2026 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at Daytona International Speedway | Race 1 | Florida

It all starts here. A brand new season of sports car racing in North America. Daytona International Speedway, the world center of racing. It's recognized all around the world as just that. And it is the VP Racing Sports Car Challenge that shows up today and could not ask for better weather to start off the 2026 season. Welcome in everyone. I'm Brian Till along with Ryan Marine. We'll have the call for VP Racing Sports Car Challenge all season long. And Ryan, look at this sky. The scouts are here, their annual jamboree that they have here every year. And this is going to be a good one. This series continues to grow and impress. And you look at the drivers who won championships in the past and where they are now. It shows this is where you want to be. It's a launching pad for a lot of young careers. We've seen that over the past few seasons, but it's also a destination for drivers that want to test out pro racing for the first time. Some of the same faces are back from last year, some of the same protagonists, but plenty of fresh blood into the series as well, which makes this an exciting time. No one quite knows what to expect in 2026. Most of all, the two of us. Yeah, absolutely. Cars are rolling out prototype threes in front and then the G S X category. This series invited another group of cars, the GT DX series. No one participated this weekend. And we've seen kind of a up and down in that class throughout the year. Last year, we will see it here this year where no one's elected to come here to Daytona. I think that will change throughout the season, but a very healthy prototype free category and G S X. We talk about the World Center of Racing, Daytona Beach, Florida. And what a facility this is just east of Orlando, south of Jacksonville, 12 turns, just over three and a half miles. And man, heavy braking high speed down into turn one. Yeah. Ever since it opened in 1959, turn one of this road course, definitely a crucial spot. Great overtaking opportunity down into the first of two horseshoes, the international horseshoe, and then to the kink, which is a real corner, especially for the G S X cars to the West horseshoe. And then into that left hand bend that takes you back up onto oval one and two 31 degrees of banking down the backstretch toward the Lamar chicane. Great passing opportunity there at the end of the lap. But I think maybe the most important thing about the Lamar chicane is the exit, right? Cause where does it lead you or lead you through NASCAR three and four on the banking? Once again, back to the start finish line. We've seen some great finishes throughout the IMSA paddock and the different series because of that long, long run off of the Lamar chicane back to the start finish line. Drafting is a big deal here, and it could come to play at the checkered flag. There's a real possibility that the place you do not want to be is leading. And the last lap. Exactly right. The slipstream is really powerful here. It's also a part of the track where the classes start to overlap. It becomes a congestion zone that is a hot spot. No question down into the Lamar chicane. See the starting grid on the left side of the screen and the different class colors. The P three cars indicated on timing and scoring with that orange chiclet, I'll call it and then blue for the G S X cars and a great grid. It is. It is certainly so. You look at the crop of cars we've got here. New generation LMP three cars mixed in with the previous generation of cars as well. In total, 10 LMP three cars and then 12 in the G S X class built to global GT four specifications. You look at that grid right now. Anybody stand out to you in the P three? Well, Oscar Tuno comes back with a lot of experience. Didn't run a full season last year. Didn't do these races last year, so it's not like he knows this track all that well, but he still finished fourth in points, won a couple of races despite only running a partial schedule. He starts on a pole. That's an older generation car, but the Duquesne has been strong at this track in particular over the years. Hey, I'm gonna give a shout out to Farhan Siddiqui there in the 87 in the fifth. He is a competitor we've seen in the IMSA series on and off for the last couple of years and his improvement. Tell you what, he ran in well inside the top five in some of the practice sessions. I'm impressed with that. That Duquesne chassis from fast M. D. With rim start agreed. He did the last two races of last season in the P three. Having started the season in G S X, he looks like he's right on the pace. Best qualifying of the bronze subclass cars this weekend. And you look at G S X. Anybody stand out there? Well, it's got to start with the pole sitter. Weston Workman, reigning Toyota G R Cup champ. First time racing in GT four. He got his first taste of the car earlier this week, and he has been on the pace immediately. Tell you what you need to keep an eye on the 25 Porsche from just beside Workman there on the front row. G S X Ishmael Allahi. This is only a sixth race ever, and he's qualified on the front row. So impressive stuff. Split start prototypes in front G S X category, just about five or six car links behind, and they got to wait till they get to the start zone. Randy Buck race director told him it's right about there. I'll tell you right now and Oscar Tuno on the throttle. Big jump there at the start, and then you need to stay in line until you reach the control line. Looks like everyone in L M P three did that challenge, perhaps for the lead. But it is to leads the field down into turn one for the first time. Double wide further back in the pack. Pretty clean start. But look at the melee behind in G S X. It was three wide at the apex of turn one. Tight indeed. I'll tell you what. Brady Golan got a good jump at the start in that yellow and bright orange number 30 started. Third was able to stay with Juno at the start. Golan finished second here in the first race last year. Doesn't spend a lot of time in L M P three based machinery. He's an open wheel driver on that ladder trying to reach IndyCar, but he sees the value in sports car racing, especially the prototype. Well, it's a great platform to learn, and it carries over. It's a downforce car, not as high downforce as L M P two or the G T P cars you see in the WeatherTech championship, but very much still a great learning platform. And why not get the extra seat time and get a chance to race it a great great facility like this one clock ticking since the drop of the green 45 minute sprint race. No pit stop. At least you hurt. Hope not right, Ryan. If you come to the pits, that's a problem. So you do need to kind of think, Hey, I've got time to be patient. If I'm sitting there in third and I've lost the position at the start, I gotta think about it as Danny Sufian just go. Hey, I need to be cool. I can get this position back. I got plenty of time. Don't burn down the tires doing it, though. Here are the drivers of the Duquesne chassis. That's 1st and 3rd right now. Ligier chassis running second. Those Duquesne teams feel like they really needed to trim the car out to get the top speed of the new Ligier. And every time you take downforce off the car, it's gonna move around a little bit more and the more it moves, the more it's gonna wear the tires. Look at this. Golan looking to the outside into one exactly like you said that car pretty slippery in a straight line and able to get to the flank of two. No, but Oscar, very clever with his car placement, able to guard the inside line and force going the long way around. That wasn't gonna happen. They're going again. A lunge around the outside. Oh, big lock up from two. No, the leader. But he's able to blow it up. Saw to know with some lock up into one the last time by, but it was the left front, which was the inside. That time it was the right front. So perhaps a little bias issue or don't forget only one lap in cool temperatures today. It's gonna take a while to get those Michelin's up to temp locks up again. Does to know the leader into the West Horseshoe? Oh, big slide back behind Eddie Sufi, the teammates of the leader to know who was two wheels off into the grass there at a handful of opposite locks. Somehow was able to wrangle that car back under control. The top three sprinting away from the rest of the field in P three over the last several years was that the leisure had more downforce, but more drag and consequently was not as quick in a straight line. But this new iteration leisure, which several of the drivers are in, including the number 30 there in second place of Brady Golan, they have managed to kind of gain some downforce but get rid of the drag. So a lot of these drivers saying, Hey, this is quick in a straight line and a new power plant aboard that leisure. The J. P s 3 25. Exactly right. Talking to some of the two cane drivers, they feel like that leisure might be a little bit heavier, but it's a little more powerful, about 470 horsepower out of their Toyota built twin turbo V six. It's a naturally aspirated Nissan derived V eight in the original, the older generation of L and P three. Look that leisure, as you say, good in a straight line, that little bit of extra power plus the slip stream. And right now, Golan is looking awfully threatening. I got my numbers letters backwards. J. S. P. 3 25. Not J. P s. But it's interesting what I saw there, Ryan. It's like I can't determine yet if it's a horsepower thing that we're seeing there on the banking or is it a draft? Because each time Brady Golan in the last third of the straightaway really draws up on the back of two. No, let's go back to G. S. X. Good battles throughout the silver Aston Martin. That's the battle for eight. Rafael Martinez aboard the number 68 Toyota, the white, red and black Toyota trying to do battle there with Fitzpatrick in that Aston Martin. And I think it's interesting the different manufacturers that we see Toyota, Aston Martin, Ford, Porsche. They're all here, just like we see in Michelin Pilot Challenge or the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. I think it's five different brands represented across the 12 cars in G. S. X. And it is a great mix, a lot of strength in numbers when it comes to the Toyota Supra. And why not? That was the championship winning car a year ago for the Rafa racing team, Kiko Porto. What a season he had. And he part laid that into a ride in the Michelin Pilot Challenge. He'll be racing next weekend in that four hour race here in Daytona. And right now, it's another Rafa team car, another Toyota Supra that leads overall or not overall, but in class from pole position, Weston Workman might not be a household name yet, but that will change, I suspect. We talk about this series and the talent that's in it. Past champions Bejoy Garg in 2023 and L. M. P. Three. He's in the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. You look in G. S. X. Francis Seldorf, a past championship. He's in Michelin Pilot Challenge and WeatherTech. Luca Mars, a champion. Kiko Porto, a champion. They have all moved up the Imsa ladder. This is a stepping stone series, and I believe it's become even more so over the last couple of seasons. Now, Sean Quinlan, I'll tell you what. Quinlan aboard that orange and purple number 19 from Steven Cameron Racing. He has come to grips with that Mustang very quickly, and he's been fast throughout the practice sessions in the qualifying sessions. Really good job by Sean Quinlan here in Daytona. The Mustang has been strong this weekend, not just here in D. P. Racing Sports Car Challenge, but also in the test sessions for Michelin Pilot Challenge, so there might be something to that just ahead of Quinlan. Little challenge for position, and it looked like Courtney Crump was putting a move around the outside in her Carbon Inter BMW. I'm not sure exactly if that position changed hands or not as we go back to the front of the field here in P. Three, and for the first time, it seems like Oscar Tuno has a little bit of breathing room. Golan, as strong as he was in the opening few laps, now slipping back a little bit and into the clutches of Danny Sufi. Well, and think about what we were just talking about earlier about. If you had to trim your car out, if you're one of those Duquesne pilots and your team's going, Look, if we're going to stand a chance in a straight line, we've got to take some down force out of that. We saw both Oscar Juno and Danny Sufi, the one and the 11 1st and 3rd. Right now, those cars really dancing around in the opening laps, and I kind of feel like as it probably took another lap or two for the tire to come in and the car to really find its balance. Now that it has, we'll find out what Oscar can do with it and whether Danny Sufi can begin to really put pressure on Golan. Bad luck for one of the newcomers to the championship, Jeremy Siffert, shown in the pit lane, and as we talked about earlier, there are no planned pit stops in this race, and he's a multi-generational driver, Joe Siffert, who won the Rolex 24 back in 1968. But his Daytona debut appears to be going the wrong direction with that car stationary in the pits right now. Had a great chat with Jeremy a little bit earlier, and he said, You know, I didn't think I was going to be doing all of these and just maybe the two hour, you know, endurance, which has been added into BP Racing Sports Car Challenge this year. But I think I'm going to get to do all the sprint race. I'm really excited. Of course, he has never been to any of the tracks here in America that he's going to run on, so that'll be an eye-opening experience for sure. Talk about eye-opening. The battle for the bronze bragging rights in this category. Brian Thenis aboard the 77. Farhan Siddiqui, we talked about him a little bit earlier. Mirko Schultes right in there as well in that mix, and then right behind Schultes is Hill aboard the number two. So that bronze battle, the top four of them in bronze are right there and a nose to tail. They've all found each other at this stage. I got my eye on Mirko Schultes. He's never much of a qualifier, but when the green flag drops, he just likes to muscle his way to the front. Late addition to the entry list here this weekend, but great to have the German driver now domiciled in Florida back at the championship, looking at his car right there, making his way forward, making some progress after his customary qualifying issues. Oh, that was a close moment. That was Hill just behind in the Shopify-sponsored entry. And you got to think, hey, I get in there right up behind somebody like Hill did with Schultes in front of him, and you get up there and the air is different over the car in the braking zone than it is if you're alone, and he gets in there on the brakes really hard, and you can see that just locks the rears just enough that that car starts dancing around. He does a great job to save it, and an even better job of not running over Mirko Schultes in front of him. And Mirko, I bet, saw that out of the rearview mirror and thought, uh-oh, this looks like trouble. But Travis Hill did a great job to hang on to that car, runs the Tooth Autosport team out of Canada, based up at Calabogie, running under the Shopify banner this year. But great little team in Canada that's been active in everything from club-level racing all the way up to top-line racing like this. And I think Travis is champion in the LMP3 category in the HSR. That's right. Historic racing. So this type of machinery he has experience in, I'll tell you this, look at that, championship winner over here, now running a little further back in the order here in BP, and all that tells you is how deep the talent is here. It is a step up, there's no question. I think he'd be the first to say that as we check in here with Rafa Martinez in car 68, coming under a little bit of pressure here, just behind him, Cecilia Ribello from Brazil, making her debut in the championship. Three Supras running nose-to-tail. Monroe in there as well aboard the number 81. So you got three Supras nose-to-tail, and it's not that far. Fitzpatrick just in front in the silver Aston Martin was a part of this battle a little while ago. He's pulled out a little bit, but Ribello now, she is right there with Rafael Martinez and beginning to put pressure, and there's a young lady who has experience in Porsche type machinery down in South America, and it's done well, but not a lot of experience in motor sports in general has started in carting not that long ago and has really parlayed that into this ride here in BP racing is Marco Schultes has a problem in the Lamar chicane like that might have happened prior to the chicane. We caught him at the tail end of it getting back up to speed, but he doesn't look up to speed. I would expect to see more out of that car right now, and it's I mean, I know you got to build it from almost zero where he was stopped, but it doesn't look like it's at speed the way it needs to be. Top of the screen. Oh, wow. Early in the corner. Once again, those rears kind of lock, and I don't know if that's a down change, a downshift of gears that lock the rear tires momentarily or break bias issue. The big concern was backwards over the curb. That was a big hit, and I'm not sure the 70 is underneath Berko the way that he wants it to be right now. I'll feel it out. The good news is he's got a lot of experience, so he knows what a race car should feel like. He knows what it would feel like if something was amiss. The bad news is it's dropped him back to ninth last car running in the P three category, and he's got a lot of work to do to try and catch back up to Hershberg. John Burrell aboard the number 81 from Kingpin Racing has gotten past Rubello, but she's going to charge back now as they kind of get bottled up by the 89, the Aston Martin in front. Rubello is going to take that position back, but this is just changing back and forth. And really, I think the 98 and the 81 is all predicated on the 89. That's just in front of him. I'm not quite sure how exactly Fitzpatrick in the Aston got into this mix, because last we saw him, he was up breathing down the neck of Dan Hammond. Exactly. And now he slipped back into the middle of this pack. In fact, it's like the pack has caught him. And now that's the Porsche Cayman that now he's this freight train. But, man, this is as tight as you like it. Nose to tail here. Deeper in the pack. Yes, but plenty of fun for those involved in the fight. And you look at those five drivers right there. Five very different places in their career. Five very different goals ahead. Everybody's goal is certainly win races and do well. But for Rafael Martinez, who leads the racing group, he's in this both from a business standpoint and from a personal enjoyment standpoint for Cecilia Rubella. She wants to be a professional race car driver, right? So two very different places in their career. John Brill, the same Fitzpatrick, the same. So everybody kind of has a different goal. It's finished well. But what's the long term goal? It's an interesting melting pot, because as we talked about in the open for some, this is a destination just to get to race here at Daytona to race on an IMSA weekend. That's a victory in and of itself. But for others, this is viewed as a starting point trying to get to the next thing in the career. A couple of pit callers. This is very strange. So Schultes, as you surmised, must have felt like there was something amiss, but he's got company back with him in the pits. Yeah, that is the 87. So we were just talking about far on the good run that he was having, but you're going to go to work on the left front mechanic looking at the right rear. There's something wrong there. Yeah, that right rear had a lot of movement to it when you saw the mechanic grab that tire and kind of shake it back and forth. It moved wobbled freely, and it looked to me like suspension, not like a loose look. Well, one thing that was new last year was the reprofiled Le Mans chicane with all the extra curbing that was put in there. Previously, track limits effectively was dictated by grass, but that grass was taken away for safety reasons. And so then they needed to put in some kind of mechanism to make sure that the drivers were staying within the defined track limits. As Oscar Tuno has a moment there into the international horseshoe, he's coming under pressure from Brady Golan again. I just wonder, we saw this a few times last year over the course of the war and into the Rolex 24 weekend drivers using too much of that chicane curb, and it is a wild ride. If you hit it wrong, it could break a suspension component. Absolutely. Not only could it, it has. We've seen it in the past, whether that was in weather tech. And interestingly enough, I was talking to some weather tech drivers just yesterday here in the roar about using the curb. And they said we can't in the race, maybe the last 30 minutes or something if we really need to, maybe in qualifying. But in the race, we're going to have to be disciplined and stay off of it, or we're going to tear up the underside of the car. These cars very aerodynamic and a lot of the aerodynamics come off of the floor and how level it is, how well the bodywork meets up and everything else. So you want to take care of it. You want to stay off those curbs. These cars are very stout. They race endurance link races, so they are very stout, but you can mess one up. And this is where it can all happen. Multiclass racing, the faster cars now have caught GSX, the back of the GSX field beginning to lap through it right now. And that's another one of the educational aspects of V.P. Racing Sports Car Challenge. Go learn multiclass racing. This is where someone like Oscar Tunho, who has run in this championship before, I think early in this season has an edge relative to goal and who does have some experience here, but primarily is a single seater race racer. Danny Sufi raced in Prototype Cup Germany, which is all about the prototypes in that championship. You don't have to worry about the mixed class nature of it. That is a skill. No question about it. On both ends of the spectrum, whether you're in the P3 car doing the passing or in a GSX car being passed. And it's not just the Brady Golins in the world that are on that ladder of single seater open wheel racing. You get Formula One drivers that come here for the Rolex 24 IndyCar champions that come here for the Rolex 24 and go, Oh, my gosh, I'm used to passing a couple of cars per race. And in one session, I've passed 20 cars, you know, and or you get one of those open wheel stars who ends up in a GTD or an LMP2 car, and they're no longer the fastest car on the racetrack. They're not used to being passed. So there is an art form to multi class sports car racing. Yeah. And this is to your point why this has become such a great launching pad for careers in the MZ paddock because you get a little mini version of what a weather tech race is like. This is a great preview of what we'll see for 24 straight hours with two additional classes. It should be noted at the Rolex 24 next week. Brady Golin. We saw him in that orange and yellow LMP3 car go past the dark gray and green BMW of Courtney Crone, that 35 out of Carbon Motorsports. Great conversation with her. I think she's driven more cars at any age than half of the paddock does in the weather tech sports car championship. She's driven vintage cars, motorcycles, dirt cars, sports cars, single seaters, you name it. She's driven it. But she said, This is what I really want to do. And look at this is a battle for the lead overall through the trial. This started back in the chicane traffic. Yep, Tuno got caught behind Sean Quinlan. Nothing Sean did wrong. He was running his line, but you can't go too wide without taking an obscene amount of risk through that part of the racetrack. Just enough pace in that Duquesne for Tuno to hold off the challenge there from Golan. But that's it goes to show you catch that traffic at the wrong time and a lead that previously looked pretty comfortable, disappears just like that. Go back to the L. M. P two win at the Rolex 24 a couple of years ago. It was a photo finish for that exact same reason. A little hiccup in that Le Mans chicane gave a run to the line, and the car that was second coming out of the Le Mans chicane was wearing a Rolex Rolex is about 45 minutes later. So impressive stuff. You've got to learn how to use it. Now that battle settled down a little bit. I was talking about Courtney Crone, though, and says she says, I really want to do this. I want to settle down. I've driven so many different things. I want to focus, and this is where I would like my home to be. Hopefully I can run the whole season here, and there's nobody better to do it with Steve Dine in there. Great team and their success at various levels of him really speaks to that. Courtney just dropped a spot to Jim Johnson a moment ago from 5th to 6th, but still having a nice run. Meanwhile, these leaders here they were making their way through the GSX field, and just a moment ago they were right in between the battle for second and third in GSX to Porsches with Justin DiBenedetto and Ismael Elahi. They have been locked together for the good good part of this race, maybe 5 10 minutes of this race already. Not much between the two of them, and traffic could be what dictates that battle in the same way that it is for the top two here in P Yeah, you talk about different stages of your career there, Justin DiBenedetto, several years of racing under his belt, a team family, a family team there, I should say, and highest finishing Porsche driver in the championship in GSX last year. It's really kind of led the goal for that mark throughout the season last year and into this year, and then you've got Ismael, who this is his sixth race ever in a car, started racing on simulators and then moved to GT cars last year in Europe and now is over here. He said two years ago, I was sitting in the grandstands here at the Rolex 24. That was two years ago, and I had never driven a race car two years ago. Two years later, I'm here. I said, What are your goals? He goes. I would love to go home with two trophies, one for the two years, one for each of the two years ago that I was here in the grandstands, and now I'm here, and he said, I can't even believe it. It's hard for me to even walk out the pit lane and look up at the grandstands and think I'm really here. I get to drive on this racetrack. Life comes at you fast. Sometimes he's doing a great job. He's in position to get a trophy right now, sitting third, not far at all behind second place, but everyone in GSX chasing Weston Workman, the pole sitter, now with an eight plus second lead in that class, much tighter at the front of the field in P three with two from Columbia Golan from the United States and then Sufi trying to keep tabs on the top two, but he started to drop off the pace a little bit now. 2.7 seconds adrift. It's gonna be interesting. So we're just closing in on halfway, and we talked early about downforce versus drag and tire wear. We're not gonna know about tire wear till the last five minutes or so. So in talking to Oscar and Danny Boat, they were like, Tired egg is real. Oscar, especially like tired egg is real here on these cars. Tire degradation, the tire wearing as it goes. And, you know, if you're if you're Brady Golan sitting there in that leisure and you've got better downforce versus drag coefficient, you're gonna have more Michelin tire left at the end of this race. So I'm sure the team talking to Brady right now just saying, Keep him right where he is. Stay close. Stay close. They're watching all our cameras. They watch the amount of motion that they see aboard that number one or aboard the 11. And if they see those cars dancing around a lot, they know that's Michelin rubber going down onto the asphalt. Brady Golan's got a shot at this at the end. For sure. No question. We've seen that car so strong in a straight line. In the meantime, let's take a peek in at this battle for second in GSX that we talked about. Car 25 is a lie. He's that's a change of position. Is my Oh, big slap of oversteer there did a great job to catch it, but he has been able to get around Justin Domenico Domenico trying to come back. That's the orange and blue Porsche Cayman. But Allah, he covers him off really good work by the young driver without nearly the experience of Justin and a great drive off a turn six for Ishmael Allahi. Great drive. You saw the car just leap off the corner. Justin really trying to hold onto it like he's having problems getting that Porsche horsepower to the ground through those Michelin tires. And that may be a little bit of abuse in the beginning that kind of wore those tires down or just simply a setup issue. I was really, really interested to watch Allahi in this race. As I said, the only a six car race ever a lot of time on the Sim. But race craft in the Sim and race craft in a real car are different. And he and I talked about that. And I'm looking at the lessons that he's learned. And this is impressive. It is. I'll tell you, I had a long conversation with his team boss, Matias Saabach, the C in CSM, Saabach Simpson Motorsport. And he was so excited about the upside of this young driver really feels like they've got someone with a lot of potential here. Very raw, as you said, plenty of experience on the Sim, but not much in the virtual or in the in the physical world. Raced in GT4 European Series a little bit last year, a little bit in Porsche Sprint Challenge Germany, but not much at all to draw from. And yet here he is sitting second in a pretty competitive field. Well, and this is where that Sim stuff comes in. If you would ask me five years ago, I would have said it's worthless. Yeah, the high dollar Sims that the manufacturers use. Yeah, obviously, you can get data from that so on and so forth, but I'm not sure the rest of it. And a problem there for the 81. That's John Burrell drops a wheel there. It must have a problem in one. But I was involved with a program called Racing Prodigy and Prodigy Racing League, where they took drivers from the Sim world and put him in cars. And I originally said, I hope you guys have great insurance or a bucket full of money because these guys are going to tear stuff up and they didn't tear anything up. And it was so impressive and talk to some of the drivers who race at a professional level in the Sim world. And they said, Brian, hey, in the Sim, when we go from the Sim to the car, we get additional feedback. Let's see if we can find out what happened to John Brill down in turn one has to make a move on Martinez. And it looks like he just kind of runs out of room on the inside or perhaps tries to lean left a little bit wheel in the dirt. Sure, there ever was a full car with opening to the inside of Martinez there and profit certainly didn't make it easy on John. But good news is Brails able to continue on. But what I was saying is you step out of the Sim and when you step into the car, you get additional. If you take a driver who's only driven in the real world and you put him in a Sim the first time, you're taking things away for them, right? You're taking away those longitudinal and lateral G's that feel for the car that they can't have anymore. One of the Sim drivers, one of the professionals, some drivers said we we understand y'all and slide with our eyes because we can't feel it in our seat because the Sim doesn't move, right? So they are playing in a different game with really with some handcuffs on. And then when they get in the car, they get that additional information. And what I have found is that if you can do well in a Sim, you can adapt pretty quickly to a car. So if you're sitting at home working on your Sim, keep working on it, keep digging and maybe you'll have an opportunity behind the wheel of a car at someplace like Daytona or any racetrack and just apply those skills because it is out there. It's not far-fetched anymore to think that there could be a world champion down the road that got started on the Sim and maybe only got to cars later in life. I mean, at this point, the manufacturers take it seriously, the teams take it seriously. This was proven 20 years ago. Lucas Ordonez won the GT Academy that Nissan put on and that was off of a PS2 or PS3 version of Gran Turismo. Nothing near what you have at home today. Exactly. So I think at this point, it's been established if you are good on the Sim, a lot of those traits carry over into the real world. There's still an adjustment process. It's not direct one-to-one, but it is a viable place to start a racing career now. Tell you what, this battle up front, we talked about it, it's going to heat up, it's going to get hotter and hotter and it already with just under 20 minutes to go, Oscar Tuno with the lead, Brady Golan in second, Danny Sufi in third and then you go back to GSX where Workman leads there handily, but the battle for second between Ishmael Elahi and Justin DiBenedetto is, it's been working this way. Elahi's gotten the best of it, but DiBenedetto has not let him get away. I will say this, it used to be an eight-second lead for Workman. It's down to five. I'm not exactly sure what caused that, but second and third have either upped their pace or Workman backing off a little bit possibly. Well, he did stretch it out by a second on that last lap. Think about what happened here last year to Toyota. Sure. He ran out of fuel. I remember. I talked to him about that. Kevin Conway was like, he and Tony Abe both, oversee this operation. We're like, yeah, we're not going to be short on fuel. We weren't last year, but we're certainly not going to be this year. We know what happened last year. Closing down, DiBenedetto is on Elahi, the number four Porsche, beginning to put more pressure on Elahi aboard the 25 just in front and they have been tied together here for the last several laps. There's Weston Workman and I don't use this term a lot when I look at young drivers. There are some young drivers who are good, really good. Weston Workman certainly fits into that category, but I'll also use the word special because I think he's got the whole package. He's not just good in the race car. He's good out of the race car. He understands the business aspects of it. He's a polite young man. He is a smart young man. And you put all of that together in this package. His parents have been at every race that he's been at over the last nine years. There's always one of them there. He said he's got a race coming up where it will be the first time that they're not going to be able to be there. But they have raised a really remarkable son and he's proving his worth both in the car. And like I said, he's delightful out of it. He gets the whole picture. And when you have that, you've got something special that you can take forward. I think there are manufacturers, especially Toyota, who notice that. Yeah, they like what they've got. I think it's safe to say in Weston Workman and I will wholeheartedly co-sign on everything you said. I think the thing that he got midway through last season is the confidence and belief. Yes, I agree. He had all of the other things, but it took him a while to unlock the potential. He finally got that win midway through the season in GR Cup last year. And once he started winning, he just didn't stop. Didn't stop. Clinched the championship with a few races to spare. Also ran a season in MX5 Cup here in IMSL last year. So he knows this track as well, which is beneficial. And I love the fact he also raced in the Martinsville Exhibition race for those MX5 Cup cars back in the fall. Finished runner up in that race for BSI Racing. I think he's doing the Daytona MX5 race. I believe you're correct. Yeah. Think about this when you talk about Toyota, though. You've got Weston Workman right there, won the Toyota GR Cup championship, obviously in a Toyota here. Kiko Porto, who won the championship last year. Tyler Gonzalez. And you start looking at these champions, these young champions, and they're all kind of in the Toyota house right now under the Toyota umbrella and the tutelage of Kevin Conway and a lot of those guys at Rafa Racing, Tony Ave and all that. The sports car future for Toyota looks pretty bright if they'll hold on to those young drivers. Throw two other names out there who we'll see racing next weekend, Ford Koch and Jackson Bell. Both came up through the same program, didn't win championships, but ran at the front consistently, won races, certainly in Jackson's case. And they're paired up together with Copeland Motorsports. And I have a feeling that is a pairing that's going to contend for a championship this year. Named off five future Toyota stars. I think I'd be trying to slide some paper in front of these young guys. Kiko Porto. Yeah, well, what a championship in this series last year, right? Yeah. I mean, another one with a really bright future Toyota. This is what they've done on the circle track side of things for a long time, cultivating talent, bringing it up through the ranks and now using some of that same philosophy in road racing. It's a tried and proven method. Porsche has done it for years and now others are taking a page out of the playbook. Closing in on 13 minutes to go. The battle for second place in GSX. Ishmael Elahi has that position, but Justin Di Benedetto wants it, and he's closed in a little bit. I can tell you, even if these positions swap, I got a feeling that if Ishmael Elahi comes across the line with a podium finish here in this first race of the racing sports car challenge, I'm worried about his run to the line because I don't think he's going to be able to see the checkered flag because the tears that are going to be an emotional moment. Yeah. And you want a race like this where if you're going to get a result, you had to earn it. This is a great measuring stick for him here. Justin has been driving these GT four Caymans for a while, finished third in sports car championship Canada GT four competition a couple of years ago, finished fourth in the championship here. Last year, had a bunch of podiums in the two podiums in the last three races last year, and seems to be going from strength to strength. Okay, so what do you do now if you're Brady Golan aboard the 30? This is the battle for second in LMP3 into the west horseshoe out of that corner on the way to turn six. They're having to work through not just GSX traffic, but battles further up in the GSX order. You want to try to get them done on the super speedway if you can. Danny Sufi right there now in that orange and silver Duquesne chassis number 11, really bringing the pressure back to Brady Golan. This Gebhardt team knows how to find some talent, don't they? When you think about some of the names they brought over to race in this series the last few years, Danny Sufi might be another one. He's in the slipstream now, takes a peek to the outside, gets alongside at the entry to the Le Mans chicane, but has to settle back in line. Who's gone off wide? That's Tunho, the leader. He skipped part of that chicane there. That's going to be very interesting to see how that's adjudicated, and that's brought the top three all together once again. All right, so 1.4 seconds is what I saw on timing and scoring was the gap between the leader and second place. If you've got a problem over there, you cannot gain an advantage. So what's the lead going to be? If I'm Oscar Tunho, I'm going to check up just a little bit to make sure I don't extend it. He doesn't. It's now just a quarter of a second. Whether that's what he was thinking or not, I don't know, but the officials would have looked at the gap coming off of the Le Mans chicane saying, did he gain an advantage by missing part of the racetrack right there? Obviously he did not, and I would assume, you know what they say about that, that this is going to be okay. I hope so, because he's driven a really good race up to this point. There was some traffic up ahead of him. I don't know if that contributed to it, but you have to speculate that maybe it did. He's got his rhythm back once again, pulling a gap now on Golan, who really has to be thinking about playing defense, and that car just doesn't look like it's as settled as it was earlier in the race. He's got his hands full, and Sufi, by contrast, looks really strong. Yeah, and we talked about tire wear and what was going to happen at the end of the race. I agree with you. I think Brady Golan now doesn't have the car underneath him. Danny Sufi does. We've come into the west horseshoe, and Sufi able to go straight down to the apex, big car, really using those front tires. They responded. The car did what he asked it to do, and for Brady Golan, it's like he had to be super, super gentle on the wheel, not ask a lot of the front end, perhaps afraid that the rear was going to move underneath. Let's see if traffic has a part to play here on this lap. Looks like Tuno was able to read that pretty well. Gap still fairly stable. Golan feeling that pressure but absorbing it. Brian not succumbing to it. Man, that got really tight. This is dicey stuff here because it's not like the GSX cars are consistently picking the lower line there, which is what they're supposed to do, and you can see the indecision in the P3 cars. They're still learning their competition. They haven't raced around each other a whole lot. Many of them don't have a ton of multi-class experience either, and you cannot imagine the banking here until you've driven around it. Literally, you look down a couple of floors if you're up there towards the top of the banking several stories down to the apron, so you're dealing a lot of time. You're looking at traffic in front of you, and you're looking through the top of the windshield. That's how much banking there is. You're not looking straight ahead. They are up and around because of that significant banking here at Daytona. You're right. 31 degrees through the corners. It's 18 degrees actually on the front stretch. It doesn't look like it. By comparison, it looks pretty flat, but yeah, it is still pretty substantial. I ran the track a couple of days ago, and I stayed on the apron. The banking was a sprained ankle or worse waiting to happen. I can't even imagine. If you really want to work out, you should have stopped halfway around and then just run up and down. I'm not a glutton for punishment, Brian. It's like running steps, right? All right. What can Danny Sufi aboard the 11? The blue, orange and silver Duquesne running third right now. What does he have? He closes in. I think that's a lot of the draft, right? It draws you up and pushes the air out of the way, allows the second car in line to have a little less aerodynamic resistance in a straight line. Sufi closed up there, couldn't do anything with it. The real opportunity is in turn one, and that's why that exit off the LaMarche cane is so, so critical. That goal and got a pretty decent jump. Sufi now halfway through this dino run is starting to close in. Let's watch and see. Does that gap evaporate enough where he can make a move? Crucially, it's not enough to make a move at the line. That's another thing they might be thinking about here, trying to get the timing right. Even if you don't complete the pass into turn one on the last lap, you just have to complete the pass by start finish. And we've seen races decided that way. Absolutely. And look at this leader working through more G s X traffic. That was actually the battle for second place that Oscar Tuno just went by. A lot. He and deep Benedetto still locked together. And now the 30 comes by the 11 tries the same thing as well. These are those lessons about multi class racing that Allahi and deep Benedetto are learning right now. This is one thing you can pick up on the Sim, though, since we're talking about that, learning how to gauge traffic closing in running in a multi class environment. So even if they haven't done it much in the real world, it is something that can be replicated here, though, a lot. He slipped up a little bit. That opens the inside up for the Benedetto to drive that car to the inside challenge. He's on for second place. For deep Benedetto, he's where he wants to be. He's on the inside. If he can stay there, this is just going to be brake zone. Who's got the better brakes? Who wants it the most? Who can go the deepest? Here we go. Lamar chicane, heavy braking coming. Who's got it? Buckle up into the chicane to Benedetto to the inside and Allahi really with no recourse didn't want to risk running up and over those abrupt curbs. He backs out of it, settles back into third place and the duel resumes. But he got a good run off of the Lamar chicane. He closed ground immediately coming off. What can he do with it as they had to turn one? Might have compromised that entry in order to get the run at the exit. You want it? Yeah, go right ahead. Take it right now. I'm going to see what I can do with it as we come out. And now he's there. He's got the draft working in his favor there. What you said earlier? Let me try this. What's going to work? All right, I need to make that move a little sooner. I want to get past him at the line inside of six minutes to go. This is the battle for second and third opening race of the season for V. P. Racing sports car challenge. Weston Workman leads in GSX by nearly 10 seconds. Now he's doubled that lead that had dropped down to five seconds a handful of laps ago. Meanwhile, Ostrituto continues to show the way in P three. Both pole sitters looking strong here today. Gebhardt Motorsports USA up front and Gebhardt involved with Danny Sufi's car as well. And so it's one of those deals. Siffert's car, the 31. All three of those are out of the Gebhardt stable, but all under different team and entry names, which we want to make sure that we stay with because obviously that is important to the they put a good car together. They know how to get it done. And that's why people come to him and say, Hey, let's let's run these cars. And that's why you see the Panaxis zone for racing on Danny Sufi's car, Gebhardt Motorsports on the number one and on the 31 of Jeremy Siffert that Gebhardt young driver Academy got really tight there at the apex of the entry to the chicane goal and looking vulnerable. This time, Sufi is much closer, got a pretty good jump out and already is starting to close that gap. But when do I want to pull out? And right now, if I'm Danny Sufi, I'm doing a couple of things. One, can I get by him in turn one? But two, was that too quick a pop? Because as you pointed out, this is what matters. Start finish right there. When can you pull out on the last lap, get the draft and just be in front of the line apparently right there because he was clear by one one hundredth of a second at this drive. Oh, man, really good respect between the two. They gave each other just enough space. Big slide out of one of the two cars. Oh, and going locks up into the horseshoe. And if I am on that Panaxis pit box, I am telling Danny Sufi, that's what you need to do. That's what you need to do, mate. Don't worry about being in the lead coming off the Le Mans chicane. If you're not there, get the run, get the draft, do just what you did. You'll have the position at the line. Amazing how tight the top three have been. Tuno does have a bit of a lead as these two squabble over second and third, but I'm comparing their best lap times, Brian. They are within two tenths of a second of one another, the top three. That is enticing if you look ahead to the rest of the season to come. Workman still leads in GSX. Tuno in the P3 category. The battle between Di Benedetto and Elahi continues, and they are only a tenth of a second apart, so they had to be side by side when they came across the line last time with a split like that. Sean Quinlan, once again, great run in fourth, and Kourtney Krohn, good debut in that BMW in fifth right now in GSX. I'd say the same thing for Cecilia Ribello. Oh, absolutely. She's raced her way up to sixth place, light on experience, like you said, and right now, right behind Kourtney Krohn. That's a pretty good battle that's happening. Sean Quinlan, part of that, too, so fourth, fifth, and sixth in GSX all together. Golden, much more neat and tidy, though, in this battle here in the P3 class through the Le Mans chicane, and this time, no question who's going to lead at the line. White flag next time by, I would suspect, and so if you're Danny Sufi talking with your crew right now, going, okay, what do I need to do? What do I need to do? How am I going to do this? Talk me through it, guys. Where can I be better? Where do I need to, and you work together as a crew to get that done, and it's super cool stuff because so many of these drivers early in their career, right? I mean, they are young. You look at Danny Sufi, certainly not a veteran by any stretch of the imagination. He's a teenager out of Austin, Texas. Didn't really have a lot of racing experience when he packed up and moved to Europe several years ago. A lot of experience now, though, and comes back over here putting it into play, but this is where you learn the goal is at the end. Taking a position right now is not as critical as being in front, like you said last time, by a hundredth of a second. And this might be his chance. Is Golden drifted up the racetrack? Does he crack the door open? It did momentarily, but then it slammed shut again. You said it early if it's this close, so wait and see. He's probing. Can I get the position? If I get it, can I hold it? And if I don't, a problem for Courtney Crone in the international horseshoe. Don't know if that was help. She was in the middle of that battle pack we were talking about with Quinlan and Ravello. That drops her well down now back to ninth place, eighth place. Martinez has slipped by, so that drops her to eighth. Here we go again. Coming to the white flag, it does look like Sufi's got a bit of a run. They do have some traffic to negotiate, but he's not as close as he was a couple of laps ago. I tell you what, though, I just watched Danny Sufi be really, really smart. We saw Golden go around kind of early, the GSX car in front, and Sufi ran right up underneath him and was going to wait until the last moment to pull out of the line, taking advantage of the for as long as he could. What does he have on this last lap? We'll find out here over the next three miles or so as Golden has another lockup down into the horseshoe, but he's able to keep that car parked at the apex. Doesn't give a path by for Danny Sufi to try and get past. I tell you what, though, Golden on edge coming off the international horseshoe, the rear of that car just moving and twitching. Danny Sufi's Duquesne chassis was glued. It was solid. If he can do that at the exit of the Le Mans chicane, he's got a shot coming to the line. He is close once again. This is a crucial corner here. It leads back up onto the banking, the run down to the Le Mans chicane for the final time. Golden again slips wide. Sufi, though, content to sit in that slipstream. This might be about timing that move coming to the checker. He's got to get closer. He's got to get closer as they get to the Le Mans chicane. That time, Brady Golden a better run off of turn six. Just a left about a get the power down. That's separated them a little bit. That separation may be the key, but there are a couple of GSX cars in front. At least one traffic has its part to play. It's Mike Fitzpatrick just ahead in the 89 X Motorsports asked. It looked like they got through there pretty cleanly. Golden has some breathing room. Sufi trying to mount a charge here, but he's running out of time. Yeah, just got a little loose coming through the first right hander the Le Mans chicane did Sufi, and that cost him. Meanwhile, Oscar Tunho unthwarted from pole to checkered flag. Tunho wins at Daytona in round one of VP Racing Sports Car Challenge. And Golden does hang on to that second spot. But what a battle between those two, Golden and Sufi. Hope we get to see more of that over the course of the year. Certainly looking ahead to race number two tomorrow. Meanwhile, in GSX, Weston Workman. What more can you say? We're running out of superlatives about this kid. This is the kind of debut he dreamed of when he turned up here at Daytona, getting to sample this car for the first time. Kiko Porter or Porto. There I go again. The Porto and Porter from last year. Porto led every session, qualified on every pole and won every race but two. And the gauntlet was thrown down to this young man. Weston Workman earlier said, Can you do it? Well, he does it at Daytona, takes his first victory in the IMSA Racing VP Sports Car Challenge. Great run by Weston Workman and this battle here to the line. As I said, I was worried about Ishmael being able to see he finishes second, and that is going to be big, big emotion for that young man. Position changed on the last lap. That was fantastic between the two of them. Same machinery underneath them. Big difference in experience. But, man, that is fantastic. Looking ahead to what's to come later on this year. Congratulations to the CSM team, to Ishmael Elahi and also to DiBenedetto. If you go back to last year now, that's three podiums in the last four races. So he's starting to find his form as well. And look at Quinlan there in fourth. Ribello on debut in fifth. We saw Courtney Crone with that problem in the International Horseshoe. Don't really know what happened there. But, I mean, great stories throughout. Unfortunately, there was contact between Ribello and Crone. That's been ruled upon by race control drive-through penalty. I think it's going to be converted to a time penalty and it has. That's dropped Ribello down to ninth in class after a fringe top five run up until the last couple of laps. Yeah, but you know what? I mean, yeah, it ruined Courtney Crone's good run up there. But this is a debut, right? You're learning and mistakes are going to happen. But great racing and what, I mean, the fans here saw it, the fans online got to see great racing. Got another one coming up tomorrow and then you look forward to the rest of the season. It's going to be good stuff. For those that are coming here and doing this for the first time, you know this as a racing driver, Brian, the chance to sleep on it for a night and come back and do the same thing again tomorrow. That's only going to benefit those that are lacking some of the experience of their counterparts. And I think we're really in store for a lot of fun all year long, but especially looking ahead to race two of the weekend. Yeah, and you and I talked about this. I know I talked about it with several of the teams down there. The complexion of the series is changing. The drivers are becoming younger. It's becoming a destination to go to to build your way up into Michelin Pilot Challenge or WeatherTech Sports Car Championship to know with the victory. I want to see Brady Golan back. I get that he's got his single seater career going, but love to see him back. But you look at the rest of the talent throughout the P3 category and we're going to have more of those cars as the season goes on. Give a shout out as well to Lincoln Day. His first sports car race, quiet fourth place run. That's exactly what you want. Didn't make any headlines, didn't cause any trouble, was right there at the end on the fringe of a podium finish. And he's the only one. You're like the only one the only professional sports car driver out of Wyoming. So, you know, he's got that going for him too. And then you go to GSX where the results there, like I said, emotional day. I'm sure for Weston Workman too, right? Passive. Comes off the GR Cup championship, gets this opportunity, makes the best of it. He's got big pressure on him, right? Because the last guy that sat in that seat was pretty darn quick. Yeah, Kid Coppola won the championship in dominant fashion, and that's what Weston has to try and live up to. But I do imagine a weight off his shoulders. Remember how long he had to wait to get a GR Cup win? Yep. No waiting around this time. He got it done nice and early. Ishmael Elahi doesn't come from means. His family owns a service station. You know, basically worked hard on his sim, packed up, moved to Europe to try some stuff and said, I may not ever get to race again, so I'm going to make the best of it. He's got this great attitude, and what's it do? Gives him a second place finish. He earned a second place finish. He was gifted nothing, and that's going to be big for him. Dee Benedetto, we talked about what a great run he had last year. Improving. I'm looking forward to 2026 should be a ton of fun and should also credit the bronze subcategory winners. Brian Thean is in P three. Congratulations to him. Top five overall. And then Sean Quinlan, fourth place overall. That bodes really well because they're also going to be racing next weekend in a Mustang. He and Greg Leofuge and Stephen camera racing. That was a really strong outing and sets the table nicely for the rest of the month. Yeah, you talk about Brian Thean is look back to last year. Never out of the top five. So even though he's in the bronze category, he is a threat, and he's going to be a thorn in the side of some of these young drivers as his experience and talent is going to show throughout the season, especially at racetracks that some of these new drivers have not been to before. He finished runner up overall a couple of times last year. Never got that overall win, but was able to put together a consistent season, finished second to the overall championship, won the bronze cup a year ago and is back to do more of the same this year. Hugs down in Victory Lane. You know, every victory lane is special. You know, you get to win. You get to take the checkered flag. But imagine being rolled into Daytona International Victory Lane. You're shaking your head. You can't even talk. I can't imagine. No, you think about the people who have who have won here before, who have had success here before, and it is the best of the best. So, you know, you've done something special when you win here at Daytona. And for that reason, huge smile on the face of Oscar Tudor. Congratulations, Oscar Tudor. Big smile. Big smile. And why would you not bend him there to congratulate as well? And I think Oscar Tudor's experience in these cars really paid off today. He had a little bit of a mistake earlier. I had that mistake at the Lamar chicane came back. Focus forward. It took a little while for the car to get underneath them, I think, in the opening laps, but didn't seem to concern him at all. He did the smart thing. I believe he checked up when he blew the Lamar chicane to make sure he didn't gain an advantage and then said, All right, now I'll get back at it again. That shows his experience and his headiness as well as his speed. Yeah, a lot of maturity there from that young driver. And then Weston Workman. He's got the smile on his face. First race in a GT four car, and it's a win. Absolutely. You're gonna hear a lot more from that young man, 21 years old. And, uh, yeah, that's quite a find for the Toyota family, for sure. And you'll continue to apply his trade. And I don't think this is the last time we're gonna see Weston Workman. The good thing is he's old enough to drink champagne. Now, in victory lane, some of these drivers are not. Look back on the first race of 2026. Marco Schultes had a spin that cut his day early by December. Some damage in that. What a fight it was. Oscar Tuno first fighting with Brady Golan, and then later Golan was in a battle with Danny Sufi. This was that fight coming down to the wire, and there's the contact that cost Courtney and Cecilia dearly. Great racing throughout VP Racing Sports Car Challenge. Tuno takes the victory in P3. Workman in GSX and will do it all over again tomorrow. Make sure you join us. Another VP Racing Sports Car Challenge race from Daytona. Ryan, what are you looking forward to? More of the same, Brian. Let's do it again. More of the same. We will do it again tomorrow, and the weather should be absolutely perfect, just like it was today. Make sure you join us here at the track or online. We'll see you then.