DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ Oscar Tunjo started from pole Saturday (Jan. 17) and led all but one lap en route to victory in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season opener at Daytona International Speedway. It is his third career win in the series.
“It was a tough race with big battles on track,” Tunjo told Frontstretch in victory lane. “The new Ligier with the [twin turbo] engine is really quick on the straights, so we knew that we had to fight [in] the infield so that we could build a gap. I’m happy to bring the first win of the season…and a big thank you to GEBHARDT Motorsports for all the effort.”
Tunjo won by 3.729 seconds over Toney Driver Development’s Brady Golan. Danny Soufi was third, followed by Lincoln Day and Brian Thienes.
With a lap at 124.652 mph, Tunjo started from pole in his Duqueine M30-D08-Nissan with teammate Soufi alongside. Soufi stated before the race that getting a good start and hanging with Tunjo was critical. Unfortunately for him, Tunjo got an excellent start and left him. Golan was able to sweep past into second.
The 2026 season will feature the second generation LMP3s and the new third generation cars. Golan qualified best of those in the new Ligier JS P325 and had a straight-line speed advantage. As a result, the opening laps saw Golan threaten Tunjo on the tri-oval, then lose ground in the infield.
Slower GSX traffic played a role in keeping the leaders close together. 18 minutes into the race, Tunjo caught Sean Quinlan in the Le Mans chicane. That was enough to balk the No. 1.
Golan was unhindered in the chicane and quickly ran down Tunjo. He actually led at the start-finish line, but Tunjo was able to reassume the advantage in turn 2.
Tunjo eventually stretched his lead to 1.5 seconds before he missed part of the Le Mans chicane with 12 minutes. In an attempt to avoid a penalty, Tunjo slowed up a little and allowed Golan to get back to his rear wing.
However, the warmer weather during the race resulted in a decent amount of tire wear. Golan’s car faded in the closing laps while Tunjo was able to pull away. Instead of fighting for the win, Golan now had to battle for second with Soufi.
Golan’s fade allowed Tunjo to cruise to a victory that seemed a little more comfortable than it actually was.
In GSX, RAFA Racing Team’s Westin Workman started from pole in his Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO 2. Unlike in LMP3, he was not seriously threatened early on.
He was able to open up a couple of seconds in the first couple of laps on the rest of the class. Justin Di Benedetto was able to get past Ismaeel Ellahi to take second on the opening lap.
Workman was able to open up his advantage to nearly nine seconds in the first half of the race. A slip-up resulted in the lead slipping back to five seconds, but he was able to pour it on once again.
Meanwhile, Ellahi, who was competing in his sixth-ever race in anything, was able to stay with Di Benedetto and eventually got the second spot back. While Workman was off on his own, the fight was second was rather fierce.
Workman was able to expand his lead up to over 10 seconds while Ellahi and Di Benedetto battled. Despite that, he easily held on to take the GSX win on debut.
“It was great. The team gave me a great car…and I was out there doing my own thing,” Workman told Frontstretch after the race. “[Prior to this weekend], I shook down the car Wednesday in South Carolina. I got five laps, then came straight here.”
Workman’s margin of victory was 10.247 seconds over Ellahi, who held on Di Benedetto for second on debut. Quinlan was fourth, while Dan Ammann was fifth after a late incident took Courtney Crone out of the top-five.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge: Daytona Race No. 1 Results
VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Race No. 2 from Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to go green at 1:20 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon. Coverage will air live on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock starting at 1:15 p.m. ET. By virtue of his second fastest lap of qualifying earlier Saturday, Tunjo will once again start from the overall pole.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the Frontstretch Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.