Timthumb
Ayhancan Guven set an early fast lap aboard his No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R. (SRO America photo)
Other Sports Cars

Porsche Speeds During Indy 8-Hour Drills

October 4, 2024

INDIANAPOLIS — As the sun was descending, the Fanatec GT World Challenge America and Intercontinental GT Challenge field took over Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday evening for their first practice of the event. 

The bright skies gave way to chilly nightfall about midway through the session, allowing teams to get accustomed to the colder track temperatures that they will face during the Indy 8 Hour on Saturday. 

The event will be broadcast LIVE on SPEED SPORT 1

Young rising star Ayhancan Guven set an early fast lap aboard his No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R, rising to the top of the Pro-Am and overall charts. Connor De Phillippi went quickest in the IGTC Pro Class, commanding the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3, while Kay van Berlo set the tone in the FGTWCA Pro class in the No. 85 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R. 

FGTWCA Pro Class

Both Wright Motorsports and RS1 had strong performances during Free Practice, swapping places at the top of the standings back and forth. Adam Adelson, Eliott Skeer and Laurin Heinrich went fastest aboard the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R as the session started. However, they fell back to second place, yielding to Kay van Berlo in the No. 85 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R, but they reclaimed their position at the top of the GTWCA charts as time went on. 

The No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3, co-piloted by Zach Veach, Luca Mars and Gabriel Chaves, claimed the third spot, with the No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 entry of Bill Auberlen, Varun Choksey and Philipp Eng coming in fourth. The No. 63 DXDT Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner, Alec Udell and Alexander Sims rounded off the top five. 

IGTC Pro Class

Connor De Phillippi rose to the top of the IGTC pro category early in the session and never looked back, setting the team’s best time on only his second lap behind the wheel of the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3, much to the delight of teammates Kenton Koch and Conor Daly. 

The No. 130 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jules Gounon, Mikaël Grenier, and Maro Engel remained in close proximity, sitting in second in class, only one tenth of a second off the mark. The No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 was not far off the pace either, as the trio of Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon Van Der Linde, and Charles Weerts concluded the opening session in third.
The No. 4 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 fittingly finished fourth as the superstar lineup of Alex Palou, Fabian Schiller, and Luca Stolz got up to speed with their machine. Meanwhile, the sister No. 33 Team WRT car, co-driven by Augusto Farfus, Daniel Harper, and Max Hesse, rounded off the top five.

Pro-Am Class

GMG Racing proved to be unbeatable all session long as Kyle Washington, Tom Sargent, and Ayhancan Guven held a firm grasp over not only the top spot in the Pro-Am class, but on the overall timesheets as well. 

Numerous Pro-Am teams showed their strengths, claiming the five best overall times on the leaderboard, as the No. 61 EBM Porsche 992 GT3 R of Adrian D’Silva, Brendon Leitch, and Bastian Buus went second-quickest, only 0.039 seconds behind. The gaps were minimal in general, as the No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 was separated by a further 0.057 seconds as Elias Sabo, Andy Lee, and Nick Yelloly completed the top three. 

The No. 10 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 R of Patric Niederhauser, Loek Hartog, and Antares Au, as well as the No. 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jayden Ojeda, Kenny Habul, and Lucas Auer distinguished themselves as ones to watch as well as they were in the mix all session long. 

Watch Saturday’s 8-Hour race on SPEED SPORT 1.