More than a decade on from photo finish win at IMS, Dempsey charting a new path in WEC LMGT3

With so much of the focus on WEC weekends taken up by the Hypercar field, it’s often easy to miss some of the standout moments and performances in LMGT3. 

At Imola, much of the talk in the aftermath of the race centered on class newcomer Garage 59 and its No. 10 McLaren, which came achingly close to winning on the team’s debut before an alternator failure forced the car to relinquish the lead in the closing stages. But that was far from the only standout performance from the weekend worth following up on in Spa.

For Racing Team Turkey, which also suffered mechanical woes in the opener, this weekend presents an ideal opportunity to reset and properly showcase what its driver line-up, and specifically, its pocket rocket Peter Dempsey, are capable of. 

Dempsey, the outfit’s Bronze driver, is a name that may ring a few bells amongst IndyCar devotees. The Irishman spent his junior career climbing the ladder towards IndyCar, peaking with a famous race win in a four-way photo finish at the Indy Lights Freedom 100 back in 2013. 

After that season, he hung up his helmet and shifted his focus to building a race team.

“I was 27, I was chasing a dream, and ran out of people to ask for money,” he tells RACER. “I drained every single avenue available, so I felt it was a good moment to quit and work on Plan B.”

Plan B was to set up a race team, Turn 3 Motorsports, which has been operational since 2016 and is currently part of the USF Pro 2000 Championship on the IndyCar bill. In 2026, though, after being downgraded to Bronze due to his age and time spent out of the cockpit, he’s back racing and has aspirations of a title and Le Mans glory in his first season in GT3 competition.

Dempsey has largely been focused on running his own team for the last few years, but a downgrade to Bronze status opened up an opportunity to get back into the cockpit with Racing Team Turkey. James Moy/Getty Images

“I met with Charlie (Eastwood, the factory driver in RTT’s Corvette) last year at Daytona, and he mentioned that Salih (Yoluc, the team’s Silver) needed a Bronze driver. I didn’t think much of it,” he reflects. “But then, turning 40, the timing was right in terms of a downgrade, and I was able to do an evaluation test. That went well, and here I am, I’m just rolling with it!”

It hasn’t taken Dempsey long to get up to speed. A combination of track testing in the off-season at Sebring, Bahrain, Dubai and Qatar, plus sim work, helped him prepare for the challenge and shake off any rust. The user-friendliness of the Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R and the team around him have also played a role.

“The Corvette is very different to anything I’d driven in open-wheel competition for like the last 25 years,” he says. “So it took time to adjust to things like ABS, traction control and traffic management. But it’s a very rewarding car to drive.

“Salih and Charlie also go way back, and have lots of experience, so it’s been good to learn from them and how they interact with the engineers. It’s a good working relationship, which is key because this is the highest-level championship I’ve ever raced in.”

There were clear signs at Imola that Dempsey will play a unique role in this field. Comfortably quick enough to place the Team Turkey Vette into Hyperpole, and consistent enough to warrant strapping Yoluc (the team’s Silver) in for the start of the race against the Bronze pack, his impact on the balance of the team’s line-up opens up options on strategy that may pay dividends through the season.

“The struggle is that if I start the race and it goes Full Course Yellow, it’s a waste of my stint,” he explains. “But I’ll also be strong at getting through traffic. So we’re weighing up options. It’s key, though, that we have options, because ultimately we need to use Salih and me to our advantage to make sure we give the car to Charlie in the best possible position, with no damage, so he can do his thing. We could have had a strong result in Imola; we had the speed and strategy, we just hit bad luck.”

For that reason, looking ahead, Dempsey feels the team can and should dream big this year, especially since 2026 may well be his one shot at glory, as there’s no plan in place for him to continue racing beyond the season finale in Bahrain.

“This could be a one-and-done deal,” he admits. “My focus, ultimately, is on my own race team; that’s always going to be my priority. If this goes on longer, then fantastic, but the most important thing is to make the most of this year, and whatever we can achieve is priority one.”