Pivotal pit work propels Ibiza Farm McLaren to Mid-Ohio Pilot Challenge win

A combination of pivotal pit work and dynamic last-lap drama produced the two winners in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge headlining showcase at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio.

Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky scored their second Grand Sport (GS) win of the year in their No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4. Meanwhile, courtesy of a last-lap pass, Karl Wittmer brought Honda to victory lane for the first time this year on its home turf in the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR he shared with LP Montour and Dai Yoshihara.

Honda is the 17th of 18 participating OEMs to win a race in 2026 across eight IMSA-sanctioned series. This is Honda’s first Mid-Ohio IMSA win in the series now known as Michelin Pilot Challenge since 2013, in the Street Tuner (ST) class with RSR Motorsports and drivers Andrew Novich and Tom Dyer. The manufacturer has a plant in nearby Marysville. Acura has won in WeatherTech Championship competition at the circuit more recently.

In GS, a slick pit stop propelled Cooper forward five positions into the lead. Once unleashed out front, the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 streaked away to the Grand Sport (GS) class win.

Most of the opening two and a half hours of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio ran under green flag conditions and sunny skies after a roller coaster weather weekend. But the race complexion changed entirely following a full course caution with 97 minutes remaining for an incident for the No. 2 car entering Turn 1.

Cooper entered the pit lane sixth for the penultimate scheduled pit stop, but a stop more than 12 seconds quicker than the No. 95 Turner Motorsport and 15 quicker than the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVOs proved pivotal to move the No. 44 car to the head of the queue.

Once out front, Cooper ran in clear air to build his lead north of nine seconds before his final stop, then was the first to make his final stop. The Ibiza Farm team’s last stop was also more than six seconds quicker than the BMW pair, and Cooper emerged more than 15 seconds ahead on track.

He brought the No. 44 McLaren home to his and Uretsky’s second win of the season (Sebring) by 2.295 seconds despite another full-course caution and another restart.

“Moisey kept us within 10-15 seconds of the leaders in the first two stints, and that was all we needed,” Cooper said. “I got in the car maybe sixth or seventh and we couldn’t pass anyone without straight line speed. But then we had a yellow and a pit stop and jumped everyone, and that was all we needed. I just hit my marks, and we got in clean air – which is what suits this Ibiza Farm McLaren best.”

Uretsky, who started fifth, raced against some of the best in GS in a jumbled starting grid for his stint. While it appeared calm and quiet on paper, he said it was anything but from behind the wheel.

“It was not a calm stint!” he laughed. “At this track you have to push every lap, there’s not a lot of cautions. We had the right team and the right strategy, and we figured everything out. This one, everyone had to nail.”

Despite a weekend full of pace, BMW came up shy of the victory even though a trio of the M4 GT4 EVOs finished second through fourth. The championship-leading No. 95 Turner pair of Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars finished second, one spot off the car’s winning ways from Mid-Ohio last year and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last race, while the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 39 CarBahn entry of Jeff Westphal and Sean McAlister finished a season-best third.

AutoTechnic Racing banked its fourth top-six finish in as many races this year with Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz in the No. 27 BMW. Koch-Copeland Motorsports’ trio of Ford Koch, Jaxon Bell and Jeremy Fletcher completed the top five in their No. 23 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

TCR: Last-lap pass nets Wittmer, Honda an Ohio win

After starting third and overcoming a drive-through penalty for tires without crew on a pit stop, the No. 93 MMG Honda rallied with first Yoshihara, then Montour, then Wittmer aboard the car. Geoff Miller/IMSA photo

Preston Brown and Denis Dupont’s form in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge four-hour races is well-known, so much so it would take a superhuman effort to beat it. Karl Wittmer put on the proverbial cape to do so on the final lap of the four-hour race in Mid-Ohio.

Despite starting 11th, the resilience of Brown and Dupont was poised to pay off with their fourth four-hour race win. Brown, battling an illness, got out after fulfilling his minimum drive time and turned the No. 76 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR over to Dupont for a stint over three hours in warm, mid-80-degree conditions.

After starting third and also overcoming a drive-through penalty for tires without crew on a pit stop, the No. 93 MMG Honda rallied with first Yoshihara, then Montour, then Wittmer aboard the car – with Wittmer taking over for the final stint with just over an hour remaining.

Wittmer hounded, dogged and hustled to try to get past Dupont, who delivered a sterling defense both inside and outside primarily heading into Turn 4 at the end of Mid-Ohio’s longest straight.

But finally, on the last lap, Wittmer deployed the late race magic he’s known to wield – he put the No. 93 Honda on the podium late at both VIRginia International Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year – to make a move on Dupont into Turn 4 and proceed to capture the checkered flag by just 0.801 of a second.

“Denis is such a good driver; he kept me honest and I have such respect for him,” Wittmer said. “I took a launch out of the Keyhole, side drafted him and lunged for it. Props to him for giving it up so clean. It’s a mutual respect thing. It was very hot in the car, everything got hot, but we worked through it.”

Dupont, tired and nearly triumphant, reflected on the battle for the win.

“I tried everything,” Dupont admitted. “I think he knew that he had a little bit more where he could make it happen. In the braking zone he got ahead of me and there wasn’t much I could do. Fair play to him though!”

Behind Dupont and Brown, two more Herta Hyundais finished third and fourth, although not the championship-leading No. 33 entry.

The No. 98 Hyundai of Mark Wilkins and Madison Aust finished third, with Aust scoring her first Michelin Pilot Challenge podium. The No. 18 car rallied to fourth with the trio of Harry Gottsacker, Lance Bergstein and Jon Miller.

The new Stallion Motorsports w/GOU team posted its season-best finish of fifth with Celso Neto and Raphael Reis sharing the No. 77 Cupra Leon VZ TCR.

IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams resume for two-hour races the rest of the season, with the LP Building Solutions 120 next up on Saturday, June 27, at Watkins Glen International.

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