Road America handed out two very different races over the weekend and the No. 7 GMG Racing McLaren Artura Trophy Evo came away from both of them with silverware, which is the short version. The longer version is that Randy Highland and Michael O'Brien took third in Saturday's wet, caution-strewn opener and then second on Sunday, the team's best result of the year, and the No. 7 is now seven for seven on the podium in the 2026 McLaren Trophy America season.
Saturday was the kind of race where finishing counts for more than the results sheet suggests. The four-mile Wisconsin circuit was slick enough to sideline more than one competitor, and Highland's job in the opening stint was to keep the car clear of that trouble, which he did. By the time O'Brien took over for the close there was barely enough green-flag running left to do anything with it, and he still moved the car into the top three before the 50 minutes were up, which made it six third-place finishes in a row.
Sunday was the one worth watching. O'Brien started from pole again and pulled a gap of more than ten seconds before pitting in the second half of the sprint to hand the car to Highland, who then delivered his best drive of the year. He held the lead outright for several laps and was running second in Pro-Am into the closing minutes when a competitor with more ambition than judgment sideswiped him on the exit of Turn 1. The hit let another car through into second, but Highland kept his head, kept it on the road, and brought the car home third. The provisional winner then failed post-race technical inspection, and the No. 7 was elevated to second, which is where it had earned the right to be anyway.
"Michael obviously did a great job, I think he was about 10 seconds up when he handed the car off to me," Highland said. "There is a lot of pressure when you are given a car that is that far ahead to keep the train behind you, but I was happy with the performance. Certainly the goal was to hold the drivers off that were behind us in class. I was fairly successful in that and held on until about the last two laps. I felt like I did a pretty good job staying in second, but in the last few laps I had a little bit of contact, which kind of knocked me out of a turn. So, that was a little unfortunate, but overall I am happy with the performance. Michael has been great, I continue to improve and the racing experience today was awesome, just being in the mix."
Some context on the pairing. Highland is in his first season of any form of motorsports competition. O'Brien is a multiple championship winner in McLarens overseas who joined the team ahead of the Miami round, the second weekend of the year, and has been in the other seat for the last five of the seven podiums. The progress on the amateur side of that arrangement has been steep, and the results sheet says so.
"I think it was a really good race on Sunday," O'Brien said. "I definitely had the easy bit, having a clear road ahead of me. That was nice, just to lay down some smooth and consistent laps. I just tried to stay consistent with no push-to-pass and I was still pulling a second a lap. I just kept seeing the gap grow and grow, so I knew to just stay in my rhythm and hand the car over in good shape, which we did. We had a good pit stop and a good second half of the race. Another podium, the streak continues, and it was a good solid race for both of us."
The car also turned up in new clothes. The No. 7 debuted a fresh livery this weekend, a design and application made possible by McLaren Newport Beach and Protective Film Solutions (PFS).
"The No. 7 McLaren Artura Trophy now looks as good as Randy and Michael have been performing this season," said GMG Racing Founder and Principal James Sofronas. "This is Randy's first season in any form of motorsports competition and his performance on Sunday alone was at a level well beyond his experience. Second place was well within reach if not for a late hit by another driver, but we ended up there anyway after technical inspection, and Randy did deserve it. You have to give Michael, who has been a fantastic addition to the team, a lot of credit for Randy's fast progress. As well, the GMG Racing team has given Randy and Michael a car capable of winning at every race. We are looking forward to doing just that when we have three chances at reaching the top step of the podium in Indianapolis."
What's left is Indianapolis. The season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway runs October 8 through 10 as a doubleheader plus a makeup for the second Miami race, which was rained out in May, so the No. 7 gets three shots at the top step in a single weekend.
"We keep building the momentum we will take going into Indy," O'Brien said. "The tripleheader there will be good, and I think we will be on pole there for the Miami make-up race. We will keep it clean, keep it smooth, keep scoring points and podiums and having fun ultimately."
"I am looking forward to Indy," Highland said. "We are seven for seven with podium finishes this year, but the goal is to obviously be P1. Hopefully we have some success with that at Indy."
