Finally, the win arrived. Heading into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the longtime BMW campaigner Turner Motorsport had put together a strong 2026 season filled with championship contention, but the top step of the podium had stubbornly eluded them. That drought ended in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher delivered the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class victory in the No. 96 Turner BMW M4 GT3 EVO, edging out the GTD points leaders and two-time defending class champions Philip Ellis and Russell Ward in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 by a razor-thin margin of 0.501 of a second. The triumph marked Foley's ninth WeatherTech Championship win and Gallagher's second, snapping a winless streak in the series that stretched back to August 2024 at Road America.
Now, Gallagher and Foley sit just six points behind Ward and Ellis as the series heads to the season finale at the 29th annual Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Winward has been a dominant force with at least three wins over the last couple of years, making the title fight a daunting prospect. Even so, team owner Will Turner praised a flawless execution from his drivers and crew, noting that the timely victory provides crucial championship momentum.
Yet the celebration carried a profound sense of grief following the passing of Matt Dalton, a friend and partner of the team who made four starts for Turner in the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and another four in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. Dalton, who owned Belle Haven Investments and considered Indianapolis his home track, shared a career-best fifth-place finish with Gallagher at Road America last year. Gallagher placed a memorial sticker for Dalton on the event trophy, calling the emotional win a fitting cap to a difficult few weeks.
Meanwhile, the team's Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign also remains very much alive despite a late heartbreak at Indianapolis. Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars had built an 80-point lead in the Grand Sport (GS) class in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 EVO prior to the weekend, thanks to a win at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and three other podiums. But a mechanical issue on the final restart while Mars was running comfortably in the top 10 dropped them to a 16th-place finish and stripped away their points lead.
Machavern and Mars now trail Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer in the No. 27 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO by 30 points heading into the season-ending Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Robert Noaker in the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 sits 40 points back, while Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretzky in the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 and Bryce Ward in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 also remain in title contention.
Turner has previously claimed multiple titles in a single season—winning the GS and VP Racing Challenge Grand Sport X (GSX) titles in 2023, and the GS and Street Tuner (ST) titles in 2006—but securing both the WeatherTech and Michelin Pilot Challenge crowns simultaneously would mark a new peak. With low-drama professionals like 20-year-old rising star Mars and veteran mentor Foley leading the charge, the team is fully prepared for a massive showdown in Georgia.
