STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — The “mid” in the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course described perfectly middle-of-the-road conditions directly in-between a gray, cloudy and wet start and clear, sunny and drying finish to the opening IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race of the weekend.
What wasn’t “mid,” however, was the performances delivered by both class championship leaders who excelled in the challenging conditions.
Oscar Tunjo in Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) and overall and Westin Workman in Grand Sport X (GSX) maintained their season long form en route to a pair of victories in the 45-minute race.
Tunjo had track experience in his back pocket from winning his first VP Racing Challenge event at the Mid-Ohio circuit in 2025 in similar treacherous conditions. But what was new to him this weekend – at least in North America – was his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine D09, a loaned chassis from Duqueine run by Forbush Performance at the most recent IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge race (the endurance portion of the VP Racing Challenge) at Circuit of The Americas.
The Colombian has raced Duqueine’s third generation LMP3 chassis in Europe but made his first start in the new car in the U.S. this race as his primary Duqueine D08 chassis has been sent to France for updates. This weekend has seen Tunjo spend time adapting to the new chassis at this track and learning in real-time through evolving race conditions.
Although Tunjo led flag-to-flag from pole en route to his fourth total and third sprint win this season, he didn’t have it entirely easy. A lead of more than six seconds briefly whittled down to just over two seconds in the final 15 minutes of the race in GSX traffic, before Tunjo expanded the gap back to a healthy 20.415 seconds by the end of the race.
“It was a tricky race after a tricky weekend so far,” Tunjo explained. “We had a dry practice, then a wet qualifying, then a wet-to-dry race. We had a good qualifying though. The start was tricky, but it got better when the track dried. It was hectic and hard to know when to push depending on the grip. Great to get another sprint win though!
“Today the track dried quicker (than last year), but I learned a lot from last year,” he added in comparing this race to his 2025 win. “We’ll try to maximize the weekend.”
His Gebhardt Motorsport-affiliated teammate, Danny Soufi, posted his best race of the season in his own new Duqueine D09 chassis, the No. 11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing entered car. It’s not technically a Gebhardt Motorsport-entered 1-2, but it is the team’s first 1-2 finish in IMSA P3 competition since the first race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta last October when Tunjo led home 2025 IMSA P3 champion Valentino Catalano.
In third, Bronze Cup winner Travis Hill delivered an impressive drive in the No. 2 Shopify Racing Ligier JS P325. Hill’s TWOth Autosport team rebuilt the Ligier chassis going into Mid-Ohio and secured his first Bronze Cup win of the season. In the final seven minutes, Hill made a pass of series returnee Lincoln Day in his No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325.
“We’ll call this a win for sure,” Hill said. “Happy to get it all together and in one piece. So nice to be on the overall podium. You could tell (Lincoln) was losing the rears a bit, so I tried to wait for an opportunity. I threw a dummy, then I was able to get alongside him.”
Westin Workman’s name can’t be spelled without the word “win.” In the wet-to-dry race, Workman continued his win streak to open the VP Racing Challenge GSX season.
The driver of the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 captured his fifth victory in as many races in an unchallenged drive from pole, leading flag-to-flag to win by a lap.
Workman gained experience in the wet for the first time aboard his GT4 Supra at Daytona earlier this year. Though the 3.56-mile combination oval/road course at Daytona and the 2.258-mile rolling, natural terrain Mid-Ohio road course couldn’t be further apart in terms of venue type, Workman figured out how to manage the changing conditions in both easily.
“Honestly it was about managing the tires,” Workman said. “I didn’t start out with a big gap, but as the track dried out, it really showed to find the grip. That was the name of the game, honestly. We kept an eye on the radar. Once the cloud went over and the sun came out, it was game on. I started to push to go from 60 percent to everything I had.”
Series returnees Justin Di Benedetto and Ismaeel Ellahi, both of whom missed the Circuit of The Americas sprint race double in February, completed the GSX podium. Di Benedetto enjoyed a smooth drive to second in his No. 4 Di Benedetto Racing Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS, while Ellahi drove up to and past Courtney Crone for third in his No. 25 CSM Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.
Rob Walker, in his first start of the year, won the GSX Bronze Cup in his No. 53 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 ahead of the top-finishing full-season Bronze Cup entrant, Dan Ammann in the No. 91 VRC Motorsports Group, LLC Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.
