A star-studded field is set to embark on an 8-hour journey around "The Brickyard" at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in what will be the finale for the SRO GT World Challenge America championship, and the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge for the 2024 season. A grand total of 25 GT3 cars are set to compete. In this Op. Ed., I shall break down the who's who of the entry list and maybe give some predictions about their possible chances in the race itself. I've got just one bit of skin in this game, and I will explain that as we go through the list and get to a specific team. There are three different classes based on driver gradings and which SRO championship the drivers, teams, and cars are coming from. It is important to remember that we are dealing with cars in the same class, overall. Every single entry is a GT3 spec race car.
Let's begin with a look at the profile of the IGTC Pro division, for professional drivers within the Intercontinental GT Challenge itself.
#4 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
This car from Lone Star Racing is set to be shared by factory Mercedes-AMG drivers Luca Stolz and Fabian Schiller, and the third driver is three-time IndyCar champion, Spaniard, Alex Palou.
#31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3
This car is the defending champion of the Indianapolis 8 Hours. Team WRT of course, is run by former racing drivers who have become team investors and ownership partners including team boss, Vincent "the man in the flat hat" Vosse, Pierre Dieudonne, Kurt Mollekens, and others, who are part of the management and ownership group of WRT who has their fingers in pies within the GT3 field and also, to prototypes, in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The relevance of GT3 extends to the WEC and also to SRO especially in IGTC and SRO GT World Challenge Europe.
The driver lineup here has all-BMW factory drivers in the lineup, and so does their second car. We'll get to that in a moment. The #31 entry has Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts (both from Belgium), and South African Sheldon van der Linde. 2/3rds of this team races for BMW at the prototype level as well as in GT3. With that out of the way, let's move to the second WRT BMW M4 GT3 entry. This happens to be car #33.
#33 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3
In the sister BMW M4 GT3 for Team WRT, has Brazilian Augusto Farfus as lead driver, who also races in the BMW prototype for endurance races and has a part of WRT's involvement in the GT3 division as part of the FIA WEC as well. Farfus will share the sister WRT entry alongside European BMW drivers who compete in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup championship, actually with Rowe Racing, a fellow BMW team. Ulsterman Daniel Harper, and BMW junior factory driver, Max Hesse from Germany.
#98 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3
More BMW M Power, as one of the American teams that is a regular contender in Fanatec GT World Challenge America in the Pro division, they join BMW's roster in the group of cars eligible for manufacturer points in the IGTC for the championship. This is the familiar green and white BMW owned and managed by Paul Sparta and driven by Kenton Koch and Conor Daly, IndyCar and sports car driver. They will be joined for the Indianapolis 8 Hours by IMSA factory BMW prototype driver, Connor De Philippi, for the Indianapolis 8 Hours.
#130 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
The sole Mercedes entry in the Pro division of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, this is also the only Mercedes Benz among the many BMW's entered. The Team GruppeM racing car is #130 to indicate the 130th anniversary of Mercedes Benz after Benz and his partner Gottlieb Daimler collaborated to invent the first working automobile. Major GT3 star power at the wheel of this car. Maro Engel of Germany is the lead driver, sharing alongside Frenchman and stalwart Mercedes GT3 pilot Jules Gounon, and another stalwart AMG ace, French Canadian Mikael Grenier.
Now we move to the contenders to watch for within the Fanatec GT World Challenge America series that we've been watching do the sprint race 90-minute doubleheaders all year long here stateside. This is going to be closely fought!
#28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3
Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey have proven to be a formidable duo in Fanatec GT World Challenge America all year. At Indianapolis, they will be joined by Austrian Philipp Eng who is an all-arounder for BMW in sports car racing circles. Eng is equally at home in GT3 cars and prototypes alike. He just won for the BMW GTP prototype team at the recent IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So, this car is a triple threat when it comes to being a contender in the Pro class of Fanatec GT World Challenge America.
#63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
Tommy Milner and Alec Udell have cleaned up in Fanatec GT World Challenge America this year in the sprint doubleheader 90-minute races. They have won eight of those in a row. Eight races on the bounce is not something you often see in any kind of racing much less in sports car racing circles. But these two have done it. They will be joined for the Indianapolis 8 Hours by current Pratt & Miller Corvette IMSA driver Alexander Sims who also has driven with Cadillac in the prototype ranks in the past and has won there. But his home seems to be behind the wheel of a GT3 car. Don't underestimate this trio. They could play the role of a spoiler at Indianapolis and perhaps... sweep the season. Since round three at Circuit of the Americas, they have always been in the game and for the most part, absolutely dominant.
#85 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Here is another formidable trio. RS1 have been ones to watch in Fanatec GT World Challenge America all year with lead driver Jake Pedersen who also happens to be a musician and guitar player, as well as a visual artist. This bloke is a regular renaissance man. Fast cars, music, and art. Trent Hindman, his season long co-driver in Fanatec GT World Challenge America has proven himself at the wheel of many Grand Touring sports cars in several championships over the years and is a solid partner. Kay van Berlo, is the Flying Dutchman. He joins this team in the third driver role for the Indianapolis 8 Hours. He will boost their efforts and bring them into contention, perhaps, for an overall victory.
It should be noted, the #85 RS1 Porsche, you will recall, swept the weekend at the second event of the year at Sebring with Trent Hindman and Spencer Pumpelly.
#93 Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 EVO22
Racer's Edge and Acura have been knocking on success' door all season. The Jon Mirachi led team has had myriads of victories in years past but have not found victory lane in 2024. Will that all change in the biggest race of the year at "The Brickyard"? Their new season long driving duo of Luca Mars and Zach Veach have done everything they can, throwing the kitchen sink at going for the win. Sometimes they have not been close enough. Other times, the car has let them down. At Indianapolis, their efforts will be boosted by the addition of Colombian American IndyCar and sports car racing veteran, Gabby Chaves.
#120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Wright Motorsports, with their iconic and venerable green and yellow Porsche are a team that has also struggled in 2024 to find their feet. Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer did very well in 2023 but in 2024 all they have to show so far is a weekend sweep way back in April at the opening races of the season at Sonoma Raceway in northern California wine country. Team boss John Wright and his drivers will be looking to "right" the ship this weekend, (OK, terrible pun!), and will do so with the assistance of Porsche international GT3 star, Laurin Heinrich of Germany, who has been regularly racing in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance and Sprint Cup at Rutronik Racing, and in IMSA in a similar GT3 Porsche, bearing the fabled and fun "Rexy" the dinosaur livery, for AO Racing.
The biggest class in the 22-car field for the Indianapolis 8 Hours is the Pro-Am division. In this category, again, using GT3 spec cars, professional and amateur drivers alike blend together as I believe, according to the FIA precious metals driver ratings system, (and I could be wrong), you must have a lineup for a driving trio in Pro-Am of a Bronze, an amateur, a Silver, someone who might not drive race cars full-time but who is remarkably quick when they do, and a Gold or Platinum fully professional racing driver.
#8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT3
Flying Lizard Motorsports has been racing in the sports car and endurance realm probably for the better part of over two decades by now and have a stacked driver lineup in their #8 BMW M4 GT3 having switched over to the Bavarian Rondel from the British Aston Martin badge, mid-season. Regular season American co-drivers Elias Sabo and Andy Lee will be joined by British BMW factory driver, Nick Yelloly. Yelloly is an experienced shoe in BMW's GT3 and prototype machinery alike and finished second along with co-driver Connor De Philippi to the sister BMW prototype of Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn in the latest IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship GTP race, ironically, also at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
#10 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Herberth Motorsports have been successful globally, and especially in Europe, in Porsche GT3 machinery, for the last several years. They come into the Indianapolis 8 Hours as part of the Pro-Am class within the Intercontinental GT Challenge and I believe have also been entered with the framework of the GT World Challenge Europe championship under SRO sanction in the Sprint and Endurance Cup championships alike. They got their start by dominating the Dutch Creventic 24 Hour Series amateur endurance racing championship and have worked their way up now into international GT racing fame.
Dutchman Loek Hartog is the lead driver in the car, sharing with Swiss licensed German GT3 veteran Patric Niederhauser, and the team's lead driver according to the entry list, Antares Au from Turkey. Au and Niederhauser, I believe, have driven together in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe this year, but I cannot remember if that is the case or not.
#21 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Another team to rise out of the Creventic 24 Hour Series which is actually run by Dutch racing officials, is Car Collection Motorsport who have made a splash on the scene in SRO competition globally and primarily in Europe. American Ashish Patel, a new name to my eyes and ears, is sharing this Porsche GT3 with Swiss licensed and domiciled GT3 drivers Yannick Mettler and Alex Fontana. Mettler and Fontana have both driven for several years now in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe in both the sprint and endurance race formats, the Sprint and Endurance Cup.
#29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3
Turner Motorsports is a longtime campaigner in endurance sports car racing in both IMSA and SRO competition in North America and they have a formidable Pro-Am lineup as yet another BMW backed team in this race. An all-American roster of drivers on this squad. Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg (a man who has gone on a tear in the GT America class as well as being successful in GT World Challenge America) are joined for the Indianapolis 8 Hours by a longtime co-driver for Turner Motorsports on the IMSA side, Patrick Gallagher, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
#32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
GMG Racing have figured prominently in Fanatec GT World Challenge America during the 2024 season. This is a very strong team under team boss and driver, James Sofronas. America Kyle Washington leads the charge alongside Australian Tom Sargent, and for the Indianapolis 8 Hours, they are joined by Turkish Porsche factory driver, Ayhancan Guven, who is a two-time champion in Porsche Carrera Cup France. He concurrently races for Porsche in the DTM, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, which also uses GT3 cars in their main championship.
In 2022, Ayhancan Guven finished runner-up in the ADAC GT Masters championship, a national German GT3 series sponsored by the German Auto Club, the ADAC, which is the equivalent of AAA here in the United States. Guven was victorious in the opening race of the 2024 Intercontinental GT Challenge taking victory with Manthey EMA in the Bathurst 12 Hours at Mount Panorama Bathurst in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, back in February. Guven won that race alongside current Porsche Penske Motorsports factory Hypercar drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell.
#38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3
The second of the two ST Racing BMW M4 GT3's in the race is their Pro-Am entry with a driving trio led by team boss and owner, Canadian Samantha Tan who has done a lot of endurance racing in production-based GT3 and GT4 cars through the last number of years and she has become more and more successful each time. She is a true star of SRO America racing. Tan will be joined by her regular season long co-driver, American Neil Verhagen, who has had success in SRO competition with BMW on both sides of the pond and has also made occasional endurance race starts in various BMW race cars in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship as I recall.
American driver John Capestro-Dubets, JCD, has been brought in as the third driver in the Pro-Am entry for ST Racing. JCD has been successful in both GT3 and GT4 competition across a couple of different championships, not the least of which includes GT World Challenge America, Pirelli GT4 America, and the GT4 category within the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge championship where he has mostly driven a Porsche Cayman Clubsport GT4 car rather than a BMW. So, depending on the series, on the different championship, JCD has been swapping back and forth between the Stuttgart and Munich legends.
JCD is a very capable third driver in this lineup. Look out for them for a possible class win if not a chance at the overall.
#50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
This is a true underdog team. Chouest Povoledo Racing, co-owned and operated by both of the teams' drivers, Ross Chouest, a former college football player turned racing driver, and Aaron Povoledo. We are still waiting to find out who they will have as a third driver in this car. Chouest Povoledo Racing have unfortunately been on the short end in terms of luck in the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge America championship. Could their luck turn around at Indianapolis? Could they achieve a good result? We'll have to wait and find out.
#61 EBM (Earl Bamber Motorsports) Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
EBM comes over from Australia, led by prototype racing driver (for GM and Cadillac in the FIA World Endurance Championship), Earl Bamber from New Zealand, who is still associated with Porsche for his GT3 efforts. Here, Bamber is chiefly the team boss. He has hired three capable drivers to share the Porsche at Indianapolis. Amateur GT3 racer Adrien D'Silva leads the effort joined by Danish racer Bastian Buus who is a Porsche Junior driver. Buus has raced in the junior GT formulas such as Porsche Carrera Cup and in GT4 cars in both SRO GT4 Europe and DTM Trophy. In 2024 he has been racing for EBM in both the Asian Le Mans Series and in the IGTC. The team's third pilot is New Zealander Brendon Leitch who has worked his way through the sports car racing ladder and has competed in Lamborghini's and Porsche's. Leitch has run in the Creventic 24 Hour Series in the past, in numerous races in SRO competition, and made his IMSA debut in a Porsche in the GT Daytona class at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the IMSA Battle on the Bricks there, last month. This team has potential for a class win in Pro-Am and a good overall result.
#64 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
The second DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R., the sister car to their Pro class #63 entry being shared by Tommy Milner, Alec Udell, and Alexander Sims, has undergone a massive driver reshuffle for the Indianapolis 8 Hours and will be entered in the Pro-Am division. This all-American trio still has Bryan Sellers as the lead driver. Bryson Morris, who I believe is still contracted with the team, however, I cannot be so sure, is not a part of the driver trio for Indianapolis, and they have brought in two new drivers for the enduro. Blake McDonald and Patrick Liddy are those pilots. McDonald and Liddy both have experience in Lamborghini machinery primarily, in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship, and I believe, the single make Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America championship.
For Liddy, he is no stranger to GT3 cars, but the Corvette will be all new to him. McDonald, I believe this is his first foray into full-fledged GT3 racing. A class win is a possibility. I also believe that DXDT Racing might be able to use their sister car to assist their Pro class #63 entry, the Udell/Milner/Sims car, in a possible effort to take the race victory. So, DXDT has two bullets in the gun even though their Corvette's will be entered in separate classes, again, based solely on driver ratings, not car performance. I stress that in SRO we are looking at a field of all GT3 cars from the different manufacturers.
#75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG GT3
SunEnergy1 returns to the Intercontinental GT Challenge, and I believe they are also making a return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway where they have raced in GT3 competition before in a couple championships, in IMSA and SRO alike. This is the team that, in 2023, pulled off a dominant yet miraculous victory in the Bathurst 12 Hours. Solar energy magnate Kenny Habul is the team boss and the lead driver for the operation. The Australian will be joined by his countryman, Jayden Ojeda. Ojeda has had success both in Australian Supercars and in GT3 racing "down under" as part of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia, also sanctioned by the SRO and local Australian motor racing clubs and has shown his prowess. Habul and Ojeda are joined by Mercedes GT3 driver, Lucas Auer. The Austrian is called on by Mercedes-AMG to race a GT3 car as one of their top pilots. This is a car that we shall surely be keeping an eye on for Pro-Am honors, and perhaps, even for an overall win if they play the strategy right.
#88 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3
One of two Pro-Am entered Ferrari's for AF Corse, Amato Ferrari's massive effort that includes Hypercars in the FIA WEC that have won back-to-back 24 Hours of Le Mans races with two different cars, as well as an equally formidable customer GT3 effort. The #88 car, we should see it decked out in the traditional red and yellow Ferrari factory livery. We saw this car on pole position for race one of the weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, back in May. They are knocking on the door of winning and will be another contender for the Pro-Am honors. Brazilian Custodio Toledo is the lead driver and shares the car with his season-long teammate Riccardo Agostini of Italy, who has been successful in Ferrari Challenge and in the Italian GT Championship. Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, the Monegasque, is the third driver for Indianapolis. Sbirrazuoli has found past success in lower level prototypes as well as in GT cars.
#91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
Regulator Racing were another team in Fanatec GT World Challenge America, in 2024, to be in the fight, with a handful of pole positions, and often running to alternate strategies during the two-race weekends throughout the season in Fanatec GT World Challenge America. As yet, they have not parlayed their off strategy into a victory. I am not sure their brilliant strategic maneuvers could work in an enduro like the Indianapolis 8 Hours. We'll have to see. American Jeff Burton is the Am driver and his co-driver is the very rapid, race winning Philip Ellis who is so interesting because he has German and British citizenship both, so, a dual citizenship, and does a lot of racing in North America between SRO and IMSA and I believe in Europe as well between Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe and he has probably also competed in DTM now that their championship is also based on the GT3 platform.
Ellis and Burton will be joined by Finnish driver Elias Seppanen for the Indianapolis 8 Hours. Seppanen is the 2023 ADAC GT Masters champion at the wheel of a GT3 Mercedes and he won that title in the series last year, sanctioned by the German auto club, with Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf. Before racing in GT3 cars and sports cars, he was a single seater open wheel driver starting with karting as most young drivers do and over the course of a decade, he went through some of the open wheel ladder system throughout Europe and Asia alike, racing in the SMP Formula 4 Championship, Formula Academy Finland, ADAC F4 championship, Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula Regional Eurocup, and southeast Asia Formula 4 championship before stepping up to sports cars full-time. Seppanen is a capable driver and should fit with Burton and Ellis well in their team in the #91 Mercedes for Regulator Racing.
#92 MMG (Montreal Motorsports Group) Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Montreal Motorsports Group enters their Pro-Am Porsche from GT World Challenge America as part of the Pro-Am class for the Indianapolis 8 Hours. This team got a late start to their 2024 season although they have also been running TCR cars, a TCR Honda Civic, on the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge circuit as well. Their GT3 efforts have been exclusively focused within SRO GT World Challenge America. 2/3rds of their driver lineup is complete, with their regular duo of Canadian's Kyle Marcelli and Jean Fredric Laberge. A third driver for the Indianapolis 8 Hours has yet to be announced. Stay tuned for details.
#163 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3
This is the Am class entry from AF Corse, another Ferrari 296 GT3 that has competed in Fanatec GT World Challenge America for most of the 2024 season so far. American amateur driver Jay Schreibman leads the team and is amply and capably assisted by veteran Brazilian co-driver Oswaldo Negri Jr. who has been a successful sports car racer now for over two decades, and the rapid Finnish Ferrari racer, Toni Vilander, who, several years ago, won a championship in Fanatec GT World Challenge America. Another formidable trio in the Am category.
#888 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-AMG GT3
Triple Eight, the incredibly successful Australian outfit that has dominated Australian Supercars as well as GT3 racing in Australia under SRO sanction for many years, has made their way stateside as a Pro-AM entry for the Indianapolis 8 Hours. They have fielded many of Australia's top touring car and GT drivers over the years. Names such as Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen, and Broc Feeney come to mind. For the Indianapolis 8 Hours, the team will be led by the Malaysian Prince who happens to be a royal racing driver, Prince Jeffri Ibrahim. He is part of the Johor royal family in the Malaysian state of Johor.
He is the fifth child and fourth son of the current Sultan of Johor, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim. He has raced with Triple Eight JMR since 2021 competing in SRO competition in Asia, Australia, and Europe, and recently branched out into GT Open, the GT sports car championship that was founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organizacion. Ibrahim has competed in the last three consecutive Bathurst 12 Hour races and finished third, tenth, and 11th in each event, so 2022 is his best result at Mount Panorama. He did race at this year's 24 Hours of Spa as well but did not finish. He was driving with co-driver Jordan Love of Australia and Alexander Sims who is competing at Indy with DXDT Racing with one of their Corvettes of course.
Jordan Love, the aforementioned Aussie co-driver for Prince Jeffri is a contracted driver for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 program on a global scale. Ibrahim and Love will be joined at Indianapolis by Indian racer Arjun Maini. Maini is from a family of racing drivers. Four-time Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel is Maini's racing hero. His brother and father are and were racing drivers as well. His brother, Kush Maini is a current FIA Formula 2 Championship driver. His dad, Gautami Maini raced in the 1990s in the Indian National Racing Championship also known as Formula Maruti.
Like most racers, Maini started his career in karting and then worked his way up into cars. He ran and won in several championships in karting in India and raced at the old Buddh International Circuit which used to host Formula 1 and may still host races on a regional/national level in India. He showed remarkable pace and from karting he graduated into the racing ladder and included stints in Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand, a tenth-place finish in a Formula 3 car at the legendary Macau Grand Prix in 2015, and then worked his way into FIA Formula 3 and FIA Formula 2, the two feeder championships to the Formula 1 World Championship.
Formula 2 was a difficult road for Maini. He was so frustrated with lack of power in one race that he tearfully exclaimed to the team over the radio how underpowered the car was and his team at Trident Racing agreed with his frustrations. Maini was signed as a development driver for the Haas Formula 1 team in 2017. He completed refocused in the 2020s to endurance and GT3 racing competing in the European and Asian Le Mans Series as well as at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, all in the LMP2 class. Since 2021, Maini has been focused on GT3 racing with Mercedes particularly in the DTM championship from the point where they changed from the older, yet very expensive and technically complex Class 1 touring car regulations to GT3 machines. Maini has been in DTM with Mercedes-AMG ever since.
In 2024, Maini, with Mercedes-AMG has competed in global and regional GT3 sports car competition including at the Nurburgring 24 Hours for Mercedes-AMG in the SP9 class which is the Nurburgring championship's designation for GT3 machinery. He has competed in their own championship, the Nurburgring Langstrecken Series, and at the crown jewel, the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, in addition to SRO competition in Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. Maini, Love, and Prince Jeffri Ibrahim will be another top contending Pro-Am trio. So, there you have it, a full analysis of the runners and riders for the Indianapolis 8 Hours. Very excited to bring the race to you as well as the championship deciding support races for SRO America at "The Brickyard". It should be fun. For now, so long, and take care, everybody.
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