A tight squeeze for McAleer and he did not want to have argy bargy with Trent Hindman or Kenton Koch. It is a grind to make car racing work if you don't have the connections already. Lots of drivers do everything they can to make the passion into a profession as we watch Matteo Cairoli racing with Stevan McAleer. Maybe we will see MDK Motorsports back in 2024. They are the youngest driver lineup in Fanatec GT World Challenge America. Before the season, Seth Lucas had done only two GT3 races at the Indianapolis 8 Hours last year and the 24 Hours of Dubai. Ben Tuck was a revelation in Q2 yesterday. The wave around has helped him, sharing with Derek DeBoer and with Valentin Hasse-Clot as the #007 hits the pit lane.
With the 112 second minimum stop time, you lose a lap. Chandler Hull might be on the back foot a bit even though he is the leader of Pro in Fanatec GT World Challenge America. VHC made his debut here in North America in GT4 at Indianapolis driving with the late, great Paul Terry. Paul said, "Frenchy is fast!" Trent Hindman, meanwhile, is not losing ground to the BMW. This is for the Pro lead in Fanatec GT World Challenge America. McAleer gets tapped and has to take evasive action through the chicane! Yikes! 22 cars on a two-and-a-half-mile circuit can still be bunched together. Unreal. BMW #94 to the lane. It is going to be hard for the BimmerWorld boys to recover after all this. Fresh Pirelli P Zero tires right out of the ovens.
On Wednesday at the test it was rainy and cold. Robby Foley will take over the #94 BMW M4 GT3. Dries Vanthoor is now back to the lead of the motor race over Maxime Martin. The Belgian brigade at the top of the shop. Dries Vanthoor the holder of the fastest lap of the race thus far. Maximilian Goetz third in the first Mercedes followed by Maro Engel fourth in another Mercedes. A great rumbling, throaty 6.2-liter V8 in the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Blue lights across the grille of the Mercedes, for the team to recognize the car in the darkness later this evening.
Antares Au still at the wheel of the #20 Huber Motorsports Porsche. When he gets into the ABS the front end goes numb, somehow. He'll have to back up his braking points to roll through the apex. Turn 12 is a first or second gear turn, at very low speed. Dropping from 165 miles an hour to 50 miles an hour. Scott Smithson aboard the #08 DXDT Mercedes-AMG GT3 sharing with Bryan Sellers and Thomas Sargent. Sellers and Smithson should be back together next year. Nolan Siegel now at the wheel of the #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Merceded-AMG GT3. The #28 Porsche has a five second time penalty in the future. He took the shortcut through turn six as we see in replay again, with Chandler Hull, having to bail out of a sticky situation. Sticky as treacle. Yikes!
In case you are wondering, treacle is molasses. Nolan Siegel reeling in Jake Walker, a scrap between two young drivers. CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 vs. ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. These GT3 cars run extremely low to the ground. Robby Foley looking for his way both of these blokes into the first corner. Siegel was right on Walker's six but when that BMW got up on the cam, the Mercedes just flat ran out of steam. Different strategies with the Pro-Am cars. #20 and #04 have not put their Pro-rated drivers in yet, with Laurin Heinrich and Colin Braun.
Scott Smithson is right behind Heinrich. Tom Hornsby who was saw earlier is SRO America Press Officer and he spots that Neil Verhagen has yet to get into the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. Neil Verhagen has brought some much-needed energy juice to ST Racing. They have speed at every track SRO America goes to. The #20 Porsche super deep on the brakes into turn one. Laurin Heinrich, resting, or being fed raw meat at this moment. Antares Au has caught Justin Wetherill into turn ten and now, MDK Motorsports in the lane.
Porsche #53, pit stop time, for Matteo Cairoli. Is this scheduled? Top speeds are 167-168 miles an hour. Estep, Hasse-Clot, Foley, Martin, and Illott. So, Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW, BMW, Porsche. Smithson passes Antares Au for 14th on the road and a battle for class placing, for fifth in Pro-Am. Now, is Kenton Koch out of the race? We have to see. This is strange, but that is what we are hearing. Game over for TR3? Deary me. Terminal failure too for the #91 DXDT Mercedes. Mystery solved, the TR3 car is still in the race but seven laps down.
It is game over for Jeff Burton, Corey Lewis, and Phillip Ellis. Racer's Edge and Wright Motorsports scrapping for position. Trent Hindman vs. Ashton Harrison giving Hindman the rough end of the pineapple with the Grove Racing Porsche #4 also there. Suspension trouble for the #91 being worked on in the garage. So, they are not out yet. Know who you are racing against. Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock raced a Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3 in SRO America three years ago. The #27 car is not multiple laps down. Their transponder is broken.
So, don't believe what I said earlier about the car being out. That was an error. Most teams have been testing here at Indianapolis since Wednesday. Kenton Koch found out this morning via text message to come and race in the 8 Hours today. He has done shakedown running with CRP Racing for their GT America class Mercedes-AMG GT3. He has had a slight bit of seat time but it is negligible. They will need a new transponder at their next pit stop. Is it a quick release connector? I hope so. The Grove Motorsports Porsche driven by Brenton Grove in 20th place, the cork in the bottle.
They are busy on two continents on two opposite sides of the globe with the Bathurst 1,000 Aussie Supercars race this weekend as well. Hindman doing all he can to make a move on Ashton Harrison. This will be tasty stuff. Christian Engelhart making a move on the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Callum Illott. Engelhart has won in years past at Daytona and Sebring. He was synonymous with Lamborghini and Ferrari I think for a long time. Won an ADAC GT Masters title in 2020. Grove not wanting to give Illott a darn thing.
There is the five second time penalty looming for RS1 and I think they are on a different lap to everybody else behind them. Hindman and McAleer are the only Pro class Fanatec GT U.S. class cars on the same lap. The distance record is 328 laps from last year as Kenton Koch has the squeeze play on Ashton Harrison. We could be on pace to approach that distance record. #120 taking a load of curbs as Eddie Cheever III. looms ahead, in the #535 Ferrari, the son of an IndyCar driver passing a current IndyCar driver. Three wide between the Porsche, the Ferrari, and the Acura!
Oy! That was close. Callum Illott can get his elbows out as the hired gun along with other drivers like Klaus Bachler, Nolan Siegel, and more. Two and a half hours in the books. We are watching the #85 Porsche with the Monterey Stratocaster, the significance of that guitar is how Jimi Hendrix set the guitar on fire after the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. There is famous video of Jimi setting the guitar on fire after his performance. I don't know if he was playing the song "Let me stand next to your fire." I have referenced that song in many sports car racing posts.
Jake Pedersen's dad is a trophy truck, Baja 1,000 racer. Meanwhile, ST Racing and The Racer's Group are scrapping with each other. Valentin Hasse-Clot passes Neal Verhagen. We hear from Ben Tuck, who had disengaged the pit lane speed limiter button on a driver change. Tuck tells us that yesterday worked out great and the team has been working extremely hard, but they are a lap down currently. Indianapolis is a special place to be. He has raced the Nurburgring 24 Hours a handful of times as well, and is going for the Pro-Am win. Ben Tuck, a star in the making. The starpower in this race despite 22 cars, is amazing.
Ben Tuck is one of the hopefuls for an Aston Martin factory drive in GT3. The Nurburgring and Indianapolis will be on the schedule for the IGTC next year, with the Nurburgring joining Spa, Bathurst, and Indianapolis. What a lineup. This is round four of five before we get to the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi, an oversubscribed entry. There were 81 cars entered for 36 places, capped for safety, from 40+ teams. Holy cow! That will run December 8th-10th. Watch it on SRO GTWorld on YouTube. They have the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Formula 1 and they have another GT3 race there as well.
Nolan Siegel is chasing Aussie Brenton Grove. Siegel makes the pass. Siegel runs prototypes with George Kurtz in another championship here in North America. This is an epic scrap for the Pro-am category. Whichever car (#04 or #120) finishes ahead of the other, that car is the championship winner. They are chasing Callum Illott in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Then, the #94 car, off sequence on strategy, driven currently by Robby Foley, fighting with the #28 RS1 Porsche in the hands of Stevan McAleer. BimmerWorld went down a lap on one of their pit stops.
We are preparing for another round of pit stops and driver changes are imminent. Colin Braun and Neil Verhagen are both readying for their stints, a couple of the quickest drivers we have in the paddock and we cannot forget Laurin Heinrich in the #20 Huber Motorsports Porsche. The skid block scraping under the car when it is fully loaded. The #27 TR3 car is going to replace the transponder, getting the zip ties out. Mechanics will use a left-handed mechanic and a right-handed mechanic for brake changes. TR3 means The Romanelli 3, Gregory, Arthur, and Adam Romanelli, I think.
Kenton Koch has been extremely impressive hanging onto Christian Engelhart and to Callum Illott. Jon Branam will be getting back behind the wheel of the #27 TR3 Mercedes. Koch has speed, instinct, setup knowledge, and everything. Pit stop time now for the beleaguered Ferrari for Triarsi Competizione. Onofrio Triarsi, Ryan Dalziel, and Justin Wetherill. Justin Wetherill will not return to the team in 2024. Sky Tempesta Racing now brings their 488 GT3 Evo 2020 into the lane, the previous generation Ferrari GT3 car. That is the chassis they ran the 24 Hours of Spa with in 2020.
We are going to warch the transponder change for the #27 TR3 Mercedes wth the zip ties. Jon Branam gets into the car. With the transponder, can they do it during fueling? No. After the fueling, we will see the transponder replacement. The minimum pit time is calculated for the 44 second fuel flow as they get down off the air jacks. ST Racing and WRT are also in the lane, but WRT have split their strategy for the two BMW M4 GT3's of Maxime Martin and Dries Vanthoor. Jon Branam is back in the #27. I wonder about Matt Bell.
The TR3 pit stop is under review because of the transponder and whether that changeover happened during fueling which would be a breach of the rules. Race leader in the lane. Dries Vanthoor will do a double stint. Charles Weerts now at the wheel of the #31 sister car, the Belgian driver. The #28 Porsche is serviced and sent and have served their penalty for shortcuitting the chicane. #30 is released as we wait for the sister car. There it is. Charles Weerts pushing on his out lap doing the undercut. Dries Vanthoor did not make a driver change and he has had a rhythm. Vanthoor shall hang on I believe.
BMW could be in the pound seats for the manufacturers' cup. Another nuance of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the large pit boxes built for the IndyCars, much bigger than what the GT3 cars and teams are used to. Valentin Hasse-Clot cutting some really fast laps currently. The #94 BimmerWorld BMW is still off sequence. BimmerWorld are sixth in the overall but that is flattering as they have to pit yet. Colin Braun now in the #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The Pro-Am driver lineups are top notch. Tenth overall and second in class for Braun, with clear road ahead. This is manna from heaven for Braun on this chilly October Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana, chasing down Elliott Skeer in his first stint in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Dries Vanthoor puts Jon Branam a lap down and Charles Weerts runs second. BMW 1-2, Mercedes 3-4. Weerts takes 4/10ths of a second out of the lead as Daniel Juncadella goes off the road, mowing Roger Penske's lawn. He is going for the hat trick having won this race last year and in class in an Indianapolis event last month.
Juncadella is chasing Raffaele Marciello the Swiss Italian. The Indianapolis 8 Hour, the longest race on the IMS calendar. In the old days, the top ten continued to run for the full 500 miles in the Indianapolis 500. Ralph Mulford was the last car running and was not pleased to keep going, so he would stop and eat, and then ran over eight hours. For a finisher, Ralph Mulford has the record. Five hours and three minutes remaining as we join D.J. Clark in the pit lane. Maro Engel is surprised to see the BMW's at the top of the shop.
They are pushing, flat out. A long way to go. We are not quite halfway home. High temperatures today only nine or ten degrees warmer during the day than overnight lows. Cooler temperatures are not a bad thing except for warming up the tires. The sunlight is baking the racetrack with radiant energy. A lot of heat in the front engine cars like the Mercedes and the BMW. Colin Braun remains in tenth chasing Elliott Skeer, closing hand over fist. He is taking large chunks of time out of Colin Braun. From Race Control, pit stops for the #04, the #120, and the #85 and #45, Trent Hindman, the Pro-Am leader, and Jake Pedersen in the Rearden Racing Porsche, all those cars have pit stops under review.
The #27 also under review as Charles Weerts squeezes his way past lapped traffic down Hulman Boulevard lapping past Mario Farnbacher in 18th overall in the #93 Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3. Mario Farnbacher is driving an evil handling race car.
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