The Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "The Brickyard". The most fabled piece of racing real estate in the United States. For the first time in nearly a decade, the cars and stars of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship return to this palace of motor racing lore and legend, to add to the century plus old story. It is the Tirerack.com Battle on The Bricks, from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It's live, and it's coming at you, next!
This is the penultimate race of the championship and the final sprint race of the year, with a field that is stacked, loaded to the rafters with talent, and cool cars. 48 cars are set to start and ten of them are the new Grand Touring Prototypes which have been a true crowd favorite all season in their debut year of competition in IMSA. Acura vs. Cadillac vs. Porsche vs. BMW. The best America, Japan, and Germany, have to offer. Porsche Penske Motorsports sweeps a front row lockout with the #7 Porsche 963 in pole position for Australian Matt Campbell and Brazilian Felipe Nasr alongside the sister #6 car to be driven by Brit Nick Tandy and Frenchman Matthieu Jaminet.
Acura, Cadillac, and BMW again are not far behind. The venerable Ben Keating, the recent runaway winner of the GTE Am championship in the FIA World Endurance Championship has LMP2 pole alongside teammate Paul Loup Chatin of France in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07. In the one and only appearance for the LMP3 class here at Indianapolis, it will be a sweep of the front row for the JR III Racing team with Bijoy Garg starting next to teammate Nolan Siegel. Garg sharing the #29 Ligier with Guillherme de Oliveira of Portugal, while Nolan Siegel in the sister #30 car is sharing with Canadian co-driver Garrett Grist.
Madison Snow in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 he shares alongside Bryan Sellers, he bested all comers in the GTD Pro class to put his GT Daytona ranked BMW M4 GT3 at the top of the shop while the best GTD Pro entrant in qualifying was the venerable #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992) in the hands of Austrian Klaus Bachler due to share with Patrick Pilet of France. International drivers have been a part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since the beginning, being a part of the Indianapolis 500, the editions of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix that took place here for six seasons, and now, as a part of the return of endurance sports car racing to the yard of bricks.
This is a mere trial run. Next year, here at Indianapolis, we will be set to see a 6-hour endurance event, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway will become a fifth race as part of the Michelin Endurance Cup. We are really looking forward to that. For now, though, we have a sprint race in store for the next two hours and 40 minutes. Buckle up, hold on tight, and enjoy the ride. Whoever wins today, their lives will be changed forever. Cool cars, iconic brands, in the hands of world class drivers.
Five classes race today of course. Nobody turns down the opportunity to race at Indianapolis. This is truly special. We have another new home along with all the other great races. Scattered clouds and 68 degrees. No rain in the forecast. All four brands in GTP have won. Acura, Cadillac, BMW, and Porsche. The championship fight is wide open. In GT Daytona Pro and GT Daytona, it is Lexus and BMW. PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports and Riley Motorsports are points leaders in LMP2 and LMP3 and LMP3, that title is signed, sealed, and delivered.
Here are the grid slots and a 1-2 for Porsche Penske Motorsports. This weekend, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura has had some trouble. The fans are on the grid, and here we see the yard of bricks. Winning at Indianapolis, you join an exclusive club of legends at the Racing Capitol of the World. The cars are on the grid, preparing to roll off on their formation laps. It has been almost a decade since IMSA have competed here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as we join Leigh Diffey and Calvin Fish in the broadcast booth along with Kevin Lee and Matt Yocum in the pit lane.
This is the biggest stage in the motorsports world. Championships could be clinched today. Seven cars within 139 points. Any one of these seven cars could lead the championship before the finale at Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta next month. 48 cars on track here at a sprint race. This is a massive field! Penske Porsche have a front row lockout at Roger's place. We've got a green flag and it's go time! Bourdais wants the outside and a lockup for Campbel. Bourdais has spun off the road! Alexander Sims has gone off and on and here comes the LMP2 field.
Wow. The GT Daytona and GT Daytona Pro cars have made their start and are scapping early doors. We've got the #97 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 of Chandler Hull off the road with damage and the Ganassi Racing Cadillac. Full Course Yellow. We are under Full Course Yellow. Matt Campbell is on the dirty side of the road and he locked the brakes and barely kept it together. Driver's left, locking up, running wide and Bourdais got tipped by Phillip Eng. Alexander Sims in the red #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac V Series R went across the grass.
In the GTD Pro and GTD class, Klaus Bachler was protecting from Jules Gounon and the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 did get tipped into a spin. Yikes! We are kind of, sort of up and running with a long way to go. A massive crowd on hand seeing the IMSA cars back at Indy in almost a decade. We are indeed under yellow, and the #01 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais has swapped out the damaged nose. No suspension damage on the #01 Cadillac V Series R. For BMW, Philipp Eng had contact at the start, but he has picked up places already in third and fourth for the BMW M Hybrid V8's.
At the start, Matt Campbell locked up into the corner and the two 963's ended up running 1-2 with the shemozzle behind them. The brake by wire system on these GTP hybrid racers are harder to get a hold of. Even deep into the season of these cars, the drivers are still working with it. Survive turn one, look for cold tires and be careful, and avoid the big penalty. The green flag waves again. Back to racing. The two BMW teammates are scrapping. Nick Yelloly vs. Philip Eng. Ricky Taylor has to be nervous after a couple spins, sharing the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura with Filipe Albuquerque.
Excuse me. Pipo Derani is in the #31 Whelen Cadillac and we have Gianmaria Bruni ahead in the #59 WeatherTech Porsche 963 of Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell as Patrick Gallagher spins the #96 Liqui Moly Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. Gallagher gets squeezed by Misha Goikhberg in the #78 US Racetronics Lamborghini Huracana GT3 Evo2 and Klaus Bachler is penalized for jumping out of his start column before crossing the yard of bricks. Bachler has run in the SRO GT3 Indianapolis 8 Hours before.
Bachler sharing with Patrick Pilet. Avoid the big penalty, 37 miles an hour trundling down the long pit lane. Madison Snow leading GT Daytona in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. They have won five races in 2023 already. Jules Gounon leads GT Daytona Pro in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Gounon sharing with Spaniard Daniel Juncadella. Porsche Penske Motorsports leads the way, with a 1-2 at The Captain's house. What a gorgeous aerial view of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as we see Matthieu Jaminet leading the motor race. We have seen penalties. One for the #24 BMW M V8 Hybrid and the other for Sheena Monk in the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 and Misha Goikhberg too will pay a penalty.
Traffic all day as the cars fly down Hulman Boulevard. Eat up the curbs. They are relatively flat. Nine degrees of banking, of camber, in the corners. 192 miles an hour into the braking zone. Anton Dias Perera spins the #15 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Nolan Siegel spins the #30 LMP3 car while George Kurtz passes Ben Keating in LMP2. Kurtz a veteran of GT3 racing in a different championship, in SRO competition. As far as GTP is concerned, Porsche, BMW, then Meyer Shank Acura. Action Express Cadillac and Pipo Derani, are fifth.
Derani passes Gianmaria Bruni. It was not a penalty for the first corner argy bargy for the #24 BMW. Eng is now down to tenth after having to change a deflating right front Michelin tire. 48 cars across five classes and that is why it is so busy. The ambient and track temperatures are climbing with the sunshine breaking through the clouds. In LMP3, Bijoy Garg leads the motor race ahead of Alexander Koreiba. Garg leads the VP Sports Car Challenge. A totally different level of competition here. Rodrigo Sales and Dan Goldburg scrapping. Contact, and the Era Motorsports #18 of Dwight Merriman spins, sharing with Ryan Dalziel.
Dalziel has been an overall winner here at Indianapolis. Dennis Andersen was behind in the #20 High Class Racing Oreca but poor old Merriman lost the tail and spun all by his lonesome. Jaminet leads Campbell by a second and a half and for the first time, hybrid race cars are competing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a combination of internal combustion and electric motor power. Penske Porsche continue running 1-2. The #20 High Class Racing Oreca is trundling back to the pit lane after having a massive ricochet off the #92 Riley Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R of David Brule sharing with Alec Udell.
In GT Daytona, Mikael Grenier makes the move for the lead on Madison Snow in the #32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3. Contact, and around goes the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier. Ben Keating snatches the LMP2 lead from George Kurtz. Sebastien Bourdais still on the lead lap but playing catch up after the nose change. The #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 has more woe with tech difficulties, Phillip Eng and Augusto Farfus. Game over I am sure. They are down on power, changing the steering wheel and the Engine Control Unit.
Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat do not need to win today. If they finish ahead of the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia, they secure the GT Daytona Pro season championship with a race to spare at Petit Le Mans next time out. The speed difference between a prototype and a GT Daytona car is 30 miles an hour at least. That is a factor in sports car racing. Different drivers can be in the same car you have seen before and the driving behaviors can be completely different.
Mike Skeen, Mikael Grenier's teammate says survival is key and they have been fighting hard on this short track with lots of cars with 48 cars starting. But there is trouble in paradise. Drive through penalty for contact with the Sean Creech LMP3 car. Too aggressive and he tagged the LMP3 racer off the road. Lance Willsey at the controls of the Sean Creech entry. Matthieu Jaminet leads overall as GTP races at the speedway. Next year, we will see an endurance race into the night here at Indianapolis.
We have seen the IndyCars and NASCAR Cup cars here but now we have the sports cars. These sensational, exotic, hybrid prototype race cars. Matthieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy are the race leaders over Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr, their teammates. Nick Yelloly is third in the #25 BMW and fourth, Pipo Derani in the #31 Whelen Engineering Action Express Cadillac V Series R. In GT Daytona Pro, Jordan Taylor is third in class being followed by the GT Daytona leading #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. Madison Snow at the wheel of it. GTP pit stops coming.
Trouble for the #93 Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 as the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura dives for the pit lane and there is damage to the left front of the NSX GT3. Ashton Harrison has done a lot of racing here at Indianapolis. #10 had gremlins with the brakes and others and now, Action Express are also in the pit lane changing from Pipo Derani to Alexander Sims and a driver change in the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon. A coming together between the #91 Riley Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R and the #94 Andreeti Autosport Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Jarett Andretti vs. Alan Metni.
Pipo Derani cuts by both of them. Action Express will let Alexander Sims do the middle stint. Huge spin on the front straightaway for Dwight Merriman! Holy cow! Oy yoy yoy! Full Course Yellow, now. That was a scary moment! The early pit stoppers like Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express could move up. Evasive action taken through this turn. We have seen drivers like Ralf Schumacher and Oliver Askew have horrid accidents in Formula 1 and IndyCar. Dwight Merriman is a lucky bloke to drive away from that one.
Merriman sharing the Era Motorsports LMP2 Oreca 07 with Scotsman and sports car racing veteran Ryan Dalziel. Much has changed since 2014 when IMSA last raced here with Michelin tires coming in and the new cars. Only three sets of tires allowed for GTP and LMP2 in the race. That's a dozen tires. The infield has pointed corners instead of rounded. The key to success is how well a car does under braking in turn one and turn seven. Watch for the marbles, the clag, the spent rubber on the side of the road.
GTP cars to the lane. Penske Porsche, RLL BMW, Action Express Cadillac, WeatherTech/Proton Competition Porsche. Who will take energy during the stint, with the fuel? Porsche #6, fuel, tires, and a driver change to Nick Tandy taking over from Matthieu Jaminet. The sister #7 has Felipe Nasr relieving Matt Campbell. Both are down and away. Ditto for the Action Express Cadillac and for the BMW #25 and the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963. Mike Rockenfeller will be racing a new generation NASCAR Cup car.
Action Express has to give up a place to the Penske Porsche's on pit exit. A great pit stop but they did gain a spot over Connor De Philippi in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8. Meanwhile, GT Daytona Pro and GT Daytona in the lane. Bryan Sellers will take over the #1 BMW M4 GT3. They are chasing three straight wins going for number six. Antonio Garcia will do a double stint for the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Jack Hawksworth doing a double stint with the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. If you leap out of your pit box you can gain track position.
Driver changes at Turner Motorsport and an eventful start for both of their cars. Pipo Derani is beginning to give Nick Tandy fits. Race Control will have to sort this out. Hey buster, let me by! Move over! There has been a change and now, Pipo Derani is now second in the running order. Matthieu Jaminet says that he left the lane first and took the lead back handing the car off to Nick Tandy in the Porsche camp. The pass will stick. Just over an hour and a half of racing to go.
Action Express leading under yellow. Pipo Derani pounces in the lead and now, Tandy and Nasr are scrapping for second with the BMW in fourth place. The #25 BMW. Nick Tandy will be fuming. Daniel Juncadella leads GTD Pro in the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes. Track limits violations, almost, for Jack Hawksworth who dives inside of Antonio Garcia in GTD Pro. Hawksworth chasing the Aston Martin of Ross Gunn and Antonio Garcia did not like being overtaken while the Englishman, the Yorkshireman pushes the bye bye button.
Bryan Sellers wants to push Fredrik Schandorff in the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 while Philip Ellis in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 is continuing to push. Felipe Nasr now chasing his old teammate Pipo Derani. Harry Tincknell in the #59 customer Proton Competition Porsche 963 chasing down Connor De Philippi in the BMW M Hybrid V8. The #59 team must perform a drive through penalty for working outside the pit box. A stop plus 60 second penalty for running the red light at pit out. That is Connor Bloum in the #38 Performance Tech Ligier LMP3 car.
Bloum sharing with Alexander Koreiba. A cut tire for the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 with Frankie Montecalvo and Fredrik Schandorff has a cut down left rear tire on the McLaren. This will be a long, slow lap. In replay, we can see contact with the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo. Bang! Montecalvo had no place to go. Nobody was ready at Vasser Sullivan and they had to do the whole top. Schandorff in limp home mode. Inception McLaren in major trouble as at the top of the shop it is Porsche chasing Cadillac.
Now the Porsche is chasing the Cadillac. Derani vs. Nasr. Lapped traffic everywhere. During the break, we have found a rule. Pipo Derani is leading because the faster cars are put at the front, 46.5.2, cars not following instructions will lose their positions and that is what gave AXR the lead. Action Express team manager Gary Nelson said, we expect to win but our eyes are on our nearest contenders. Louis Deletraz leads LMP2 and meanwhile, Filipe Albuquerque has contact with Mike Rockenfeller. Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 vs. JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963.
A spin for the #29 JR III Ligier of Bijoy Garg and Guillherme Oliveira. Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims lead the points as they run by 83 points and the Jaminet and Tandy Porsche by 125 with 2,530 possible points. Aaron Telitz says his team called a great strategy trying to stay out of the GTD Pro cars way and the McLaren went into the turn very, very late. Snow and Sellers have a huge margin over their rivals in GT Daytona. Roman De Angelis in the #27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin leads in class looking for a third win in 2023 before the season ends.
The fight is still hot and heavy in GTP between Action Express Cadillac and the two Penske Porsche's. Derani down the road from both Nasr and Tandy. The Penske Porsche's doing the chasing of the Action Express Cadillac. Sonny Whelen, the man who runs Whelen Engineering is here at Indianapolis. This is a major game of chase, of cat and mouse. So many tools the drivers can work with on these hybrid Grand Touring Prototypes. Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden will race the Porsche 963 with Team Penske at Petit Le Mans. IndyCar will race hybrid powered cars next year.
We will see Jenson Button and Laurens Vanthoor at Petit Le Mans and Kevin Estre moves to the Pfaff Motorsports GTD Pro car at Road Atlanta. We should have 55+ cars at Petit Le Mans! Insane! Splitting the traffic, it is Nick Tandy in third place and now, Felipe Nasr is chasing Pipo Derani down. Paul Miller Racing and BMW have moved to second in GT Daytona. Nasr and Derani were teammates and are good friend off track, still. These two know each other's habits, and they were fierce rivals in karting too.
Robby Foley is tenth in GT Daytona in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. Patrick Gallagher disagrees with the fact that Misha Goikhberg tagged him off the circuit. Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull in the sister Turner Motorsports BMW has moved up and the clouds have settled over the track. Pipo Derani extending his lead over the Porsche's. It has been an incredible year for the GTP class coming back to IMSA. Time, effort, technology, and lots of money. It is a real bugbear that the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura have not won yet but they are in championship contention or trying to be there. Right now they have an 83 point deficit.
Alexander Sims is next into the Whelen Cadillac. One more stop to get home. Renger van der Zande racing with Filipe Albuquerque as the lead battle continues between Derani, Nasr, and Tandy. Cars and drivers must coexist on the track. Nasr has a run on his old teammate and Derani goes wide into the marbles and is now third. Porsche Penske now run 1-2. Derani not having luck in traffic, and this allows the Porsche's to scamper away and now, Connor De Philippi is seven and a half seconds down in the sole BMW M Hybrid. Nine of ten GTP cars run on the lead lap. It is time for pitting, but the problem is cold tire warmup. If someone stays out on hot tires they have a quicker lap time.
The Porsche's are scrapping through traffic. Tandy on the attack on Nasr. Tandy's car is coming back into the sweet spot. Less than an hour of racing to go. The #60 Meyer Shank Acura is in the lane. Because of the pit lane length you will go down a lap with full service and a replenishment of energy, of fuel. Lapped traffic ahead of the Penske Porsche 963's. Derani up five places from where he started and three positions each for De Philippi and Rockenfeller. So easy to make a mistake in traffic. Nick Tandy chasing down teammate Felipe Nasr.
So much racing still to go with less than an hour on the board. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has seen another great race today. Prototypes in the lane. Mike Rockenfeller in the #5 Porsche 963 with smoke billowing off the brakes. He ran the NASCAR Cup race earlier this summer at the Brickyard. Happy 48th birthday, Jimmie Johnson. This is a thrilling time in sports car racing and the hybrid technologies filtering down to road cars as well as headlight, tire, braking, aero technology. Pit stop time for the #59 Proton Comeptition Porsche 963 for Harry Tincknell.
Daniel Juncadella in the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes is second behind Patrick Pilet in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Pipo Derani has his hands full, overshooting the box on the tires and the energy. No grip left on the tires. Acura #10 in the lane for the final pit stop. Action Express should be into the lane soon to hand the car over to Alexander Sims and here comes the #01 Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Renger van der Zande. Stone cold, brand-new Michelin tires can be very tricky. Two tires under the green flag. Four tires under safety car conditions.
Porsche #7 in the lane for Felipe Nasr. Action Express have won here before nine years ago. Alexander Sims into the car. Fuel and tires. So now, Alexander Sims will be chasing down Nasr and Tandy. Tandy on the in lap in Porsche 963 #6. Tandy could take the lead. 44 minutes of racing to go. The #7 Porsche is off the road! He got stymied on cold tires trying to pass lapped GT Daytona traffic! Tandy will have room over Nasr. 40 minutes of racing remaining in the Battle on The Bricks. Tandy leads the race by seven seconds over Nasr, De Philippi, and Sims. Porsche, Porsche, BMW, Cadillac.
Louis Deletraz leads in LMP2 in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07. Wayne Boyd leads LMP3 in the #17 AWA Duqueine Nissan with Wayne Boyd at the wheel of it sharing with Anthony Mantella and they will be a customer Corvette GT Daytona team next year. 35 minutes of racing left. Connor De Philippi is third with Alexander Sims fourth and Colin Braun fifth behind the two Penske Porsche 963's. BMW, Cadillac, Acura. Half an hour to go as Nick Tandy has a ten second lead over Felipe Nasr, his Porsche Penske teammate. De Philippi third, and Sims in fourth. Penske Porsche, Penske Porsche, RLL BMW, and Action Express Cadillac. Filipe Albuquerque is fifth in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura.
Phil Ellis in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 chasing Bryan Sellers in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. Trouble for Alexander Sims as he overshoots turn one and goes through the cutout. Brake lockup, unforced error, smashing through the bollards! Dear me. That is a very tricky part of the circuit as now we see Bryan Sellers in the clutches of Phil Ellis. Snow and Sellers are a great driver pairing. There could be a few too many cars on track here at Indianapolis. 48 cars here and over 50 we will see at Petit Le Mans.
Petit Le Mans, the finale, will be absolutely wild in a month. Philip Ellis and Loris Spinelli have both passed Bryan Sellers in GT Daytona. 20 minutes of racing to go. Pipo Derani says that Action Express will be a part of a very tight points battle. It will be difficult for AXR to get past the Porsche's. The car has been driving on the edge all weekend. In general, they have recovered well and the idea is to keep the championship lead before the Petit Le Mans. Going from third to first was wild for our boys at AXR. Our boys at AXR know the rules. Action Express has to stay behind the BMW and ahead of the Acura.
Nick Tandy in the Porsche is going for the victory. Great to have sports cars back at Indianapolis with less than 15 minutes of racing left on the clock. We are going to see this massive battle in GT Daytona between Philip Ellis and Loris Spinelli. Mercedes vs. Lamborghini. A good scrap in LMP2 and now we are watching Ben Barnicoat in third and if he stays here, by starting at Petit Le Mans Vasser Sullivan will be the GT Daytona Pro champions. Final ten minutes of this race and it looks like Penske Porsche could be winners for their boss who of course, is also the man who owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Roger Penske.
The fight is on in GT Daytona. Lamborghini vs. Mercedes Benz. Right now, it is Loris Spinelli leading and Philip Ellis chasing. Spinelli went for a nonexistent gap. Seven minutes to go. Damage on the right front fender of the U.S. Racetronics Lamborghini. Forte Racing powered by U.S. Racetronics, pardon me. Rahal Letterman Lanigan and the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Philippi and Nick Yelloly, they are third. BMW are also in championship contention. It will be game on and a huge battle in GTP going into the finale at Petit Le Mans in a month. October 11th-14th is the race weekend.
Mikkel Jensen and TDS Racing lead LMP2. Jensen sharing with Steven Thomas. Ellis all over Spinelli and repays the favor of barging the Lambo out of the way and now Sellers is all over the Lambo and Nick Tandy had to be careful, and now, the #54 LMP3 car has a locked wheel with Dakota Tickerson at the wheel and now, Felipe Nasr has damage as well. Dakota Dickerson in major trouble. Two and a half minutes to go and such heartbreak for MLT Motorsports.
The two Porsche's are in control. Alexander Sims is maintaining his pace and will finish fourth behind Connor De Philippi in the BMW in third spot. Alec Udell and Kay van Berlo both have had the most positions gained in GT Daytona. Oh dear! A close shave between the #7 Porsche and the Gradient Acura NSX GT3, car #66. Two laps left. Final lap, actually. Less than two and a half miles to go for Nick Tandy and Matthieu Jaminet to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Nick Tandy and Matthieu Jaminet won on the streets of Long Beach, California in the third round of the year and they win Indianapolis and the Battle of the Bricks! LMP2 honors go the way of TDS Racing and car #11 of Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen. In LMP3's one and only appearance at Indianapolis, it is Anthony Mantella and Wayne Boyd winning for AWA who will move into the GT Daytona ranks in 2024. GT Daytona Pro victory goes to the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon.
Finally, in GT Daytona, Winward Racing does the double. They won Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport and overall in the 4-hour race last night, with Daniel Morad and Bryce Ward, and they go back to victory lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in GT Daytona in the GT3 Mercedes with Russell Ward and Philip Ellis.
Overall/GTP: #6 Tandy/Jaminet Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963
LMP2: #11 Thomas/Jensen TDS Racing Oreca 07
LMP3: #17 Mantella/Boyd AWA Duqueine D08 Nissan
GT Daytona Pro: #79 Juncadella/Gounon WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
GT Daytona: #57 Ward/Ellis Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Then there was one. Championships will be on the line in the finale for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship at the final race and the final endurance race of 2023, the Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Georgia, in less than a month. We have seen it. We know what a humdinger that race can be. Join us in the north Georgia red clay hills for all the action, next month. For now, from The Brickyard, so long, everybody. Take care.
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