Skip Barber Racing clinched the 2026 World Racing League GP2 East championship at Sebring International Raceway with a runner-up finish in Sunday’s seven-hour race. Saverio Striglia III, Dylan Weber, and Arya Emani, all of whom are in their first season of racing, combined to earn the crown. Their success is a testament not only to their individual talent but also to the Skip Barber Racing School’s ability to quickly transform drivers into champions.
The trio shared the No. 216 Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si TCA car around Sebring’s demanding 3.74-mile circuit. They set a best lap of 2:36.457 within the opening laps, less than a second off the quickest GP2 lap of the race. In a race that took out half of the GP2 field, the team brought the car home second in class, securing the points needed to put the East title out of reach with one round remaining.
The championship caps a remarkable rise for three drivers who had never started a sanctioned race before February. Each began his career the way so many Skip Barber alumni have, as a student in a Skip Barber Racing School program, followed by offseason Advanced Coaching sessions with the school’s instructors to prepare for competition.
The trio made an immediate impression at the season opener at Barber Motorsports Park. In their first-ever race weekend, they finished fourth in Saturday’s eight-hour race and fifth on Sunday, gaining a combined 34 positions across the two races. They left Alabama fifth in the GP2 East standings.
The results came quickly after that. At Road America in March, joined by former Skip Barber Race Series driver Robert Mosteller in a four-driver lineup, the team finished second in an eight-hour race to earn its first podium and move into a one-point lead in the GP2 East championship.
In June, the team added another podium at Daytona International Speedway after a grueling weekend of endurance racing on the high banks. The result extended its lead in the East standings and moved the trio to third in the GP2 National Championship. At Sebring, the trio finished the job and secured the GP2 East title.
The team will now look ahead to their final round of the season at Circuit of the Americas in December.