Winward’s Morad, Ward Deliver Detroit Win

Daniel Morad and Bryce Ward took the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 to victory in Saturday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS class-only 100-minute race on the streets of Detroit.

It marked both drivers’ first victory in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition.

Ward started 11th and pitted shortly after the 33-minute mark, three minutes after the minimum drive time window of 30 minutes opened.

The Winward team swapped in Morad, took rear Michelin tires and resumed on course shortly behind the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 and No. 28 RS1 Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS CS, which had been the dominant cars in the opening stanza of the race.

The No. 28 car, started by Eric Filgueiras, went for a fuel-only stop and swapped the car to Stevan McAleer. Meanwhile, the No. 95 car, started on pole by Cameron Lawrence, matched the strategy and flipped over to Robert Megennis after leading the opening 28 laps.

It was there the complexion – and visuals – of the race changed.

Megennis sought to lap Rory van der Steur in the No. 19 van der Steur Aston Martin Vantage GT4 heading into the primary passing opportunity on the bumpy, 1.645-mile, nine-turn course.

It all went awry when Megennis drove into van der Steur, with the momentum carrying his BMW up and over the Aston Martin in a spectacular incident. Megennis’ car hit the top of the tire barriers before he continued onto the pit lane, while van der Steur’s car was significantly impacted on the driver’s side and roof of the car. Both drivers made it back to pit lane.

The resulting full-course caution shuffled the order as a handful of cars, including the points-leading No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes of Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak, had not yet pitted and subsequently lost track position when it did stop.

The race resumed with McAleer cycled to the front ahead of Marc Miller in the debuting No. 78 Thaze Competition by MC Squared Mercedes and Morad third in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes.

Morad took off behind the leaders, as McAleer had a gap of a couple lapped cars between himself and Miller. After charging past two lapped cars on the first restart lap, Lap 40, Morad had the gap down to just a second behind McAleer by Lap 43.

Morad made the winning move on Lap 46, sizing up McAleer into Turn 1 and going past him on the inside on the run to Turn 2.

While Morad began to stretch his gap in front, McAleer put on a defensive driving clinic behind him to keep a bevy of cars in his rearview mirror, in the form of Miller, Jeff Westphal (No. 39 CarBahn by Peregrine Racing Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS Clubsport), Elliott Skeer (No. 47 Nolasport Porsche) and the recovering Szymczak.

Despite multiple attempts, Miller was never able to get past McAleer. The two were former teammates with another program back in the day and know each other’s racing styles well, so a healthy level of respect was present.

McAleer and Filgueiras finished second with Miller and Michael Di Meo completing a dream debut for Birmingham, Mich.-based Thaze Competition, finishing on the podium in both the team’s and Miller’s home race.

RESULTS: Race