AXR take a dominant victory in Detroit

Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber converted pole position into the team’s first victory of the 2026 season. Aitken and Bamber absolutely controlled this race from this 100 minute sprint race from start to finish. Aitken brought the 31 car home to a 6.023 second gap over the number 25 WRT BMW driven by Phillip Eng in the 100 minute sprint race that saw two late full course yellows. The 31 car was able to lead from the start who was able to stretch out a lead from the 93 MSR Acura of Nick Yelloly, while the number 40 WTR Cadillac of Louis Deletraz dropped back to fourth. A mid point stop for 31 kept Aitken out in front. With the win this moved Aitken up to the top in the GTP points standings. Laurin Heinrich who came in as the leader had a race to forget having to serve multiple penalties including a stop plus 60 for contact with the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie. GTD Pro class honors went to the number 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports of Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia. The number 3 ran a very similar dominant run this weekend as did the number 31 AXR Cadillac. Garcia finished 1.935 seconds ahead of the second place Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario of Andrea Caldarelli who scored the first podium finish for the new car for the Italian manufacturer. The number 14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth looked to come home in second until he passed Garcia under caution. Hawksworth returned the position per request of race control and a drive through for incident responsibility on the restart. This prompted Nicky Catsburg to second until he appeared to slow down and getting rammed by the 15 of Aaron Telitz. This allowed the Pfaff Lamborghini to steal the unlikely result. Chris Mies was forced to pit with 45 minutes left while running second in class he was able to emerge in third place in class with a last lap pass on the Paul Miller BMW.