Ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed official. We have begun the second half of the Indianapolis 8 Hours here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and are backtiming this race for the run to the checkers tonight. We have just seen pit stops during the Full Course Yellow. There could have been contact between the Wright Motorsports Porsche and the DXDT Corvette. The car in the fast lane has the right of way. Charles Weerts, the man who is looking to win the title in Intercontinental GT Challenge is now back at the wheel of the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3. We remain under the safety car as Luca Mars pits. We are recapping some stuff that happened, before the next hour ticks over on the clock. #93 had a drive through penalty, I think, and now they are recoverng.
That was so close! There had to be contact between the Wright Motorsports Porsche and the DXDT Corvette as we watch the replay. At first blush, I think a lot of us saw something and the stewards are going to have a Captain Cook and something to say about that. This battle currently, that would be affected by the penalty is not directly at the top end of town, but it is in the tail end of the top five places. We're approaching the restart, ladies and gentlemen. I think the #99 Random Vandals BMW has been towed to safety, but I am not sure of the cars' status in the race. When we hear more, we will let you know.
The wave by has gone through and now we are almost ready to race. Now we are about to hear from Laurin Heinrich, the third pilot in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche. He is set for an interview with D.J. Clark in the pit lane right now. Heinrich tells us that he is just driving the car, and it is a super quick car, but he was pushing like mad. They are in a good spot to fight for the title. Heinrich tells us, RE: contact with the #63 DXDT Corvette, 'I haven't heard anything yet, and I didn't see it.' It is under review by the stewards.
How will Race Control rule on this situation? 63 seconds transition time in the pit lane. It will be a 50 second delta at least which would be massive. No ruling yet. Stand by. Calvin Fish is right. There is no advantage to just dumping the clutch and screaming away from the box in order to get a place in the transition lane. Sending it in the pit lane is a terrible idea. Green flag is out again, and Charles Weerts leads Dan Harper, Jules Gounon and lapped traffic. Now, look, we've got a spicy lead battle in North America Pro! Milner moves right ahead of Skeer as they move by Jayden Ojeda, the Aussie. He got used up!
So, Elliott Skeer is now hunting down the Corvette. Milner on a double stint and Skeer starting another stint. Elliott Skeer has been sensational, and he ducks to the inside, over the curbs, and they remain side by side as the Corvette lives to fight another day. Skeer is not finished just because Milner has slammed the door in his face. Milner is in a pickle though because he needs to be proactive if he is going to keep that Porsche at bay. He forces Skeer to go around the long way and the two touch! Neil Verhagen has a ringside seat aboard the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3! They've hit each other at least twice at the end of the frontstretch!
Skeer went for it. He has his elbows out and wants the lead now. Less than four hours to go. Skeer showing the nose, lunges t the inside and passes the Corvette! Tommy Milner went super deep on the brakes getting into the ABS. The front end goes numb and Skeer screams past the DXDT Corvette! What will the stewards say about the pit lane contact? DXDT crew chief Simon Morley conversing with Alec Udell. Charles Weerts isn't worried about any of this because he has just uncorked the best lap of the race for the #31 BMW for Team WRT at 1:23.8 and his advantage is 1.1 seconds to teammate Dan Harper.
Jules Gounon is close to being right on Harper's back door and then Skeer is next in line followed by Milner. Trent Hindman, Philipp Eng, Zach Veach is back on the lead lap in the #93 Racer's Edge Acura. They are in the fight for a podium. Oh boy! Charles Weerts drops a wheel and almost goes completely off the road! Weerts saves it! Phew! He was a lucky luck boy right there! Milner has his rivals in Fanatec GT World Challenge America all around his ears as we speak. The battles are beginning to heat up.
At DXDT, both right hand dive planes are gone from the Corvette! Jeepers creepers! Tommy Milner must be wondering about his rival, "what are you up to mate? Leave me alone!" 1:24.1 for Skeer, just 3/10ths shy of Laurin Heinrich. This is getting intense! Folks don't go away. This race is going to be a fight to the finish. There is still pace in some of these cars that have damage. Elliott Skeer is currently in the championship winning spot. We still have a long way to go. Adelson and Skeer came charging out of the blocks sweeping the weekend at the season opener at Sonoma Raceway in California. But, since then, they have also had their fair share of struggles.
They have had podiums and are in the championship fight. A win here would secure a victory at Indy and a championship. In Pro-Am, remember that the #75 75 Express Mercedes is not eligible for Fanatec GT World Challenge America points. It is only eligible for IGTC honors, I think. So, this means that Patrick Gallagher currently at the wheel 0f the #29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 is the effective class leader, Gallagher sharing with Justin Rothberg and Robby Foley. They are able to perhaps wrestle the title away from the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 that has had a litany of trouble today.
That is the car of Samantha Tan, Neil Verhagen, and John Capestro-Dubets. They are 30 laps down to the leader and need to make up 30 laps to score points. Second place for #29 would not be enough. #29 is in place to win because of the #75 Mercedes being ineligible for points. We have our first retirement of the motor race officially, just over the halfway mark. Random Vandals Racing and the #99 BMW M4 GT3 of Conor Daly, Connor De Philippi, and Kenton Koch, shown as out. They have headed for the house with less than four hours remaining on the board. Mechanical troubles for the BMW are terminal while they were running in podium contention in the first half of the motor race. Sad to see.
They made a big statement preparing the car and coming onboard in the middle of the yar. Now, the points situation in Pro-Am is only a single point separating #29 from #38, 228-227. The #38 is running again but they still need to make four hours plus 30 laps. They have to take another stint to score points. In the Pro class, Skeer and Adelson have a 21-point cushion over Alec Udell and Tommy Milner, 257-236. Skeer making a clean pass on Patrick Gallagher. One spot is a 28 point swing, 14 points between the two and position swaps double the points possibilities of scoring.
No decision yet by the stewards about the fracas between the #120 Porsche and the #63 Corvette in the pit lane from earlier. I believe, along with Ryan Myrehn in the commentary box, that the contact in the pits and not on the track, broke the dive plane on the front of the Corvette. I don't know what to say but there was a consequence. It is the right-side dive plane that is missing. Oy vey! Patrick Gallagher will need help if he is going to reel in Jayden Ojeda. It was a double-edged sword because Kenny Habul had contact with Elias Sabo and bent the steering arm.
They still have a lap advantage though, the #75. Patric Niederhauser who was driving the #10 Herberth Motorsports Porsche stayed on track if you recall and trapped the other Pro-Am runners a lap down. Currently we are watching the second-place car in the IGTC Pro class, the #33 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 which still has the Ulsterman Dan Harper at the wheel of it. Charles Weerts and Daniel Harper run 1-2. Jules Gounon in third spot aboard the #130 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo is hanging right in there as well. Skeer is five seconds down on these three, in fourth, leading Fanatec GT World Challenge America Pro.
Porsche is running ahead in the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge manufacturers' standings. All cars from the three entered brands, the top two score points. The maximum is 43 points that can be scored. The #85 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3R (992) can also add to this points tally. Jake Pedersen has completed his driving for the day and leaves it up to his professional co-drivers, Trent Hindman and Kay van Berlo. Points are still on offer and this battle is really down to Porsche and BMW for the manufacturers' crown. Skeer must pass Gounon and then, for the manufacturers' championship, he will be scrapping with the two WRT BMWs to try and earn the title. Weerts, Harper, and Skeer! That would be a very tasty battle and fun to watch!
We'll see what happens. At the moment I don't think anybody has the pace to match the top three as Gounon ran a 1:24 flat and he is reeling in Dan Harper hand over fist. A fraught race and a tough day for GMG Racing and the #32 Porsche of Kyle Washington, Tom Sargent, and Ayhancan Guven. They had a steering problem which is terminal. Game over. GMG also retired from the motor race. Ayhancan Guven cannot win the title. He was so happy to race for the first time at Indianapolis and in the states. He will finish no better than 22nd. Scott Dixon is an amazing driver, and Guven is a big fan of his.
Hindman is passed by Philipp Eng in the #28 ST Racing BMW. On the pit lane contact, no further action. The timing screens have not told us yet. Great news for Elliott Skeer and Wright Motorsports. A big move by Philipp Eng in the #28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3! He flies past Jayden Ojeda in the #75 Mercedes! Eng is motoring! It's incredible! He just keeps getting stymied by traffic. He was a rocket ship in the opening stint. They have a chance to go for a race win, Bill Auberlen, Varun Choksey, and Philipp Eng.
Eng makes his move on the DXDT Corvette, the #63. So they are taking the pain currently and looking for relief. Tommy Milner has to know discretion is the better part of valor. For their sister car in Pro-Am, the #64 has Bryan Sellers at the controls right now and they are languishing down in 19th spot. The BMW is up to fifth overall dropping the Corvette to sixth. Milner has no defense at the end of the straightaway compared to the BMW. Eng is really running well. If DXDT win they will be champions. But if Wright Motorsports is close, they have to gap them by one place. Love this drone shot of the cars shuffling for position!
Alex Palou is multiple laps down but is still fighting. He is two laps behind, the Lone Star Racing Mercedes car #4. If they play their hand right and we get more yellows, they could get back in the game. Palou sharing with Luca Stolz and Fabian Schiller, is 11th overall. In the GT3 only editions of the Indianapolis 8 Hours, yellows are few and far between. Years ago, when the field also included GT4 cars, with the class overlap, there were more yellows. We have seen attrition and could still see it. Not many gravel traps but if you get stuck in one, it will bring out a yellow for dead sure. There is no possibility to run at the same speed under yellow like SRO does it in Europe.
How will Alex Palou manage this? He is not in the fight but is running with frontrunners. He is here to race. He is beginning to understand GT3 racing again. It has been a long time since he's run one of these cars. He has also started at the 24 Hours of Daytona and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in prototypes. You know something, we spoke way too soon. It isn't game over for Random Vandals. I apologize. They are not headed for the bench. They are coming back onto the track. Good to see! Conor Daly, Kenton Koch, and Connor De Philippi, will keep racing.
Alex Palou wants to race more in GT3 cars. He wants to do the Bathurst 12 Hours. Scott Dixon raced at the Bathurst 12 Hours in an Aston Martin several years ago. Conor Daly is in the #99 Random Vandals BMW. If Conor Daly finishes ahead of Palou, 100 dollars in bourbon. If Palou finishes ahead of Daly, it is 100 dollars in diapers for Alex Palou to help the baby. Palou is stuck in lock step behind the Porsche currently. He won't force the issue. Great for this event to have the reigning IndyCar champion in the field. It establishes Palou as a driver who is versatile.
The great drivers in the pantheon of racing, almost all of them dabbled in something that was outside of their wheelhouse. Contracts, manufacturers, teams, make it harder, but it is wonderful to see crossover of drivers into different forms of racing. We see Palou in this race. Kyle Larson raced this year's Indianapolis 500. Chase Elliott raced at the Rolex 24 several years ago, the NASCAR champion. Fernando Alonso won Le Mans with Toyota and came up shy at Indianapolis. He never quite won the Indianapolis 500. He was very, very close before the engine let go. So, let's have a Captain Cook at the IGTC points.
1. #31 Charles Weerts Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 68 points
2. #33 Dan Harper Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 54 points -14
3. #33 Max Hesse Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 33 points -35
The top contenders are all Team WRT BMW drivers, and the difference is 35 points. Weerts would be champion as of now. Harper and Hesse are tied because they have driven together this year. If they reverse places, it is a 14-point swing which would cause a tiebreaker. We know that BMW, WRT, Vincent Vosse and the other ex-drivers on that team are going to have everything put together so there is no confusion. It might come down to the results of the race tonight once we are finished. We need to see.
Jules Gounon and the Mercedes have not flexed their muscle, but they are hanging tough with three and a half hours to go. GruppeM knows what they are doing as we get towards night. The sights and sounds of modern GT racing is something you just have to love! It's fabulous! So, the gap is ebbing and flowing here as we see a car slow on the track. Uh oh. I wonder, but this looks like it could be a contender. Hang on a second folks, while I sort this out. Oh dear. Trouble in paradise for the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT3, again. Andy Lee at the wheel of it, sharing with Elias Sabo and Nick Yelloly.
This is the car that was stuck in the gravel and brought out the first Full Course Yellow. Lee is recycling the electronics. We've seen a lot of odd failures as Tommy Milner is now vulnerable to losing another place! Trent Hindman in the RS1 Porsche, the #85 car, dives to the inside. He couldn't quite get the nose inside of Milner, well, Milner is ahead. They are closer to the pace, the Corvette, with the ten kilograms of weight taken out. They just have not been able to be contenders today. The Porsche 911 package and Indianapolis seems to be a match made in heaven. We saw that illustrated when IMSA were here for their Battle on the Bricks enduro just a few weekends ago.
Augusto Farfus, the Brazilian, has had a great career as a BMW driver starting with over 100 starts in DTM in the Class 1 touring car era with four victories to his credit. He almost won the title in 2013 and finished second with Team RBM. That was a cutthroat championship. The money put up by the manufacturers to build those space age touring cars was through the roof. Full Course Yellow and a safety car. Now, I have to believe this is for the #8 BMW of Andy Lee, the Flying Lizard automobile, being stranded. Third Full Course Yellow of the day.
We are halfway before pit stops are possible, but the full fuel load will be required as drivers are getting suited and booted. This is at ST Racing. Bill Auberlen will be getting aboard the #28 and John Capestro-Dubets will do likewise for the #38. Andy Lee moved the BMW forward and stopped again. He continues to be stranded and can't be pulled back into a safe haven. Charles Weerts could be in position to take the title if things continue as they are. But, he has work to do. He also must trust his co-drivers.
Three and a half hours left, with maximum stint length of 65 minutes with pit lane time, and if you don't take fuel and reset driver stint length, then you don't need to meet the drive time, stop and go, 63 seconds vs. 112 seconds I believe. Someone might drive in and do a reset. Bill Auberlen, at age 55, he has been with BMW racing for 28 years. The wave by is being performed right now. There are cars waved around that will take their spots at the back of the pack. Both Team WT cars are in and out in the same order that they came in.
GruppeM are in, the Turner Motorsports #29 BMW I believe also just pitted, while the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche elected to stay on track. We need to see how the strategy washes out here in a moment. Lots of math. The calculators are on fire. If you are with the lead pack and wanted to pit in five minutes, it costs just 50 seconds so you stay on the lead lap, reset your stint length, and you would not have to take a full fuel load. 112 seconds is the maximum pit lane delta time, I think. About ten cars have chosen to stay out and one of them, the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche we just talked about, inherits the overall lead of the motor race.
By staying out an extra lap you have a buffer for stint lengths. One of the DXDT Corvette's pits but I cannot tell if it is the Pro #63 or the Pro-Am #64 car. That is the #64 Pro-Am entry which is well down the order and has had a tough race today, the Bryan Sellers, Patrick Liddy, Blake McDonald entry. D.J. Clark has spoken to the Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW camp, and they said that the car lost oil pressure. They are hoping to get the car into the garage, fix it, and get back out. It is a wait and see situation for the bright orange and black BMW of Andy Lee, Elias Sabo, and Nick Yelloly. Their race has just gone from bad to worse.
Safety Car lights off. A restart is imminent. Elliott Skeer is the overall race leader. Skeer is also leading his class. Some of the cars and drivers we saw in front earlier are now buried in the pack. Has Wright Motorsports played a blinder here? We'll find out. If they need to pit under green and do a driver change, they are going to go a lap down and be in a whole world of pain. Oh, this is interesting. Bill Auberlen in the #28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 has split the similar cars for Team WRT who are both overall on the same lap. Auberlen has placed himself between Weerts and Farfus. #33 had a slow stop. Green flag back out.
Elliott Skeer leads overall but owes a pit stop relative to the rest of the frontrunners prior to the previous yellow. Skeer is being monstered by the lapped #75 Mercedes with Jayden Ojeda at the wheel of it. "The Juice" wants to get back on the lead lap. Tires not in the window just yet. Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, the Monegasque, is racy, in one of the Ferrari's forced to take a shortcut around one of the Porsche's. Sbirrazzuoli in the #88 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3. This is a hornet's nest as Connor De Philippi passes Jayden Ojeda and wants to get one of his many laps back.
It is very dusty offline. Brendon Leitch runs wide in the #61 EBM Porsche 911 GT3R (992). Leitch sharing with Adrian D'Silva and Bastian Buus. All sorts of dust kicked up there and lots of the frontrunners cannot see. Auberlen drops behind Farfus and ahead of Gounon as Auberlen tries passing Leitch. Weerts doing all he knows to keep his nose clean, four and a half seconds behind Elliott Skeer. Jules Gounon clears Bill Auberlen and Leitch is the cork in the bottle, but we can see now that Gounon is making quick work of the New Zealander. Auberlen also trying to pass the kiwi, but he can't quite do it.
Whoa! He slams the door in Kay van Berlo's face in the #85 RS1 Porsche! Now, the #93 Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3 EVO22 is also getting embroiled in this fight! That is the Colombian American Gabby Chaves, and he is turning it on as well, look. Chaves sneaks inside the Porsche of van Berlo but clatters into him. Fortune is swinging against Alec Udell in the #63 DXDT Corvette! Farfus is right in the middle of this hornet's nest! Elliott Skeer leads Charles Weerts by 5.6 seconds as Jules Gounon makes his way past Augusto Farfus. This is big for the race and for the manufacturers' championship.
Slicing and dicing all over the shop. So many interlopers are in the picture as Gabby Chaves slots past Oswaldo Negri Jr. in the #163 Pro-Am AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 he shares with Jay Schreibman and Toni Vilander. Corvette #63 in the pit lane. This car looks as if it has something going on or this is a strategy call. A stop and a reset for driver stint length. They can do it on two more fuel loads and other drivers and teams can do the same. No worries for the #63 Corvette although they need to take a risk and have they pulled a blinder? You don't need to do the full stop if you reset by driving through pit lane.
Skeer has to do three full fuel stops. The others can do two fuel stops and a reset. If there is a yellow, the #63 Corvette could really catch a lucky break as Augusto Farfus nearly gets barged by one of the Porsche's and another Mercedes. Farfus chasing Gounon, again. Earlier we saw these two scrapping like crazy and now they've found each other again. BMW vs. Mercedes round two. GruppeM vs. WRT. Alex Palou in the #4 Mercedes for Lone Star Racing is making moves and Charles Weerts in the second place #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 is wrestling with the Spaniard!
Elliott Skeer is short a pit stop of everyone else. We saw cars taking a safety shortcut on the restart through the chicane and if you gain an advantage, you are ordered to give it up. Farfus has run down and caught Gounon. Could the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche do it in two stops? No. They need three, all for fuel. At DXDT we are set to hear from Tommy Milner. They did do a driver time reset because they are miles out of the pace on the Porsche, the #120 car. Realistically they need misfortune for the Porsche for them to capitalize on anything. Corvette are "missing an arm and a leg." The damage to the dive planes after being driven into, have ruined the aero on the car.
DXDT rolling the dice hoping to come up boxcars. Pit stops under review for the three front running BMW's, the #33, #31, and #28. Wow! The times look fine, but this has to be procedural. This is truly bizarre. We saw a five second penalty earlier for the #33 car with equipment over the line. Team WRT don't make mistakes. Both WRT cars and the ST #28 car have the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over them. Fueling and tires can be done the same time and any other service can be done after refueling is completed. Pretty cut and dried.
Charles Weerts is losing time to Skeer as Gounon slides wide and almost into no man's land losing a place to Augusto Farfus! Yikes! He drifted it into the corner into the braking zone losing grip on the left rear tire! Holy cow! Jules Gounon's dad Jean Marc Gounon was a great driver in his own right. Jules Gounon has won titles and has won major GT3 races. The Andorran domiciled Frenchman is giving it everything he's got. Turn 12 is a very tricky braking zone especially on the rear. In the track preview before today's race there was confirmation for how these cars drive around the circuit and a road going car can brake very deep into the turn.
Cedric Sbirazzuoli, the man from Monaco who's surname I always butcher in the spelling department, he just made a call to the pit lane. He was third or fourth in the Pro-Am class, so #88 just pitted. They can complete the race on two more stops. They are on a similar pit strategy to the #120 Wright Motorsports car of Elliott Skeer, Adam Adelson, and Laurin Heinrich. The balance on Gounon's Mercedes seems to be fading. He continues wrestling that race car.
AF Corse stacking their pit stops for both crews. Meanwhile, there are more battles on track as the very delayed #888 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Arjun Maini for Triple Eight JMR which also had fuel pump troubles earlier, has his hands full with Yannick Mettler in the #21 Car Collection Motorsports Porsche. The Indian driver vs. the Swiss driver. Elliott Skeer has not pitted yet. We are waiting to see when he will as he has ten and a half seconds in hand over second place Charles Weerts in the BMW. DXDT still could play their strategy but we'll see. Wright Motorsports might have trouble if they lose time with a pit delta compared to just a reset without fuel. That's a 50 second deficit that you'll never gain back if you do that.
Alex Palou, the three-time IndyCar champion still at the wheel of the #4 Lone Star Racing Mercedes, makes his way past Loek Hartog who is now at the wheel of the #10 Herberth Motorsports Porsche, the young Dutchman who needs to score a handful of points for Porsche Carrera Cup North America in their races next weekend at Road Atlanta as part of the IMSA weekend for Petit Le Mans. Oh dear. Trouble again for ST Racing, the Pro-Am class championship leaders are in trouble again! The #38 BMW M4 GT3 is slowing again! They've already spent loads of time in the garage for repairs earlier in this race.
Neil Verhagen currently driving and we also have the #888 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes, Arjun Maini going slowly on the road. I don't know about you. But I smell another Full Course Yellow about to come upon us here at Indianapolis. This isn't good. I think, they're at 161 laps, the leaders have run 200 laps, 488 miles. We are halfway through, and the fuel situation is going to be super tight for the leaders. The second half could be faster because you have to turn half the number of laps of your class leader to be eligible to score points. The Pro-Am points battle is going to be extremely close especially now with the #38 ST Racing BMW in trouble again. A couple cars dive to pit lane including the second-place Pro-Am class car, the #75 Mercedes for 75 Express. Maybe they are anticipating another safety car scramble. Some teams are also pitting because they chose not to earlier and are getting towards the end of their maximum allotted stint length.
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