IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP: MOTUL SPORTSCAR ENDURANCE GRAND PRIX

August 2, 2026

Indy Dontje

Philip Ellis

Russell Ward

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by our GTV winners, Indy Dontje, Russell Ward and Philip Ellis.

Indy, seems like a lot of the times, seven wins, 19 starts, what is it like to get with these two guys and go endurance racing.

INDY DONTJE: It's a lot of fun, of course, if you can have these stats. I think I made it only to the podium only when I win. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing (smiling).

Really happy for the job we've done today. I think we were struggling a bit with the car. The car felt a bit better on friend, let's say. Maybe the rain didn't help us.

In the end good calls from the team, great pit stops. Also we have no scratch on the car. I think that's also really important in the race. Gave us the win today. Really happy.

THE MODERATOR: Russell, obviously opened the year with the win at the Rolex. Kind of a bit of a lull that is uncharacteristic for your team. The pendulum is swinging back the other way from your guys.

RUSSELL WARD: The bad luck we've had throughout the year has been a result of other competitors' poor driving, crashing early in these endurance races, taking us out. When we can have some semi-clean racing, this is what this team is capable of.

Q. Philip, talk about today.

PHILIP ELLIS: I mean, like Indy said, it wasn't a perfect race. I think we struggled a bit with the car balance, a bit with just our pace today. A lot of people trying different things to get in front of us in pit stops. We usually beat everybody. A lot of people started gambling on full course yellows. Made it a lot more difficult today.

The crew had perfect pit stops. Russell and Indy did a good job as well keeping the car in one piece but also making up the positions on track again and taking opportunities when it arrived.

THE MODERATOR: Back to questions.

Q. Philip or Russell, if you had to boil it down to one thing, what was the key to winning today?

RUSSELL WARD: I think it's just a combination of things. We kind of raced this like an endurance race, really focused on the final pit stop, making sure that we pushed the fuel all the way to the end as far as we could. Then at the end kind of jumped a couple of people.

I think it's just a combination of how good the Mercedes AMG is around this place, and good strategy on our part.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations. Thank you.