Surviving early-race contact, a costly drive-through penalty, slick tires in mixed conditions, and a harrowing final two hours, Paul Miller Racing emerged as IMSA GTD Pro champions.
Led by drivers Connor de Phillippi and Neil Verhagen alongside endurance co-driver Dan Harper, the team’s third-place Petit Le Mans finish capped a tense 10-hour battle at Road Atlanta, bookending a season that began with victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Crossing the line behind the winning #68 Car Blanche Aston Martin and runner-up #77 AO Racing Porsche, the result earned Paul Miller Racing its second overall GTD title in three years – following its 2023 GTD crown – and its third consecutive GTD Pro Endurance Cup.
For De Phillippi, a longtime BMW mainstay across GT and prototype racing, the title marks his first championship in seven full seasons of IMSA competition.
“I haven’t been able to wrap my head around it,” De Phillippi said. “A lot of character-building years in IMSA. Been part of multiple programs with BMW now. Some easier than others. When I had the chance to join Paul Miller Racing for the full season, I knew it was a huge opportunity to try to win the championship.
“When we won Daytona, we started off strong. At Daytona, there’s always the most amount of entries there. Starting off with a strong Daytona is huge for the overall title. We went race by race, maximized what we had each given weekend. Made the least amount of mistakes between everyone in the field. Team-wise we made the least amount of mistakes. More often than not we didn’t have the fastest car on a given weekend, but a car we could be competitive with. If we played our cards right, we could play for a podium.”
#1: Paul Miller Racing, BMW M4 GT3 EVO, GTD Pro: Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi, Dan Harper, Start during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul Petit Le Mans on October 3, 2026 at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia
Photo by: Photo by Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
De Phillippi praised Verhagen, whose qualifying strength – securing seven top-three starts across the season – proved crucial in building their championship buffer.
“Neil was great all season in qualifying,” De Phillippi said. “The team put a huge emphasis in that. When you see the championship come down to a handful of points across multiple scenarios, all those start to add up.”
After his second full season in IMSA and his first sharing the car full-time with De Phillippi, Verhagen reflected on the achievement post-race.
“It sounds surreal,” Verhagen said. “My first season was endurance only. Was able to win the Endurance Cup in my first season, which was special. Last year moving to a two-car team. The car did a 1-2 in the Endurance Cup. We knew where we were struggling was a little bit on the sprint races. We knew the endurances was a strong point for us. To go this year and win Daytona, win the Endurance Cup and then the championship is just incredibly special. …
“Really cool points for me. Going to be a season which I never forget. My most successful season in motorsport ever. I think there’s no words other than to say it was an absolutely amazing season. Thank you to BMW Motorsports, Paul Miller Racing, these two legends, and Max Hesse for all the work this year.”
The title came at the end of a difficult endurance test. After Harper collided with the #59 RLL Team McLaren and served a drive-through penalty, the team had to claw its way back into contention. Then, as rain came into play at one point to dampen the track, Verhagen made a high-stakes gamble to stay out on slick tires.
#1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO: Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi, #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3: Andrea Caldarelli, Sandy Mitchell
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
“To survive like we did this afternoon and this evening with contact and strategy, this guy having to wheel the thing on slicks in the rain, when they asked him do you want rain tires when it was raining, he said, No, the slicks fine,” De Phillippi recalled. “I’m like, ‘Man, this guy is crazy, but let’s do it.’ It was the right call. It dried up as we went back green. 100% the right call. Just goes to show when you have the right people around you, are confident in what they do, the right decisions get made.”
Late drama further cleared their path when the title-contending No. 4 Corvette was spun off the track in the closing stages.
“I feel like the last couple of rounds, being the championship leader, we were the ones having to be a little bit more cautious,” De Phillippi said regarding the late-race incident.
“People were taking advantage of that, laying bumpers on it, driving us pretty rough. Finally being the hunters today, we knew we had nothing to lose. Finally a little bit of luck fell our way. For sure that’s not a way that we want to end the championship. We want to be able to race it on track. Very good friends with (Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports co-drivers) Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner off the track. At the end of the day, I feel if you look at our last four or five races, how everyone raced us, we were finally able to get the lucky side of that today. After that, it was pretty clear, stay ahead of the Lambo and win the championship.”
While Verhagen handled the wild final stint, De Phillippi was left tracking the points from the pit wall.
“Honestly, I was pretty relaxed the last 15, 20 minutes when I had my calculator out trying to figure out points situation,” De Phillippi said. “That was probably the most anxious I was. I was triple checking my math. Never did that. You have it right, let’s do it again. The guys were running numbers on strategy. The least thing I could do is double-check math, the points scenario. …
“I woke up this morning to a memory. It was almost 10 years to the exact day when I won the GT Masters championship with Lindsay back in 2016. It seemed very fitting. When I saw it this morning, I was like, Maybe that’s a good omen.”
The championship caps a year marked by behind-the-scenes uncertainty surrounding Paul Miller Racing’s future heading into 2027. Yet throughout the season—from rebuilding the #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO after practice crashes in Detroit and VIR to surviving Petit Le Mans – the squad repeatedly proved its grit.
Addressing the paddock rumors following the race, Verhagen pointed straight to the crew’s relentless spirit.
“I think regardless of what the rumors are, they’re just rumors,” Verhagen said. “It meant more than anything to the boys this year. As I said before, we were able to win the Endurance Cup two years ago. Last year we were able to do 1-2 in the Endurance Cup. This year the goal was clear: It was to go and bring home the team a Rolex in the 24 Hours, to go and win the championship.
“I think we executed the best over the entire season in terms of making the least amount of mistakes, putting ourselves in the position to always capitalize on what we had.
“You can see what it means to everybody, the emotion, the celebration, the tears. For me as well, too, Connor as well, first championship for both of us. It means so much.
“To do it with a group of guys like we have at Paul Miller Racing is very special. They all work so incredibly hard. Even when I look back at Detroit, I had the crash in free practice two, they got the car back together, we were able to qualify fifth, with the fastest lap taken away, go to sixth. We were able to recover and make a fourth place out of a weekend where maybe the car wouldn’t have been put together in time.
“I think it’s that perseverance over the entire season. Everyone had each other’s backs the entire way through. I think that’s what is in our blood and has really made us champions this year.”
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