🇺🇸 Brian Thienes

Brian Thienes is an entry-level professional racing in national multiclass and single-class championships run by IMSA. He drives LMP3 prototypes in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and Prototype Challenge, solo sprint racing in the former and sharing crewed cars in endurance rounds of the latter and the WeatherTech series. His primary team is Forte Racing, where he has spent the majority of his 99-start career since 2002. He holds an FIA Bronze grade, the amateur classification in sportscar racing.[1]

Thienes has raced 14 seasons across five IMSA series and the now-defunct Star Mazda Championship. His most consistent work has come in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, where 45 starts from 2023 to 2026 yielded 12 podiums; he finished third in the 2026 championship. In endurance racing he has taken eight podiums across the Prototype Challenge, WeatherTech, and AirBNB Endurance Challenge combined, including two podiums in his three starts in the AirBNB series in 2026. His sole win came in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo in 2016. His career spans from Star Mazda in 2002, where he started 38 times for JDC Motorsports before a long absence, through a return to IMSA prototype racing beginning in 2021.[2]

In the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and Prototype Challenge, Thienes regularly meets entry-level professionals and amateurs alongside graded sportscar drivers. He runs closely matched with Jon Brownson and John Faulkner, both entry-level professionals who share similar IMSA and Star Mazda backgrounds. He has finished ahead of George Kurtz, an established professional and multiple series champion, once in the WeatherTech series, and once beat Michael McDowell, the 2004 Star Mazda champion who went on to compete at the NASCAR Cup level. Thienes finished third overall in the 2026 VP Racing SportsCar Challenge championship.