- Washington, Ayhancan Güven and Riccardo Pera Complete Controlled and Competitive Run for GMG’s First Major Endurance Race Victory and Washington’s First Championship
- Breakthrough Win First Overall Victory for Porsche and a Pro-Am Entry in the Indianapolis 8 Hour
GMG Racing put the exclamation point on its 20th Anniversary season in motorsports Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) with a career victory in the season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour with team co-drivers Kyle Washington, Ayhancan Güven and Riccardo Pera in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. The competitive and controlled victory was a first on many fronts, led by Washington and GMG Racing winning their first major races and sealing the 2026 GT World Challenge America Pro-Am driver and team championships.
The Indianapolis 8 Hour was also the season finale for the global Intercontinental GT Challenge series and GMG Racing’s convincing victory – the first overall triumph for a Pro-Am entry in the race’s seven years – helped seal Porsche’s fourth IGTC manufacturer championship. Remarkably, the victory was also the first outright win for perennial sports car racing powerhouse Porsche in the Indy 8 Hour.
“It means a lot, especially for a guy like Kyle who gives and gives and gives and rarely takes,” said GMG Racing Owner and Founder James Sofronas said. “I'm super proud of him. He deserves it. He worked hard for it. He earned it. You know what, they dominated on Saturday and Kyle had a big part in it.”
Washington started the eight-hour race in mid-pack and avoided the early pitfalls that sidelined Pro division favorites and several Pro-Am competitors in the early stages. Washington completed a two-stint cycle to meet his mandatory drive time in the race’s opening hours and handed Güven and Pera a clean and on-pace No. 32 Porsche to take to the finish.
Well, as I say on my kids' report cards, I think we exceeded expectations for the year, and I couldn't be prouder of the team," Washington said. "When I first got into racing, I didn’t really understand how many parts there were to the program. We have 30-plus people on the team, every one of them with a specific job, and if one of them doesn’t do it, it all falls apart. Every single one of these guys just worked their asses off, way more than me, quite frankly. I am just so proud of them. They gave us a great car every weekend, and, you know, we got lucky. We had some luck on our side too. You got to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good. And we were good.”
Pera quickly moved into the overall and Pro-Am leads, positioning the team to challenge for both victories for the rest of the race. He and Güven then alternated behind the wheel and stayed at the front of the field for the distance while top pit stops and unmatched strategy calls greatly contributed to the convincing victory.
“The execution of the race was really good,” Pera said. “The team did a really good job on the car and on the strategy side. I jumped in the car after Kyle did a really mega job, and then I was able to make up some positions and get to the front. Then Ayhancan also drove really amazingly. The strategy was good. We realized we were fast, we could win the race, and we stayed out of trouble. At the end, we just reached first position. It's amazing.”
For the majority of the race, event broadcasters referred to the No. 32 as being “off sequence” with the team’s pit stops compared to the competition. It later became apparent, as Güven strapped in a final time to get the No. 32 to the finish, that the team’s pit stop strategy was part of the victorious plan.
Güven put in a quick but comfortable closing stint and took the checkered flag for the monumental win nearly a minute ahead of the second-place finisher, the largest margin of victory in the history of the Indianapolis 8 Hour. The North American IGTC round, which was first was held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca from 2017 – 2019, now shifts to Circuit of The Americas (COTA) beginning in 2027 after a seven-year run at Indianapolis.
“I came here two years ago with this team as the IGTC leader but unfortunately we had a really bad race,” Güven said. “However, ever since that day, we’ve kept telling ourselves that we’d come back stronger. Kyle put in a really good stint, and we were hopeful that the strategy would pay off. Halfway through the race, it became clear to us that we might even be able to aim for overall victory. From that moment on, with Riccardo at the wheel, we really put our foot down, and in the end, it worked out really well.”
Güven and Pera collectively filled in for fellow Porsche ace Tom Sargent, Washington’s primary co-driver who joined him and the team for the first races of the year. Together, Washington and Sargent won two races prior to Indy and finished third and fourth in two others. Sargent reluctantly missed the final as he was sent to Europe to help another Porsche team attempt to win a European Le Mans Series championship, but Washington and the No. 32 team would not have come to the Indianapolis finale in the position they were in without Sargent’s major contributions.
About GMG Racing: Founded in 2001, GMG Racing quickly established itself as North America’s premier performance tuning facility. What began as a small 1,200 sq. ft. shop, maintaining two race cars, has grown into a state-of-the-art performance tuning, racing and service facility relocated last year to The Thermal Club and a 28,000 sq. ft. trackside motorsports facility. The staff, attention to detail and passion are what make GMG the choice of professionals and enthusiasts worldwide. GMG, in its early years, was located directly across the street from Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA). This close proximity allowed GMG to build a strong relationship with the legendary racing brand which has helped the company support its customers to the highest level possible. We have since won several Championships, not only with Porsche, but with Audi, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and McLaren. From club racing to Sebring, Daytona, Spa, Montreal, COTA and The Thermal Club, GMG can take you as far as you want to go. More information can be found at www.gmgracing.com.