Thienes / Kujala Finish Second at Sebring, Thienes Claims Bronze Cup Win in VPRC Endurance Debut

Forte Racing Pit Crew Has Fastest Pit Stop of the Race

Monrovia, Calif. (Tuesday, March 10, 2026) – Brian Thienes and co-driver Patrick Kujala, along with the entire Forte Racing team, delivered an impressive performance in Sunday’s inaugural IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge race at Sebring International Raceway. Competing in the new two-hour endurance format for the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, the duo secured a strong second-place finish in the No. 77 Thienes Engineering Ligier JS P325.

The result also earned Thienes the Bronze Cup class victory, placing him first in the Bronze Cup championship standings and second overall in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge championship standings following the opening endurance round.

Despite a lack of testing with the brand new car, the team showed speed immediately. Kujala quickly adapted to the new Ligier platform, setting the pace in the first practice session with a P1 result during his first time behind the wheel of the No. 77 Thienes Engineering Ligier on the Sebring circuit.

The new endurance format also introduced pit stops to the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge paddock. Drawing on experience from crew members who worked in last year’s IMSA WeatherTech GTD program, the Forte Racing crew executed a flawless stop that proved to be the fastest pit stop of the race.

While Brian Thienes is competing in both the Sprint and Endurance races within the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge this season, the strong Sebring result also delivered a victory in the Bronze Cup class for the veteran driver. The new format also allowed him to reunite with former co-driver Patrick Kujala.

“It was great to get back on the podium thanks to some incredible driving by Patrick Kujala,” Thienes said. “Patrick showed off his great driving skills keeping the car at the front end of the race with a damaged wing. The team did a great job to put the race car together last minute. We had an incredible result this weekend considering we just pulled the new car out of the box without any testing. We hope to do better at the next race after we’ve had some time to work with the car. As always, Pete Jacobs provides a very competitive race car and, in this case, he was able to provide a very good car with no testing.”

Kujala was equally enthusiastic about returning to the Forte Racing lineup alongside Thienes for the endurance rounds of the championship.

“Happy to be racing with Brian again!” Kujala said. “The team did a great job and we collected important data for the new car which hopefully will help as understand it better. Looking forward for COTA now!”

Behind the scenes, Forte Racing Technical Director Peter Jacobs was pleased with the performance of both drivers and the team as they adapted to the new car and format throughout the weekend.

“I want to extend a big thank you to our drivers, Brian Thienes and Patrick Kujala, as well as our entire team,” Jacobs said. “Right from the start, we secured P1 in the first practice session with Kujala behind the wheel, followed by dedicating the second practice to Thienes for maximum track time.”

“Before the event, we decided to run the car in a low downforce configuration,” Jacobs continued. “However, both Brian and the team had limited experience with this setting as well the new 325 car. So, as we approached qualifying, we switched to a higher downforce setup, which gave Mr. Thienes the confidence to secure the 3rd starting position for race day.

At 63 years of age, Brian delivered an outstanding performance in the first half of the race, bringing Patrick a well handling race car. Our pit stop was flawless and the fastest of all teams, allowing Patrick to gain a significant advantage in his last half of the race.

Shortly after all the pit stops were completed, a full-course yellow was called due to an on-track incident. This changed the game for Patrick, bringing all the cars back within striking distance. Unfortunately, just a few laps into green flag racing, Patrick had contact with another car that turned down on him while he was attempting to take the position, damaging the left front dive plan and causing the car to understeer. However, Patrick is a fighter that never gives up maintaining a close third place position with a great deal of pressure from behind.

Sometimes, it’s better to be a little lucky than good, as the leader fell out due to a mechanical issue handing us a second-place podium finish.”

Forte Racing team owner Shane Seneviratne praised the drivers and crew for delivering a strong result despite the limited preparation with the new car.

“We are extremely proud of the effort from Brian, Patrick, and the entire Forte Racing team this weekend,” Seneviratne said. “To roll out a brand new Ligier JS P325 with no testing and come away with a podium finish and the Bronze Cup victory is a tremendous accomplishment. Brian drove a smart, consistent opening stint and Patrick did a fantastic job keeping the car at the front despite the damage late in the race. The crew also delivered the fastest pit stop of the race, which shows the level of preparation and teamwork across this program. It was a great start to the endurance season and we are looking forward to building on this momentum at COTA.”
With the first of four two-hour races for the LMP3 class of the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge now complete, the team will next head to Circuit of The Americas May 7–9 for the second round of the 2026 IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge.

For updates, behind-the-scenes coverage, and live action from the paddock, follow @ForteRacing on Instagram.

* Photos by Brayan Castiblanco