A fabulous move by Fabian Schiller aboard the #4 Mercedes to get back on the lead lap. Schiller has his elbows out. Patric Niederhauser will need to pit to meet his maximum stint length and there will be a driver change, but we don't know yet if it will be to Antares Au or to Loek Hartog. Schiller passes Charles Weerts in the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 who is the de facto leader of the motor race and thus, Schiller will move onto the tail end of the lead lap. Jules Gounon, the Frenchman, now at the controls of the #130 Mercedes-AMG GT3 for GruppeM Racing runs a tad wide and fortunately gets back on the preferred line, the racing surface, here at Indianapolis.
Jules Gounon was delayed getting to Indianapolis because he was testing an Alpine Hypercar in FIA World Endurance Championship competition before getting here to race for Mercedes at Indianapolis, as Zach Veach in the #93 Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 now has his hands full with the Brazilian BMW man Augusto Farfus now at the wheel of the #33 Team WRT car. Farfus won this race in 2020 when BMW claimed the first of their two Indianapolis 8 Hours victories. Lapped cars mixed up with lead lap cars. Kyle Washington in the #32 GMG Racing Porsche is trying to knock out his drive time early and leave it up to co-drivers Ayhancan Guven of Turkey and Australian Tom Sargent to take it the rest of the way.
Zach Veach and Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura have been pinged by the stewards for being over the minimum pit stop time on their most recent visit to the pit lane. Drive through penalty, 1.4 seconds underneath. You are allowed a one second joker, but it is a drive through penalty if it is over a second. #93 was almost alongside another car. If you have overlap, redress it in the pits or on track after the stop. Or suffer the consequences of a penalty. It does not matter if the #93 Racer's Edge Acura has a drive through or not, the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 was supposed to give the position back before the restart.
So, we could very well see car #99 with Connor De Philippi at the controls, also being penalized by the stewards. Maybe Connor De Philippi gave it back, but it is hard to tell. Little tiny procedural things are nothing new. It is hard to tell, though if you have cleared another car in the lane in your rearview mirror. Veach is serving the drive through penalty now, and it is very costly given the long transit time through the pit lane. Patric Niederhauser continues to lead but they owe a pit stop and soon, in 40 seconds.
112 seconds on pit lane is eternity. I am with Calvin Fish on this one. I have no idea why the Herberth Motorsports team are letting themselves suffer and take the pain of pitting so darn late after the restart in order to not run afoul of maximum stint length/drive time. #10 is going to lose a full lap. Track position will be lost, and you will not make up for fuel strategy. Patric Niederhauser just barely made it to the lane in time. That was a close shave! Herberth going to work making their first driver change and they have led 40 laps but will drop to the back of the field.
#10 has run 40 laps, 97 and a half miles to this point. Kyle Washington was all kinds of sideways, clattering over the curbs... boom, boom, boom. This is an "I want my mommy!" moment, for Kyle Washington. Yikes! All that clattering and banging on the undertray of Porsche #32 didn't sound good, clobberig oer the curbs. Washington trundling through the lane at 50 kilometers an hour is brutal, and he is going to lose shedloads upon shedloads of time. In the meantime, oh no! Troubles for Samantha Tan aboard the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3! She has stopped dead stick coming off the final turn on the road course section.
If the #29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3, the Foley/Rothberg/Gallagher entry should win, and there eight eligible cars for points in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America championship entered here at Indianapolis, ST Racing must finish in the top five to seal the deal. Now, Samantha Tan has done a Control, Alt, Delete, and I don't think she has drive, and right in the center of the track through turn 12 with oncoming traffic! Oy yoy yoy! That could have been massively ugly! 50 points on offer for this race, double points with the eight-hour race.
ST Racing has only been off the podium twice this season. Patrick Gallagher could be the leader even though he is fourth and is down a couple of laps because the car ahead is a Pro-Am car but in IGTC, not Fanatec GT World Challenge America. That is the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Jayden Ojeda at the wheel of it. Samantha Tan is just trundling down the road and Race Control is giving them the opportunity to make it back to pit lane albeit on fumes or with a car that has some kind of mechnical issue and is a wounded bird out there.
If you join the championship from the second to last races of the weekend, you are invisible for points. The Pro-Am cars whether they are North American entries, or they are from overseas (i.e. Australia, Europe, Asia), they are classified within the Pro-Am category just the same, geographic team location notwithstanding. They will not be coming in for the North America points. So, if the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 does not score points today, the #29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 must be in the top two in class to win. But, if they win, the #38 must be in the top five. If you join for Barber Motorsports Park and Indianapolis, you are invisible for points. Fairness is what it is about if the championship is down to the wire to avoid teams or manufacturers stacking the deck with guest cars with fast international drivers.
Low fuel pressure reported for the #38 car. Samantha Tan is trundling around the circuit. Meanwhile, the battle is well and truly on for the lead between Charles Weerts in the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 and Jules Gounon in the #130 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. 13 Pro Am cars in the field but only eight eligible in Fanatec GT World Challenge America. Charles Weerts is running ahead of Gounon, so it is the Belgian vs. the Andorran based, Andorran licensed Frenchman, although, it seems by the leaderboard graphic, Jules Gounon might now be racing again under a French license.
Right now, the leaders are harrying Fabian Schiller aboard the #4 Lone Star Racing Mercedes who has just unlapped himself and is fighting for his life to stay on the lead lap ahead of these two (more or less), factory cars, even though it is technically true that in GT3 racing there are no factory teams, but just look at Team WRT with BMW, GruppeM with Mercedes and the anniversary car, and Ferrari with AF Corse, and well, you get my point. Let's see what we can find out now as we return to the saga of ST Racing and their troubles.
We need to put a bow on the Lone Star Racing story. Team boss A.J. Peterson says that the Lumirank position marker system affixed inside the windscreen of the car is not working because the battery in the actual Lumirank signboard has gone on the blink. It was a hectic pit stop for Lone Star Racing who are on the back foot and now, speaking of hectic pit stops, ST Racing and the #38 BMW are in for one of their own. The crew is pushing the car into the pit box. Maybe, just maybe the Lumirank system was not working, and they knew they needed to fix it but they had to avoid getting trapped. With Patric Niederhauser finally making his pit stop, this puts Fabian Schiller back on the lead lap.
Now, Kyle Washington has made up a couple of positions over a few of the other Porsche's down the field, as he has passed by both Yannick Mettler, the Frenchman in the #21 Car Collection Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992), and the #61 EBM Porsche with Aussie Brendon Leitch behind the wheel currently. So, Kyle Washington is 20th, and Yannick Mettler is 21st. Not good news for Samantha Tan and ST Racing as the #38 BMW M4 GT3 is being pushed back through Gasoline Alley to the garage. They have to get the car fixed, get back out there, and score 50% of the laps completed by their class leader at the end of the eight hours of racing here today, in order to score points.
Samantha Tan tells the team that it is a fuel pump issue according to ST Racing team manager, Jon Miller. This is a game changer because if they score any points, the #29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 has to finish second and right now, Turner Motorsports benefits from this situation with ST Racing, their rivals. Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg can pick up places with the assistance today of Patrick Gallagher. They have pace in that race car. They were on the podium in their IMSA spec GT3 car here at the IMSA endurance race a handful of weekends ago in the GT Daytona class. They also tested here at "The Brickyard", so they have an extensive knowledge base to work off of.
Connor De Philippi slides the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 down the inside of Patrick Gallagher. Gallagher runs on a regular basis with Robby Foley in IMSA racing. Patrick Gallagher knows the team, the car, and the track. Gallagher has raced here at Indianapolis in the NASCAR Xfinity Series before. Yikes! We see in replay, a big hit over the curbs for one of the Porsche's! That looks like the #85 car, the RS1 entry. Somebody clobbered Jake Pedersen who is at the wheel of the #85 right now. Dear, oh dear.
There is damage and he was just slammed by another Porsche, Yannick Mettler in the #21 car, the Car Collection Motorsports Porsche. Not much damage is visible. I think some of the fasteners on the left front fender came loose which is the bumper, the fenders at the front of the car. It could very well be that the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 is headed for the house. Neil Verhagen and JCD, John Capestro-Dubets, Samantha Tan's co-drivers looking on in disgust. JCD was so excited about this chance to drive a GT3 car, but it wasn't meant to be. I have my doubts that the #38 car will get back into the fight on this day.
More bad news for the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 as Race Control have mandated, they come in and get their Lumirank display fixed and check their electrical system. Something is going on with the electrical system on the car. I wonder if the voltage is cattywampus and they are not drawing the voltage through the electrical system to run some of the systems on the car, or the battery could be going dead. It would be easier, I think, to change a battery outright than to have the team in and out of the pits or the garage chasing a voltage issue. The Lumirank unit on car #4 is not lit up on the windscreen.
So, this needs to be fixed, or the stewards will take matters into their own hands and apply a bigger penalty to the car being shared of course by Fabian Schiller, Luca Stolz, and Alex Palou. We are just about to hear from Neil Verhagen and ST Racing, and it is not good news. Samantha Tan remains behind the wheel. Things are looking grim as the crew is working on the car. They'll have to see what they can do. Samantha Tan just lost power, and they are tracing the problem of why the car came to a stop. They will be fighting hard.
John Capestro-Dubets, we can see him looking on in the garage from behind the workbench and on his hat, it says, "Everyone Loves an Underdog". Well, that is true, as ST Racing are going to work feverishly to try and get back into this motor race. ST Racing gave the BMW M4 GT3 it's first win anywhere in the world in a Creventic championship endurance race in Mugello, Italy. We watch the replay of the incident between Yannick Mettler and Jake Pedersen in two of the Porsche's and the stewards have this incident under review between the #21 Car Collection Motorsports Porsche and the #85 RS1 Porsche.
That was a car a lap down coming across on a car running in the top ten in the overall. Mettler cops a drive through penalty for incident responsibility for clobbering Jake Pedersen. I think there's worse damage on car #21 than on #85 but I can definitely see loose bodywork on the #21, the bumper cover has been slightly torn away. Fabian Schiller is now in the lane to repair the Lumirank system which does not affect the performance of the Mercedes at all, but needs to be in place for timing and scoring purposes per the rules in SRO GT World Challenge America and Intercontinental GT Challenge alike. Both the #4 Mercedes and the #38 BMW teams are now experiencing troubles that are well out of their control.
Charles Weerts in the meantime, is serenely on his merry way in the race lead. I should not say serenely, however, because the tail of the tape shows, on the scoring pylon, that he is just seven tenths of a second ahead of a charging Jules Gounon currently. There's still a long, long way to go with six hours and 40 minutes left on the board. Weerts, is the main BMW contender for the championship, the defending race winners at Indianapolis are first and third. Weerts in the lead aboard car #31 and Augusto Farfus in third aboard the sister WRT BMW M4 GT3, #33. Farfus has made the most places overall gaining 20 spots!
That's an amazing drive thus far from the Brazilian. Alec Udell in the #63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R has moved up nine places. Oswaldo Negri Jr. in the #163 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 has moved up seven places from his original starting spot, Blake McDonald in the sister #64 DXDT Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R is up five spots from where he started, and up four from his original place on the grid is Jules Gounon in the #130 GruppeM Mercedes. Augusto Farfus has made more progress, but it was Dan Harper's drive charging up from 23rd, stone last on the grid, up to sixth, during his driving stint that may be considered the stuff of legend when we look back on this race in future years.
Fourth overall and in the Pro section of Intercontinental GT Challenge is the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Connor De Philippi. The Corvette coming through is the #63 of Alec Udell for DXDT. He is fifth overall and the leader in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America section of this event, as has so often been the case through the sprint races earlier this season. The Corvette leading the Pro category in Fanatec GT World Challenge America has found a spark. They have gained nine places and their race pace on long runs is looking much better than their single lap pace in qualifying.
Alec Udell is only about 6/10ths of a second off of Patric Niederhauser's fastest lap earlier in the race, so the Corvette is coming alive and as things stand now in the Pro class for Fanatec GT World Challenge America, here are the points.
1. #63 Milner/Udell/Sims DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 250 points
2. #120 Skeer/Adelson/Heinrich Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 231 points -19
3. #28 Auberlen/Choksey/Eng ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 206 points -44
Adam Adelson is currently in a double stint and is the least experience driver in the Wright Motorsports trio compared to his co-drivers Elliott Skeer and Laurin Heinrich. But he is doing all he can. We still have yet to see Skeer and Heinrich. Alec Udell is also in a double stint in the #63 Corvette before he hands over to Tommy Milner and to Alexander Sims as the race goes on. Heinrich is well aware of the championship clinching scenario for Wright Motorsports as they must place one spot ahead of the #63 Corvette or one place behind it in order to secure the championship in Fanatec GT World Challenge America here tonight at Indianapolis.
Should the #63 Corvette win, there is nothing they can do and will have to wait to pick up the fight again in 2025. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. With the troubles for Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen, their points lead they entered this race with has evaporated and the swing in favor goes back the other way to the #29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 of Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg with Patrick Gallagher the third driver for the Indianapolis 8 Hours today. Gallagher is currently at the wheel of the #29 car running 11th in the overall.
Justin Rothberg has been racing in both GT World Challenge America and GT America. He has been a talent, an immense talent. He is searching for pace but does a solid job. He is poised, not flustered, and does not crack under pressure. The battles he has had in GT America with drivers like Johnny O'Connell and Jason Daskalos, where he has come out on top, it shows his skill as a racing driver. This will fast track Justin Rothberg of how to position a car in these major races. Pace can be taught but race craft, you need to learn it by racing against other drivers. Rothberg has a chance to win a championship in Fanatec GT World Challenge America today.
He also does, tomorrow, on Sunday, in the GT America season finale. Folks, here is a note. We are not done yet. After the Indianapolis 8 Hours, I encourage you to get a good night's sleep and then, join us tomorrow morning on Sunday, for the final three shorter races to decide other titles in SRO America here at "The Brickyard" because we have the races for GT America, TC America, and Pirelli GT4 America, the second and final races of the weekend, and final races of the season, happening tomorrow. Trust me, you won't want to miss out on any of the action.
Rothberg has a long shot in this race but it could happen. There has been bad luck for Turner Motorsports this year, but they are hoping for good luck today and tomorrow. Third in the Pro class is Antares Au, and he is a couple of hours away from securing the Independent Cup championship within the Intercontinental GT Challenge. So, we'll be having a Captain Cook at how the Turkish racer is running. We have seen some real thrills in GT America this year. Oh, my gosh. I really suggest tuning in tomorrow or reading the blog if you want to find out what happens. Just doing a little foreshadowing.
As we said, Antares Au is a couple hours away from winning the IGTC Independent Cup over Prince Jeffri Ibrahim. We just saw the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 make a pass for position on Antares Au, so, Finnish racer Elias Seppanen just went by. Seppanen moves up to 12th place putting Antares Au back to 13th. Seppanen joining Jeff Burton and Philip Ellis who have done that alternate strategy in the sprint races, the hour and a half races, from earlier in the year. Jeff Burton has had some great drives especially at Barber Motorsports Park last time out.
Meanwhile, Fabian Schiller in the #4 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 is not having the race he or his team wants. They continue to have fiddly problems with this LumiRank system going on the fritz. We have the SRO marshals, the team, representatives from the LumiRank company, it is all hands on deck trying to figure out why the positioning system on the car isn't working. Alex Palou on top of the pit box keeping an eye on the situation. We are going to follow this, and it has to be incredibly frustrating! Augusto Farfus is again a man on a mission. After the #33 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 started caboose on the field and was moved up markedly by Ulsterman Dan Harper in his stint, the Brazilian, Farfus, has continued the progress and now sits third overall behind Jules Gounon's Mercedes and the sister #31 Team WRT BMW of Charles Weerts, the overall leader.
Augusto Farfus has raced for BMW a long time. He was very successful in DTM with over 100 starts and a few race wins to his credit and this was back when DTM used the Class 1 touring car regulations and not the GT3 regulations like they do now. Farfus is 41 years old, but still has a spring in his step. The #33 team went through shipping issues with the car and engine troubles, but they are moving ahead. That being said, the caveat is Farfus losing time hand over fist to Jules Gounon ahead in the Mercedes. We talked about Team WRT starting the #33 car on used qualifying tires, and this is compromising their pace.
Another yellow will compress the field. Later in the run, the field is going to pack up and you won't have the chance to really use the tires if they have been knackered and you realize, "goodness! We need new boots on the car!" Before we continue talking about the race itself, there is another chance to look at Race Vision powered by AWS and the best laps set by some of the top drivers in the running order. The fastest of these is Antares Au in the #10 Herberth Motorsports Porsche with a 1:23.997. Here is the serial of the best laps at this time.
1. #10 Antares Au Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992) 1:23.997
2. #33 Augusto Farfus Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 1:24.018
3. #31 Charles Weerts Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 1:24.019
4. #130 Jules Gounon Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1:24.021
5. #4 Fabian Schiller Mercedes-AMG Team Lone Star Racing
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1:24.419
So far, it appears that the Porsche's and the BMW's have a slight edge over the Mercedes cars. #33 is quicker than the sister WRT BMW by one one thousandth of a second. Three thousandths of a second between the top three. The Balance of Performance situation is actually working very well in this race. It is the technical committee that calculates the BoP tables to make all of this work out. The racetrack will change and evolve throughout the day. We've talked loads about the German brands but don't count out the #63 DXDT Corvette especially with drivers in their trio like Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims. That doesn't take anything away from Alec Udell either.
So, an hour and a half in the books, the length of a sprint race for Fanatec GT World Challenge America. DXDT leading in Pro and they are looking solid for a championship. They were four races behind in points but then went on a roll. DXDT going for nine wins in a row. But, with the depth of the field today, that is going to be a tall order. Don't count out the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche either with Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer, and Laurin Heinrich. They are in the fight just the same. Alexander Sims is getting suited and booted and ready for his stint.
DXDT Racing have taken a new car and learned it very quickly with both the #63 and #64 cars. Down the order, the #64 sister DXDT Corvette has Blake McDonald at the controls. He is 15th, the meat in a Ferrari sandwich between the two AF Corse entries, the two Ferrari 296 GT3's, #163 with Oswaldo Negri Jr. at the wheel of it, and the #88 in the hands of Custodio Toledo, so, a couple of Brazilian drivers racing for The Prancing Horse. We can see a battle too between a couple of Mercedes'. GruppeM vs. Triple Eight JMR.
Prince Jeffri Ibrahim is down the order trying to recover. He is 17th overall currently, while Jules Gounon in the second place #130 GruppeM Mercedes anniversary liveried car, is behind him, looking to put the prince another lap down. Farfus is losing a bit of ground to the top two. 1.3 seconds between Charles Weerts and Jules Gounon. Again, this is a long race and the conditions are going to change throughout the day. Jules Gounon is suffering a real ice cream headache here trying to get past the #888. Your highness, please move over.
Great to see Triple Eight here, a premier team in Australian motorsports and they have another big race they are prepping for, the Bathurst 1,000 in the Australian Supercars championship. IGTC of course opens their campaign at Bathurst every year, but the 1,000, if you have not seen that race, go back and look at the highlights. Type Bathurst 1,000 into the search bar on YouTube, and trust me, you will like what you see. Gounon has really struggled to get by Ibrahim and the gap between he and Weerts has ballooned substantially.
Gounon wasn't going to wait any longer, put the squeeze play on the prince, and said, so long, mate, I'm off to the races while you trundle around on a Saturday drive. Prince Jeffri is part of the Royal Family of Johor in Malaysia, part of the monarchy. His father currently holds the top office. Just a slight touch in turn four. Be patient or just go for it. Jules Gounon had lost 1.7 seconds last time by. Everyone is playing from the same playbook. 1:25.1 for Gounon with the pass, and so, he is still slightly slower than Charles Weerts.
At the start, the BMW came to life and now, we are seeing that speed of the BMW M4 GT3 manifest itself once again. For Augusto Farfus, he lost time last time by but now he is matching Charles Weerts. You'd expect this from Team WRT, the benchmark BMW GT3 team globally. You can make the case that here in the states, Turner Motorsports is the benchmark on the BMW side of things as they have surpassed the fabled Team Schnitzer of Germany for the most starts ever in sports and touring car racing by a BMW branded team. WRT has won championships and races, and of course, WRT runs the BMW Hypercar team in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well.
Pro-Am is now being led by the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Jayden Ojeda at the wheel of it. Triple Eight, and Jayden Ojeda will both be at the Bathurst 1,000. Ojeda will team up at the Bathurst 12 Hours with Jack Le Brocq for Erebus Motorsports in their Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Aussie Supercar, with Ojeda nicknamed "The Juice" according to our Antipodean Research Department. The 75 Express team are definitely trophy hunting here. The Pro-Am #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 is still behind the wall being fixed and our Amanda Busick has kept tabs on the progress of repairs. Samantha Tan is getting suited and booted and they will get back on track to contend for their championship.
That's good to hear ST Racing will imminently get the #38 back out. Right now, they are in last place, 23rd out of 23 so they hope for some attrition to help them. But there are of course, cars in this race that are invisible from a points perspective because they are competing for other SRO championships, particularly the Pro-Am title or the Intercontinental GT Challenge itself. Jayden Ojeda is not eligible for points. In the Pro-Am class though, it is Patrick Gallagher leading in the #29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3.
In the meantime, we have an early pit stop for one of the Ferrari's, the #88 of Custodio Toledo. It could be quite early for him to be stopping in the pit lane but maybe the strategists have worked this out. A great livery and number for the #130 Mercedes which celebrates 130 years of motor racing for Mercedes, in 1894. The first race was roughly after the second car was built as the saying goes. But Mercedes was there for the first official auto race in France from Paris to Rouen. That is one of the few pieces of motor racing trivia that extends further back than the lifetime of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which opened in 1909, so the Paris to Rouen race took place a full 15 years before that.
Custodio Toledo has finished his stint. Ferrari had limited history here at Indianapolis, maybe a bit in IndyCar, but it was in Formula 1 with Michael Schumacher. Ferrari did build a CART test car. It would be wild to see Ferrari at the Indianapolis 500. The Ferrari 296 is a pretty automobile and is an evolution of the lineage of their GT cars. We remember the 458, the 488, and now the 296. It actually extends back to the 430 and the 360. It is fascinating to see Ferrari with a V6 turbo in the 296 GT3 because of the fact that many of their successful modern GT cars have had V8 power such as the 360 Modena, the 430, the 458 Italia, and the 488.
The 296 GT3 has a more muffled tone from the engine, with its turbocharged V6, than the tradition wail of a V8 or V12 from The Prancing Horse. But it looks fabulous, nonetheless. Turner Motorsports have really done well thus far. Justin Rothberg is aware of his position. He is trying to complete laps, keep the car on the road, and stay on the lead lap and let his co-drivers do their jobs, Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher. Justin Rothberg hoped to be semi competitive, and he has just had a few years in Ferrari Challenge and is now fully into the GT3 fold.
Charles Weerts has now put the #93 Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3 a lap down, with Zach Veach driving. So, he has lapped all the way up to the tenth-place car, meaning just nine automobiles remain on the lead lap here at Indianapolis. #93 was delayed by a drive through penalty, after the Full Course Yellow, about 40 minutes ago. Racer's Edge wants this race to stay green and let their competition catch up because if a yellow falls and they are off the lead lap, it will be difficult for Luca Mars, Zach Veach, and Gabby Chaves, to recover. Pit stops will surely be coming soon once again, considering drive times.
We should see pit stops in another 15 minutes or so, maybe. Of course, the #10 Herberth Motorsports Porsche was off sequence and went down a lap. Indianapolis is so different from other IGTC circuits like Bathurst, Nurburgring, and Spa, all in mountainous regions, with The Blue Mountains in Australia, the Eiffel Mountains in Germany, and while maybe not with mountains, but with the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. Indianapolis Motor Speedway of course, is in the heart of Indiana's state capitol, a bustling metropolis. A brake change will not be needed in this race at eight hours. Typically, in a 24-hour race such as we see at the Nurburgring and at Spa Francorchamps with GT3 in IGTC, teams in those events will go through the race with just one brake change.
GT3 cars run on a global scale of course giving manufacturers a chance to test and improve their cars especially with the braking systems, the pads, rotors etc. Adam Adelson has done very well in his stint so far. He is the last car on the lead lap in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992). Jake Pedersen, the neophyte, the rookie to GT3 racing, he is matching lap times currently with Adam Adelson. Let's look at the top five in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Pro running order.
1. #63 Udell/Milner/Sims DXDT Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
2. #28 Choksey/Auberlen/Eng ST Racing BMW M4 GT3
3. #85 Pedersen/Hindman/van Berlo RS1 Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
4. #120 Adelson/Skeer/Heinrich Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
5. #93 Veach/Mars/Chaves Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
Great to see Wright Motorsports on pace with factory GT3 drivers. Going the other direction through turn two on the speedway, we see a battle here between the delayed Mercedes-AMG GT3 #888 of Prince Jeffri Ibrahim, and the #32 GMG Porsche 911 GT3R (992) now with the Aussie Tom Sargent at the wheel of it. Turns 11 and 14 are both at the limit of grip coming back up onto the straightaways. Am drivers must be on the right line. It is comfortable wide open for the Pro drivers. Watch the outside wall but don't shy away from it. Pinching your hands on the wheel is a real bear.
At the Nurburgring for the 24-hour race there, it is 1,000 linear feet from top to bottom. Indianapolis is very flat but very smooth too with the exception of the braking zones. Bathurst has a lot of elevation change too and that is a wonderful track and the same is true for Spa Francorchamps. The only elevation is the nine degrees of banking on the oval. Great to see the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 back on the track as they are fueling the car in the pit lane and sending it on its way with Samantha Tan at the controls. She has lost eight positions with the repairs from where she was before.
So, Samantha Tan, Neil Verhagen, and JCD, John Capestro-Dubets, they are going to be making hay while the sun shines here at "The Brickyard". They will be tooling around for the next six hours and ten minutes hoping for a title. This will not be too much fun to salvage a spot. They need to get a minimum of four hours on the board. They gain eight points from 33 to 41 and the only way the #29 car can go for it, is to win, or the #38 will take the title and they only spent 40 minutes in the garage. Pit stop time for the #888 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes. Prince Jefrri Ibrahim finishes his stint, and hands over to Australian Jordan Love.
This is Jordan Love's second race at Indianapolis in three weekends as he also ran in the IMSA race here, the Battle on the Bricks, which was a six-hour endurance contest. So, Jordan Love will have had the better part of 14 hours of racing at Indianapolis gaining experience and track knowledge. What sort of pace will he bring to the table? The top three running order has remained as it was, for a good while. Charles Weerts followed by Jules Gounon and Augusto Farfus. The Mercedes is the meat in a BMW sandwich. The gaps and the lap times remain steady. Pace is very similar. Farfus had a slip up losing time, but it has gone away. He is 6.7 seconds behind second place, nine seconds out of the lead.
As things stand now, Alec Udell and Tommy Milner would be champions in Fanatec GT World Challenge America in the Pro class and overall, but we still have a wee bit over six hours of this race left. Milner and Sims know they will have to battle it out with Skeer and Heinrich. This is going to be a scrap between the Corvette and the Porsche that could go down to the wire. Adam Adelson is now right behind Jake Pedersen in the #85 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3R (992).
Keep the nose clean and present the car to the two professional drivers. Adelson staying on the same lap and keeping Udell honest. Adelson is 40 seconds behind Udell currently. We are closing in, in another ten minutes, on another pit stop sequence. Weerts and Farfus still run first and third for Team WRT and we are about to hear from the boss man, the man in the flat hat, and the crisp white team shirt, Vincent Vosse. Vosse says that in long distance races, as always, with more than six hours to go. There is a lot to do. Porsche and Mercedes have the pace to fight and it is going to be a tough one.
The timed pit stop is mandatory, everyone has to stop for the same duration, and everything has to be done the correct way. It is about strategy and being able to do an extra lap. There was an issue with the engine in the #33 car so the team decided to change the engine and start last, but there are not so many cars in the Pro category, now in P3, six seconds behind. The safety car helped, and we have two strong lineups. Strategy is what the team is known for. As we heard Vincent Vosse say, you are in a box with the regulations, but you want to maximize what you have, always.
Kurt Mollekens runs the GT3 side of the team and they have run the BMW for several years. Porsche's are quick and they have yet to win at the Indianapolis 8 Hours. What will they have up their sleeve toward the end of the race? Average speeds in the race so far remain in the 99 miles an hour range, between 99.31 miles an hour for Jayden Ojeda and 99.75 miles an hour for Charles Weerts.
1. #31 Charles Weerts Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 99.75 MPH
2. #130 Jules Gounon Mercede-AMG Team GruppeM Mercedes=AMG GT3 Evo 99.70 MPH.
3. #33 Farfus/Harper/Hesse Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 99.61 MPH.
4. #99 De Philippi/Daly/Koch Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 99.45 MPH.
5. #75 Ojeda/Habul/Auer 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 99.31 MPH.
The #75 is in the pit lane with Jayden Ojeda coming in. "The Juice" is in the pit lane. It has to be orange juice. Happy Birthday to Kenny Habul's son Julian as his dad is getting into the car for a stint. Fresh Pirelli tires going on the car. Sticker Pirelli P Zero tires. He is based out of Munich, Germay, running his own team as one of the DXDT Corvette's is in. That is the #64. Connor De Philippi is in the pit lane as well aboard the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 and he is the man who had the fourth fastest average speed that we just saw on the above list.
We are right on the fringe of the maximum stint times. Jules Gounon's stint aboard the #130 Mercedes is now done and they will cycle everyone through, like everyone else, in the opening three stints. So, it is about to be either Maro Engel or Mikael Grenier. I would think it is Mikael Grenier, the French Canadian, who will get in the car. I think a double stint for each driver will suffice. Thinking of the end of the race is a good approach to take. A lot of teams will be doing that, and as someone who is aware of the strategy for constantly writing about sports car racing and the stints and how the cars and drivers perform, I believe, having your top driver in the car at the end of the event, is crucial, so we will see that later this evening.
It is especially important for a driver's eyes to adjust between the last vestiges of daylight, into twilight and into the darkness. Don't throw someone in for an hour and a bit, but if you have drivers of equal caliber and speed, then the strategy takes care of itself. So, we see the #63 DXDT Corvette being serviced and likewise, the #29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. Driver changes it appears, taking place for both teams. It is an easy game of slicing the cake on strategy if you have drivers of equal caliber as the #31 Team WRT BMW is in. Charles Weerts comes to the pit lane. The key thing is to not make a critical error. If you cop a drive through penalty, it takes 63 seconds to traverse through pit lane.
The time loss of someone staying out on the track is 50 seconds. That is a massive deficit especially with a 1:23 lap. Now that we are two hours into the race, roughly 1/4 of the way, your opportunity for mulligans diminishes greatly. The #93 Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 is in pit lane as we speak. Racer's Edge were under the minimum pit stop time on their first stop and had to serve a drive through penalty. We also see the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the lane as well. That penalty for Racer's Edge was costly, denying them the chance to fight for the race lead or a podium, early doors. That is an out of character mistake for Racer's Edge Motorsports. Their execution at this level racing in SRO America GT3 competition for the last five, six years, has really been formidable. They have earned multiple championship titles in that time.
No comments:
Post a Comment