We need to beat the 96 car, let's do whatever we can to do that. The competition is so tough here. You need to go out there and race the race.

For us, we celebrated a little bit in pit lane when we knew we had the championship in pocket. Really didn't change our mentality going into the race, how we're going to drive during the race.

We want to win. We're not out there just to beat the minimum that we need to. If you focus on that, you make mistakes. We learned that really in Indianapolis in 2024, when we learned that. You guys just have to go out and race the race. It's just another day for us.

If you think differently, I think it's a mistake.

Q. Philip, 1.6% based on the telemetry. You couldn't afford another lap out there. Talk about managing that last stint.

PHILIP ELLIS: I think I might have yelled at my engineer trying to get more information out of him.

No, it was super tight. Obviously the yellow saved a lot of the cars that were on the same strategy. Until the yellow came out, we knew we had no chance of making it. With the yellow, there was a very slim chance of making it. We had to have the prototypes lap us for one.

I had save fuel on the last five or six laps after the restart, and that despite having the 9, 12 up behind us, having a bit more energy than us, so they could push a bit more, gamble on that extra lap, whereas we couldn't.

I was on the radio telling my engineer I'm just going to stay out and hope that either we have a yellow or it's going to be enough till the end.

Yeah, I was a little bit lucky at some points with the prototypes coming through where I could save a bit more fuel, remake it to the end. Glad it worked out that way.

Q. Russell, what does it mean to you as not only the driver but the architect and namesake of this team to add this IMSA championship to a long list of accolades?

RUSSELL WARD: I mean, I think it means as much to the Ward family as it does to every single member of this team. We really got an amazing core group of people that give us the machinery and the ability to come out and perform and put on a good show.

For us it's an incredible accolade. If you asked me when we started in IMSA racing back in 2017 that we'd be here less than 10 years later, I wouldn't believe you.

You really have to have the never-quit mentality. That's how you get it done. Just hats off to the drivers, the crew, the strategists, engineers. Everybody gave it all today.

Q. What is next?

RUSSELL WARD: Yeah, I guess the four-peat. GTD Pro would be something pretty exciting to do, as well. I don't know what can happen. I'd love to be involved in that group, but we're a privateer team. I'm not sure we could afford the crash damage you would accumulate by going to GTD Pro. It's a lot of bodywork. I don't know that AMG has that available.

If Mercedes-AMG decided to back us, I think we'd do it.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, we'll let you resume your celebration. Congratulations.