IMSA has released the provisional entry list for next week’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, featuring 56 cars across four classes. IMSA made its return to Indianapolis last season and this year, the event has expanded from a two-hour, 40-minute sprint into a six-hour endurance race.
In the GTP class, a field of 11 cars will fight for the overall win – with Lamborghini Iron Lynx rejoining to continue its four-race campaign. The #63 Lamborghini SC63 features its regular line-up of Matteo Cairoli, Andrea Caldarelli, and Romain Grosjean.
Tom Blomqvist reprises his role as the endurance specialist in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, as does Phil Hanson in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963.
For the first time since Sebring, Alessio Picariello will be back aboard the #5 Proton Competition Porsche, joining Gianmaria Bruni and Bent Viscaal, who’ve been racing together since Laguna Seca.
There are ten LMP2 entries this time out. Sean Creech Motorsports’ #33 Ligier JS P217 is absent from this event, despite testing at the Speedway in late August – meaning the field will consist entirely of ORECA 07s.
Dwight Merriman is back in the #18 Era Motorsport ORECA after his planned two-race hiatus, sharing the cockpit with Ryan Dalziel and the impressive stock car phenom Connor Zilisch.
There’s also a change at Richard Mille AF Corse, where Dylan Murry will drive the #88 ORECA in place of Lilou Wadoux – who is unavailable due to a clash with the SUPER GT Sugo GT 300km Race that same weekend. It’s Murry’s first IMSA start since last year’s Six Hours at the Glen, when he was driving a Jr III Motorsports Ligier LMP3 – and his first LMP2 drive since 2022 with the now-defunct Racing Team Nederland.
GTD Pro’s 12-car field is boosted by three returning entries – including SunEnergy1 Racing, back with an all-Australian lineup in the #75 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Kenny Habul will share the cockpit with Mercedes-AMG junior driver Jordan Love, and Supercars Championship star Chaz Mostert. In addition to being a two-time Bathurst 1000 winner and 2020 Daytona 24H class winner, Mostert is the current co-leader in the GT World Challenge Australia drivers’ championship.
Risi Competizione returns with the same lineup it had at Watkins Glen, Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra in the #62 Ferrari 296 GT3. And Iron Lynx brings back the #19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, this time featuring Lamborghini Young Driver Maximillian Paul, and a second driver to be named later.
AO Racing confirmed that Michael Christensen will finish the season in the #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R alongside Laurin Heinrich at Indy and Petit Le Mans. Julien Andlauer will accompany the duo at Road Atlanta. Neil Verhagen, meanwhile, will reprise his role as the third driver at Paul Miller Racing in the #1 BMW M4 GT3.
Finally, a 23-car GTD field features a number of returning endurance-only entries, and new efforts as well.
One change that has been in the works for some time, but has now been made official, is Inception Racing’s mid-season change from the McLaren GT3 EVO to the Ferrari 296 GT3. There are no changes to the regular line-up of Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff, and Ollie Millroy.
Millroy and Schandorff put the new #70 Ferrari through a shakedown at Circuit of the Americas earlier this week.
DragonSpeed will debut its new #56 Ferrari 296 GT3 this weekend as well, featuring Henrik Hedman, Rasmus Lindh, and Toni Vilander.
Among the handful of returning part-time entries, KellyMoss with Riley has returned to the WeatherTech series for the first time since Daytona – this time, with an all-new line-up of drivers in the #90 Porsche 911 GT3 R: Jake Pedersen, Kay van Berlo, and Riley Dickinson. All three are young drivers endorsed by Porsche North America – Pedersen and Dickinson are making their WeatherTech Championship debuts.
Andretti Motorsport received new sponsorship to put the #43 Porsche of Jarrett Andretti, Gabby Chaves, and Scott Hargrove back on the grid for the first time since Watkins Glen.
Brendon Leitch will get his first IMSA start in the #86 MDK Motorsport Porsche, with Klaus Bachler unavailable due to commitments in GT World Challenge Europe – and for that same reason, Riccardo Agostini replaces Alessio Rovera in the #023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari. In addition, Ben Barker will take Ryan Hardwick’s place as the third driver in the #55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3.
Feature image © Michael L. Levitt / IMSA
