IMPC: Riley Pegram scores best result of season with sixth at Indianapolis
Riley Pegram and her father Larry Pegram produced their strongest result of the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season at Indianapolis, recovering from an early-race setback to finish sixth in TCR with their family-run Pegram Racing Honda Civic TCR.
Riley Pegram and her father Larry Pegram produced their strongest result of the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season at Indianapolis, recovering from an early-race setback to finish sixth in TCR with their family-run Pegram Racing Honda Civic TCR.
Starting seventh on the grid, Riley delivered one of the strongest stints of her IMSA career before handing the #72 Honda over to her father, who continued the recovery through the second half of the two-hour race and secured a sixth-place finish after a late restart.
Maddie Aust, meanwhile, finished ninth in TCR with Bryan Herta Autosport teammate Mark Wilkins after a complicated race shaped by caution periods and an alternative pit strategy that ultimately failed to deliver the track position the #98 Hyundai Elantra N TCR had initially appeared capable of achieving.
Pegram arrived at Indianapolis in the midst of her sophomore IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign, once again sharing the Honda with her father. The 2026 season had already tested the Pegram pairing, with the team showing the pace to run at the front during the early stages at Daytona before a setback ended their challenge, followed by a more difficult Sebring weekend and a succession of technical issues that repeatedly prevented them from converting their pace into results. Their fortunes began to turn at Road America, where a well-executed strategy delivered seventh in TCR, before another strong performance at Virginia International Raceway saw them match that result. Indianapolis would ultimately produce an even better outcome.
Aust, meanwhile, was continuing her second season with Bryan Herta Autosport alongside veteran Wilkins in the #98 Hyundai. After opening the year with back-to-back fourth-place finishes at Daytona and Sebring, the pairing scored its maiden podium of the season at Mid-Ohio and followed it with another top-six result at Watkins Glen. A fuel-strategy gamble at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park interrupted that run, while a strong performance at Road America was again undermined by strategy, leaving the duo tenth at the finish. At Virginia International Raceway, Aust's otherwise strong season was interrupted by a race-ending incident beyond her control, making Indianapolis an important opportunity to return to the competitive form shown earlier in the campaign.
The Pegram Racing Honda immediately demonstrated its pace in practice, with the family pairing finishing seventh overall in the opening session with a 1:32.596, less than a second away from the TCR benchmark. They remained inside the top ten in FP2, ending the second session tenth overall and providing a strong foundation for Saturday's qualifying session.
Aust also made a promising start to qualifying, quickly producing laps in the 1:32.3s and moving as high as sixth in the TCR order during the early part of the session. Pegram's initial pace was more conservative, with Riley recording a 1:34.5 and sitting ninth midway through the session, but she continued to improve as the session progressed. Her effort culminated in an excellent 1:32.104, putting the #72 Honda seventh in TCR. Aust ultimately completed her qualifying run with a 1:32.382, securing ninth in class and placing both drivers inside the top ten for the start of the two-hour race.
Pegram therefore lined up seventh in TCR for Saturday afternoon's race, with Aust directly behind in ninth, and both made clean starts. Riley retained seventh through the opening lap and immediately established a useful gap to the cars behind, while Aust also held ninth before dropping to tenth on the second lap when Tally moved past. The BHA driver quickly regained the position, only for Baker's Audi to sneak through and send her back down the order.
While Pegram continued to run strongly in seventh, Aust found herself engaged in a much closer fight, battling Tally again and eventually dropping to 11th in class. The first major interruption came approximately ten minutes into the race when Gabby Chaves spun his Toyota Supra and hit the barriers at Turn 7, triggering the first full-course yellow.
As the field went back to green, Riley Pegram was hit by the #76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai driven by Brown, sending the #72 Honda off and dropping her all the way to the back of the TCR field. Brown was subsequently handed a drive-through penalty for the incident, but Pegram was left with significant ground to recover. Aust, meanwhile, benefited from the restart and moved up to ninth.
Before the field could settle again, the leading TCR car, the #77 Stallion Motorsports Cupra, suffered a front-suspension failure at Turn 1, bringing out another immediate caution. Aust moved to eighth in TCR, while Pegram had already begun her recovery and climbed to tenth, ahead of Brown once the Hyundai served its penalty.
The race was then neutralised for a third time after a multi-car incident involving the #66 Aston Martin, the #46 Team TGM Mustang and several other cars, with competitors forced to take evasive action as the crash unfolded. At the third restart, Aust remained eighth, while Pegram had recovered to eighth as well, with Bergstein now behind her.
Riley's pace quickly became one of the highlights of the Pegram Racing recovery. She was able to attack the cars around her and eventually overtook Aust to reclaim eighth place. The Honda remained in the TCR battle as the race approached the 40-minute mark, with Riley continuing to demonstrate good consistency and racecraft.
Another full-course yellow followed when the #38 ST Racing BMW ended up in the gravel, occurring just as the first major round of pit stops approached. The caution prompted the field to pit, compressing the order.
As the race reached the one-hour mark, the TCR cars in fact came into the pits under caution. Aust brought the #98 Hyundai in and handed over to Wilkins, with the BHA crew executing a quick stop that placed the car into the class lead. The strategy, however, required another stop later in the race, meaning the team had effectively traded some future track position for immediate track position.
At the same time, Riley completed her excellent opening stint and handed the #72 Honda over to Larry Pegram. Her performance represented one of the strongest stints of her season, bringing the car into the pits running seventh in class.
When Wilkins made his next stop on lap 33 as the race returned to green, the Hyundai dropped to 11th in TCR, opening the door for the Pegram Racing Honda to move up to sixth. With 55 minutes remaining, Larry Pegram was now embedded in the TCR pack and continued the strong performance of the #72 Honda, while Wilkins found himself nearly a minute behind in 11th, relying on the expectation that the other TCR cars ahead would also need to make a second stop.
As the second half unfolded, Pegram remained competitive, moving to seventh before later climbing back to sixth when Tim Lewis' TCR car came to a halt. Lewis was able to bring the car out of the danger zone and park it at a marshal post, allowing the race to remain under green, but the incident nevertheless promoted Larry back into sixth. Wilkins, meanwhile, moved to tenth in TCR.
Pegram was subsequently passed by Eddie Gou and slipped back to seventh, but the Honda remained in a good position for a strong result as the closing stages approached.
The final five minutes once again transformed the order: Chaves, who had led the overall GS race without yet making his final pit stop, slowed and eventually ran out of fuel, parking the Toyota on track and triggering another full-course yellow.
The final restart produced a frantic one-lap dash to the chequered flag. Pegram kept his composure and managed to gain one more position on the final lap, snatching sixth in TCR to complete an impressive recovery and secure the Pegram Racing team's best result of the season.
Wilkins also benefited from the late shuffle, although the BHA strategy ultimately failed to produce the hoped-for recovery, with the #98 Hyundai finishing tenth in class before being promoted to ninth.
For Pegram Racing, the sixth-place finish continued the positive sequence that began at Road America and Virginia International Raceway, while Riley's strong opening stint provided another indication of the progress made during the second half of the season.
After nine rounds, Aust and Wilkins sit sixth in the TCR standings with 220 points, while Pegram's recent run of results has lifted her to 12th in the standings with 1,850 points. The championship now heads into the season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on October 1-3.
