Vying for the GT World Challenge America Pro class championship, the #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO set the quickest time in Pre-Qualifying for the Indianapolis 8 Hour Presented by AWS.
JMF’s white and metallic red #34 Mercedes-AMG led a top-four lockout from the Silver Arrows contingent, though the field was remarkably close as one second covered the top 22 cars’ best times.
On a brisk morning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, JMF’s Mikaël Grenier took the #34 Mercedes-AMG to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:23.316, then improved to a 1:23.265, the fastest time of the session.
Meanwhile, Will Power was continuing his impressive form on his GT3 racing debut. The 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time IndyCar Series Champion set a 1:23.391 in the orange #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3, good enough for second place.
Mercedes-AMG Team Lone Star Racing’s strong form continued as Maxime Martin set the third-fastest time, a 1:23.507, in the #80 that went fastest in both IGTC sessions yesterday.
Completing the top four and leading the Pro-Am category was the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG, which set a 1:23.610 in the hands of Colin Braun. It was a good recovery for the Riley team, which lost most of last night’s Free Practice session due to gearbox trouble – but the fix was easy, and the purple Mercedes went back towards the top of the timing sheets today.
Robby Foley was fifth in the #29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO with a 1:23.631, the top time of the non-Mercedes runners.
The #6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 once again led the Am class, which wasn’t a great surprise – but what was a surprise was its sixth-place overall ranking in the session. That came courtesy of Eric Powell, only a few months into his GT3 career, but rapidly getting up to pace as he set a 1:23.635.
Powell’s lap was ahead of the best times from some very accomplished drivers, including Philipp Eng (#51 Random Vandals Racing BMW), Patric Niederhauser (#10 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R), and Ricardo Feller (#61 Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche).
Those drivers finished seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively – ahead of Al Faisal Al Zubair in the #777 Team WRT BMW, down in tenth.
Among the notable entries outside the top ten: Matt Bell was 12th in the #11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, Valentino Rossi was 15th in his #46 WRT BMW, and Conor Daly was 22nd in the #99 Random Vandals BMW.
But the pecking order could change as soon as this afternoon: Qualifying for the 6th running of the Indianapolis 8 Hour begins at 3:35 PM ET (local time) with three 15-minute stages, followed by the 15-minute Pole Shootout at 5:45 PM ET.
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America
