Seven Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVOs are set to contest the Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour in October, spearheaded by an example entered by Craft-Bamboo for drivers’ championship points leader Jules Gounon.
The seven cars will be spread across the Pro, Pro-Am and Am classes.
In Pro, the #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes for Gounon, Raffaele Marciello and Maxi Götz will be joined by the #999 from GruppeM Racing with Maro Engel, Daniel Juncadella and Luca Stolz set to share the wheel.
“After the victory of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship last weekend together with Dani Juncadella I’m very happy to travel back to the legendary Indianapolis race track next week as the leader in the overall standings of IGTC,” said Gounon.
“But that doesn’t mean anything yet. There are still two races to go and it will be important to score a lot of points going to Abu Dhabi with a sufficient lead.
“The cooperation with Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing is working well, even though I only drove for them once before. Because an unfortunate incident cost us second place last time, I now want to have redemption with them and want to have a good race in Indianapolis.”
Pro-Am will see Crowdstrike by Riley, DXDT and SunEnergy1 all enter AMG-GT3 EVOs, with DXDT bringing a pair of cars to the race.
For Crowdstrike by Riley, the race is set to be extremely important, as the Indy 8 Hour doubles as the season finale for GT World Challenge America. Drivers George Kurtz and Colin Braun will be challenging for the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Pro-Am title during the race.
TR3 meanwhile, brings a single car to the Am field.
In the race, Mercedes and BMW are set to do battle for the IGTC manufacturers’ crown. BMW, the Indy 8 Hours winner in 2020, currently leads by nine points.
Full line-up:
- #04 – Crowdstrike by Riley – Colin Braun, George Kurtz, Nolan Siegel – PRO-AM
- #8 – DXDT – Tom Sargent, Bryan Sellers, Scott Smithson – PRO-AM
- #75 – SunEnergy1 – Mikaël Grenier, Kenny Habul, TBA – PRO-AM
- #TBA – TR3 – Jon Branam, Paul Kiebler, TBA – AM
- #77 – Craft-Bamboo Racing – Maximilian Götz, Jules Gounon, Raffaele Marciello – PRO
- #91 – DXDT – Jeff Burton, Philip Ellis, Corey Lewis – PRO-AM
- #999 – GruppeM Racing – Maro Engel, Daniel Juncadella, Luca Stolz – PRO
The Indy 8 Hour, which is set to run on October 7th, is the penultimate round of the 2023 IGTC season. The finale, the Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina, will be held from December 8th to 10th.
Images courtesy of Mercedes-AMG
