IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP: TIRERACK.COM BATTLE ON THE BRICKS

September 21, 2025

Mikkel Jensen

Hunter McElrea

Sebastien Priaulx

Mike Rockenfeller

Steven Thomas

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll start at the far end with our GTD Pro winners in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3. All the way on the end, Mike Rockenfeller, Sebastien Priaulx. This is the team's 11th IMSA victory, third one of the season. The team's last win was at Detroit in June. For Mike this is his seventh win coming in his 95th start. For Seb this is his fourth win coming in his 27th start.

We'll start with Seb all the way on the far end. Second win of the year, third win of the season for Ford Multimatic Motorsports. All pretty important events. Not that any event isn't important in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar competition, but to win for the team at Daytona and then at Detroit and now here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, put that into some context for us and what it means.

SEBASTIEN PRIAULX: I think firstly just want to thank Mike and Ford Multimatic Motorsport. What a race they gave us today with the car, and overall just a great performance from everybody. Mike drove really well. It was a team effort at the end of the day, so firstly that was really what I wanted to say.

But yeah, to win here on the bricks is something special. Definitely some history here, and yeah, just to win here is something that I won't forget.

It was a tough start, qualifying went great, and to be up there leading, it's the first time for me really being out leading which was great, and yeah, I felt really comfortable out there and it was great to win.

THE MODERATOR: Mike, really tough racing all week, all six hours in GTD Pro. How was it from your seat? Obviously there was quite a lot going on there.

MIKE ROCKENFELLER: Yeah, I want to thank Ford and Multimatic for sure. They gave us a great car. Sebby did a great job today but I also don't want to forget we had a third guy on the car which was Jackson Daniels, and I think IMSA did a fantastic thing with Camp Boggy Creek to basically have those kids here and the families. He brought luck to us. Yesterday I had a really bad qually. I think the car was really out of balance and we tweaked it for today.

But you're really disappointed sometimes in racing, but then you meet those people and especially Jackson, how strong he is. It was really inspiring especially as a dad to see that, and it puts it all in a different perspective.

Thanks to everybody. I think we had a great race. Very clean. We stayed out of trouble. We had to fight hard many times in this race to make our way up to the front, and yeah, it was just an honor to drive the car today.

Sometimes some small setup changes make it from kind of undrivable to a perfect car, and it was really nice today.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca LMP 2, 07. This is Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea from the middle out. This is the team's third consecutive victory here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the team's fifth in the WeatherTech Championship. The team's last win was Motul Petit Le Mans in 2024.

For Steven this is his sixth win coming in his 34th start; Mikkel, 11th win in his 31st start; and Hunter's third win in his 10th start.

Mikkel, start us off. Very eventful race for the LMP2 class throughout. What did it take to survive and win for this team?

MIKKEL JENSEN: I mean, we always have a great car coming here. I think it shows after three wins in a row, so we're very confident here. It got a little -- to be a fuel saving race in P2, which is not really the case normally, which made it difficult. You didn't know what the strategy was of the others really after the first stint where you could see how many laps everybody were doing. We were afraid that we were over-consuming and not doing enough laps. But I think after the first pit stop we saw that everything was under control compared to what the other guys are doing, and from then on we were quite comfortable and just tried to stay out of trouble.

Had to get the United cars -- yeah, had a late dive on the outside on Paul Di Resta, locked up a bit because we had to go for it. Got back to third as the other United car came through and had to pass both of them again. It was a hard race, and once we got in the lead, we just had the pace to pull away. Thanks to TDS Racing for once again a great car and my teammates for bringing the car in the good end of the field to make my job easier.

THE MODERATOR: Steven, obviously there's some magic to this place. Tell us about it and what it means for you to win here again.

STEVEN THOMAS: I think we were fortunate to race at two iconic places in this series, Indy and Daytona, and there is -- every track is fantastic, but the history at those two places is pretty amazing. So to be able to come back here, and IMSA has raced here in LMP2 three times, to win all three and get to kiss the bricks three straight times, that's special for anybody in racing.

Q. Hunter, three wins in ten races, pretty good winning percentage. How much easier do those two guys make your job here?

HUNTER McELREA: Very. A lot more. No, I'm just lucky, mate, honestly, to be part of such a good program. Steven is kind of proving he's one of if not the best Bronze going around right now. Mikkel is obviously established enough; I don't need to speak for him.

For myself, just to be a part of that, I'm pretty new to endurance racing still. Kind of ride off the coattails of that is not a bad job. They've won three times in a row here. I've obviously been two of the three. But I won in INDY NXT in 2023 as well. So I'm jumping on the three-in-a-row train. So it feels good. We needed this. I think everyone in the group needed it.

Yeah, just really happy. Happy for these guys, happy for the team, and honestly, happy for myself, too.

Q. Mikkel, there was sort of a big pileup of the two United cars, and then Tom Dillmann with about a half hour to go. Did you think that helped relieve some pressure you might have had at the end?

MIKKEL JENSEN: I don't know. We pulled a great gap of I think 23 seconds before the yellow at the end. So obviously it made the gap bigger than it would have been, but I think we were comfortable the fastest two days. I don't think it made any difference. At the end we had the yellow anyway, which spiced up everything with two laps to go.

Q. Rocky, can you put this victory into perspective? It was a really tough fight out there in GTD Pro today, and what made you guys stand out from your viewpoint?

MIKE ROCKENFELLER: Yeah, it was a tough fight. I think almost everybody kind of was in the lead for a while, I don't know. But we were, I would say, strong over long run. I think that was our strength. We could see that in free practice already.

Like I said before, I think in qually, we had some mistakes on the setup, which we found after, and that happens, and the balance was off. We were, I think, more in the back than we should have been, but our sister car showed great pace. They were P2 on the grid and we weren't. Starting from P7 you have to race clean and make your passes and smart moves.

It's a long race, a lot of stuff happens, and you have to be a bit lucky. Then we got a penalty. We were again in the back, and yeah, then it was just full push to the front. I think you have to have the pace, right, and like I say, it's important to be consistent over a stint, and I think that was the strength of our car today.

Q. For Mikkel, Hunter or Steven, last year winning here, two years ago without Hunter winning here, how different was the prep going into this race compared to last year, and did you have to change anything going into this race to pull off a three-peat?

STEVEN THOMAS: I would say we tested as hard this year. We really got after it in our two days of testing here, just like we never won here before. But I would say the difference was in this test is I think we made a real step, at least with coaching Hunter that day, I think I made a real step in driving here. I think this was maybe my best stint ever as a Bronze today. I think that really helped with the coaching.

And I'll tell you, these two guys, they're probably the fastest on the grid. Even if they just make a small step, they get a few more, even a tenth, it can make a difference because the pros are all so close. We tried to approach it like yes, we're already at this level on this track, but we need to be better. Honestly, we got better at the testing, and when we showed up here in FP1 we were better than we've ever been.

Q. Seb, talk to me about that move you made for the lead with about 40 minutes to go.

SEBASTIEN PRIAULX: Yeah, I think I just want to say thanks to IMSA for making it more cleaner racing. That's made a lot of help for us to actually race cleanly and actually it's more fun I would say. Yeah, it was a nice pass. I felt like I executed a perfect move there, and he went wide, and that was it really. It was the move for the win, I think, really. Easy to get stuck behind there. You need to be assertive, and I was, and just had to get it done. So yeah, happy with that.

Q. Seb, to add on that, you've won sprint races before in WeatherTech, but I think this is your first endurance race win. Talk about the difference in the approach to doing a six-hour, especially in a two-driver setting?

SEBASTIEN PRIAULX: Yeah, actually I didn't know that. It was my first endurance win. Yeah, so I mean, every time I feel like it's the same sort of mindset. Definitely maybe a bit more hours out, but at the end of the race it's the same sort of feeling, all the hours out. I drive every race the same really. But it's nice to win here, and the traffic here is actually worse than most places.

It reminds me a lot of Atlanta. It's very tight and a lot of stuff to move out of the way. A lot of times I felt like I could easily make a mistake and turn in and hit in P2 and that's it, because they're quite equal speeds at the end of the straight. It's quite similar.

I think it's great to win here, and yeah, all focused now on the next one really.

Q. Mikkel, you touched on it a little bit about how you were able to build such a gap on that last stint before the final yellow. What made the car so good? Obviously I'm sure you knew that the 04 was going to have to pit at some time so you were just building the gap on everybody else. What made it so strong?

MIKKEL JENSEN: I think we have a great platform of the car. It's very stable. We were running quite stiff. It just makes the car work very well when you're alone. It's obviously less beneficial because you don't make the aerodynamics work properly when you're behind other cars and that's also when we get stuck in traffic it can't show the full potential, but whenever we're clear and get comfortable through the traffic, the car is really, really quick, and we were able to just build a gap.