IMPC: Top-5 finish for Madison Aust, Pegram Racing lead laps at Daytona

Madison Aust made a strong start to the season in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge as the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian driver scored a fourth-place finish at Daytona International Speedway. Riley Pegram continued her progress in the series by confidently running with the lead group of drivers, before a late-race puncture put pay to a potential podium result.

Photo credits: Jake Galstad / IMSA

Madison Aust made a strong start to the season in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge as the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian driver scored a fourth-place finish at Daytona International Speedway. Racing alongside Mark Wilkins and Andre Castro, the trio made excellent improvements over the course of the event to begin the season on a high. Despite Aust receiving contact during her stint, the team displayed good determination to recover in the latter stages of the race to narrowly miss out on a podium finish in the TCR class.

Riley Pegram continued her progress in the series by confidently running with the lead group of drivers, before a late-race puncture put pay to a potential podium result. In her first start in Pegram Racing’s new Honda Civic FL5 TCR, Riley spent much of her stint inside the top-10, before handing over to teammate Mario Farnbacher. Farnbacher drove superbly to lead a large portion of the four-hour race, before a pit stop misjudgement and subsequent puncture led to a late race retirement. 

Aust and Pegram arrived into the 2026 season looking to build upon strong prior campaigns in the TCR class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Both drivers established themselves in 2025 as they regularly contended for top-10 results. Teaming up with Suellio Almeida, Aust finished seventh in the final standings with the duo scoring three top-5 finishes, including a season’s best of fourth at Daytona International Speedway. Pegram raced alongside her father Larry with the pair ending the campaign in 11^th within the TCR class, securing four top-10 results.

After a successful campaign with Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian, Aust returned to the championship winning squad for the upcoming season again driving a Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Mark Wilkins was her new full-season teammate with the Canadian racer a previous champion in the TCR class back in 2019. For the opening event of the season, Aust and Wilkins were joined by Andre Castro with the American driver having previous made starts in the USF2000 Championship and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Photo credits: Jake Galstad / IMSA

Pegram also arrived into the season with some continuity with family-run Pegram Racing operating their entry. However, Riley faced the challenge of learning a new car as the team switched to a Honda Civic FL5 TCR for the 2026 campaign. Due to an injury sustained by father Larry Pegram in a testing incident, two-time IMSA GTD champion Mario Farnbacher partnered Riley for the season-opener. 

Both teams participated in the traditional ROAR Before the 24 test days which allowed the drivers to familiarise themselves with the circuit ahead of the curtain-raising four-hour event. Farnbacher impressed despite his lack of recent TCR experience as the German racer set the fourth fastest time across the five sessions, just over a tenth of a second behind pacesetter Rocco Pasquarella. 

WIlkins was the fastest driver aboard the #98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian machine as he set the tenth quickest lap within the TCR class. Pegram completed a total of 62 laps and was within two seconds of Farnbacher’s fastest time on a 1:59.584, while Aust was just a tenth of a second behind her fellow female driver with a quickest testing lap of a 1:59.628. 

The first official free practice session took place on Wednesday afternoon with Pegram Racing continuing their strong form by setting the fourth fastest lap within TCR. In the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian machine, Wilkins achieved the quickest time which placed the #33 car in 13^th position.

In Thursday’s second session, an improved time of a 1:58.526 saw Aust’s crew finish the session in eighth position with 24 laps completed by the trio. Good mileage was also gained by Pegram and Farnbacher who ended free practice two inside the top-5, cementing themselves as the leading Honda Civic FL5 TCR runner.

Qualifying was held on Thursday afternoon with Riley behind the wheel of the Pegram Racing entry, while debutant Andre Castro took responsibility in the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian machine. 

Both Pegram and Castro made good progress during the session, with their fastest times coming in the second half of qualifying. Setting a quickest lap of a 1:58.515, Castro qualifed in tenth position within TCR and was just over a second away from row two of the grid. Pegram also lapped below the two-minute mark with Riley’s fastest time of a 1:59.340 placing the young driver in 14^th position. Due to a penalty for the pole-sitting Victor Gonzalez Racing machine post-qualifying, this elevated Castro to ninth and Pegram to 13^th place on the grid respectively. 

Photo credits: Jake Galstad / IMSA

The four-hour race got underway on Friday afternoon with Castro and Pegram looking for a clean start in the TCR class. As the green flag was displayed, both drivers did a nice job on the opening lap with Castro remaining in ninth, while Pegram gained one spot to move into 12^th. Although Tyler Chambers and a recovering Franco Girolami passed Riley on laps two and three respectively, she was racing smartly in the leading group of drivers.

Despite his lack of TCR experience, Castro was moving forward and by lap four, he was into seventh position. After being overtaking by Girolami himself on lap five, a move on multiple race-winner Preston Brown saw Castro reclaim seventh position two laps later. Castro was among the fastest cars in the TCR class during the early exchanges and when the first full course yellow period occurred on lap 19, he was inside the top-5.

Meanwhile, Pegram was lapping consistently and although she remained behind Chambers in 14^th position, the leading group remained in her sight. It was a mature start to the race for Riley who had adapted well to the new car and was displaying strong pace in a highly competitive field of TCR class machines. After debris was cleared from the racing line, both drivers pitted with Pegram remaining onboard, while Castro handed over to Madison Aust for her first stint of the race. 

While the class split was ongoing behind the safety car, contact was made between RAFA Racing’s Varun Choksey and the Stallion Motorsports with Gou machine of Celso Neto. As Choksey was passing the TCR class machines, Neto was warming his tyres on the banked oval and contact was made between the cars. As a result, Choksey’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 collected Eddie Gou with all three cars subsequently retiring from the race. 

Photo credits: Jake Galstad / IMSA

This resulted in an extended full course yellow period and this concluded the first hour of the race with Aust restarting from eighth position, while Pegram took the green flag from tenth within the TCR class. 

It was a difficult restart for both female drivers as they initially fell back with Aust slipping to 12^th and Pegram settling into 14^th spot. Just one lap of green flag racing was completed before LP Montour made contact with the tyre barrier at turn one. This led to the second full course yellow period of the race with both drivers remaining on the circuit.

As a result, Aust restarted from tenth with Pegram just behind in 11^th position. The Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian driver was quickly forced to defend and after contact from Douglas Oakley, Aust was spun around at the West Horseshoe. Although this incident lost Madison some time, the car was relatively undamaged and she rejoined the race in 12^th position within the TCR class.

Riley benefited from this incident as she climbed into ninth place with the Pegram Racing driver now settled into a consistent rhythm. After Girolami served a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility for Montour, Riley was up to eighth and this soon became seventh after Chad Gilsinger pitted his HART Honda Civic FL5 TCR. 

Oakley was also assessed a penalty for his contact with Aust and this promoted the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian machine back into 11^th prior to a number of drivers making pit stops. By lap 40, Aust was up to eighth position and defending smartly from series veteran William Tally. The Victor Gonzalez Racing driver overtook Aust on lap 44, however Madison then pitted at the conclusion of the lap to hand the car over to Canadian racer Mark Wilkins.

Photo credits: Jake Galstad / IMSA

As Wilkins got onboard the Hyundai Elantra N TCR, Tally’s car came to a halt with a technical issue and this led to another full course yellow period. Wilkins remained on circuit to take the wave-by, while Pegram pitted from seventh position to hand over to Mario Farnbacher for his first stint in the race. 

A fast stop from the Pegram Racing crew saw Farnbacher restart the race from fourth position, while Wilkins was in ninth position as the halfway point of the race was reached. As the green flag was displayed, German racer Farnbacher showed his experience by making a superb move for the lead in the TCR class. After a single lap of racing, debris on the circuit meant the race entered another short full course yellow period.

On the restart, Farnbacher did a fantastic job to hold the lead while Wilkins began battling with the Baker Racing machine of James Vance. The leading trio in the TCR class then began a phenomenal battle for the race lead with Farnbacher holding off Denis Dupont and Tyler Gonzalez with three different models of TCR car disputing the top spot. Despite the powerful slipstream effect, Farnbacher was holding off Dupont and Gonzalez with less than half a second often covering the leading trio. 

On lap 66, debris once again led to a full course yellow period with both Farnbacher and Wilkins pitting their respective machines. Farnbacher rejoined in second position behind Bryson Morris, while Wilkins was in eighth position as the race resumed. Wilkins enjoyed an excellent restart as he gained a quartet of positions to move into fourth, while Farnbacher was the next car ahead after the Pegram Racing machine had been overtaken by Dupont. 

Shortly after, a sizeable incident for the TCR class machine of Dean Baker led to another neutralisation with a little over an hour remaining on the clock. Under the full course yellow period, a revised running order saw Farnbacher put into second position for the restart while Wilkins remained in fourth spot. 

Farnbacher again used his racecraft on the restart as he moved into the TCR class lead ahead of Dupont. The battle for the lead remained intense as the final pit stops approached with barely half a second covering Farnbacher, Dupont and Morris, while Wilkins was watching the battle closely in fourth spot. 

Photo credits: Jake Galstad / IMSA

After Wilkins lost out to Cameron Lawrence on lap 85, he brought the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian machine to the attention of his crew. Following the pit cycle, Wilkins was in fifth, however he still remained in contention for a podium result.

Farnbacher was the last driver in the leading group to make his final stop and he locked up his front tyres while entering the pits. When reaching his pit box, a misjudgement over whether to take to take new tyres in light of the lock up delayed Farnbacher. He rejoined the circuit in second position, however the team were then issued a drive-through penalty for a tyre being unattended in the pit box.

After failing to take new tyres in the pit stop, it was a challenge for Farnbacher to maintain the fast pace at the head of the field. On lap 94, prior to serving the drive-through penalty, Farnbacher locked up on the entry to turn one and as a result of the earlier flat spot, the right front tyre was punctured.

Farnbacher attempted to limp the car around the circuit, however he pulled off on the exit of the West Horseshoe to avoid further damage to the car. It was an unfortunate end to a race which had shown immense promise for the Pegram Racing squad. 

The misfortune for Farnbacher allowed Wilkins to capitalise and he moved his Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian machine into fourth spot. It was a quiet end to the race for Wilkins who managed his pace well to take the chequered flag in fourth position to bank a large haul of points in the season opening event.

This represented a strong start to the season for Aust who has quickly established herself a podium contender within the TCR class. Pegram Racing enjoyed their strongest showing to date at Daytona, leading for over one hour of the race with Farnbacher behind the wheel. The next event on the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge calendar takes place at Sebring International Raceway on the weekend of March 20^th/21^st.