Gounon goes purple in sector three, fastest sector time of the race. Foley caught up in traffic. Turner Motorsports and race strategist Don Salama keep him on the track. Ashton Harrison says it has been a long one as she has driven three stints and Mario Farnbacher will finish out the race for Racer's Edge Motorsports. Mario Farnbacher has to know the leader is right behind him and Farnbacher has to let him go. Farnbacher trying to catch Perera and Fuoco takes Marciello by surprise to take the lead! Wow! That does not happen often! "Lelo" won't like that. He was trying to be patient and Fuoco stoves it down the inside.
Fuoco now has to pass Farnbacher. Farnbacher is going to get squeezed. There is nothing to be gained by backing up the leaders. Under two hours to go. Farnbacher has pace. Fuoco might have to force the issue. Farnbacher does not need to try and shoot past Franck Perera. Robby Foley is third overall, 7.6 seconds back and needs to find more pace in the BMW M4 GT3. Turner Motorsports kept him out for the extra lap just like AF Corse. Farnbacher finally gets the message after the crew chief gets on the horn and says, "mate, get out of the way and back off. Think big picture." Will Frank Perera be stubborn? K-PAX in the sole remaining car for them is four laps down.
Marciello's pace is not as fast. Fuoco inside Perera and Perera holds station. Marciello is caught behind Perera, flashing the lights. He lets Marciello through and the #34 Conquest Rcing Ferrari is still struggling under braking. Tough sledding for those boys. Fuoco and Marciello running identical lap times. AF Corse and Craft Bamboo are matching each other. Jules Gounon in the low 1:23s but still having to overcome a dud with poor timing in their pit strategy, a lap down with an hour and 50 minutes remaining. Robby Foley is dropping down. The BMW has been relatively quick but the Ferrari and the Mercedes have been throwing everything at it all day.
Marciello is reeling Fuoco back in. He has trimmed 3/10ths of a second out in the first two sectors. Gounon averaging a 1:23.2 and Philip Ellis doing the same. The sun, low in the west, is right in their eyes on the final corners of the circuit. Marciello is absolutely flying. This is a game of cat and mouse around a technical track like Indianapolis. The Mercedes carves the corners really well. A long way to go. Don't send it yet. If we see this same scenario with 20 minutes to go then you know Marciello is going to send it. Antonio "Speedy" Fuoco runs wide. "Speedy" vs. "Lelo". I don't believe Robby Foley has the pace to catch these chaps. We will see. Can he uncork it? These two have been the protagonists at the top end of town all day.
Antonio Fuoco made the pass on Raffaele Marciello. Three cars on the lead lap. Fuoco, Marciello, and Foley. Traffic ahead. Fuoco can make inroads. Traffic giveth. Traffic taketh away. Fuoco inside the Acura losing some pace and Taylor Hagler balks Raffaele Marciello but then gets out of the way. Marciello clips the inside curb shortcutting the road. AF Corse and Craft Bamboo are pitted right next to each other. Holy cow. Raffaele Marciello is committed to winning this race and he is in control of his destiny right now. This is the next to last round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge and the season finale for Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.
The Pro-Am title is still in the balance. Racer's Edge, Mario Farnbacher and Ashton Harrrison should clinch. Robby Foley in third place. He is the leader of the North American contingent. Turner Motorsports have done very well. Michael Dinan, Robby Foley, and John Edwards, BMW factory driver. Fuoco's Ferrari was in control at halfway. But the Silver rated driver had contact with the sister entry. Antonio Fuoco got the lead back. That was front to rear contact. Does the Ferrari have working headlamps? The Mercedes does. Taillights, headlights, and brake lights should be fully operational.
Fuoco holds the edge, but Marciello in the Mercedes should have more speed deeper into the stint. We are closing in on 90 minutes to go. We have a full length GTWC America race left to go, an hour and a half, coming up in a few minutes. The duration is an hour and 35 minutes. 260 laps, 634 miles. Each car has it's own strengths and weaknesses depending on drivers, tire life, fuel loads. Marciello knows his Mercedes will be stronger than the Ferrari and he makes a lunge on Fuoco. Side by side stuff. He is in the slipstream. He has to hesitate. Fuoco defending. Marciello trhows the block. Fuoco has the head full of steam!
Fuoco twiches. Marcieloo pushing. Fuoco out of sync. Over the bumps at the end of the Hulman straightaway. Marciello pushing it hard. It is not over. Turning into the sun setting in the west. Marciello tries it again. No dice this time, mate. A thrilling duel. The temporary lights are on with the sun setting in the heartland. Fuoco half a second up. This is a squeaker! A long way to go yet. Warning from the stewards to Fuoco, Be proactive and don't weave. Everyone wants to kiss the yard of bricks. '
Fuoco keeping his elbows out. Marciello cannot get by. It might behoove Marciello to pin the Ferrari to the inside to make the pass. He looks inside and takes the lead! Fuoco fooled him 35 minutes ago and Marciello takes the revenge. Fuoco has the speed. "Lelo" defends. Fuoco has to stay put. Ferrari off the road! They have to do another 25 minutes. The Ferrari might be using up his tires. Foley in third followed by pole man Jules Gounon. He and his co-drivers got stuck behind the safety car on the restart. The pit strategy is equalized. They don't have a ton of flexibility.
65 minutes in drive time of course. In replay, Marciello times the move into turn three spot on. Deserving of the chef's kiss. Marciello is motoring! That Ferrari could be coughing and sputtering. Marciello could be impenetrable. So this is manna from heaven for Craft Bamboo. Marciello's lead over Fuoco has ballooned to 2.3 seconds. We have had two safety car scrambles but have had a clean and quick race. The rapid pace has caused many cars to go laps down and we only have four, maybe three cars still on the lead lap. Under an hour and a half remaining. Marciello lapping past Conrad Grunewald with the sole remaining Triarsi Competizione Ferrari.
The cars react different based on where they are in fuel runs and with tire wear. The Mercedes has been such a strong all-around package in GT3 racing for a number of years. Marciello, it is his destiny to try and go for it. He is the man. The weight is on his shoulders at Craft Bamboo. Will wee see another Full Course Yellow? 1:23.5 uncorked by Marciello. Fuoco at 1:23.6. So Fuoco is settling back in but he was in a world of pain for a wee while. The Swiss domiciled Italian leads by two and a half seconds. Foley barely hanging on, 28 seconds down on the leader.
Bimmerworld have been so close in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS. The BMW is leading Pro-Am and we could see Richard Heistand assisting to deliver a win for Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull who really want to win this year and haven't cracked the nut yet. Marciello and Fuoco are not registered for GTWC America just for IGTC because they are in GTWC Europe for the most part. Ryan Briscoe ahead of Dominik Baumann. Baumann and Heistand ran with Lexus in the same year in IMSA years ago. GMG Racing have their first Pro-Am entry of the year. James Sofronas, Kyle Washington, and Klaus Bachler.
Kyle Washington is an off-road racer by profession. We have not seen anyone off the road. Such frustration for the #33 bunch including Jules Gounon and not to mention Philip Ellis and Russell Ward. By working on the car during qualifying they knew they'd lose theirn times but of course, they set as the late Tom Carnegie would say "a new track record!" Carnegie the longtime PA announcer here at Indianapolis. Rest In Peace. It coild be a bridge too far for Gounon and company. Zelus Motorsports leading Am with a small team out of Utah.
They could run the distance which is exactly what they have been doing. Marciello four seconds to the good over Fuoco. Ten minutes from now he will hit the lane for fuel, tires and a drive time reset. "Lelo" Marciello leads by 3.8 seconds over Fuoco. Marciello will take the car to the finish. Fuoco second anf Foley in third place. Robby Foley's pace has fallen off dramatically and he is 34 seconds behind. Strong pace for BMW but it just does not have the sharpness of the Mercedes or the Ferrari. They will still do extremely well. The #04 Crowdstrike Mercedes is back out, Colin Braun driving, missing a headlamp.
They are 46 laps down. The splitter is scraping the ground. You need two front taillightds and brake lights according to the sporting and technical regulations. Raffaele Marciello leads by 3.9 seconds and he is gainng tenths over Antonio Fuoco as Craft Bamboo Racing lead, the team hailing from Hong Kong. We are headed into the darkness at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time ever at the speedway. Ben Keating caught out by Erin Vogel's spin, crunching into the right front of the Mercedes several hours ago. Wright Motorsports too, down the order thanks to power steering trouble. The setting sun getting blinding as the shadows cross.
An eight hour enduro will not be the longest Indianapolis race. The second Indianapolis 500 in 1912, the top ten had to complete the full distance and Ralph Mulford, runner up in 1911, stopping to eat fried chicken and ice cream for dinner, taking him 8 hours to finish the Indianapolis 500. Fried chicken and ice cream? Jules Goux sipped champagne during pit stops. That might be a myth. You don't want to be drinking the champagne. Save it to spray when you win. The first race was not an auto race here. It was a motorcycle race on a 2.5 mile oval laid with millions of bricks. It was tar and crushed rock in 1909 but no feathers.
281 laps complete, over 600 approaching 700 miles. Assuming no more yellows, we could see a race distance of 800 or so miles. 686 miles now complete. One or two laps from now, actually no, now he is in the pit lane. The Ferrari is now in the lane. Pitting early, you need it based on the timing of the most recent yellow. Car on the air jacks. Tires changed, and fuel added into the car. Slow rattle gun maybe. Gritty, sticky, hot race cars. AF Corse cleaning the windscreen for the darkness hours. Craft Bamboo released and AF Corse with a clean stop but slower off the jacks. No change. Marciello leads Fuoco assuming he is still in the car.
Slow stop for Marciello. 94.1 seconds. Oh boy. Well, well, well. AF Corse were perfect! Oh man! Me eyes are failing me! 63 minutes on the board as we approach the final hour with the sun setting. Trouble for the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Miguel Molina overshooting the pit box. Mechanics were pushing and pulling because you cannot reverse in the lane. That is forbidden. Molina missed the place and came in too hot. Count the driver to his pit box, 10, 9, 8, 7 and so on. Watch the lollipop man too. Of course the light can also change. So much to settle in this last hour of the motor race as Marciello cuts fastest lap of the race at 1:22.4! Holy smokes! He gaps the Ferrari by 4.1 seconds on full tanks! Marciello is a beast! Fuoco is pushing like mad.
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