DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The lone sprint race for all four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes shifts to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 20, with the two-hour, 40-minute event set to amplify the drama in the penultimate round of the campaign.
All four gaps between first and second in the championship are within 118 points. The 23-point Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) margin is closest, followed by 36 in both Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD), and 118 in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP).
There are 44 cars in all four classes (11 GTP, 10 LMP2, 10 GTD PRO, 13 GTD) entered, with one interesting tweak.
In pursuit of the GTP championship, second-placed driver Laurin Heinrich moves back to Porsche Penske Motorsport one race early. He’ll race alongside Kevin Estre in the team’s No. 6 Porsche 963 at Indianapolis. In his stead at JDC-Miller MotorSports, Nico Mueller returns for a second year at Indianapolis alongside Tijmen van der Helm in the No. 5 car.
Additionally, past LMP2 champion, Jim Trueman Award winner and two-time Indianapolis polesitter Nick Boulle is set for his first start of the year with Era Motorsport in LMP2. Car Blanche remains in GTD PRO for a second straight race.
OTHER NOTES
• The dramatic end to Road America condensed the GTP title fight with Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R to only 118 points ahead of Laurin Heinrich in the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963. Heinrich, now in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 this race, will race in pursuit to try to close the gap.
• What is looking like a two-car race in LMP2 between the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR and No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07s may expand if either or both have issues at Indianapolis. These two cars have a combined three wins in five races and seven of the 15 possible podiums. But if they stumble, defending LMP2 champions AO Racing and perennial contenders United Autosports USA are lurking.
• Just 67 points cover the top five in GTD PRO. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO leads the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R by 23 points. Pfaff Motorsports’ No. 9 Lamborghini Temerario GT3 is third, 56 back, with both the No. 65 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 and No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) tied for fourth at 67 back. AO (2024) and Ford (2025) have the last two GTD PRO wins at Indy, and a win for either team this year would help their championship charge.
• Winward Racing’s No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 likes the number three. Russell Ward and Philip Ellis started third at VIR and progressed to win their third straight GTD race, which moves them back to the GTD points lead in pursuit of a third straight title.
• Brendan Iribe regained this lead over Orey Fidani by 20 points as Iribe and Frederik Schandorff were third at VIR in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO. Iribe, Schandorff and Ollie Millroy won at Indianapolis last year.
• With two races to go, it’s also worth taking stock of the manufacturer championship battles. Cadillac leads Porsche by 112 points in GTP, Chevrolet leads BMW by 87 in GTD PRO and Mercedes-AMG leads Ferrari by 20 in GTD.
• After two years as an endurance race, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway round is back to two-hours, 40-minutes – a race length on par with the iconic Indianapolis 500 on the track’s oval.
