GMG Porsche quickest again in final test
Prior to the first official Free Practice session on Thursday night, Ayhancan Güven and the #32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R were quickest once again in the second test session.
Güven’s lap of 1:23.655 was seven-tenths better than his benchmark time set in Wednesday afternoon’s test.
Christopher Mies was second in the #6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 Evo with a 1:23.787, narrowly ahead of Jan Heylen in the #28 RS1 Porsche (1:23.800) and Alex Fontana in the #79 Tsunami RT Porsche (1:23.808).
Pro-Am cars locked out the top eight places in the running order by the end of the session, six of them Porsches. Aaron Telitz (#69 Archangel Motorsports McLaren) rounded out the top five ahead of the Kellymoss Porsches of Colin Braun, Loek Hartog, and Riley Dickinson.
The #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche was ninth-fastest overall and the top car in the Pro class via last-minute addition Morris Schuring (1:24.108). Wright’s #31 car also recovered from its drivetrain issue on yesterday to go 10th overall.
In Am, the #67 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari (Mitchell Green, 1:24.380) led the way.
Maro Engel spotted in Indianapolis?
SRO’s social media team sees the humour in Maro Engel’s absence from the Intercontinental GT Challenge title decider this weekend, filming a funny short video where a cardboard cutout of Engel is spotted around the speedway and around various spots in the city.
Breaking news from the Speedway…#IGTC | #Indy8H pic.twitter.com/bPNuQtKQin
— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) October 8, 2026
Of course, Engel is not in Indy, he is in fact “out-dy country” preparing for the DTM season finale at the Hockenheimring.
Nolasport Porsche quickest in GT4 America practice
Porsche teams took four of the top six places in Pirelli GT4 America’s first practice session of the weekend, led by Nolasport and its #47 car.
It was former Indy Lights Freedom 100 winner Matheus Leist who set the fastest time, a 1:29.997, in the #47 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport he shares with co-driver Matt Travis.
The #68 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 (Tyler Gonzalez, 1:30.526) timed in second-fastest, followed by Silver class championship co-leader Spencer Pumpelly in the #028 RS1 Porsche in third.
The #33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4 (Michael Cooper) was fourth, ahead of the #25 and #7 ACI Motorsports Porsches.
The #25 ACI Porsche brought out a late red flag after driver Damir Hot went off in the gravel.
Keating racing for fun in Mad Joker Racing cameo
Rather than fighting for a victory in Pro-Am, three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Ben Keating finds himself racing in the Am class for Mad Joker Racing.
“Well, (team owner) Marc Austin is a good friend of mine from back home in Texas,” said Keating, “and when he asked me if I wanted to drive, I thought to myself, this could be a lot of fun!”
Operated by Lone Star Racing alongside its Pro class Mercedes-AMG, the #11 Mad Joker Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO has Austin, Ben Keating, and 2013 Freedom 100 winner Peter Dempsey behind the wheel, standing out as the clear favourites to win the three-car class with only the Ferraris of AF Corse USA and Scuderia Corsa to compete against.
Next year, Keating will stop full-time racing and compete in select events; the Intercontinental GT Challenge moving its North American round from Indianapolis to COTA is something that Keating says “is a lot more desireable for me as it’s closer to home, so we’ll see.”
“But right now, the priority is to go to Daytona and Le Mans. It’s just so tough to get a spot on the grid,” he said.
And with the extra freedom of going part-time next year, Keating says that he hopes to supplement his racing schedule “with about six to eight ChumpCar races,” the grassroots series which now goes by the ChampCar Endurance Series (no relation to the former American open-wheel championship).
Dempsey, Maserati MC20 top GT America final practice
The surprise from this afternoon’s final practice in the GT America presented by AWS was a GT2 car leading the way ahead of several homologated GT3 cars.
Peter Dempsey drove the #100 Risi Competizione Maserati MC20 GT2 and his best lap of 1:25.006 was just under a tenth of a second quicker than that of the fastest Bronze driver in a GT3 car.
Todd Parriott was second-fastest in the #13 Kellymoss Porsche, but it should be noted Kellymoss will only use GT America practice sessions to give its Bronze drivers additional track time. Ross Chouest was third in the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, followed by SRO3 class champion Memo Gidley in the #56 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II.
Greystone GT’s James and Owen win McLaren Trophy “Race 1”
Thursday evening’s penultimate McLaren Trophy America race was the planned first race of the Indianapolis weekend, and it was won by the Pro-Am #22 Greystone GT McLaren Artura Trophy Evo of Ryan James and Oliver Webb.
Webb emerged as the leader after the mid-race pit window, picking up the overall victory by 18.1 seconds. They’ll only have to start the final race tomorrow afternoon to clinch the Pro-Am title.
Second place overall was the #77 LLH Motorsports car driven by Michael Suco and Darren Law, which won the Am class.
Robby Stockard and Matt Elwin Bell won in the Pro class and finished third overall in the #65 Hooper Street Racing with OMS car, ahead of Miami make-up race winners James Li and Sam Neser, and the second-place Pro-Am car of Casey Dennis and Tommy Pintos, both from RWE Motorsport.
Pro championship leaders Patrick Liddy and Tanner Harvey (#24 Forte Racing) finished only 11th overall but third in class, enough to retain a narrow lead in the championship ahead of tomorrow’s finale.
MCLAREN TROPHY RACE 1 RESULTS >>>
Images © SRO Motorsports America
