Seven races into the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, Hyundai still hasn’t left a round without a podium. Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris kept that record clean at VIRginia International Raceway on Saturday, driving the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Elantra N TCR to a second-place finish in the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix despite a caution-heavy afternoon that scrambled the field repeatedly.
It was the pair’s sixth podium from seven starts this season, and it came the way most of their results have: from the front. The No. 33 qualified on pole, giving Filippi and Morris the clean air they needed to manage a race that turned chaotic quickly. Staying out of trouble was as important as outright pace on a day that removed at least one of their teammates before the checkered flag.
The rest of the Hyundai garage had a rougher afternoon. The No. 76 of Preston Brown and Denis Dupont, which qualified fifth, clawed back four positions to finish 10th. The No. 98 of Maddie Aust and Mark Wilkins, starting seventh, was collected in an early-race incident and classified 12th. Worst of all, the No. 18 of Harry Gottsacker and Lance Bergstein never made the start after an incident during qualifying left the car unable to race.
In a caution-filled race where three of four Hyundai entries either failed to finish or fell well outside the top five, the No. 33’s result carries extra weight. Hyundai’s podium streak has now held through sessions that were clean and sessions that weren’t, and the manufacturer points lead reflects that consistency. Hyundai sits at 2,680 points in the TCR Manufacturers’ standings, 120 ahead of Honda’s 2,560, with Audi at 2,400 and Cupra at 2,360. In the Drivers’ Championship, Filippi and Morris lead with 2,470 points, followed by Brown and Dupont at 2,210.
The history at VIR adds context. Taylor Hagler and Michael Lewis won here for Hyundai in 2022. Both the No. 33 and No. 98 cars reached the podium at the 2023 running. In 2025, the No. 33 again secured a second-place finish at the same circuit in a similarly chaotic race. Continuity in both driver pairing and program execution has been the thread connecting those results.
Off the timing sheets, Hyundai Hope on Wheels donated $100 for every lap led by a Hyundai car at VIR, raising $5,400 for Levine Children’s Hospital of Charlotte, North Carolina, to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. Through seven rounds of the 2026 season, that program has generated $77,800 in total donations.
Next up for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge is Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the series runs the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 on September 18 and 19. For Hyundai, arriving at Indy with leads in both the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ championships and a podium in every race so far is the strongest possible position. Protecting those margins on a very different circuit from VIR is the next problem to solve.
The No. 33 hasn’t missed a podium yet. The question at Indy is whether anything in the field can finally make it do so.
Source: Hyundai. Images courtesy of Hyundai.
