It’s another GT endurance race victory for Team WRT, the most successful team in the history of GT3 racing. The #30 BMW Team WRT M4 GT3 of Philipp Eng, Sheldon van der Linde, and Dries Vanthoor has won the fourth annual Indianapolis 8 Hour race.
The bright orange BMW overcame a drive-through penalty in the middle of the race for exceeding the maximum single stint time, drove back to the lead, and never made another mistake as it powered its way to the victory, completing a race record 332 laps in eight hours.
BMW became the first manufacturer to win the Indy 8 Hour twice, and the German manufacturer has now won three straight Intercontinental GT Challenge races this year. For WRT, the Belgian team that has won seemingly all there is to win in GT3 racing, it’s their first GT3 victory in the United States and their first at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
On the other side of the WRT garage, the #31 of Augusto Farfus, Maxime Martin, and Charles Weerts had its hopes of victory dashed with less than three hours to go – when Farfus crashed out of the lead when trying to get through lapped traffic. The #31 car finished 17th overall, 11 laps off the lead.
The #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Maximillian Götz/Raffaele Marciello/Jules Gounon) finished in second place, after briefly taking the lead in the middle stages when the two WRT BMWs had issues near the halfway mark.
Despite nursing a broken splitter, Marciello held off the #999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes (Maro Engel/Daniel Juncadella/Luca Stolz) in the last hour, with Marciello finishing just 0.530 seconds ahead of Stolz at the line.
Gounon will go into the final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina Circuit on 10 December, with an eight-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship over Eng.
The #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Madison Snow, Jan Heylen, and Trent Hindman finished fourth to win the FGTWCA Pro class. Combined with their victories in the two 90-minute races at Sebring, this is the third straight GT World Challenge America race victory for Snow and Heylen.
And in fifth place overall, and second in the FGTWCA Pro class, the #28 RS1 Porsche of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer has won the 2023 GT World Challenge America Pro championship in its debut season.
With help from guest driver Klaus Bachler, the combination of Rennsport One, Filgueiras, and McAleer successfully followed up their GT4 America Silver class championship with their first GT World Challenge America titles.
The occasion was somewhat bittersweet as the two-year partnership of Filgueiras and McAleer ends after the 2023 season. Filgueiras is expected to continue in SRO America racing with backing from longtime sponsor Community Beer Works.
Behind them, in sixth place overall, the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 of George Kurtz, Colin Braun, and Nolan Siegel won the Pro-Am class – and with it, Kurtz and Braun have finally won the GT World Challenge America Pro-Am championship in their fifth year of trying.
It is both drivers’ first championships in GT World Challenge America, in their second season of driving for Riley Technologies. And it’s the latest in a decorated year for both drivers: They won their class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans together, Braun won the 24 Hours of Daytona overall, and Kurtz can win yet another championship next week at Petit Le Mans in Road Atlanta.
Second in Pro-Am and seventh overall was the pole-winning #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche (Antares Au/Alfred Renauer/Laurin Heinrich). Au took his second straight IGTC Independent Cup class win of the year, which gives him a chance to fight for that title in the Gulf 12 Hours.
The #53 MDK Motorsport Porsche (Seth Lucas/Trenton Estep/Matteo Cairoli) finished eighth overall, followed by the #27 TR3 Racing Mercedes (Kenton Koch/Jon Branam/Matthew Bell) in ninth – powered by the addition of last-minute substitute driver Koch, from the back of the grid.
Rounding out the top ten was the #535 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 (Jonathan Hui/Chris Froggatt/Edward Cheever III), led by IGTC Independent Cup leader Hui who will take an 11-point lead over Au into the season finale at Yas Marina Circuit – and Cheever, 25 years on from his father’s win at the Indianapolis 500.
The #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche (Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer/Callum Ilott) fought through persistent fuel-filling issues and an inopportune puncture, ultimately finishing 11th after tumbling down the order in the last hour, with Adelson and Skeer finishing as Pro-Am championship runners-up in their first year in the category.
A post-race time penalty for exceeding the maximum stint time at the end of the race knocked the #38 ST Racing BMW (Samantha Tan/Jake Walker/Neil Verhagen) down from tenth to 12th. Tan was the highest finisher of three women in the field.
The other two, Lilou Wadoux and Ashton Harrison, had their troubles in the race. The #21 Conquest Racing Ferrari of Wadoux, Manny Franco and Alessandro Balzan lost over 45 minutes in the garage due to a suspension problem in the first hour and finished 17 laps down in 19th place.
As for the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 of Harrison, Mario Farnbacher, and Kyle Marcelli, they got embroiled in three separate turn 13 collisions with the #85 Rearden Racing Porsche (Jake Pedersen/Vesko Kozarov/Christian Engelhart) where Kozarov spun Marcelli out twice, and Harrison spun Pedersen out in between.
The #93 Acura soldiered on to 14th place, while the #85 Porsche was 16th after a 60-second penalty stop for causing the final collision.
BimmerWorld Racing had never lost its class in three previous races, but the #94 BMW (Chandler Hull/Bill Auberlen/Robby Foley) retired less than half an hour short of the chequered flag, after leading its class at times thanks to alternate pit strategy.
Both DXDT Racing Mercedes, the #91 (Jeff Burton/Corey Lewis/Philip Ellis) and the #08 (Scott Smithson/Bryan Sellers/Thomas Sargent) were also knocked out of the race with mechanical issues. Burton’s retirement in the second hour resulted in the race’s only Safety Car intervention.
INDY 8H PROVISIONAL RESULTS >>
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America
