INDIANAPOLIS — If you like predictability, Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race was not for you.
Track-flooding rain eventually giving way to clear skies and a drying-then-dry track, six hours of racing – check that, a bit more than five hours of actual racing after a lengthy follow-the-pace-car-in-the-
Timing is Everything
One would be hard-pressed to recall a timelier race win than Sunday’s overall victory and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class win by BMW M Team RLL’s No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8. And the No. 25 BMW came through for second place to put the proverbial cherry on top for the German marque and Indianapolis-based team. Deep into the second season of IMSA’s GTP rules package, BMW M Team RLL had just one win to its credit and that, although well-deserved, came after the first car to the checkered flag failed the postrace technical inspection.
Suffice to say team owners Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan, their hardworking crews and drivers Jesse Krohn and Philipp Eng (No. 24), Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly (No. 25) and BMW had every reason and more to celebrate their 1-2 finish to the max. Practice and qualifying gave no particular hints of what was to come in the race, as the Nos. 25 and 24 qualified fifth and eighth, respectively.
As in just about any endurance race, the fortunes of most GTP competitors ebbed and flowed through the balance of the race. But when the BMWs emerged in second and third behind the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 with under an hour remaining, it was Go Time. Eng surprised WTRAndretti’s Louis Deletraz with a sublime pass in Turn 13, with De Phillippi coming through in short order to grab second spot. Over the ensuing 40 minutes, the only question was which car would lead the Bavarian Motor Werks 1-2. De Phillippi showed Eng a nose under braking for Turn 7 on occasion but, ultimately, chose discretion over valor (and potential disaster) and duly settled for second place.
It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over
Rare is the endurance race winner that enjoys an easy cruise to the top step of the podium. Lots can happen during the course of the longer events, let alone in the days of practice and qualifying leading up to the race itself. But Sunday saw some remarkable performances in which Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and GTD PRO winners overcame some formidable challenges to take the victories.
The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R started 15th in GTD and, through the combined efforts of co-drivers Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Jan Heylen, the team strategists and pit crew, clawed its way into the class lead by Lap 54 and went on to lead 140 laps – including the final 84 – en route to its first win of the 2024 campaign. After qualifying second in class, LMP2 winners Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea didn’t have quite so far to go to get to the lead. But they had to deal with a strange midrace setback that saw the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07 and more than half a dozen other LMP2 competitors assessed drive-through penalties resulting from confusion in the class re-order during a full-course caution.
When it comes to making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, however, it’s hard to top the performance of AO Racing. Saturday saw Laurin Heinrich seemingly grab the GTD PRO pole, only for the No. 77 Porsche to be found in violation of the minimum ground clearance regulations. Not only did the resulting disqualification shuffle the AO Porsche back to the 56th spot on the 56-car grid, the penalty cost the team, Heinrich and Porsche the 35 points awarded to the Motul Pole Award winner and cut their championship lead over Ross Gunn and the Heart of Racing Team’s No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo to a mere nine points.
Unfazed, AO Racing mounted a superb recovery that saw Heinrich splash to fourth in GTD PRO in the first hour of racing. Some three hours later, the AO Porsche was in a ferocious battle for the lead with the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 and the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. On the final round of pit stops, the AO crew leapfrogged the Mustang and the Lexus to hand Michael Christensen a lead he would not relinquish. With the Heart of Racing Aston Martin finishing fifth, AO Racing and Heinrich now enjoy a 99-point lead over Heart of Racing and Gunn, while Porsche has a 122-point edge on Aston Martin heading to Motul Petit Le Mans.
Banner Day for All of GTP
In many respects, the Battle on The Bricks produced one of the most entertaining GTP contests since the LMDh rules package was introduced in 2023. Not only did BMW M Team RLL break a long victory draught, but no fewer than eight of the 11 GTP cars led the race at one time or another. Perhaps most encouraging was the performance of the No. 63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63, which scythed through the field on a wet track in the hands of Romain Grosjean and led for 10 laps, only to be assessed a drive-through penalty for too many crew members over the pit wall and, later, suffer terminal damage in a coming-together with a GTD competitor.
It wasn’t just the Lamborghini that threatened the status quo. It was also a good day for the privateer teams. JDC-Miller MotorSports’ No. 85 Porsche 963 came home a worthy fourth less than 20 seconds adrift of the winner, this after being a lap down at one stage and thanks in part to Phil Hanson turning some of the fastest laps of the race in the closing stages. And speaking of fast laps, Gianmaria Bruni set the fastest lap of the race (1 minute, 16.229 seconds) in Proton Competition’s No. 5 Mustang Sampling Porsche 963 that finished seventh.
Suffice to say, this all bodes well for an intriguing Motul Petit Le Mans when the competitors reconvene for the season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in a little less than three weeks.