Be careful of the refueling nozzle and the tires being in the same place. Don't knock the refueling hose out of there and spark a fire. There are walking wounded, driving wounded out there including Trenton Estep in the #53 MDK Motorsports Porsche, and the Texan is eighth overall even with a differential issue for Estep, Seth Lucas, and Matteo Cairoli. Mark Kvamme is the team owner. At Triarsi Competizione, they are back on track but went to the garage to get suspension damage fixed. The whole thing came togethe with the #4 Grove Racing Porsche, the #31 WRT BMW was not completely at fault. What could have been a podium is now a recovery. This massive accident was unreal. A late lunge causing suspension damage for the Ferrari and the BMW. Onofrio Triarsi was just minding his own business and getting rammed by the BMW.
Philipp Eng is in the lane for the #30 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3. Eng would be within eight points of the lead in the IGTC driver's championship before the Gulf 12 Hours in December. Eng's time behind the wheel complete and handing over to Sheldon van der Linde. More cars in the lane, the #77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes and the #999 GruppeM Mercedes as well. Raffaele Marciello vs. Maro Engel. No. Never mind. Luca Stolz now at the wheel of the #999. Trent Hindman now in the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche leading the #28 RS1 Porsche by 35 seconds who will become the champions if things stay as is.
Colin Braun at the controls of the #04 Riley Motorsports CrowdStrike Mercedes-AMG GT3 will wrap up the Pro-Am title. Eric Filgueiras lets Luca Stolz through. Filgueiras and McAleer look set to clinching the GT3 championship. Maximize the weekend. Klaus Bachler will take over the #28 RS1 Porsche to the finish. Pit stop perfection is what they need to stay ahead of the competition but they are in for a good result. The #04 Mercedes is seventh overall, and likely to win in class and to clinch a GT World Challenge America championship. We shall see. Colin Braun is a rocket ship and can succeed in a prototype and a in a GT3 car.
I don't think we will see Eric Filgueiras in a GT3 car for next year, back to the Pirelli GT4 America ranks it looks like. In fifth place, the #94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen, Chandler Hull, and Robby Foley. They are in the pound seats to score IGTC points for BMW. They could have also won the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Pro-Am class with two Silver rated drivers and a Gold rated driver and we still have an hour and 46 minutes remaining as Laurin Heinrich is back at the wheel of the #20 Huber Motorsports Porsche with which he scored pole in qualifying yesterday afternoon.
It is a radical strategy to leave your fastest driver to the end of the race and not the wisest thing to do. There is a way to slice the pie but it is hard to make up a deficit with the pit procedure in SRO America and Intercontinental GT Challenge. Stolz's previous lap was the fastest klap of the day for the #999 Mercedes at 1:23.420. 258 laps now in the bag. We thought BMW would be the cars to beat in qualifying and ditto for Mercedes but of course we saw Porsche do it with Laurin Heinrich. Heinrich is into the car Meanwhile, Sheldon van der Linde in the race leading #30 BMW M4 GT3 is cutting fast laps as well.
Mercedes finding their feet but BMW lay down the gauntlet. Luca Stolz in P3, 8.9 seconds behind Raffaele Marciello, currently. Then comes Colin Braun in sixth place in the #04 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3. Nolan Siegel is grateful for the opportunity to join this team, and he has been driving the LMP2 car with the team in IMSA all year. An impressive young man. He will turn 18 in a month, still 17 years old almost winning the 2023 Indy Next Championship, formerly called Indy Lghts. Speaking of lights, the trackside lighting is coming on and so are the headlights.
Doing a double stint at the end going through th changing light is the easiest way to do it. Gradually ease into sunset and the gorgeous evening. Nolan Siegel is 18 years old ahead of his 19th birthday, from Palo Alto, California. 3.2 million bricks used to build this place. Stolz is 7.2 seconds down on Marciello having taken out another 3/4 of a second. Sheldon van der Linde comofortable, 35 seconds to the good, in the lead of the motor race if they can keep it clean as we look at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum that opened in 1956 and is under a massive rennovation. The current building for the Hall of Fame opened in 1976.
Part of the renovation is to bring more cars out of the basement. They should have restoration shops, watching the craftsmen bringing the cars back to life. There is also a great museum at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, and SRO America will be returning. We have indeed passed the 1,000-kilometer mark of this race. We are checking to see if we'll hit a distance record. In about 60 laps we could hit a new record with 95 minutes to do it. George Barber who owns Barber Motorsports Park also has a massive motorcycle collection and Lotus race cars, the largest collection of Lotus race cars in the United States.
Coming down to the final hour and a half of this race, and we would be on the pre-grid if this were a traditional hour and a half Fanatec GT World Challenge America race as the #31 BMW M4 GT3 almost goes off the road. Turn one has been calamity corner all day long. Charles Weerts vs. Christian Engelhart racing each other, but laps apart. Both of these teams have had dismal days, WRT and Rearden Racing, but they are still going for it. This is a spicy battle,. but three incidents for Rearden Racing and Racer's Edge. This is the best race we've seen that means nothing.
Can I get fresh tires? No! There are lights at the pagoda but it will get dark out there for the final hour. Overhsooting turn one in the dark you will not find the rabbit hole and no one has used the escape route in turn one all day except for George Kurtz early in the race. Engelhart passes Weerts again. Will Rearden Racing be back next year? It could be. A pairing of Vesko Kozarov and Jake Pedersen in Fanatec GT World Challenge America? We'll see.
Sheldon van der Linde still leads while Raffaele Marciello extends his gap on Luca Stolz. He had a stirring final stint last year and has things stored up his sleeve but for now it is indeed Sheldon van der Linde and BMW so far. van der Linde continues in the lead. He is mired in traffic and Marciello has losr ground, 37 seconds in-arrears. The ominous pace of this BMW M4 GT3 is showing even on a cooling racetrack. The traffic is constant as the headlights are on. The same cars are dealt with but with different drivers at the wheel who have their own characteristics.
CrowdStrike Fastest Lap to Dries Vanthoor at 1:23.166 has stood the test of time. Execute the race and see how the chips fall at the end of the day. Christian Engelhart will not get a Christmas card from the WRT team I'm afraid. Augusto Farfus was very outspoken about lapped cars. Drivers ignoring blue flags are troublesome especiallyu in multiple class racing. Colin Braun and company have gained 12 places and Kenton Koch, 11 places whule six for Trenton Estep, and five for both Earl Bamber and Elliott Skeer, it is about the car, not the current driver.
A tight squeeze between ST Racing and Sky - Tempesta Racing, rivals in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe with a Ferrari and a Mercedes, but here, a BMW and a Ferrari as Raffaele Marciello continues pounding around. Keep going. One hour and 20 minutes of racing remaining. We'll be into the final hour in a wee while. Last year's race here at Indianapolis was sensational. The gap between Marciello and Stolz has ballooned quite a bit. Stolz part of the Bathurst 12 Hour winning crew with Jules Gounon and Kenny Habul. Kenny Habul still recovering from a crash prior to the 24 Hours of Spa. We wish he was here.
Maybe he will be back in 2024. A close shave between two Porsche's. Trent Hindman around Earl Bamber in 16th place in the #4 Grove Motorsports/EBM Porsche. Klaus Bachler in the #28 RS1 Porsche. Job done for RS1 trying to clinch the Pro championship. That championship gap remains 33 points between RS1 and BimmerWorld. Next up, ironically, is Bill Auberlen in the #94 BimmerWorld BMW. They have won this race three times, twice in GT4 and once in GT3 Pro-Am last year. They are undefeated but may only get a podium this year.
Bill Auberlen last pitted on lap 265. The gap as it stands in pro-Am is four points for Kurtz and Braun at 212 over Skeer and Adelson at 208. Speaking of the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, they are in the lane now, I think. Laurin Heinrich running eighth overall. Driver chnge, fuel, ad a tire change for the #120. We are eight minutes away from maximum stint time for the final stint at 65 minutes. Trenton Estep and MDK Motorsports in the #53 Porsche are running well, now in the former shop in Ohuo of Meyer Shank Racing.
TR3 Racing, starting last, transponder changes, new driver drafted in before the start, and so forth. The Romanelli brothers are still in it. TR3 have put together a good effort. Confirmation, there has been a fueling issue for the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. The first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 was won by Ray Harroun in the Marmon Wasp that finished in 6 hours and 42 minutes. There have been amateur 10 hour races here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Racer's Edge Motorsports, 15th overall, and their days has been pear shaped all day.
They have had the sort of day they wanted their competitors to have and it has not gone their way for a couple of days. Brenton and Stephen Grove along with Earl Bamber, are running well, and of course Madison Snow's mom and dad, Melanie and Martin, raced and won. Earl Bamber races for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing in IMSA, races Porsche in IGTC and won the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring this year for Ferrari in a 296 GT3. Nicky Catsburg, Felipe Fernandez Laser, David Pittard, and Earl Bamber.
Pit stop time for WRT #30. Fuel and tires. Kurt Mollekens, Pierre Dieudonne, Thierry Tassin, Vincent Vosse, and more. Tassin, an ex-Formula 3 driver. Roger Penske was accepted for an Indianapolis 500 rookie test as a driver, turned it down to go to college, and Mario Andretti took the drive. Everyone knows everyone. Motor racing is a global sport. Some of these teams and drivers racing against each other for the first time as we race into the twilight. Raffaele Marciello and Luca Stolz run 1-2 but need to make their pit stops as Sheldon van der Linde is back in the lead.
The pit lane will be closed if we go Full Course Yellow but we have had just one Full Course Yellow all day. Mercedes-AMG have run a near perfect race while BMW have had penalties but the BMW has to be stronger on this track. What will we see in Abu Dhabi in December? I guess we'll find out. Horses for courses. Trent Hindman pits for the final time out of the lead of Fanatec GT World Challenge America Pro.
Trenton Estep done with his driving for the day at MDK Motorsports. It will be Jan Heylen finishing for Wright Motorsports in the #45 car. Heylen is getting better with experience and with age.
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