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2025 BATTLE ON THE BRICKS

 

Three Takeaways: TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks

Kudos All ‘Round, Clean Sweep Still Possible; Road Course Love


 

September 22, 2025

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

INDIANAPOLIS – As the 2026 TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks slated to be a 2-hour and 40-minute race, Sunday was the last time the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship runs a six-hour race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the foreseeable future. It went out with a “bang.” 


 

Sure, there were “bangs” aplenty among the 53 starters during the course of the event. But the biggest bang of all came from the fierce competition that came down to the final two or three minutes of the 360-minute event. Even before a (very) late full course caution, the outcomes of all four of the WeatherTech Championship’s categories were in doubt before the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series R, the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07, the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 and the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 took the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) victories. 


 

Kudos All ‘Round


 

The race featured a cornucopia of impressive performances, none more than Jack Aitken coaxing the No. 31 Cadillac to the win on fumes, despite pressure from Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac who, if anything, was even lower on energy after rolling the proverbial dice on what turned out to be the race’s next to last restart. Rather than conserve, Taylor the WTR squad went for broke in the hopes of gaining ground while banking on another full course caution.


 

“We were last at the restart,” Taylor said. “May as well try something. So, they gave me an energy target, but track position was the most important thing. So that was kind of fun to be able to try and move forward. 


 

“Then once we got to P4 it was looking like the energy we’d saved, with a short yellow at the end would be enough to make it. So why not try and go for the win on full push? So, it was fun.”

Meanwhile, the trio of Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea hit a Brickyard triple in LMP2 win in their No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA. 


 

“IMSA has raced here in LMP2 three times, so to win all three and get to kiss the bricks three straight times, that’s special for anybody in racing,” Thomas said.

 

Despite – or perhaps because – they’d won in 2023 and 24, TDS didn’t take anything for granted.


 

“We really got after it in our two days testing here, just like we never won here before,” Thomas continued. “We tried to approach it like yes, we’re already at this level on this track, but we need to get better. Honestly, we got better at the testing and when we showed up here in P1 (Practice 1) we were better than we’ve ever been.”


 

Arguably the day’s most unexpected win came in GTD, where Ollie Milroy, Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff brought the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 from 15th on the grid to victory lane. The win came on the anniversary of Inception’s new alliance with Ferrari, having switched from McLaren at this race last year. 


 

“It’s a very different philosophy to the McLaren,” said Milroy. “You know we kind of went into it thinking, ‘Oh it should be quite similar. You know the engine’s in roughly the same place, it looks kind of similar . . . you’re not going from a mid-engine to a front engine car or anything like that.’

 

“But actually it’s a very different philosophy . . . It’s still a relatively new car anyway, especially to us, but obviously it’s only in its second season. So, there’s some teething problems which we’re figuring out. It’s been a massive task for the team and they’ve done a really good job.”


 

Like the Inception crew, the GTD PRO winners had their work cut out for them after an imperfect qualifying set-up left Mike Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx seventh on the grid. Worse, after working their way to the front, the No. 64 Mustang was penalized for a pit road infraction and Rockenfeller and Priaulx had to do it all over again.


 

“We got a penalty and had to fight our way back,” Rockenfeller said. “We had to work our way through this race many times, actually, but I think our strength was in the long runs. I handed the car over in P2, I think I was P7 when I started my stint. So that was cool. And then Sebby fell back to P3 from the pit stop, but did an amazing job like always. It’s our first year driving together, and I think from the beginning it worked super well. A great combo.”  


 

Clean Sweep Still Possible

With the No. 31 Cadillac’s win in the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks just a day after the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Cupra Leon VZ TCR scored the Spanish auto maker’s first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge win, 17 of 18 manufacturers competing in IMSA’s various sanctioned championships have notched at least one victory with one event remaining on the 2025 calendar. 


 

Here's the rundown of the first 10 of 11 winners in the WeatherTech Championship, with their first win of the 2025 season in GTP, GTD PRO and/or GTD:

  

·     Acura (GTP/Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic)

·     Aston Martin (GTD/Sahlen’s Six Hours at The Glen)

·     Cadillac (GTP/TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks)

·     Chevrolet (GTD/Rolex 24 At Daytona)

·     Ferrari (GTD PRO/Chevrolet Grand Prix at CTMP)

·     Ford (GTD PRO/Rolex 24 At Daytona)

·     Lamborghini (GTD/Chevrolet GP)

·     Mercedes-AMG (GTD/Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring) 

·     Porsche (GTP/Rolex 24)


 

Next comes the Michelin Pilot Challenge with its Grand Sport (GS) and Touring Car (TCR) classes:


 

·     Audi (TCR/Virginia is for Lovers Grand Prix at VIRginia International Raceway)

·     BMW (GS/Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring International Raceway)

·     Cupra (TCR, IMS 120) 

·     Honda (TCR/LP Building Solutions 120 at The Glen, Watkins Glen)

·     Hyundai (TCR/BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona) 

·     McLaren (GS, Daytona) 


 

Not to be outdone, Toyota’s GR Supra GT4 Evo2 is batting 1.000 in the GSX Class of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge through 10 races. 


 

Last but not least, you’ll be shocked to learn that Mazda has won each and every event in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup (likewise Ferrari in Ferrari Challenge, Ford in Mustang Challenge, Lamborghini in Super Trofeo North America and Porsche in Porsche Carrera Cup North America). 


 

Heading to Motul Petit Le Mans, Lexus is the only manufacturer still looking for a win in IMSA competition this season. Not to worry, given the fact that Vasser Sullivan Racing fields Lexus RC F GT3s in both GTD and GTD Pro, the marque still has two chances to notch a W at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (and give IMSA’s 18 manufacturers a clean sweep in 2025) the weekend of October 8-11.   


 

Road Course Love

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn infield road course is, by its nature, artificial. The gut-churning elevation changes of WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the pastoral beauty of Road America and VIRginia International Raceway or the flowing, high commitment sequences of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Watkins Glen International are nowhere to be found. 


 

And yet . . .


 

The more WeatherTech Championship events I attend at IMS, the more I warm to its road course. Watching from either side of the road course’s first turn - be it the spectator banks on the drivers’ right or the grandstands on the opposite side of the track - is every bit as entertaining as Road America’s Turn 5. Either side of the road affords a virtually unobstructed view of the longgggg pit straightaway and a braking zone where a lap seldom passes without an overtaking maneuver or three; not to mention the uniquely dramatic view back along the straightaway lined by the Speedway’s majestic grandstands and Tower Terrace.


 

The rapid fire sequence of turns 1-2-3-4, leading to the high speed Turn 5/6 chicane is as technical as any section of race track on the WeatherTech Championship calendar; similarly the Turn 7-8-9-10 complex requires precision to extract a quick qualifying lap, to say nothing of enabling (indeed encouraging) side-by-side competition in the race itself - this immediately following another prime overtaking spot where the cars slow at the end of the Hulman Boulevard all of which is, again, in plain view from the ample spectator banks. 


 

Then there’s one final twisty bit featuring the oval’s Turn 2 and another technical section leading the blast along half mile of straightaway to start another lap. 


 

All this plus the opportunity to wander around Gasoline Alley, the Garage Area and, time permitting, pay a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, makes the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks a must for sports car racing fans and a signature event on the WeatherTech Championship calendar be it as a six-hour endurance race (as it has been the past couple of years) or as the sprint race it will be in 2026 and, as announced Sunday morning, into the future.

 

Perfection at Indianapolis, thy name is TDS Racing.


 

For the third straight year, TDS Racing won the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) portion of the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks. Co-drivers Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen have been a part of all three victories, and Michelin Endurance Cup third driver Hunter McElrea has been around for the last two.


 

“To be able to come back here to kiss the bricks three straight times,” Thomas said, “that's special for anybody in racing.”


 

In a race that saw missteps by numerous class competitors, the TDS Racing trio ran mostly clean in the No. 11 ORECA LMP2 07. And while they were officially credited with leading just 38 of the 241 laps that the LMP2 field completed, it wasn’t indicative of the team’s dominance – particularly when Platinum-rated Jensen was behind the wheel. 


 

The Dane drove the final two hours, 40 minutes – the entire length of a standard WeatherTech Championship race – and was clearly superior to the competition on this day. As the clock ticked down in the final hour, Jensen ran second to Toby Sowery in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA, building a gap of more than 20 seconds on the cars behind him while knowing Sowery still had to pit. Once Sowery stopped for fuel, Jensen wasn’t to be stopped from victory.


 

“I think we were constantly the fastest today,” Jensen admitted.


 

Co-drivers Thomas and McElrea credited their two-day test at Indy for making the car even better than it was as the winner the past two years at the iconic track.


 

“We tried to approach it like, yes, we're already at this level on this track, but we need to be better,” Thomas recalled. “And honestly, we got better at the testing, and we showed up here at FP1, we were faster than we've ever been.


 

“I think I made a real step in driving here,” he added. “This was maybe my best day ever as a Bronze today, so I think that really helped with the coaching. And I'll tell you, these two guys are probably the fastest on the grid.”


 

For McElrea, it’s his third WeatherTech Championship win in just 10 starts – all with TDS.


 

“I'm just lucky, honestly, to be a part of such a good program,” he said. “Steven's kind of proving he's one of if not the best Bronzes going around right now. Mikkel’s obviously established enough. I'm pretty new to endurance racing still, so kind of riding off the coattails of them is not a bad job. They've won three times in a row here. I've obviously been two of the three, but I won here in Indy NXT in 2023 as well, so I'm jumping on the three in a row train.”


 

Following the late restart and two-lap dash to the checkered, Jensen finished 0.714 seconds ahead of the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA driven by Jeremy Clarke, Bijoy Garg and Tom Dillmann. Third place went to the No. 74 Riley ORECA of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon.


 

The No. 99 AO Racing ORECA (fifth place Sunday) with drivers PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron unofficially lead the LMP2 season standings by 85 points over Daniel Goldburg and the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA (fourth place Sunday) heading to the season finale, the Motul Petit Le Mans on October 11 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.


 

The next and final round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup is the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans, set for October 8-11 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Ford Continues IMSA “Big Race” Win Run with Brickyard Victory

Inception Ferrari Breaks Through for Elusive First IMSA Win 


 

September 21, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Provisional Race Results


 

INDIANAPOLIS – When you can win at two iconic venues and your hometown city in the same season, you can call it a successful year.


 

That’s what Ford Multimatic Motorsports can declare on Sunday in Indianapolis, adding a win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to its earlier 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship wins at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the streets of Detroit not far from its global headquarters in the Motor City. 


 

For Mike Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx, who shared the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) winning No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3, hopes looked dim after a poor qualifying effort. The No. 64 lined up seventh in the 11-car GTD PRO field and wasn’t necessarily front of mind among the contenders for Sunday’s race.

However, the No. 64 tried playing the track position game early by bypassing a first pit stop to launch up to second, which put them in contention for the rest of the race. The car made it to the lead by Lap 48, early in the second hour, and remained among the top runners for the rest of the race.


 

The No. 64 car appeared the backgrounder while others in class – its sister No. 65 car wheeled by Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies, the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler, and the pair of Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVOs featured more prominently up front. 


 

Slowly but surely though, the No. 64 made its move. The No. 1 PMR BMW – which prioritized scoring IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points – fell out of the battle by pitting off-sequence to the contenders. 

The race came alive even more after a restart following the sixth full-course caution with one hour remaining with an hour to go. 


 

Heinrich and Priaulx – former teammates at AO for the first half of 2024 – emerged ahead of the No. 48 PMR BMW of Max Hesse, who’d taken over from polesitter Dan Harper. But on Lap 207, in the final hour, the decisive move occurred.


 

Priaulx muscled his Mustang by Heinrich through Turns 2 and 3, completing the move on the exit of Turn 4. With Heinrich’s momentum stalled, the No. 48 PMR BMW and No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 of Albert Costa also made it through as “Rexy’s” grille gathered grass to its teeth. 


 

Priaulx maintained momentum from there and survived the final restart with two laps remaining to bring home the victory by 0.594 of a second. It’s his fourth IMSA win and first in a Michelin Endurance Cup event, while it’s Rockenfeller’s seventh. 


 

“I just want to say thanks to IMSA for making it more cleaner racing,” Priaulx said. “That's made a lot of help for us to actually race cleanly and actually it's more fun I would say. Yeah, it was a nice pass. I felt like I executed a perfect move there, and he went wide, and that was it really. It was the move for the win, I think, really. Easy to get stuck behind there. You need to be assertive, and I was, and just had to get it done. So yeah, happy with that.”


 

Rockenfeller noted a bit of luck, too, from the “Resilient Racer” the No. 64 Mustang carried on board this weekend. In recognition of Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, the new program connected IMSA and its two proud charity partners, Austin Hatcher Foundation and Camp Boggy Creek. The first name and last initial of a child affected by pediatric cancer or other serious illness was displayed above both doors of the race car and in the spotters guide for the Battle on the Bricks, as a powerful show of encouragement and support. 


 

“Sebby did a great job today but I also don't want to forget we had a third guy on the car which was Jackson Daniels, and I think IMSA did a fantastic thing with Camp Boggy Creek to basically have those kids here and the families,” Rockenfeller said. “He brought luck to us. Yesterday I had a really bad quali. I think the car was really out of balance and we tweaked it for today.


 

“But you're really disappointed sometimes in racing, but then you meet those people and especially Jackson, how strong he is. It was really inspiring especially as a dad to see that, and it puts it all in a different perspective.”


 

Continuing their stealth push towards a potential GTD PRO championship, Costa carved his way up to second in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari he shared Sunday with Davide Rigon. That result, coupled with a fourth place for the title rival No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, has unofficially placed Costa only 18 points behind Corvette’s Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims heading to Motul Petit Le Mans for the season finale.


 

Harper and Hesse were third, ensuring the Paul Miller Racing BMW had a podium result to show for their weekend pace that included Saturday’s Motul Pole Award. 


 

Rockenfeller and Priaulx are now third in the championship, 169 points back, with AO falling to fourth, 245 points back as they try to keep the GTD PRO title for another year.


 

GTD: A 38th Special for Iribe, Inception with Breakthrough IMSA Win 

Thirty-eight starts. It rang as a number that surprised Brendan Iribe when sitting on the stage alongside co-drivers Frederik Schandorff and Ollie Millroy in the post-race press conference.


 

There was a good reason the trio was sitting on that stage. Inception Racing has, at long last, secured an overdue first WeatherTech Championship win.

Perhaps it was music to their ears that Iribe’s 38th start was, in fact, special. 


 

“I didn't know it was 38 IMSA races. Sounds like more than it feels. But it is a great feeling,” Iribe said. “This is an iconic track. It's a beautiful track. I can't wait to kiss the bricks.” 


 

Coming one year after the team switched from its longtime running of McLaren GT3 machinery to Ferrari, perhaps it was fitting that the No. 70 Ferrari 296 GT3 secured the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) win. Perhaps even more fitting, 40 years since Danny Sullivan’s famous “spin and win” in the 1985 Indianapolis 500, this win for Inception came with a stroke of luck that had to be seen to be believed.


 

In 1985, Sullivan spun after overtaking Mario Andretti for the lead entering the oval Turn 1 but didn’t hit anything and kept on chugging. A caution flag came out. 


 

On Sunday, Schandorff’s hood popped off of his No. 70 Ferrari just past the oval Turn 1, which is Turn 14 of the IMS road course. The stationary hood lay bare on the track, potentially vulnerable. A caution flag came out.


 

The ensuing caution allowed the team to put on a fresh hood and also benefit with varying pit strategies for the competitors. So not only did the No. 70 car not lose time, it actually gained on some rivals. 


 

History doesn’t repeat itself, but occasionally it rhymes, and so the sun shone on a team that had six prior runner-up finishes in GTD before finally breaking through. It also took one more effort from Schandorff ahead of the GTD field – with the car having risen from its 15th starting position in GTD to lead the final 41 laps – to hold off all comers and ensure the victory. Schandorff did so by 2.276 seconds.


 

“It didn't feel nice, obviously. We’d actually been leading Daytona quite a few times, and always something happening,” Schandorff said. “Then I thought, ‘oh, no.’ I did expect hopefully they could fix it, but I wouldn't expect that actually we were able to fight for the win in the end. I had to stay cool because the worst thing you can is, like, panic and get frustrated and do mistakes.”


 

Last year’s Indianapolis winners Wright Motorsports finished second with the trio of Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Tom Sargent in their No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Conquest Racing’s trio of Daniel Serra, Manny Franco and Ben Tuck third in the No. 34 Ferrari 296 GT3. 


 

Championship leaders Winward Racing finished fifth with Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and unofficially carry a 224-point over Casper Stevenson in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. The polesitting No. 27 Aston Martin finished 11th on Sunday.


 

The closer championship came as a result of Iribe’s win, the best of four Bronze-rated entries competing this race. Orey Fidani in the No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R led Iribe by 30 points coming into the race, but with Inception atop the order, the Bob Akin Award points are now tied heading into Motul Petit Le Mans. Whichever car of the No. 70 or 13 finishes ahead, wins the Bob Akin Award and IMSA’s automatic invitation to the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans that goes with it.


 

“I think it all comes down to the last race, just how IMSA and the fans want it,” Iribe said.


 

Motul Petit Le Mans, the last race, occurs Saturday, October 11. The race airs live on NBC at noon ET and continues with flag-to-flag streaming via Peacock in the U.S. and IMSA.TV and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel internationally. 

 

 

 

TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks - Post-Race

Press Conference Transcript

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 21, 2025) – An interview with GTP/overall first- and second-place finishers and race winners from GTD PRO, LMP2 and GTD at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'll get our post-race interviews started at the Tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks. We have our second place finishers in the GTP class in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V Series.R, Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. This is their third podium in the last four races, and their second-place run here matches their season-best result, which was also second at Detroit.

Filipe, start us off, back on the podium, nice run for you guys. Just tell us what it means for you winning for Cadillac.


 

FILIPE ALBUQUERQUE: Obviously we're starting one, two, three in the Cadillac. So we had a very good performance this weekend. We felt very good from the first three practices. So that's good because we're closing down on the performance of the Cadillac with Wayne Taylor Racing.

The racing was going okay with Ricky going in front. Then we did a strategy that I think was the best for us and we threw me to the middle of the pack when running in the front, and then fighting in the middle is just aggressive.

But I want to say that I like where IMSA is going, to be honest, with the fighting on track and giving -- we need to give room to the others because it's easy for us to push others into the grass because until now that was how it was. But now the race director is giving drive throughs like no tomorrow, but we are getting behaved, and I'm included in that way.

But again, the drivers go on the limit of the race director, and I think this was nice and it was respectful racing. Unfortunately I was a puncture fighting which throw us a lap down, and it was frustrating because the pace was good.

And in the end it was just amazing racing, typical IMSA, Ricky doing a great job, and we were super lucky with the yellow come at the right time, and we secured P2 which today I must say we were lucky. But we'll take that because sometimes we are unlucky, and yeah, it's just frustrating, but today we came out with a good result.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'll slide over to Ricky. Obviously Filipe mentioned it there, but how big was that last yellow for you?


 

RICKY TAYLOR: Oh, it saved our race. I think the most important thing was a win for Cadillac today, and the 40 was guaranteed to make it to the end. I think the 31 was doing a very good energy save to make it to the end, and we were last at the restart. May as well try something. So they gave me an energy target, but track position was the most important thing, so that was kind of fun to be able to try and move forward.

Then once we kind of got to P4, it was looking like with the energy we'd saved, the short yellow at the end would be enough to make it, so why not try and go for the win with a full push. So it was fun.

So why not get up there and whether yellow comes out, a Cadillac could win and we could help the 31 because the 60 had such an energy advantage, or we get there and the other doesn't come out, and we gave ourselves the best shot.

Hats off to the guys. Congrats for Cadillac 1-2, and the car was good this weekend. So it's encouraging that maybe we're making some progress with the car.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'll slide over to our race winners in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Racing Cadillac V-Series.R. from the center outward, Jack Aitken, Frederik Vesti, and Earl Bamber. 30th IMSA win for the team, fifth win for the Cadillac V-Series.R. First win of the season for Cadillac. That makes it 17 of 18 automotive manufacturers have now won a race in IMSA in 2025.


 

This is Jack's second IMSA win in his 21st start. His last win was Sebring in 2023. For Earl, this is his ninth IMSA win in his 82nd start. His last win was Sebring 2022. For Frederik, this is his first win in his sixth start. The No. 31 led 210 laps today. The next most led was in the GTD Class No. 34, which led 79 laps. Cadillac led all but seven laps today according to a stat that I was just provided.

Jack, start us off, first win of the season for Cadillac, big weekend here. What does it mean for you all?


 

JACK AITKEN: Yeah, it's a bit of a relief to get the first one under the belt for the year. I think we had a really awesome car today that was working well also in qualifying, and we were a little bit fortunate that the 60 had trouble in qually to take the pole.

But I think with the number of laps that we led today, it shows how well we were working as a team, and it was nice having the flexibility of three drivers. It was quite a hard day out, I think, with some extended runs of green.

Yeah, I think it was really fun race at the end, really tough, but had a lot of fun trying to hit the number and hold the track position at the same time.


 

Q. Frederik, as I mentioned, your first win in IMSA competition. What does that mean to you and especially to do it here at Indianapolis?


 

FREDERIK VESTI: Yeah, it's obviously been an amazing weekend. As Jack said, the car has been flying all weekend, which is always a pleasure to drive. But yeah, I joined this team at the beginning of the year with very high hopes, and the way they've welcomed me into this team made me feel welcome with Earl and Jack as my teammates. I've learned a lot, and to take the first win here in Indianapolis is just amazing.

I'm just excited for the future. Yeah, that's all I have to say.


 

Q. Earl, it's been a little while since your last win in IMSA, but what does it mean to get back?


 

EARL BAMBER: Yeah, it's awesome to get back in Victory Lane, but I think it's also really great for Cadillac, for Whelen. We had really high hopes at the start of the season. We've had a lot of quick cars, but just hasn't really rolled our way. We've been working day in, day out to try and get this win.

It's really nice to be back on the top step of the podium. I think it's great for the team, and yeah, just have to thank everyone for the hard work in the background. There's been a massive amount of stuff from Cadillac, through updates, through winter, throughout the season. Sonny with his trust, he's on the timing stand with us every weekend cheering there.

It's special now looking towards Petit, the last race of the season, and Daytona, we feel like we're building really good momentum and a great foundation right now.


 

Q. Ricky, with that early puncture in hour 3, that set you off sequence. Is that sort of what led you to where you guys were at the end of the race by not having enough energy to go to the finish if it had stayed green?


 

RICKY TAYLOR: It definitely changed our day. The first -- actually the first stop for Filipe changed our day. I think track position was so key, and Filipe was just in the mix with everybody and got unlucky with that puncture. Then we were just fighting to stay not two laps down because pit lane is so long here, and the lap is quite short, so anything goes wrong and you get stuck a lap down.

We were fighting not to get stuck a lap down, and actually had to short fill a couple times to beat the leader out to where we just gave ourselves the best shot at getting our lap back. It took a lot gambling, and you're just putting yourself more and more in the hole by short-filling the car each stop after that.

Then we got lucky -- so we went from being unlucky for the first half to very lucky in the second half with those well-timed yellows.

The first one was lucky to get our lap back. Then we were kind of in line with everybody, and then it was just a gamble on what we wanted to go for, and what we went for, we happened to get lucky with as well, with that last yellow.


 

Q. Jack, what made the Cadillacs better than everybody else today? We were talking about the Acuras maybe having the ultimate pace, but you ended up with a Cadillac 1-2.


 

JACK AITKEN: I think we've shown in the past that we can be quite strong over a stint and take care of the tire and hold it in that nice operating window in terms of temperature. The hard is a particularly tricky one with the warmup, but also there is a potential to use it up and to soften at the end of the stint. There's a lot of pickup, a lot of marbles and a lot of rubbish you have to deal with. So it's not an easy tire to hold in that sweet spot, and I think the Caddy does a better job of it than the Acura.

Generally when I was around those guys, it seemed like we had the better of them in the more technical sections. That definitely helped us in the end.


 

Q. Jack, with less than 10 minutes to go in the race, you're driving along trying to focus and everything, coming up front, then full course yellow comes up. What's the mentality in the cockpit at that time, and how did you mentally prepare for the last two minutes of the race when the green flag finally came out, and were you hoping for the green to come out?


 

JACK AITKEN: I mean, the race had changed quite a bit in the last 15, 20 minutes because of the 10 coming through and offering their support. They charged through very quickly, and up to that time I was in quite an intense battle both to hit a fuel number and also to keep first the BMW and then the Acura behind, and that was quite -- taking a lot of energy and focus, and then to have another Caddy up there was quite a relief.

But then it did turn into a bit of a shootout at the end, and fuel obviously then was good to go for the end. I think we were going to make it, but it changed the dynamic into a bit of a last-lap shootout. And thankfully everything went supremely for the last two laps, but it was just about refocusing and gearing up for full push instead of lifting off halfway down the straight.


 

Q. What was the sequence for the last restart there, picking when to go and timing and everything? How much thought did you have to put into that process?


 

JACK AITKEN: I mean, got a restart, something we've done a lot of, so on that side it wasn't anything different. Like I said, it was more about getting back into the rhythm of full push and just trying to bring the car home because we were in a great position with Caddy's 1-2, and we could only make mistakes at that point. We did just that, brought it home, and got a great result for Cadillac.


 

Q. Frederik, diverting your career focus as you did last year is not easy for a young driver, but in the middle stages of the race, you had this great stint where you were holding off the 93 Acura, and then you were able to break its charge. Do you feel like you're getting the hang of prototype racing?


 

FREDERIK VESTI: Yeah, it's fair to say it's quite a shift coming from the Formula ladder back in Europe. I've raced there my whole career, and switching to prototype is definitely a challenge, probably more of a challenge than I actually expected.

I'm still world in the Formula world, which is good, but I love my racing in prototypes. And it's actually teaching me a lot of things. The longest race I've done before with Endurance was one hour, and now we are just going on and on, which is cool.

Obviously the traffic is probably the main thing, and the IMSA traffic is something else. But yeah, I'm starting to enjoy it more and more and get the hang of it. Yeah, it's amazing to get the win together with the team.


 

Q. Given how well Watkins Glen played out where the 31 was super, super quick, and it was just an almost energy mileage thing at the end, how sweet is it to have it turn out the way it did today, especially before that late yellow? It looked like it was going to be a mileage race too.


 

EARL BAMBER: Yeah, it was nice to finally get one. We'd sort of talked during the week, and we put ourselves in positions a lot this season to try and get a first win, and eventually one day the floodgates are going to open and it's going to work.

And I think Jack did an amazing job to hit the fuel numbers that he did. Yeah, that was incredible. But it also just shows that we've been working on a lot of stuff. We reviewed what happened in Watkins Glen, we sort of learned from it, but it was a real team effort. There was people on the timing stand, there was people back in the truck working out numbers, working on times.

At the end of the day, it's a big team sport. So it's us and the car, the guys on the timing stand, everyone back at Cadillac. It's very sweet to get that first win of the season because it would have been a bit of a hard year if we hadn't got one.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'll start at the far end with our GTD Pro winners in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3. All the way on the end, Mike Rockenfeller, Sebastien Priaulx. This is the team's 11th IMSA victory, third one of the season. The team's last win was at Detroit in June. For Mike this is his seventh win coming in his 95th start. For Seb this is his fourth win coming in his 27th start.

We'll start with Seb all the way on the far end. Second win of the year, third win of the season for Ford Multimatic Motorsports. All pretty important events. Not that any event isn't important in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar competition, but to win for the team at Daytona and then at Detroit and now here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, put that into some context for us and what it means.


 

SEBASTIEN PRIAULX: I think firstly just want to thank Mike and Ford Multimatic Motorsport. What a race they gave us today with the car, and overall just a great performance from everybody. Mike drove really well. It was a team effort at the end of the day, so firstly that was really what I wanted to say.

But yeah, to win here on the bricks is something special. Definitely some history here, and yeah, just to win here is something that I won't forget.

It was a tough start, qualifying went great, and to be up there leading, it's the first time for me really being out leading which was great, and yeah, I felt really comfortable out there and it was great to win.


 

THE MODERATOR: Mike, really tough racing all week, all six hours in GTD Pro. How was it from your seat? Obviously there was quite a lot going on there.


 

MIKE ROCKENFELLER: Yeah, I want to thank Ford and Multimatic for sure. They gave us a great car. Sebby did a great job today but I also don't want to forget we had a third guy on the car which was Jackson Daniels, and I think IMSA did a fantastic thing with Camp Boggy Creek to basically have those kids here and the families. He brought luck to us. Yesterday I had a really bad qually. I think the car was really out of balance and we tweaked it for today.

But you're really disappointed sometimes in racing, but then you meet those people and especially Jackson, how strong he is. It was really inspiring especially as a dad to see that, and it puts it all in a different perspective.

Thanks to everybody. I think we had a great race. Very clean. We stayed out of trouble. We had to fight hard many times in this race to make our way up to the front, and yeah, it was just an honor to drive the car today.

Sometimes some small setup changes make it from kind of undrivable to a perfect car, and it was really nice today.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca LMP 2, 07. This is Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea from the middle out. This is the team's third consecutive victory here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the team's fifth in the WeatherTech Championship. The team's last win was Motul Petit Le Mans in 2024.

For Steven this is his sixth win coming in his 34th start; Mikkel, 11th win in his 31st start; and Hunter's third win in his 10th start.

Mikkel, start us off. Very eventful race for the LMP2 class throughout. What did it take to survive and win for this team?


 

MIKKEL JENSEN: I mean, we always have a great car coming here. I think it shows after three wins in a row, so we're very confident here. It got a little -- to be a fuel saving race in P2, which is not really the case normally, which made it difficult. You didn't know what the strategy was of the others really after the first stint where you could see how many laps everybody were doing. We were afraid that we were over-consuming and not doing enough laps. But I think after the first pit stop we saw that everything was under control compared to what the other guys are doing, and from then on we were quite comfortable and just tried to stay out of trouble.

Had to get the United cars -- yeah, had a late dive on the outside on Paul Di Resta, locked up a bit because we had to go for it. Got back to third as the other United car came through and had to pass both of them again. It was a hard race, and once we got in the lead, we just had the pace to pull away. Thanks to TDS Racing for once again a great car and my teammates for bringing the car in the good end of the field to make my job easier.


 

THE MODERATOR: Steven, obviously there's some magic to this place. Tell us about it and what it means for you to win here again.


 

STEVEN THOMAS: I think we were fortunate to race at two iconic places in this series, Indy and Daytona, and there is -- every track is fantastic, but the history at those two places is pretty amazing. So to be able to come back here, and IMSA has raced here in LMP2 three times, to win all three and get to kiss the bricks three straight times, that's special for anybody in racing.


 

Q. Hunter, three wins in ten races, pretty good winning percentage. How much easier do those two guys make your job here?


 

HUNTER McELREA: Very. A lot more. No, I'm just lucky, mate, honestly, to be part of such a good program. Steven is kind of proving he's one of if not the best Bronze going around right now. Mikkel is obviously established enough; I don't need to speak for him.

For myself, just to be a part of that, I'm pretty new to endurance racing still. Kind of ride off the coattails of that is not a bad job. They've won three times in a row here. I've obviously been two of the three. But I won in INDY NXT in 2023 as well. So I'm jumping on the three-in-a-row train. So it feels good. We needed this. I think everyone in the group needed it.

Yeah, just really happy. Happy for these guys, happy for the team, and honestly, happy for myself, too.


 

Q. Mikkel, there was sort of a big pileup of the two United cars, and then Tom Dillmann with about a half hour to go. Did you think that helped relieve some pressure you might have had at the end?


 

MIKKEL JENSEN: I don't know. We pulled a great gap of I think 23 seconds before the yellow at the end. So obviously it made the gap bigger than it would have been, but I think we were comfortable the fastest two days. I don't think it made any difference. At the end we had the yellow anyway, which spiced up everything with two laps to go.


 

Q. Rocky, can you put this victory into perspective? It was a really tough fight out there in GTD Pro today, and what made you guys stand out from your viewpoint?


 

MIKE ROCKENFELLER: Yeah, it was a tough fight. I think almost everybody kind of was in the lead for a while, I don't know. But we were, I would say, strong over long run. I think that was our strength. We could see that in free practice already.

Like I said before, I think in qually, we had some mistakes on the setup, which we found after, and that happens, and the balance was off. We were, I think, more in the back than we should have been, but our sister car showed great pace. They were P2 on the grid and we weren't. Starting from P7 you have to race clean and make your passes and smart moves.

It's a long race, a lot of stuff happens, and you have to be a bit lucky. Then we got a penalty. We were again in the back, and yeah, then it was just full push to the front. I think you have to have the pace, right, and like I say, it's important to be consistent over a stint, and I think that was the strength of our car today.


 

Q. For Mikkel, Hunter or Steven, last year winning here, two years ago without Hunter winning here, how different was the prep going into this race compared to last year, and did you have to change anything going into this race to pull off a three-peat?


 

STEVEN THOMAS: I would say we tested as hard this year. We really got after it in our two days of testing here, just like we never won here before. But I would say the difference was in this test is I think we made a real step, at least with coaching Hunter that day, I think I made a real step in driving here. I think this was maybe my best stint ever as a Bronze today. I think that really helped with the coaching.

And I'll tell you, these two guys, they're probably the fastest on the grid. Even if they just make a small step, they get a few more, even a tenth, it can make a difference because the pros are all so close. We tried to approach it like yes, we're already at this level on this track, but we need to be better. Honestly, we got better at the testing, and when we showed up here in FP1 we were better than we've ever been.


 

Q. Seb, talk to me about that move you made for the lead with about 40 minutes to go.


 

SEBASTIEN PRIAULX: Yeah, I think I just want to say thanks to IMSA for making it more cleaner racing. That's made a lot of help for us to actually race cleanly and actually it's more fun I would say. Yeah, it was a nice pass. I felt like I executed a perfect move there, and he went wide, and that was it really. It was the move for the win, I think, really. Easy to get stuck behind there. You need to be assertive, and I was, and just had to get it done. So yeah, happy with that.


 

Q. Seb, to add on that, you've won sprint races before in WeatherTech, but I think this is your first endurance race win. Talk about the difference in the approach to doing a six-hour, especially in a two-driver setting?


 

SEBASTIEN PRIAULX: Yeah, actually I didn't know that. It was my first endurance win. Yeah, so I mean, every time I feel like it's the same sort of mindset. Definitely maybe a bit more hours out, but at the end of the race it's the same sort of feeling, all the hours out. I drive every race the same really. But it's nice to win here, and the traffic here is actually worse than most places.

It reminds me a lot of Atlanta. It's very tight and a lot of stuff to move out of the way. A lot of times I felt like I could easily make a mistake and turn in and hit in P2 and that's it, because they're quite equal speeds at the end of the straight. It's quite similar.

I think it's great to win here, and yeah, all focused now on the next one really.


 

Q. Mikkel, you touched on it a little bit about how you were able to build such a gap on that last stint before the final yellow. What made the car so good? Obviously I'm sure you knew that the 04 was going to have to pit at some time so you were just building the gap on everybody else. What made it so strong?


 

MIKKEL JENSEN: I think we have a great platform of the car. It's very stable. We were running quite stiff. It just makes the car work very well when you're alone. It's obviously less beneficial because you don't make the aerodynamics work properly when you're behind other cars and that's also when we get stuck in traffic it can't show the full potential, but whenever we're clear and get comfortable through the traffic, the car is really, really quick, and we were able to just build a gap.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'll welcome up our GTD winners to conclude our interviews here at the Tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks. We have the trio of drivers from the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. From your left to right, Brendan Iribe, Ollie Millroy and Frederik Schandorff. This is the first win for the team, first win for all three drivers. For Brendan this is his 38th IMSA start, Ollie his 16th start, and for Frederik his 34th start.

Brendan, first win here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway; if you could just put that into some context for us. What does it mean to you to win in IMSA?


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: Like you said, we've been at it for quite a while. I didn't know it was 38 IMSA races. Sounds like more than it feels. But it is a great feeling. This is an iconic track. It's a beautiful track. I can't wait to kiss the bricks. We haven't done that yet, but we're excited to.

So if there's a place to win, this is an awesome place, and it really feels good, especially after how hard the team has worked. Just really proud of everybody on the team, all the engineers and the drivers and everybody does such a big job, such a good job, and puts their heart and soul into it. So it's awesome to finally be up here. We should really have everybody up here, but we get to represent.

Big thank you to the drivers, too, Ollie and Freddy, just did an incredible job. I think Ollie said it best at the very end, when the final safety car came out, he said, there's no better person to have in the car at this time than Freddy. That's how we all feel in the team.

Luckily it all worked out, and here we are, and we're really excited and proud to be here.


 

Q. Ollie, the team has been close to wins a number of times here. What made the difference today?


 

OLLIE MILLROY: Well, I didn't realize until this evening we've had six second places in IMSA. I'm glad I didn't know that; otherwise, I might've given up by now.

Yeah, look, we've had great performance. We had a successful run with the McLaren for a couple of years and then we switched to the Ferrari actually at Indianapolis last year was our first race with the Ferrari. So it was a huge task for the team to get their head around the car.

But we've been really fast and competitive most of this season. Just shows what an amazing job the team and the engineering team as well have done with the car.

But IMSA as we know, that's just a small part of it. The races are wild, especially here at Indianapolis. You don't relax for one minute. There's always something happening.

It was great that Brendan did an amazing job for the first couple of hours, gave us the car in a sensible position in one piece as well, and gave us the opportunity to sort of go for the win. So finally, finally our first win. It feels like such a relief, and hopefully now that we've got that one out of the way it will give us some momentum going into Petit as well.


 

Q. Frederik, you brought it home. Any concerns with that last yellow and pressure from behind? Just take us through how you worked that last run to the checkered flag to bring home the win.


 

FREDERIK SCHANDORFF: I would say I was a bit concerned the last hour when I had the lead. Obviously when you are counting laps down, 35 laps to go, 34, it was quite a long race still there at that moment. I was just really excited that we actually finally finished the race in the lead.

The team really deserve this. It's such a pleasure being here. The team is just doing a really, really good job. They are showing that we were the fastest McLaren last year and now we are also the fastest Ferrari out there. It's really impressive what the team have done and just really proud that we get the win as well. Obviously I could live without the safety car because that made it a little bit more exciting, but I think it's probably more exciting for the guys in the pit.

Obviously we've done a lot of restarts, and I love the restarts in IMSA. That's some of the best part of this championship. I think it's really good fun for the spectators and also for the drivers.

Obviously I just had a really good start, so the last two laps were actually not that stressful. They were long, but at least I had a small gap to the second guy.


 

Q. Frederik or Ollie, can you expand on the evolution to switch to the Ferrari and what kind of gains you've made over the course of the last 12 months?


 

OLLIE MILLROY: It's a very different philosophy to the McLaren. We kind of went into it thinking, oh, it should be quite similar, engine is roughly the same place, it kind of looks similar. You're not going from a mid engine to a front engine car or anything like that. Actually because obviously it's been built and designed by Oreca who are prototype manufacturers, it's actually a very different philosophy.

We were okay here last year. We struggled a bit for pace. Then we went to Petit Le Mans, and Fred and I got out of the car after FP1 and I think neither of us ever wanted to get back in a race car ever again; it was terrifying.

So we realized what we thought we'd learnt from Indy was probably the wrong way, so then we went back for the race, and actually in Petit Le Mans the thing was on rails. It was a great car to drive and we saw then the potential of the Ferrari.

It's still a relatively new car anyway, especially to us, but obviously it's only in its second season, so there's still some teething problems which we're figuring out and Ferrari are figuring out, but generally on the whole the performance that we've had throughout the season has been really strong.

It's been a massive task for the team, and they've done a really great job.


 

Q. Brendan, I believe this extends your lead in the Bronze Cup standings heading into Petit and that very important invite to Le Mans. What's your thought heading into this race?


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: I think it all comes down to the last race, just how IMSA and the fans want it. Not exactly how we want it, but we'll take it, and it'll be exciting. Can't wait for Petit.


 

Q. If you were to win, would it be your plan to take the Ferrari to Le Mans, much like you did with the McLaren two years ago?


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: Yes.


 

Q. Does this win -- you stood on the top step of the podium at Mid-Ohio in '22. Obviously that wasn't to be, but did you expect -- did you imagine it would have taken this long to get a proper win at least, an official win in IMSA?


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: Definitely didn't think it would take this long. I still spiritually count that win. But rules are rules, and I understand.

So it's good to be back, and it's good to be here. I think we've been working on it for a long time, and the team has been continuing to get better, and we have been getting our heads around the Ferrari.

I think they did a remarkable job, like Ollie was saying, really getting up to speed quick. I think we've shown that we have one of the most competitive if not the most competitive Ferrari on the grid, and the drivers have just done an incredible job themselves pushing forward.

Yeah, it's great to be here and great to be in the Ferrari.


 

Q. I believe there was a very large piece of bodywork that came off the car with a couple hours to go. Mentally how do you put that behind you when you've got two hours to go in a race like this at a track like this and you're still fighting for the lead up front?


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: I think you don't put it behind you. It's in your mind the whole time. Freddy was the one in the car. We were panicking, I think, in the pits. I think Ollie measured his heart rate, and it was the same as when he was in the car driving when he was on the pit watching the car go past every lap, just praying that it still had the bonnet on. How did it feel, Freddy?


 

FREDERIK SCHANDORFF: It didn't feel nice, obviously. Also, especially because we'd actually been leading Daytona quite a few times, and always something happening. Then I thought, oh, no. Feeling a little bit (indiscernible) there. I did expect hopefully they could fix it, but I wouldn't expect that actually we were able to fight for for the win in the end. I was just super pissed about it, but I had to stay cool because the worst thing you can is, like, panic and get frustrated and do mistakes.

Obviously I did a lot of fuel saving that first stint, so it actually ended up the competitors ahead of us, I think they did less than we did, so some of them, they actually had to do the emergency stop, so we actually gained a little bit from the bonnet, and the team was really fast in the pit stop to put a new one back on again, and then it was all fine.

But I did pay a little bit more attention to it when I was driving the last hour.


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: And we were praying.


 

Q. Freddy, was that the most tense you've ever been in the car when that situation happens, or was there another time in your racing career that you were in a more intense situation or a more hectic situation?


 

OLLIE MILLROY: It was worse for us watching.


 

FREDERIK SCHANDORFF: It was a very tense hour. I haven't seen my heart rate yet, but it was quite tense out there, especially after that happened, as well, and then obviously I tried to be as smart as possible to maybe sometimes taking a little bit of risk over the curbs to not make it have so much bouncing over there, and luckily it stayed.

But I would say always a safety car in the end is -- pretty much every IMSA race is having that, so it's always a bit exciting. Normally we like it because we're not in the lead, but when we are in the lead we'd prefer not to have it.


 

Q. Brendan, this is something I wanted to ask since Watkins Glen when it become you versus Orey for the golden ticket to Le Mans. Do you lament that there's not more competition for the Akin Award in IMSA these days?


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: Yeah, I wish there was more competition. I talk to the IMSA guys all the time about what ideas do they have, do I have some ideas, what ideas do we have together on how we can attract more bronzes to the field.

Personally I love being here with all the silvers. I would like more bronzes on the grid, just more cars in general would be awesome. But I joined and I'm here to compete against silvers, and I love doing that. So that's why I'm here in IMSA.


 

FREDERIK SCHANDORFF: But what would be beneficial is if there was a slight advantage of having a bronze driver because right now there's no advantages at all, so if there could be, small thing, an extra set of tires so Brendan could do another qually sim in practice or whatever, just to have small benefit for him actually having a bronze because right now Brendan doesn't have any benefit at all from this.


 

Q. Just to clarify, so when the bonnet popped off, did you have to put a new one on, or it did not pop off, because it went yellow right after that happened?


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: Yeah, the bonnet popped off and it went yellow, and we put a new one on in the pit when we pulled in.


 

Q. Brendan, you've obviously been here 38 starts. How much further do you feel you've come as a driver over the course of that time period because you've shared a lot of the racing with these guys.


 

BRENDAN IRIBE: I think they could tell you probably better than me. I feel like I always have a huge amount to improve on every qualifying, every race. I tend to look back and think, I could have done such a better job. There's still so much to learn.

The thing personally I like the most about IMSA and what I feel like I have learned and improved on just through trial and error, 38 times, is managing the traffic and really being able to try to be consistent and still maintain good lap times, lap after lap, over a couple hours while you have multiple classes of prototypes going by you at a much faster speed, squeezing you, going in between you, going around you.

That's just some of the most exciting racing. Every time it happens, usually I'm somewhat holding my breath until they've passed, but as soon as they've passed, I'll often laugh and just think, I can't believe I get to do this. I loved that car going by me that fast. That was wild.

One day maybe we'll be in a prototype or a different class, but right now, I love being in GTD, love the grid and the competition. The level of competition that's here I think is awesome. The other teams are all great to compete against, and yeah, I love all the prototypes out there.


 

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

 

Whelen Cadillac Finds Way Back to Victory Lane in Indianapolis Thriller

Cadillac 1-2 Overall While TDS, Ford and Inception Secure WeatherTech Championship Class Wins


 

September 21, 2025

By Mark Robinson

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Race Results


 

INDIANAPOLIS – Cadillac claimed its first victory of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season Sunday, with Jack Aitken surviving a late frantic restart to win the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.


 

Aitken, driving the pole-sitting No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, held off Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R by 0.988 of a second at the conclusion of the six-hour race on the historic speedway’s 2.439-mile road course. 


 

With the win, Cadillac became the 17th of IMSA's 18 automotive manufacturers to win a race in an IMSA-sanctioned series in 2025.


 

A full-course caution for a collision of Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) cars with nine minutes left bunched the field for a two-lap dash to the checkered flag. Aitken, who shared the No. 31 with co-drivers Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti, got the jump on Taylor when the green flag waved and was never headed in delivering the first win of the season for his team and manufacturer.


 

It was the 30th IMSA class win for Action Express Racing, which fields the No. 31 Cadillac. Bamber collected his ninth series win, Aitken his second and Vesti his first.


 

Taylor and co-driver Filipe Albuquerque equaled their best result of 2025 with the second-place finish in the No. 10 WTR Cadillac (also second on the streets of Detroit). Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun finished third in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06.


 

Other class winners in the race were: Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea in LMP2, driving the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07 (the third straight Indianapolis win for Thomas, Jensen and TDS and second for McElrea); Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx driving the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO); and Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff and Ollie Millroy driving the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD). The Inception crew won its first WeatherTech Championship race. 


 

The class winners were also the unofficial winners of the fourth Michelin Endurance Cup round as well, the championship-within-a-championship that has five rounds. 


 

The TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks is the penultimate race of the 2025 season. With a seventh-place GTP finish Sunday, Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 take an unofficial 131-point lead over No. 7 Porsche Penske teammates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy heading to the season finale, the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on October 11. In LMP2, Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett and the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 lead Daniel Goldburg and the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA by 85 points. In GTD PRO, class leaders Alexander Sims, Antonio Garcia and the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R are 18 points ahead of Albert Costa and the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3. And in GTD, Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 have a 224-point lead over Casper Stevenson and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

 
 

Indianapolis Lamborghini Super Trofeo Winners Double Up in Race 2

North American Season Concludes with Quartet of Repeat Winners


 

September 20, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results


 

INDIANAPOLIS – Racing against the backdrop of a gorgeous Saturday sunset at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America field concluded its North American portion of the 2025 calendar with a quartet of repeat winners from Friday’s Race 1.


 

Danny Formal and Hampus Ericsson (No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, Pro), Trent Hindman and Jackson Lee (No. 69 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, ProAm), Mateo Siderman (No. 63 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Westlake, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, Am) and Nick Groat (No. 57 ONE Motorsports, Lamborghini Newport Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, Am) all followed up their Friday wins despite limited green flag running on Saturday.


 

The 50-minute race completed the opening couple laps before a three-car incident off Turn 14 onto the front straight of the oval that necessitated extensive track cleaning. Once that was clear, the race restarted with 23 minutes to go.


 

Almost immediately, the pit window opened to ensure teams had the full 10-minute window to complete their mandatory pit stop. There was limited changing of positions as the leaders pitted early and got out straightaway.


 

Ericsson started the No. 1 WTR Huracán and handed off to Formal for the finish. For a second straight day, the leading WTR entries in both Pro and ProAm finished 1-2 overall, with Hindman finishing second after taking over from Jackson Lee.


 

Both Formal and Hindman will share WTR’s No. 45 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 in Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks, the six-hour IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.


 

“Not a lot of laps today, but every one counts,” Ericsson said. “It’s been a great weekend to once again match Road America with two wins here. I can’t wait to fight for the championship in Misano.”


 

Formal added, “First of all I want to thank Hampus – he did very clear laps. It’s hard when you’re down the inside; it’s very dirty and easy to miss Turn 1. He got a nice little gap. The restart after the long yellow is not easy, because your adrenaline goes down, but he did a great restart.”


 

Scott Huffaker and Jaden Conwright in their No. 22 World Speed Motorsports Huracán and Nick Persing and Giano Taurino in the No. 8 WTR Huracán completed the Pro podium, as postrace time penalties were assessed to the No. 4 ANSA Motorsports Huracán and No. 29 TR3 Racing Huracán after late-race contact.

Hindman and Lee won their third ProAm race in the last four races, with Paul Nemschoff and Marc Miller second for the second straight day in the No. 41 Flying Lizard Motorsports Huracán ahead of Joel Miller and Frank Szczesniak in the No. 88 Forty7 Motorsports Huracán.


 

“Really fun weekend here at Indianapolis. There’s the expectation with me and Jackson to be in play for the win. The way it went is a really great result for the entire team,” said Hindman, who won on his birthday.


 

Lee added, “Getting two class wins and two overall podiums, and to do it in mine and my team’s hometown makes it all the more special.”


 

As on Friday, neither of the top two in the championship – the No. 11 MLT Motorsports Huracán of Darius Trinka and Tadas Karlinskas and the No. 67 TR3 Racing Huracán of Conrad Geis and Jason Hart – finished on the podium.

Am continued the theme of repeats with Siderman completing a weekend sweep for TR3 Racing. With issues for the championship-leading No. 10 WTR Huracán of Graham Doyle and Glenn McGee for the second straight race, the remaining podium finishers of David Staab (No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports Huracán) and Lindsay Brewer and Jem Hepworth (No. 2 RAFA Racing Huracán) remain very much alive in the Am class championship battle.


 

“It was a bit of a sprint race; this really felt like it,” Siderman said. “It enforces what we did yesterday, and it paid off for us. Really thankful to TR3, Lamborghini Westlake and the team.”

LB Cup also featured an identical podium to Friday. Groat again led home Rocky T. Bolduc (No. 99 RAFA Racing Huracán) and Christopher Tasca (No. 66 Forty7 Motorsports Huracán).


 

“Finishing off the season here in Indy is a huge deal; Super Trofeo is my favorite thing in the world and I can’t wait to come back again,” Groat said. “The competition in LB Cup has been fantastic. I’m so proud of how my competitors have done.”


 

The North American championship has two races remaining as part of the Lamborghini World Final at the Misano World Circuit in Italy. The two championship rounds are Nov. 6 and 7 with the World Finals 2025 on Nov. 8 and 9.


 

The perfect points weekend for Ericsson and Formal in Pro sees them more than a race win clear of Will Bamber and Elias De La Torre in the No. 29 TR3 Huracán. Unofficially, the Ericsson/Formal pair leads Bamber and De La Torre by 18 points.


 

Trinka and Karlinskas hold an unofficial seven-point lead in ProAm over Geis and Hart.


 

The Am class closed significantly with Doyle and McGee unofficially just four ahead of Staab, and 10 ahead of Hepworth and Brewer, heading to Italy.


 

LB Cup, however, has been unofficially wrapped in Groat’s favor. With the double win in Indianapolis, he has an unofficial 35-point lead with a maximum of 32 points remaining. This would ensure a second straight LB Cup title for him.

Aitken Inherits Motul Pole Award At Indianapolis in No. 31 Cadillac Whelen GTP

United Autosports USA Sweeps LMP2 Qualifying


 

September 20, 2025

By John Oreovicz and Mark Robinson

IMSA Wire Service

INDIANAPOLIS – Cadillac Whelen will lead the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field to green for Sunday’s six-hour TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as part of a 1-2-3 lineup in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP).


 

As Cadillac is in search of its first win in 2025, it appeared as though the trio of its cars – the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R and the Nos. 40 and 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs – were poised to start second, third and fourth behind the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06, which unofficially took the Motul Pole Award.


 

However, in post-qualifying technical inspection, it was discovered that the No. 60 car failed to comply within LMDh bodywork tolerances. With the penalty, it will lose its qualifying times and drop to the rear of the GTP class for Sunday’s race.


 

It’s the first pole for Cadillac in 2025 and the first for the brand since the 2024 Motul Petit Le Mans, where Jack Aitken scored his first WeatherTech Championship pole. Aitken, who’d unofficially qualified second, will move to the front of the field with a best time of 1 minute, 14.610 seconds (117.683 mph). Aitken will share the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen entry with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti, as one of only two GTP entries to run three drivers in Sunday’s race.


 

“I’m pretty pleased. I think all the Cadillacs showed pretty well,” Aitken said. “We had an OK practice, but it wasn't entirely smooth. The nature of having so many cars on track here means getting clean laps, which was quite difficult. I think we’re in a good place. I'm pleased that we've come out today with a strong car and clean qualifying session, and I think a strong car for tomorrow.”


 

The No. 40 WTR Cadillac of Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz will start second ahead of the No. 10 WTR Cadillac of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.


 

The championship-leading No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell will roll off from fourth, with the second Acura – the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 of Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly and Kaku Ohta – completing the top five. 

 

United Autosports USA Sweeps LMP2 Qualifying

United Autosports USA put up a united front in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) qualifying. For the first time in IMSA competition, the two-car team owns the front row of the class for the start of Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.


 

Nick Boulle collected the Motul Pole Award with an impressive lap of 1:17.846 in the No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07. Teammate Daniel Goldburg was second fastest, with a lap of 1:18.222 in the No. 22 United ORECA.


 

Boulle also won the LMP2 pole at IMS a year ago, on his way to capturing the class championship with co-driver Tom Dillmann when they drove for Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen. Pressure to repeat the pole effort intensified in Saturday’s 15-minute session when nearly half the time was lost to an early red flag for the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA driven by Chris Cumming sliding off track into the gravel. Boulle, who is sharing the No. 2 this weekend with Ben Hanley and Juan Correa, credited a setup change the team made for qualifying that allowed him to push it to the limit with minimal time on the clock.



“I think I could have tidied up a few spots,” Boulle said, “but to go out here and know you have like two laps to do it, it feels even better. It’s one thing to go out somewhere where you know you have five laps to bring one in. This was a situation where you go out and you’ve got two times to do it.


 

“We didn’t get to test here so to stick it on pole is even better.”


 

Boulle has been a part-time driver in the No. 2 this season, competing in the first three LMP2 races before joining PR1 Mathiasen for July’s event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. In his absence, Hanley finished fourth in the past two races with Phil Fayer as the co-driver. Boulle believes he, Hanley and Correa have the car “to fight with” in Sunday’s six-hour enduro.


 

“This is a pretty scrappy place,” he said. “You have to hustle the car, especially in a P2 car, compared to some other places that are super fast and flowy. Getting through traffic, we have to be really eyes up and pay attention to the rhythm. Hopefully, we stay clean and I can get Juan and Ben a car that they can go fight with.”


 

Twelve LMP2 cars are entered this weekend. Goldburg, who’s sharing the No. 22 United entry with Paul Di Resta and Rasmus Lindh, qualified just ahead of points leader PJ Hyett in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA. Hyett, co-driver Dane Cameron and the No. 99 start the race with a 105-point lead over Goldburg and the No. 22.


 

All six hours of the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks will be streamed live starting at 11:40 a.m. ET on Peacock in the U.S. and IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube channel internationally. NBC television joins the race in progress at 3 p.m. with coverage to the finish.

Harper Stakes Claim to GTD PRO Pole in No. 48 BMW at Indianapolis

Stevenson Keeps Title Heartbeat Alive for Aston Martin with GTD Pole


 

September 20, 2025

By David Phillips and Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

INDIANAPOLIS – Dan Harper made quite the statement today in grabbing his first Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) Motul Pole Award for tomorrow’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.


 

Having earlier lapped the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.439-mile, 14 turn road course in 1 minute, 23.337 seconds, Harper hustled the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO clockwise around the circuit with a lap of 1:23.259 in the closing minutes of the session to secure the inside of the GTD PRO front row for the penultimate round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.


 

“The car’s been mega,” Harper said. “Obviously it’s time to finally get a pole position. I’ve been close a couple of times, so it’s nice to get one today and I hope it’s the first of many. A big thanks to everyone at Paul Miller Racing.” 


 

Both of Harper’s quick laps were good enough to secure the top spot, as Christopher Mies could only conjure up a 1:23.445 in the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3. Although Mikael Grenier was third fastest in the 75 Express No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 – the team’s first WeatherTech Championship appearance since the Rolex 24 At Daytona – his time was subsequently disallowed when the car’s ground clearance was discovered to be less than the minimum allowed in technical inspection. The No. 75 will start at the back of the GTD PRO field. 


 

Harper noted that the Paul Miller squad had one eye on the pole position and one eye on tomorrow’s race in using two sets of sticker Michelin tires in the 15-minute qualifying session. 


 

“We sort planned it for tomorrow’s race in that it’s always an advantage on the ‘out’ lap especially to have scuffed tires,” he said. “All season long we’ve had the program that says in qualifying you go with two sets. No matter how good a driver you are, you always seem to improve on the second set; you always put the lap a bit more together and obviously the points available in qualifying are very important for the championship. 


 

“So today we did the same pattern with two sets. On the first set we were on provisional pole. There were still some cars circulating that were very fast and putting personal best sectors together. So, we went out on the second one with a plan to improve the lap time which I did very marginally, but it also means we have another set of scuffed tires with just a single qualifying lap on them for tomorrow.” 


 

While Harper was comfortably quickest on both sets of Michelins, little more than half a second covered the next four qualifiers. Alexander Sims will line up third in the GTD PRO championship-leading No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.


 

The session ended in a dead heat between Andrea Caldarelli in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and Lauren Heinrich in AO Racing’s No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R at 1:23.559, with Caldarelli getting the nod for fourth spot as he was the first to post the time. Meanwhile, the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, currently second in the GTD PRO standings, will start sixth after Albert Costa turned a best lap of 1:23.618.


 

Stevenson Keeps Title Heartbeat Alive for Aston Martin with GTD Pole

The most recent Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) winners in an IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup race are looking for an encore in Indianapolis. They’ve already accomplished a qualifying repeat as they did at Watkins Glen International back in June.


 

At the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, Zacharie Robichon placed the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo on the Motul Pole Award. Robichon, Casper Stevenson and Tom Gamble then scored a dramatic race win when the championship rival No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 ran out of available energy on the final lap.


 

Stevenson matched Robichon in scoring a pole for Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks, with the Englishman scoring his first IMSA pole aboard the No. 27 Aston Martin. With a best time of 1 minute, 23.088 seconds (105.675 mph), Stevenson will lead the 18-car GTD grid to the green flag. He only just missed the GTD track record set by Madison Snow in 2023 by 0.013 of a second.


 

While the car’s full-season championship hopes will require a bit of luck – he’s 171 points back of championship leaders Russell Ward and Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 entering the weekend – the No. 27 is locked in a three-way fight for the Michelin Endurance Cup GTD lead. The No. 27 car is tied with the No. 21 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 and No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari for the Michelin Endurance Cup lead in GTD.


 

“The pressures were there and all came together on the second push. It wasn’t a perfect lap but it was as close as I could get,” Stevenson said. “It’d be nice to repeat (Watkins Glen). I have every bit of confidence we can.”


 

The No. 21 Af Ferrari, qualified by Lilou Wadoux, will start second in GTD with the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in third. Wadoux was just 0.194 of a second in arrears of Stevenson, while Lin Hodenius, one of five drivers making their WeatherTech Championship debut Sunday, was only 0.482 off the pace after a truncated Friday where the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG lost valuable running due to a sensor issue.


 

The season-long WeatherTech Championship points-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG was fourth with Conquest Racing’s No. 34 Ferrari qualified by Manny Franco completing the top five in the team’s home race.


 

Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks airs live with flag-to-flag streaming on Peacock starting at 11:30 a.m. ET, and NBC network coverage beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. The race also streams internationally via IMSA.TV and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.  

TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks - Pole Winners

Press Conference Transcript

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 20, 2025) – An interview with Motul Pole Award winners of the four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes at the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.


 


 

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by our overall and GTP Motul Pole Award winner at the Tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks, Tom Blomqvist. Tom's best lap was 1:14.569 seconds, his sixth career IMSA pole. His last pole came at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2023. The 21st pole position for Acura Meyer Shank Racing, the team's fourth consecutive pole. Never before had the team had two in a row prior to this streak. All 12 GTP cars within .997 seconds.

Tom, congratulations. You guys have been fast all weekend so far. Tell us how you managed to maintain that momentum and how it sets you guys up for tomorrow.


 

TOM BLOMQVIST: Yeah, I think ultimately, it's kind of been an accumulation of things really over the past events. The new people we've got in the team, we've really -- I would say we've made good gains with our car. Just understanding it, pushing it more to its limits, trying to get a better understanding of what it needs to go fast, and then being able to adapt it a little bit better to other tracks.

I think that's learning from some of the errors or things that didn't really work for us in the past, and yeah, I think it's been kind of -- it's a work in progress, really. Having an extra car you kind of speed up your learning process, especially when it's under one roof there.

I'm really grateful. The team has done a fantastic job. Obviously we hit the ground running this weekend. Kyle was great from the start and just was able to really convert in qualifying. It wasn't a super clean session. I was a bit -- felt like I was in a bad spot on the track, but nonetheless, I managed to eke that lap out and it was enough.


 

Q. Unloading off the trailer, leading both practice sessions, it's not easy to win poles in IMSA, but how much did that help going into this? Obviously if you're down, you have a lot of work to do.


 

TOM BLOMQVIST: No, it's made our weekend obviously a lot easier. It means when we roll off the truck, the car is already in a good window. You don't have to take big swings at it. It's just kind of fine tuning.

And then from a driver's perspective, you know what you've got. You're not making any big changes. You're not really guessing. It's a lot easier to go out there and attack from the word go. You have a lot more confidence in the car. You know it's going to stick.

It's just easier to put it together really. I think that's just more of a testament to what we've done over the last events. We've really kind of found a few things that have worked for us, and we've kind of been building on that and learning with that philosophy, or whatever.

And just the work we do before the event, the simulation work the engineers do to go on the simulator as well for us. It's a lot of work that goes into trying to make these cars fast. They're quite complicated things.

It's obviously a pleasure to have a fast one and be able to put it on pole.


 

Q. Your time in open wheel here wasn't one you want to remember, but how great is it going back to the sports car side of things, P1, P1, P1, how awesome is that for you personally?


 

TOM BLOMQVIST: Yeah, last time I was here, it was not the most enjoyable day. Obviously I have a lot of confidence in these cars. I know they work for me. I'm able to extract the most out of them. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get it to that point in INDYCAR, but nonetheless I'm super happy and I have no real regrets, and also, yeah, it's nice to be able to still get the job done.

Not that that lack of confidence was gone, but yeah, I enjoy these cars. I enjoy this team. It's always good fun.


 

Q. Obviously your Acura appears to have the single lap pace. The results say so. But how was the Acura on longer runs out there?


 

TOM BLOMQVIST: I'd say it's difficult to say. Obviously practice, you're not really -- you don't have the opportunity to really, unless you want to sacrifice -- you have to compromise, right? We kind of do as much work as possible to get an understanding of where the car is going to be over a long run.

I think ultimately our car is fast, and obviously will be a few more little tweaks for the race to make things a little bit better for a longer run, but won't be too many big changes. When the car is fastest, generally should be pretty good over the distance as well.

But yeah, we'll definitely do a bit of number crunching tonight, see what we think we need tomorrow, and then hopefully the weather plays its part and makes our lives a little bit easier.


 

Q. The entire class within a second out there; that's going to get interesting. With everyone this close, could it be as simple as maybe somebody slips somewhere that could determine who wins this?



TOM BLOMQVIST: It's a six-hour race tomorrow, and as you've seen in IMSA, the strategy is super important. A lot can happen in an IMSA race. You need to make sure you make the right calls at the right time and be on the right side of the strategy. It's very easy to have something not go your way, maybe get a little bit unlucky or just make a bad call, and it puts you out of the race.

Qualifying is obviously nice. It's nice to sleep on it. It's good for the guys. But ultimately tomorrow with it being a six-hour race it's a little bit less important, but will be nice to hopefully stay at the sharp end, and it does make your life a little bit easier.


 

Q. BMW was very fast early in the season and you have four straight poles now. Cadillac is two, three, four, Porsches all strong in the race. Can you comment on the pace of development in the GTP class and the intensity of the competition between the manufacturers?


 

TOM BLOMQVIST: Yeah, it's obviously extremely intense. I think Acura and HRC, they did a fantastic job with our car. I think in '23 we had a really good car from the get-go. We had one of the best, if not the best, that rolled off with this new formula.

The others definitely caught up and have done a really good job developing and getting better and better. But we're still learning as well. Obviously the software side of things is a constant development. The car itself is a little bit more fixed.

But nonetheless, it's just trying different things, different philosophies, see what works, see how you get the most out of it. Obviously there's a lot of people -- obviously we have the guys at the track, we've also got a lot of people back at base who are also working extremely hard, and all the manufacturers do.

There's obviously a lot of resources being poured into these programs, and yeah, you see how much of a step, I think, Porsche has actually made from last year to this year, they've stepped up even more. They're always extremely competitive in the race. Their race pace is generally phenomenal, and they don't really make many mistakes. Good calls, good strategy calls.

BMW has obviously found a lot of pace. They had a few things maybe not go their way early in the year, some mistakes, and you just see, when they had a quick car they didn't really capitalize. Obviously that's what we're trying to do now.

We just need to make the most of it.


 

Q. Tom, specifically the ARX team seems to be pretty quick at this track. Where is the advantage specifically?


 

TOM BLOMQVIST: I mean, we actually thought this was a bit of a bad track for us. In the past we've never really figured it out. So the guys put a lot of energy and effort into trying to come up with something else that makes maybe more sense and let's give it a go, and that's kind of what we came here with.

We came here with something very different to what we've run in the past. Yeah, it just worked from the get-go. So obviously that gives you a lot of confidence in the engineering capability that we have and the tools and all the analysis they do to try and find speed. Yeah, I'm super happy about that. I'm pumped about that, when we get to the next track and even going into next year. I think, honestly, we've just improved a lot.


 

Q. As Chris mentioned, one of the most difficult moments of your career took place at this track. From an emotional standpoint, how does it feel to score a pole here?


 

TOM BLOMQVIST: Yeah, I mean, I guess it wasn't a fun day at all. It feels a little bit different just because I don't -- it's such a different event. It's not like I'm coming back here and I've got a new INDYCAR career and I've done it there. That would obviously be a completely different ballgame.

Yeah, it's special. Obviously this is a pretty incredible place. I didn't spend a lot of time here in the past year. I haven't actually been back since that day. So yeah, it is nice to be back and put it on pole position.


 

THE MODERATOR: We're pleased to be joined by our Motul Pole Award winners here at the Tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks. We'll start with our pole winner in the GTD class, Casper Stevenson. Casper's best lap was 1:23.088 seconds. This is his first career pole in IMSA competition, ninth pole for the Heart of Racing team. Heart of Racing has gone on to win the race following three of its last four pole positions. Casper is also the sixth different driver in six races to win the pole in GTD, top 8 in the class were covered by .843 seconds.

Casper, congratulations. First pole position. What does that mean to you, and how does it set you up for tomorrow?


 

CASPER STEVENSON: Yeah, thank you. I'm really pleased. I think the car has been capable all year. So to finally put it together and get the pole was really good.

I think it's going to be a tough race tomorrow. I think the Aston is really good in qually, but I think others will be strong in the race as well.

Yeah, just try and execute. Two great teammates at the end, and I think we can be up there.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'd slide over to our GTD Pro pole winner, Dan Harper in the No. 48. Dan's lap was 1:23.259 seconds. Also his first career IMSA pole position, the 25th pole for Paul Miller Racing. This is the team's second in 2025. It had a pole at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Also the team's second pole here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, had the GTD pole in 2023. The entire 11-car GTD Pro field was covered by .8 seconds.

Dan, congratulations. First career pole. What does it mean to you, and what do you think it'll look like tomorrow?


 

DAN HARPER: Yeah, thank you very much. Always nice to get that first one, the monkey off your back. It's something I've been targeting all season. We did it in the 48 crew. We decided that I would do all the qualifyings this year to allow me to fully focus on that task on the weekend and give Max the job of bringing it home at the end of the race.

Unfortunately, Neil got one before me, but finally it was nice to get it, and the team have done a mega job, and like Casper said, just putting it all together. The car has been fast all season, and very nice feeling.


 

THE MODERATOR: The first pole for the team this year at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was won by Neil Verhagen in the No. 1 car.

We'll slide over to LMP2 pole winner, Nick Boulle in the No. 2 United Autosports Oreca LMP 207. Nick's best lap was 1:17.846 seconds. This is his second career IMSA pole. His first pole came right here at Indianapolis last year, led a 1-2 qualifying sweep, which was a first for United Autosports, and the top 7 in LMP2 are covered by .975 seconds.

Something about qualifying on this racetrack seemed to work for you. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?


 

NICK BOULLE: Well, looking forward to starting on the front row for once. We've had a bit of a rough year, so it feels good to bring something with a 1 back to the team.

I think it's this place. It's really fun to hustle a P2 car around. We go to a lot of different tracks that are high speed, and this place kind of demands something different. You drive the car a little bit differently, and it's really rewarding. So happy to be here and starting up front.


 

Q. Nick, your assessment? Obviously the red flag at the beginning of the session shortened it. How did that change your strategy or what you had to do?


 

NICK BOULLE: You know, as soon as the red flag came out, it just made it very clear we were only going to have a couple build laps to get the tires in the window and then two goes. It kind of amped up the pressure. It seems like somebody made a mistake and brought out the red. I find that kind of situation -- it's challenging and it's fun. You know you have a very limited time frame to get what you can, and it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough today.


 

Q. If you could talk about tomorrow a little bit. You've got your teammate starting next to you. You said it hasn't been a great season so far. How do you feel going into tomorrow for your chances?


 

NICK BOULLE: I feel good. I think we've got a car to fight with. I think the traffic at the start will be interesting with the GTP cars. It certainly was last year. This is a pretty scrappy place, though. You have to hustle the car especially in a P2 car compared to some other places that are super fast and flowy. So getting through traffic we have to be really eyes up and pay attention to the rhythm.

But hopefully we stay clean and I can get Juan and Ben a car that we can go fight with.


 

Q. Dan, practice, you were seventh and tenth in the sessions. Was it a different program you were working on compared to your team car, or did you have something you were saving for qualifying?


 

DAN HARPER: I think it's very hot here, so for the race, there's potentially some rain coming, but we expect still high temperatures. So we've sort of played the practice sessions looking for that long-run pace, and for us, it's really important to save the rear tires.

Considering we've had the car in a much different window through the practice sessions than what we've put on for qualifying, we were lucky that the sister car was here a week or maybe a couple of weeks ago for the pretest. We unfortunately couldn't make it, we were racing elsewhere.

But it gave us a very good -- like they were able to work there on the qualifying setup, and we were able to sort of put that in, and it seemed to work okay.

Yeah, we've sort of planned for tomorrow for the race, and we executed today with a different setup.


 

Q. Casper, your first IMSA pole coming at a place like this, how awesome is it to have this be where you get your first pole, at a venue like this?


 

CASPER STEVENSON: Yeah, it's a great place to get it. Would have liked to get it a bit earlier in the year, but I'm happy to get it here. Hopefully I can get some more, and like Dan said, the monkey off the back, so hopefully the next one should come a bit easier.


 

Q. Dan, could you go over the tire strategy that you and/or the team used for qualifying, switching back and forth, using both sticker and scuffed tires?


 

DAN HARPER: Yeah, so it was actually two sets of brand-new sticker tires through qualifying. We've sort of planned for tomorrow for the race that it's always a big advantage on the out lap, especially for having a set of scuffed tires.

All season long really we've had the program, let's say, in qualifying to go with two sets. You always seem to -- no matter how good a driver, I think you always seem to improve on the second set. You always put the lap a bit more together, and obviously the points available in qualifying are very important for the championship. We've put a lot of focus on that.

Today we had the same run plan with two sets. I was lucky today that after the first set we were on provisional pole. There was still some cars circulating very fast and putting almost green sectors, personal best sectors together, so we went out in the second one with a plan to still try and improve the lap time, which I did, very marginally. It also means that we have only one flying lap on that set of tires for tomorrow.


 

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

 

 

Late Surge Leads to McLaren 1-2 in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Indy Race

Cupra Tops TCR For First U.S. and IMSA Victory 


 

September 20, 2025

By John Oreovicz and Mark Robinson

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results

 

INDIANAPOLIS – Competitors in the Grand Sport (GS) class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge left the best for last Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.


 

Michael Cooper guided the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsports (formerly Accelerating Performance) McLaren Artura GT4 past Robert Noaker in the No. 60 KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 to take the lead of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 with just one minute remaining in the two-hour contest. 


 

Cooper almost immediately took the white flag and completed one more tour of the 2.439-mile stadium road course to finish 1.279 seconds ahead of Jesse Lazare (No. 21 Motorsports In Action McLaren Artura GT4), who also made a late pass on Noaker to claim second place and cement McLaren’s first 1-2 finish in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition.


 

It was the second win of the 2025 campaign for Cooper and co-driver Moisey Uretsky, who also triumphed in the four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Speedway to open the season.


 

Almost every GS competitor made a pit stop for fuel, tires, and a driver change under caution just under an hour into the race. After three more laps behind the Safety Car, the Ibiza Farm team called Cooper in for an additional stop, lessening any concerns about making fuel or tires last to the finish when the race restarted with 56 minutes left on the clock.


 

Turned loose, Cooper moved from 17th place up to third, his cause aided by a brief caution that bunched the field and set the scene for a 17-minute sprint to the finish.


 

Noaker, who dominated the IMSA-sanctioned Mustang Challenge series in 2025 and recently clinched the Dark Horse championship, held a five-second lead when the final caution flew. He maintained the lead after the restart, but was never able to pull away from Lazare, who took over the No. 21 McLaren from Alexandra Hainer. 


 

With four minutes to go, Cooper nipped past Lazare into Turn 1 for second and immediately latched the No. 44 McLaren onto the No. 60 Mustang’s tail. Noaker held the inside line down the back stretch and held the advantage through the left-hand Turn 10. But Cooper was able to put his nose in front entering the next right-hander to take the lead, and Lazare quickly also forced his way past. He was unable to challenge Cooper on the final lap.


 

The victory was the second in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition for both Cooper and Uretsky.


 

“Credit to the team and credit to McLaren, but also a lot of credit to Cooper, because I don’t know how he pulled that out,” said Uretsky. “Fantastic job. I was having some brake issues, so I don’t know what he was doing to make it work.”


 

Cooper, a 36-year-old New York native, was naturally satisfied after the dramatic victory.


 

“I just took any opportunity I was given, whether it was inside, outside, wherever,” he said. “I was willing to try anything to get that win. We got a win at Daytona to open the season and haven’t had a podium since, so I thought it was worth risking for. 


 

“I think everyone was really struggling with braking and grip overall,” Cooper added. “So maybe I just managed that a little better early in the stint and had a bit more in the end.”


 

Ford Racing Junior Team pilot Noaker and Super2 Series standout McLeod, who swept the Mustang Invitational at Circuit de La Sarthe in Le Mans in June, almost pulled off a sensational debut victory in the GS class. Either way, it was the No. 60 car’s second straight new lineup podium finish (Nick Persing and Sam Paley finished second last race at VIRginia International Raceway). 


 

“I was giving it everything I had and defending as hard as I could, but the tires were starting to give up a little bit,” Noaker said. “Those cars behind us were able to brake so much deeper. I was hoping it wasn’t going to happen, but I think it was just a matter of time before it did.”


 

Championship leaders Jan Heylen and Luca Mars (No 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS) battled brake problems and then lost a lap when Heylen was hit from behind and sustained a punctured tire. 


 

They finished 19th in class, which unofficially cuts their advantage from 240 points up to now only 100 points clear of Jeff Westphal and Sean McAlister (No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4) and 120 points over Jenson Altzman (No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport Ford Mustang GT4) heading to the season concluding Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

 

TCR: Breakthrough Win for VGRT and Cupra in TCR Class

History was made in the Touring Car (TCR) class race with Cupra becoming the latest manufacturer to add its name to the list of IMSA winners. Co-drivers Eric Powell and Tyler Gonzalez overcame an early setback to win by 6.998 seconds in the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Cupra Leon VZ TCR.


 

Cupra is the 16th of the 18 manufacturers competing in an IMSA-sanctioned series to claim a race victory in 2025. Based in Spain, Cupra joined IMSA competition this year and is the first new manufacturer to add its name to the sanctioning body’s victory list since Alfa Romeo in 2021.


 

“For us to prove that we can be competitive in any brand that we race is big,” said team owner Victor Gonzalez, whose operation’s two other series wins came with Honda in 2022. “Most important to bring the first win to Cupra in the U.S. is huge. … I want to say thanks to IMSA because they support always my team. It's been two and a half weeks, really hard for us, my guy has put more than 200 hours working in the cars to prepare them. And to win at Indy, there's no way that I can express how grateful I am.”


 

The victory was anything but easy. Powell qualified the No. 99 on the class pole in the morning (another Cupra first) but was penalized for incident responsibility 30 minutes into the race, dropping to the rear of the 16-car TCR field. The car was still mired in 13th place when Tyler Gonzalez took the wheel at the midpoint, but the talented 21-year-old methodically moved his way forward with help from penalties assessed other frontrunners for blocking and incident responsibilities of their own. 


 

Gonzalez had the No. 99 in fifth place for a restart with 35 minutes to go. Less than 10 minutes later, he roared past the No. 7 Precision Racing LA Audi RS3 LMS TCR for a lead he wouldn’t relinquish. It delivered the first Michelin Pilot Challenge win for both VGRT drivers.


 

“I've been in that position many times throughout my career,” said Tyler Gonzalez, a winner in multiple other IMSA series but not in Michelin Pilot Challenge until Saturday. “Just keeping the car clean, trying to keep the tires together. It's a lot hotter this year than it usually is in Indy, so we knew tire deg was going to play a big factor. Luckily, the Cupra is really easy on tires, so that definitely helped this out, helped us keep pace in the car in the end. Just super happy for the team and for Cupra as well.”


 

The TCR season standings took on a new look with the final results. Karl Wittmer completed a last-lap pass to push the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR into second place at the checkered flag. The move vaulted Wittmer and co-driver LP Montour into the points lead, unofficially 10 ahead of the driver Wittmer overtook, Harry Gottsacker in the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR. 


 

“I sort of managed early on, and I knew the car would be stronger at the end of the race,” Wittmer said. “Five minutes remaining, OK, we’ve got three laps. Where can I get him? And I clearly knew it was either (Turn) 1 or 7. Last lap had come out, had a good run, committed early in the brake zone. I don't know what happened. We connected, kept racing, it was clean apart from that and just went home with it. Pumped to be here at Indy and get on the podium.”


 

Co-driver Montour admitted to extreme nervousness watching Wittmer race to the finish.


 

“It's my first full season in IMSA, first time in Indianapolis, we do a podium and we get the championship lead, so can’t ask for another thing,” Montour said. “I think today we played the championship race very well. We stayed patient, we stayed clean and safe to make sure we run good on points. I probably aged 10 years just watching this last lap.”


 

The No. 76 BHA Hyundai entered as the points leader but was classified in 11th after the race after being penalized twice late – once for blocking and another for incident responsibility. Co-drivers Preston Brown and Denis Dupont are now unofficially 100 points out of the lead heading into the season finale, the Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on October 10.

 

 

Qualifying Results | WeatherTech Championship

TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks

Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Saturday, September 20, 2025

Qualifying Results


 

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 
 

WTR Delivers Pro, ProAm Overall 1-2 in Indianapolis Race 1

Siderman, TR3 Break Through in Am While Groat Gathers Another LB Cup Win


 

September 19, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results

 

INDIANAPOLIS – Wayne Taylor Racing led the way in a pair of classes in an eventful opening race of the doubleheader weekend for Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America competitors at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While the winners up front waltzed away without much drama, the championship battles intensified in the first 50-minute race encircling IMS’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course.


 

The duo of Danny Formal and Hampus Ericsson aboard the No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, led the way in Pro and overall for their fifth win of the season and third in a row after a weekend sweep at Road America.


 

Similarly, Trent Hindman and Jackson Lee followed up their ProAm Race 1 win at Road America with a second ProAm win in Indianapolis aboard the No. 69 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, to complete the 1-2 result.


 

Mateo Siderman scored his first Am win aboard his No. 63 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Westlake, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 entry while Nick Groat inched closer to repeating his LB Cup title in the No. 57 ONE Motorsports, Lamborghini Newport Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 with his sixth win of the campaign.


 

Pro


 

The Pro race was largely an uneventful affair up front with Formal and Ericsson leading 30 of the 32 laps from pole, only losing the lead during the mandatory pit stop sequence. However, for championship rivals Will Bamber and Elias De La Torre in the No. 29 TR3 Racing Huracán, the race complexion changed just after the start.


 

Bamber had a slow getaway and both he and De La Torre spent the remainder of the race recovering. They eventually made it back to fourth in class, but the result drops them unofficially four points behind Formal and Ericsson for the Pro class lead.


 

“It just felt dominant out there if I'm being completely honest,” said Ericsson, who again had older brother Marcus present in victory lane to support him – at the track where Marcus won the 2022 Indianapolis 500. “Huge shout out to my team with Danny as well. It feels like we're unstoppable at the moment, but it's racing, and anything that happen. So, we just have to keep our head cool and focus.”


 

Formal added, “I could just see Hampus was not driving ten-tenths, but he was keeping the car in the track. We got a nice love tap on the start, so we had a broken rear diffuser. So, the car was a little loose. But it's all good. The car was a rocket ship. I'm so grateful for everyone.”


 

Jaden Conwright and Scott Huffaker finished a season-best second in their No. 22 World Speed Motorsports Huracán with Nick Persing and the returning Giano Taurino third in the second WTR Pro entry, the team’s No. 8 Huracán.


 

ProAm

The ProAm race was nothing short of wild from the start, with a one-point gap between the two championship rivals entering the race and an unofficial five-point gap leaving it.


 

Getting the win out of the way first, Hindman enjoyed a clean start in his No. 69 WTR Huracán and handed over to Lee, who brought the car home to the finish in his home race in front of a host of longtime friends and family. It’s the first time Lee has had the same co-driver in successive Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America races this season, with Hindman his fourth different co-driver.


 

“I grew up 15 minutes from here. I've been to every Indianapolis 500 since 2010. It's been my dream to win here forever,” Lee said. “So, this means so much to me, and you know, it's a testament to the work the team has put in. Just looking at my progression, I feel personally from Road America to now, all thanks to all the hard work that Trent and the rest of the boys have been putting in to help me learn this car as much as I can.”


 

Hindman added, “Danny and I had talked about the start quite a bit. You know, we knew we were going to be somewhat close in speed, but obviously he's the man in one of these cars, and it was just a matter of hey, we're in our own category fights here. We're gonna manage our own races. And we did.”

 

But the action behind them involved the varying fortunes of the championship-leading No. 11 MLT Motorsports Huracán of Darius Trinka and Tadas Karlinskas and the No. 67 TR3 Racing Huracán of Conrad Geis and Jason Hart.


 

Neither finished on the podium with the No. 11 car ending fourth and the No. 67 car ending seventh. The No. 11 car ran in podium contention for most of the race but one bad lap after Trinka had handed off to Karlinskas dropped them down to sixth. It appeared the pendulum would swing the way of the No. 67 car, but they couldn’t maximize a result despite persevering through a race of several incidents.


 

Initially, another car struck the No. 67 on the start, which created right-front quarter panel damage the car had the rest of the race. Hart persisted, staying out as long as possible within the pit stop window, before handing off to Geis. It appeared as though Geis would be in position to capitalize on Karlinskas’ issues, but it came unglued as Geis veered left on the front straight to avoid hitting Andy Lee’s No. 14 Flying Lizard Motorsports Huracán into Turn 1. That wall contact eventually led to a left front puncture and a retirement.


 

In the midst of the championship leaders’ woes, both Flying Lizard cars made the podium with Paul Nemschoff and Marc Miller second in the No. 41 Huracán and Andy Lee and Slade Stewart third in the No. 14 Huracán.


 

Am

The Am class had a similar battle of woes for its own championship contenders, with each of the top three entries in the standings off the podium. It opened the door for some newer podium finishers, with Siderman leading a TR3 1-2 ahead of Dean Neuls (No. 70 Huracán) and Garrett Adams and Andre Lagartixa (No. 25 Alliance Racing Huracán). It was each driver’s best finish of the season.


 

“We've been trying all year,” Siderman said. “We’ve had good speed all year, but we just haven't done the right things on track after the qualifying has begun. We really got into our stride at Watkins Glen and we really put it all together here. We got a good qualifying position and we just executed.”


 

Polesitter Graham Doyle had a challenging opening start and will have to work forward on Saturday from a 10-spot grid penalty assessed for incident responsibility. Alas, he and Glenn McGee still hold the Am points lead as David Staab (finished fourth in No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports Huracán) and Lindsay Brewer and Jem Hepworth (finished sixth in No. 2 RAFA Racing Huracán) had tough afternoons.


 

LB Cup

LB Cup saw Groat get even closer to a repeat title, with Rocky T. Bolduc (No. 99 RAFA Racing Huracán) and Christopher Tasca (No. 66 Forty7 Motorsports Huracán) completing the podium.


 

“It absolutely is special to win here. And today's race was fantastic with the rough qualifying,” Groat explained. “We were starting toward the back, and I was a little worried, but right at the start, we made up all the positions, so I'm super happy about that.”

 

The second Lamborghini Super Trofeo race of the weekend is Saturday at 5:10 p.m. ET, streaming on Peacock and YouTube. 

Acura Paces Friday Practice for IMSA’s Indianapolis Trip

TDS, van der Steur Aston Martin, DragonSpeed Ferrari Lead Other WeatherTech Championship Classes


 

September 19, 2025

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Practice 1 Results


 

INDIANAPOLIS – The opening 90-minute practice session for the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was hot and hectic.


 

The 53 cars spread across four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes fought for clear track under sunny skies on the 2.439-mile stadium road course that winds through the infield of the iconic IMS oval.


 

The comparatively short circuit and the 50-plus car entry for the fourth of five rounds of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup schedule will create the most congested track conditions of the entire WeatherTech Championship season during Sunday’s 6-hour race. Finding a clear lap to establish a baseline for qualifying was the objective for many competitors on Friday.


 

In the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, Nick Yelloly set an early benchmark with a lap timed at 1 minute, 16.477 seconds (114.810 mph) in the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 after less that 15 minutes. That time held up for more than an hour until his Acura MSR teammate Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 car ran a 1:16.209 (115.214 mph) late in the session.


 

Half of the twelve GTP competitors were within half a second of Blomqvist’s time, with the full dozen clustered within 0.828 of a second.


 

“The length of the race and traffic management will be key for us,” said Blomqvist’s co-driver Colin Braun. “We had a chance to do some testing at IMS, and this group continues to gel.”


 

“From the run we’ve been on recently, there’s no reason we can’t fight at the front again,” Yelloly added. He’ll share the No. 93 Acura with Renger van der Zande and Kaku Ohta.


 

The season championship-leading Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963s ended 10th and 11th on the speed chart, while their closest competitors in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 caused a red flag when Philipp Eng spun into the gravel at Turn 4. His teammate Dries Vanthoor set the seventh best time.


 

Romain Grosjean was eighth fastest in the updated No. 63 Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse Lamborghini SC63, which features a new rear suspension.


 

“I think we’re going in the right direction, so that’s good,” said Grosjean, who logged the Lamborghini’s first laps in the lead during the wet portion of the 2024 Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis. “Indy is a very smooth track, so it’s not where you’re going to feel the most. But we did some testing at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, and that was good.”


 

Mikkel Jensen was the fastest Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) competitor Friday with a time just 1.2 seconds off Blomqvist’s fastest overall lap. Jensen clocked 1:17.407 (113.431 mph) in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07 to barely end ahead of a 1:17.414 (113.421 mph) effort posted by Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 88 ORECA LMP2 07 fielded by Af Corse. Class points leaders PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron (joined at Indianapolis by Jonny Edgar in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07) were 10th out of 12 LMP2 runners.


 

In the production-based categories, Valentin Hasse-Clot emerged fastest in van der Steur Racing’s No. 19 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo with a lap of 1:24.403 (104.029 mph). Hasse-Clot shares the returning VDS Aston Martin with Anthony McIntosh and series debutante Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello, son of 11-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner and four-time Rolex 24 At Daytona starter Rubens Barrichello.


 

That Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) entry topped Davide Rigon in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 (1:24.419/104.009 mph). Rigon’s co-driver Albert Costa is engaged in a championship battle in the GTD PRO class with the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entry.


 

The No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R caused one of the three red flags during the 90-minute session when the car stopped on track when driver Nicky Catsburg reported an oil leak. The entry managed only 14 laps in a session when most cars ran in excess of 40.


 

“I think it was an oil line that failed, and it should be a pretty easy fix, but sounds like there was going to be a lot of clean-up,” reported Catsburg’s co-driver Tommy Milner. “The important thing is the engine seems to be okay.


 

“Traffic and weather are the two big talking points – we already saw that in the first session,” Milner added. “It looks like we’ll have some rain on race day, and the traffic is definitely a big challenge here, for certain. There’s not a whole lot we can do other than be aware of where the sticky points are, so to speak.”


 

WeatherTech Championship competitors will have another 90 minutes of track time for practice Saturday morning. Qualifying will be streamed from 3:10-4:45 p.m. domestically on Peacock and via IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube channel internationally. 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks

Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Friday, September 19, 2025

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 
 

What to Watch For: TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis

Weathering the Weather; Title Table-Setter; Checkers or Championships


 

September 18, 2025

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In its 117-year history, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) has witnessed countless motorsports firsts from various vehicles and interesting iterations. 


 

Whether it’s been open-wheel cars, stock cars, motorcycles or sports cars on either the historic IMS 2.5-mile oval or its emerging 2.439-mile road course, now into its second decade in its current layout and incarnation, winning at Indy means you’ve conquered an iconic facility and you’ll engage in a long lip lock with the fabled bricks.


 

IMSA made a “first” for Indianapolis in 2024 with the first six-hour TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks. What it will serve up for an encore remains to be seen, but per usual, the 53 cars across four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes have a keen eye on being first across that yard of bricks. 


 

Weathering the Weather… Again? 


 

Last year’s six-hour race offers competitors oodles of information for this year’s preparation across chassis setup, fuel and energy usage and tire management. 


 

But what it offered in spades last year was a typically Indiana weather mix of heavy to light rain, then bone dry conditions later in the six-hour race. Variable weather often leaves drivers and strategists playing forecasters. 

“Last year at Indy, here, my teammate had the torrential downpour and the red flags and all the chaos. And I got in right after, and it was bone dry the whole time. And it's been that way my entire career,” said Elliott Skeer, who co-drove the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) winning No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with Adam Adelson and Jan Heylen in 2024.


 

Fellow 2024 IMS winner Laurin Heinrich, who shared the No. 77 AO Racing “Rexy” Porsche with Michael Christensen en route to the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) win added, “You’ve got to be prepared for everything. I’m just coming home from Suzuka, where the weather was all over the place in Japan, and extremely unpredictable. I think that really taught me again that just being prepared never hurts. But having the experience from last year in both conditions with the transition helps us preparing for the race the following year.” 


 

IMS is notoriously sensitive to changing weather conditions, particularly on its oval when late afternoon “Happy Hour” hits and the pit straightaway and the oval’s Turn 1 are bathed in shadows and track conditions are at their peak.


 

The road course offers similar challenges. How will track conditions evolve from the mid-day start to the race’s final hour? What will teams make of changes in wind direction? How much will the track “grip up” (or down) as Michelin rubber is put down over the course of six hours of racing? And as teams often try to “back-time” their pit stops to the finish, how will the weather impact the strategies? The combination of educated guesses and hard data will determine the performance and decisions. 


 

Title Table-Setter

Title fights across the WeatherTech Championship and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup will take center stage this weekend. Clinching scenarios are remote, but as the penultimate race of 2025, Sunday will set the table for Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.


 

The WeatherTech Championship Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) season championship driver battle sees Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 just 75 points clear of teammates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy in the sister No. 7 car. 


 

“It's nicer to be in that position than behind,” Jaminet admitted. “If we have a very good weekend in Indy, we have kind of our future in our hands towards the end.”


 

Nasr added, “What I'm looking forward to is to have a cleaner weekend on the No. 7 car since the last two races haven't been great for us. We’re looking for a solid weekend in Indianapolis to catch back up in that title fight.”


 

AO Racing’s Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) title quest is in good shape with PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron in the No. 99 ORECA LMP2 07. The duo is 107 points clear of Daniel Goldburg in the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA.


 

On the heels of their VIRginia International Raceway win, Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims lead the GTD PRO championship points standings by 53 points in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R over Albert Costa in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3.


 

“Definitely the championship is the new target,” Garcia said. “And also winning at Indianapolis which is one of the few races that I haven’t won either.”


 

With a 112-point lead in GTD over Casper Stevenson (No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo), Russell Ward and Indy Dontje have the largest WeatherTech Championship class lead heading to Indy as the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 seeks to double up titles.


 

“Our goal is just to race the racetrack and see where it ends up, and make sure that we finish in the top 10 in the next two races and then I think you can update that statistic to two-time champion,” Ward said.


 

Among GTP manufacturers, Porsche leads Acura by just 45 points. In GTD PRO, Chevrolet tops BMW by 81 points and in GTD, Mercedes-AMG paces Ferrari by 186.


 

Current Michelin Endurance Cup leaders are the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 (GTP), No. 22 United Autosports USA and No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07s (LMP2), No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO (GTD PRO) and No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 and No. 21 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 (GTD). Points are awarded here at the 3- and 6-hour marks, so monitor the top three per class here.


 

The in-team battles will be worth watching, and it’ll be intriguing to see how Porsche Penske – which only has one combined podium finish the last three races – fares at the track that Roger Penske, quite literally, owns.  


 

Checkers, Not Championships


 

For those outside of championship contention in either the full season or Michelin Endurance Cup, a win at the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway will go a long way towards salvaging the season for the drivers, team and manufacturer (to say nothing of sponsors). 


 

Two longtime manufacturers, for instance, remain in search of their elusive first wins of the year. Cadillac and Lexus are looking to get on the board for the first time in 2025 and become the 16th and/or 17th of IMSA’s 18 automotive manufacturers (across all IMSA-sanctioned series) to win a race this season. 

Could there be a surprise winner or podium finisher in GTP, as well? The Lamborghini SC63 had its best run of 2024 at Indianapolis and impressed its last outing at Watkins Glen. The same is true of the improving Aston Martin Valkyrie. And JDC Miller MotorSports’ Porsche 963 scored its first GTP podium at Indy last year. 


 

Those vying for a championship will be walking a tightrope between the aggression needed to win the Battle On The Bricks and the prudence required to claim a title (or titles), while those with little or nothing to lose in the standings will be singularly focused on winning the race. Out of the running for Michelin Endurance Championship? Why worry about the points awarded to the front runners at the three-hour mark? Focus on what it takes to win the race. Similarly, if disappointing results in June and July dashed your hopes of a WeatherTech Championship, don’t hesitate to make a Hail Mary strategy gamble . . . or a low percentage overtaking maneuver. 


 

What it all portends is an action- and strategy-packed weekend of sports car racing. Be sure to catch all the action on NBC at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, with full streaming on Peacock (11:30 a.m.), IMSA.tv and IMSA’s official YouTube channel (11:35 a.m.) featuring IMSA Radio’s global feed.

Entry List Notebook – IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120

Second-Highest Car Count of Season Set for Second-Last Race of 2025


 

September 15, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge heads back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with only two races left and the two class championship battles at opposite ends of the spectrum.


 

RS1 turned in a potential title-winning effort at VIRginia International Raceway with its class-leading third Grand Sport (GS) win of the season with Jan Heylen and Luca Mars aboard the team’s No. 28 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS. After falling behind early, Mars recovered up the order with Heylen then pursuing and passing the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO for the win in the final stanza of the race. 


 

Coupled with mechanical gremlins that ailed the polesitting No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport Ford Mustang GT4 on its one pit stop, the Heylen/Mars pairing went from leading by 90 points entering the race, trailing the No. 13 Ford within the race, and then expanding the lead to a 240-point gap at the checkered flag with the win and Jenson Altzman and Nate Cicero ending a hard-luck 11th. Despite the No. 13 car’s troubles, Ford still got two cars on the GS podium courtesy of KOHR Motorsports.


 

The Touring Car (TCR) battle, however, shrunk to its tightest bit yet among three cars with just 30 points separating the top three in the championship after each of the contenders fought through adversity at various stages at VIR.


 

The No. 76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Preston Brown and Denis Dupont rallied from an early-race penalty for incident responsibility to finish seventh and come out 20 points clear of teammate Harry Gottsacker in the No. 98 Hyundai. Gottsacker and Mason Filippi ended 11th after an incident that dropped them down the order from second. BHA’s run of podium finishes at VIR continued though with its No. 33 car of Bryson Morris and Mark Wilkins in second, marking the team’s seventh straight year with at least one VIR podium finish achieved. 


 

The No. 93 Montreal Motorsports Group Honda FL5 TCR, meanwhile, also was assessed a penalty for incident responsibility but like others on the weekend, rebounded to fourth, albeit losing a podium position on the final lap. Karl Wittmer and LP Montour sit third in points, only 30 behind Brown and Dupont, with a run of five straight top-four finishes and six top-four finishes in the last seven races. 


 

TCR’s other two manufacturers, Audi and Cupra, had season-best results at VIR. The RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate team of Jaden Conwright and Luke Rumberg brought their No. 31 Audi RS3 LMS TCR to Audi’s first win of the season. Cupra scored its first IMSA podium with Gou Racing’s Eddie and Eduardo Gou steering its No. 55 Cupra Leon VZ TCR to third place. 


 

The Indianapolis grid for Michelin Pilot Challenge is at 41 cars, split 25 in GS and 16 in TCR, for the second highest car count of the season. 


 

Past GS winning team Motorsports In Action is set for its first series start of the year with its No. 21 McLaren Artura GT4, with Jesse Lazare its first named driver. There’s another new pair in KOHR Motorsports’ No. 60 Ford Mustang GT4 in Robert Noaker and Cameron McLeod, two young Ford Racing prodigies who’ve starred this season in their respective series – Noaker in Mustang Challenge and McLeod in Super2, an Australian touring car series. Jake Walker is also set for his series debut aboard the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO he’ll share with Patrick Gallagher. The 16-car TCR grid, however, sees the VIR-winning RVA Audi absent and the No. 89 HART Honda Civic FL5 TCR back in action. 


 

Michelin Pilot Challenge teams have two one-hour practice sessions on Friday before qualifying Saturday morning and racing at 12:40 p.m. ET, live on Peacock and globally on IMSA’s Official YouTube channel, ad-free courtesy of Michelin. 


 

Fast Facts

Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120

Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, Indiana 

Sept. 19-20, 2025


 

Race Day/Time: Saturday, Sept. 20, 12:40 p.m. ET

Live Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 12:35 p.m., Peacock in the U.S., globally on IMSA’s official YouTube channel ad-free courtesy of Michelin

Circuit Type: 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course

Classes Competing: Grand Sport (GS), Touring Car (TCR)

Race Length: Two hours

 

Michelin Pilot Challenge Track Records

  • GS: Jesse Lazare, McLaren Artura GT4, 1:28.490 / 99.224 mph, September 2023 (qualifying)
  • TCR: Chris Miller, Audi RS3 LMS TCR, 1:31.076 / 96.407 mph, September 2023 (qualifying)


 

2024 Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 Winners

  • GS: Jeff Westphal/Sean McAlister, No. 39 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 (G82)
  • TCR: Mason Filippi/Mark Wilkins, No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR

 

Storylines 

  • RS1 Closes on GS Crown: A huge win for the No. 28 RS1 Porsche at VIR extended their lead from 90 points entering VIR to 240 leaving it. If the No. 28 car gets to more than 350 points ahead of their closest two rivals (No. 13 MMR Ford and No. 39 CarBahn BMW), they could clinch at IMS.
  • TCR Triple Title Fight: The battle between the two Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars and the surging No. 93 MMG Honda sees just 30 points cover them in TCR. 


 

Who’s Hot?

  • No. 13 MMR Ford: Despite the 11th-place at VIR, this car had three top-fives before that and is still riding a streak of four straight GS poles, one by Jenson Altzman and three by Nate Cicero. 
  • No. 93 MMG Honda: Five straight top-four finishes, with fourth at VIR their worst result, has brought the No. 93 Honda into TCR title contention. 


 

Who’s Good Here?

  • Winward Racing: The team’s No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 won the four-hour race overall and in GS at Indianapolis in 2023 with Bryce Ward and Daniel Morad, with Ward and Philip Ellis finishing second here last year. 
  • Nos. 33 and 98 Herta Hyundai Elantra N TCRs: Two of Bryan Herta Autosport’s Hyundais have made the IMS podium their home in the last two years. The No. 33 car has finished second each of the last two years while the No. 98 car was third in 2023 and won last year. 


 

Previous Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 Winners in 2025 Field (6)

  • Mason Filippi (1): TCR – 2024 
  • Robin Liddell (1): GS – 2014
  • Sean McAlister (1): GS – 2024 
  • Bryce Ward (1): GS – 2023 
  • Jeff Westphal (1): GS – 2024 
  • Mark Wilkins (1): TCR – 2024 


 

Previous Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 Pole Winners in 2025 Field (2)

  • Chad Gilsinger (1): ST – 2012
  • Jesse Lazare (1): GS – 2023 

 

Previous Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 Winning Teams in 2025 Field (3)

  • Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian (1): TCR – 2024 
  • CarBahn by Peregrine racing (1): GS – 2024 
  • Winward Racing (1): GS – 2023 

 

Previous Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 Winning Manufacturers in 2025 Field (6)

  • BMW – 4
  • Chevrolet – 2
  • Audi – 1
  • Hyundai – 1 
  • Mercedes-AMG – 1 
  • Porsche – 1

 

 

Eng Eager To Make Championship Run For BMW

GTP Winner at Road America Last Race and Indianapolis Last Year Seeks Encore


 

September 15, 2025

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Philipp Eng knows and appreciates BMW M Motorsport history. 


 

“By the way, I really like the poster in the background with the 3.0 CSL and BMW M8 GTE, so good job on that,” said the observant Austrian racer when he was introduced by the IMSA moderator on a recent teleconference for media covering the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.


 

Eng should know, because he’s played a significant part in the German marque’s successful racing legacy. He’s competed in the WeatherTech Championship with BMW M Team RLL since 2018 – first in the aforementioned M8 GTE, and more recently in the BMW M Hybrid V8 in IMSA’s top Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) category.


 

In 2024, Eng teamed with Jesse Krohn to win the rain-affected TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This year, Eng’s co-driver Dries Vanthoor has been sensational in qualifying, notching four consecutive Motul Pole Awards to start the season. Vanthoor and Eng have earned three podium finishes, including a victory in the most recent round at Road America to lie third in the GTP point standings with two races remaining.


 

Returning to Indianapolis not only as the defending Battle on the Bricks winner but also the most recent to visit victory lane has Eng feeling good about his prospects in this weekend’s six-hour contest.

“Last year, well, I was over the moon, and I still am when I think about this race,” he remarked. “Gosh, it was such an up and down of emotions - we’re at the front, we’re at the back - so it was a race, which was very, very hectic, but we managed it very well together as a team. Also, my teammate last year was Jesse Krohn. He did an incredible job keeping the car on track with slicks when it was drying up. And that all contributed to a very successful day and I will never forget this day. 


 

“I think it’s a very special feeling to win at Indianapolis, and I really hope that we can win again this year. That’s the clear goal, because it’s such a fantastic track.”


 

Vanthoor and Eng were unable to translate the single-lap speed of the No. 24 BMW into race-winning pace in the first half of the season and they fell 297 points out of the championship lead following the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic. The win at Road America moved them within 181 points of leaders Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963.


 

“We’ve had really good momentum,” Eng said. “I think we had a strong first part of the season, especially in qualifying. Then to convert the strong qualifying results into a victory and two more podium positions in (WeatherTech Raceway) Laguna (Seca) and Long Beach was really good. Unfortunately, we lacked a bit of execution, let’s say, in the races, and that’s why we are 180 points behind our friends from Stuttgart (Porsche). 


 

“Nevertheless, we believe that our car is really strong,” he added. “I think as a team, we’ve progressed a lot during the progress of the season, and our goal is to win the championship. We as BMW, we feel strong, we feel confident. From a driver perspective, I can tell you that the car feels really good, especially in the last event at Road America. We had really good pace and really good drivability. I hope we can convert that aspect into a very good end of the season, which would mean to win both remaining races. And we need some luck in the end, because 180 points in this championship is a lot. But we are certainly not giving up and we will fight very hard as a team.”


 

Winning the championship would be the most spectacular way to celebrate the end of an era for BMW M Team RLL, as BMW M Motorsport is planning to shift administration of its GTP program to another partner team in 2026. Eng paid tribute to the Indianapolis-based team and its leader, Bobby Rahal.


 

“My first race was Daytona 2018 with the BMW M8 GTE – the first ever race of that race car,” Eng recalled. “I have a very emotional connection to that car and to that team because it was the first time I was really involved in a proper works environment. The M8 program really made me a better driver because I got to experience what it means to race for a works team and not only try and drive as fast as possible around in circles, but also to be trying to lead a team and leading a direction in the development of a race car, which was a first time for me.

“With BMW and Team RLL, we’ve won the Rolex 24 At Daytona together (Grand Touring Le Mans class in 2019), and we’ve had some great success in GTP,” he continued. “So, looking back at almost 10 years, it’s been extremely helpful, making me a better race driver and it’s such a privilege to be racing for Bobby Rahal. He’s a legend, not only as a team owner, but he’s a legend as a racing driver, and I respect him so much for everything he has achieved. And I’ve made so many good friends in the last 10 years with mechanics, engineers, with Bobby and the management team. 


 

“So, I don’t want to think about end of race Petit Le Mans, because it will be definitely a little bit emotional.”


 

A piece of Eng’s BMW M Team RLL history – his 2024 IMSA driver’s suit - is on display at the recently revamped Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.


 

“I need to have a look at that,” he smiled. “A great honor. There’s a lot of history in that museum.” 


 

All six hours of the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks will be streamed live from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Peacock beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 21. NBC television joins for the final three hours of coverage from 3-6 p.m. International viewers can follow the action on IMSA.TV or the official IMSA YouTube channel.

Entry List (Click Here)

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Two races remain in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, and they’re also both part of the five-race IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. The first six hours of the 16 remaining hours of racing come with the second endurance edition of the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks from the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.


 

With all four WeatherTech Championship classes back in action, the grid expands to 53 cars, split into 12 Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) cars, 12 Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) cars, 11 Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) cars and 18 Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) cars. 


 

As a Michelin Endurance Cup round, many endurance-specific drivers and cars return to the grid. The No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 returns in GTP, 75 Express makes its first GTD PRO start since the Rolex 24 At Daytona with its No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and five GTD teams resume (No. 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, No. 21 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 and No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3).


 

The race also includes the IMSA debut of former Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant aboard the new-look lineup of the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 in LMP2. 


 

Here’s what else there is to look out for:  

 

Fast Facts

TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks

Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, Indiana

Sept. 19-21, 2025


 

Race Day/Time: Sunday, Sept. 21, 11:40 a.m. ET

Peacock Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 11:30 a.m. (available outside the U.S. on IMSA.tv and IMSA Official YouTube channel)

NBC Coverage: LIVE – 3-6 p.m.

Live Qualifying Stream: Saturday, Sept. 20 – 3:10 p.m. on Peacock (in the U.S.) and IMSA.tv and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel (globally)

IMSA Radio: Select sessions live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; SiriusXM live race coverage begins Sunday, Sept. 21 at 11:30 a.m. (XM 206, Web/App 996)

Circuit Type: 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course

Classes Competing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), Grand Touring Daytona (GTD)

Race Length: Six hours


 

Track Social Media: 

Event Hashtags: #IMSA, #BattleOnTheBricks, #ThisIsIndy


 

WeatherTech Championship Track Records

  • GTP: Matt Campbell, Porsche 963, 1:13.672 / 119.182 mph, September 2023 (qualifying)
  • LMP2: Mikkel Jensen, ORECA LMP2 07, 1:16.619 / 114.597, September 2023 (race)
  • GTD PRO: Klaus Bachler, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), 1:23.140 / 105.609 mph, September 2023 (qualifying)
  • GTD: Madison Snow, BMW M4 GT3, 1:23.075 / 105.692 mph, September 2023 (qualifying)


 

2024 TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks Winners

  • GTP: Philipp Eng/Jesse Krohn, No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8
  • LMP2: Steven Thomas/Mikkel Jensen/Hunter McElrea, No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07
  • GTD PRO: Laurin Heinrich/Michael Christensen, No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
  • GTD: Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer/Jan Heylen, No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)


 

2024 TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks Motul Pole Award Winners

  • GTP: Sebastien Bourdais, No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R
  • LMP2: Nick Boulle, No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07
  • GTD PRO: Nicky Catsburg, No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R
  • GTD: Mikael Grenier, No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3


 

Storylines

  • Rolex Timepiece Title Push: The last two races of the season double as both full-season WeatherTech Championship races and Michelin Endurance Cup rounds. The championship leaders have set their eyes on a special Rolex timepiece that is awarded by Rolex, the Official Timepiece of IMSA, at year’s end to each WeatherTech Championship title-winning driver. 
  • Michelin Endurance Cup Double: Two Michelin Endurance Cup races remain in the schedule. Current leaders are the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 (GTP), No. 22 United Autosports USA and No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07s (LMP2), No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO (GTD PRO) and No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 and No. 21 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 (GTD).
  • BMW’s Back-to-Back Encore? BMW M Team RLL has a chance to have a double repeat at Indianapolis. Last year, the team finished 1-2 to win its second IMSA GTP race, and at the most recent race of this season (for GTP) at Road America, the team went 1-2 for its 24th IMSA win with its No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8. Could a 25th be in the cards at IMS for the No. 25 car? 
  • GTP Manufacturer Battle: Porsche Penske Motorsport holds the top two spots in the overall championship points standings in GTP. The No. 24 BMW and No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 pairings sit in third (181 points back of the lead) and fourth (213), respectively. Acura has closed the gap in the manufacturer standings to just 45 points behind Porsche, adding to that class intrigue. 
  • AO vs. United in LMP2: The Road America race swung the LMP2 championship points standings as the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 won and the previous championship-leading No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA sustained damage from a first-lap incident. That gives the No. 99 car a 107-point lead heading to Indianapolis, with all other LMP2 contenders from third on back over 200 points in arrears and needing the top two to stumble. 
  • Three Contending in GTD PRO: Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports picked a good weekend for its No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R to win its first race of the year, with its VIR triumph extending its lead over the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 to 53 points. Defending Indianapolis winners AO Racing and their No. 77 Porsche are still in contention but now 191 points back with only one podium finish in their last five races. 
  • Winward Tops GTD Again: For the second consecutive year, Winward Racing enters Indianapolis with the biggest points lead among any of the four classes. It was 284 points in 2024, and 171 this year. A clinch scenario is highly unlikely at Indianapolis, but a strong result at IMS coming on the heels of its VIR win could make Motul Petit Le Mans a lot less stressful. Conversely, a poor result at IMS could open the doors to Casper Stevenson, Kenton Koch and/or Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth. 


 

Who’s Good Here?

  • TDS Racing in LMP2: Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen were the only repeat winners from 2023’s two-hour, 40-minute edition to the expanded six-hour race in 2024 aboard their No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07, which they share with Hunter McElrea.
  • German Brands in GTP: The two years at IMS have produced two German brands finishing 1-2 in GTP. Porsche Penske Motorsport did so in 2023 with its two Porsche 963s, while last year, BMW M Team RLL broke through with its BMW M Hybrid V8s for its first 1-2 finish as a GTP program.
  • German Brands in GT: Porsche swept the GT classes a year ago, as fellow German brand Mercedes-AMG did in 2023. Last year it was AO Racing and Wright Motorsports that flew the flag with their two Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) cars, while in 2023, WeatherTech Racing and Winward Racing did so for Mercedes-AMG.


 

Who’s Hot?

  • No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07: Two IMSA wins for “Spike, the LMP2 Dragon” have lifted PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron to the LMP2 season championship lead and the Jim Trueman Award lead for Hyett. 
  • No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3: Four straight podiums including a win and two Motul Pole Awards in the last four races have propelled the Elton Julian-led team into GTD PRO title contention in its first year in the category. 
  • Koch and Triarsi, Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Back-to-back podiums for the team’s new lineup of Onofrio Triarsi and Kenton Koch have elevated the team’s status in GTD and given Koch, third in GTD points on his own, an outside shot at the championship. The duo switches to the No. 023 Ferrari 296 GT3 this race from the No. 021 car. 


 

Previous IMSA Winners at Indianapolis in 2025 Field (14)

  • Mikkel Jensen (2): LMP2 – 2023, 2024
  • Steven Thomas (2): LMP2 – 2023, 2024
  • Adam Adelson (1): GTD – 2024 
  • Sebastien Bourdais (1): DP – 2012 
  • Chris Cumming (1): PC – 2014
  • Philip Ellis (1): GTD – 2023 
  • Philipp Eng (1): GTP – 2024 
  • Jack Hawksworth (1): PC – 2014
  • Laurin Heinrich (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Mathieu Jaminet (1): GTP – 2023 
  • Hunter McElrea (1): LMP2 – 2024 
  • Elliott Skeer (1): GTD – 2024 
  • Nick Tandy (1): GTP – 2023 
  • Russell Ward (1): GTD – 2023 


 

Previous IMSA Pole Winners at Indianapolis in 2025 Field (11)

  • Klaus Bachler (1): GTD PRO - 2023 
  • Nick Boulle (1): LMP2 – 2024 
  • Sebastien Bourdais (1): GTP – 2024 
  • Colin Braun (1): PC – 2014
  • Matt Campbell (1): GTP – 2023  
  • Dane Cameron (1): GTD – 2014 
  • Nicky Catsburg (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Bijoy Garg (1): LMP3 – 2023 
  • Mikael Grenier (1): GTD – 2024 
  • Madison Snow (1): GTD – 2023 
  • Jordan Taylor (1): DP – 2013 


 

Previous IMSA Winning Teams at Indianapolis in 2025 Field (8)

  • TDS Racing (2): LMP2 – 2023, 2024
  • Action Express Racing (1): P – 2014 
  • AO Racing (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • AWA (1): LMP3 – 2023 
  • BMW M Team RLL (1): GTP – 2024 
  • Porsche Penske Motorsport (1): GTP – 2023 
  • Winward Racing (1): GTD – 2023 
  • Wright Motorsports (1): GTD – 2024 


 

Previous IMSA Winning Manufacturers at Indianapolis in 2025 Field (6)

  • Porsche – 4
  • BMW – 2
  • Ferrari – 2
  • Mercedes-AMG – 2 
  • Chevrolet – 1 
  • Ford – 1

Logan Sargeant Refreshed, Ready for IMSA Debut in Indianapolis

As Part of Reloaded PR1 Mathiasen LMP2 Team, Sargeant Set for High-Profile First IMSA Start


 

September 4, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Camaraderie. Atmosphere. Racing at home.


 

They’re words Logan Sargeant didn’t reference frequently during his two-year sojourn into Formula 1, where he made waves as the United States’ most recent full-time driver from 2023 to 2024. He even scored a point on home soil at Circuit of The Americas in Austin – the first American to do so in the series in 30 years. 


 

But what Sargeant went through in global presence he lacked in terms of competition, racing at the front of the field where he knows his talent belongs as the Williams team was a consistent midfield runner with only occasional points-scoring potential. 


 

The Floridian took a self-imposed racing hiatus after he and Williams parted ways midway through 2024, and a would-be plan to run a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class car in Europe to start 2025 changed before the season even began.


 

It was thanks to a combination of rest and refreshment that revitalized Sargeant’s racing return, which will come in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sargeant will share the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 in LMP2 with Benjamin Pedersen and Naveen Rao.


 

The PR1 team has a championship-winning pedigree – five of them, in fact, in LMP2 – which sweetened the pot as Sargeant’s new management group, led by Corvette Racing driving veteran Oliver Gavin, connected the dots to put Sargeant in touch with team principal and co-owner Bobby Oergel’s squad for the final two races of the season. A test at Indianapolis last month in advance brought back the juices and in Sargeant’s eyes, dusted off the cobwebs.


 

“The atmosphere within sports cars is really enjoyable,” said Sargeant, who’s driven multiple LMP2 and GT3 races several years ago. “You’re working with your teammates towards their common goal and have that camaraderie; that’s one of the parts I love about it.


 

“The part I’m most looking forward to going back is all of us working together, making compromises for each other. And here it’s just racing at a high level again, and that’s what I’m most looking forward to. 


 

“I took that break, but it was a much needed one, and I feel super fresh coming into it. That test was super useful for me to find my feet again, and, yeah, I feel super ready and just grateful for the opportunity.”

Sargeant enters a lineup with good company. Pedersen set a record as the fastest qualifying rookie in the Indianapolis 500’s 100-plus year history and won Rookie of the Year honors there in 2023. His best finish in his first full IMSA season is third at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Rao is set for his second start of 2025 and he has past IMSA paddock experience including a Prototype Challenge series championship in 2020. 


 

Pedersen, who tested alongside Sargeant at Indianapolis, set the willingness to work together was immediately impressive. 


 

“It was Logan’s first introduction and the first time I met him was actually at the seat fit, and we went straight to business right away!” Pedersen laughed. “He got in in my seat and everything was really close to start, but he asking, ‘Can I move the pedals a little bit?’ I was like, ‘Absolutely. How much do you need? Are we talking three inches or a millimeter?’ And it's like, oh, just like a millimeter. And I was like, that's no problem. That's an easy compromise. 


 

“It matters that you're comfortable, but you're not going to be completely perfect as if it were your own car, but luckily, we're all pretty similar in height, which makes it easy and we can share the same seat base and there's some other teams where that's not the case. So I think we're pretty well off and it was a pretty easy welcoming for Logan in that regard, I would say.”


 

Oergel is used to seeing his team at the front of the field and so 2025 has been an odd and rare “off year.” Some of that has been due to the midseason driver shift that saw Pedersen increase his presence from Michelin Endurance Cup third driver to now Rao entering as the team’s third primary Bronze-rated driver this season. The other part has been the strength of IMSA’s LMP2 class, where both the caliber and quantity of entries has increased. 


 

“It has been a bit up and down for us, but not for lack of effort and having everything at our disposal to have good results,” Oergel said. “It's just without that sprinkle of luck, sometimes it just doesn't work. And at the end of the day, it's been a lot of years since it's been a rough one, but so be it, we move forward and go for W's in the last two here. 


 

“For me, the neat piece here is this group of drivers. It’s pretty unique, it's neat to put them all together and we're very fortunate to have been able to come together the way we are in the last few races.

“Benjamin rose to the occasion … and being able to bring Logan in to partake in the thing is absolutely fantastic in terms of the third role at this moment. So, it's neat to have two, what I would call ‘gunslingers’ in the package. and be able to just rely on these guys are going to take care of whatever we need to do.”


 

Rao, an engineer by trade, added, “I would say that the game has really been raised on the Bronze side. I mean, some of the Bronze drivers are now faster than a lot of professional drivers. You've just got to be on top of your own game, your own mental game, all of that when you get in the car. So that challenge is what I really love here, and what brings me back.”


 

Alas, many eyes will be on Sargeant in the striking No. 52 car’s teal livery once the PR1 ORECA hits the track in Indianapolis. Inevitably, questions will follow about whether his two-race bow into LMP2 will portend a greater top-level prototype presence. He’s taking it race-by-race for now.


 

“Truthfully, I'm very nearsighted right now,” Sargeant explains. “I just want to, for one, get back in a car, you know, really, really find my rhythm again. which I feel like already was coming very naturally in the test. 


 

“I don't go into Indy feeling underprepared, I go into Indy feeling great, and that's how I look at it. You know, I go in and I feel prepared, I feel good. And I'm just ready to, you know, deliver for the team, and hopefully produce good results and that in turn will result in doors opening for next year or so. That's how I'm looking at it.”


 

Sargeant Firesuit (alongside Brody Oergel) and Helmet Images Courtesy of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports

IMSA Resilient Racers Program to Feature Children’s Names on Race Cars at Indianapolis

Program Supports Children Fighting Serious Illnesses in Collaboration with IMSA’s Two Proud Charity Partners

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (September 4, 2025) – IMSA has teamed up with its two proud charity partners, the Austin Hatcher Foundation and Camp Boggy Creek, to launch the IMSA Resilient Racers program.


 

September marks Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and the IMSA Resilient Racers program was created to raise awareness and funds so both charities can continue providing vital resources, programs, and care to children and families who are bravely facing pediatric cancer and other serious illnesses. 


 

Participating IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race teams have been paired with a child from either the Austin Hatcher Foundation or Camp Boggy Creek. At the next round on the WeatherTech Championship schedule – the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 21 – the child’s first name and last initial will be displayed alongside the names of the professional drivers above both doors of the race car and in the spotters guide as a powerful show of encouragement and support. 


 

The six-hour Battle on the Bricks marks the fourth of five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events, showcasing all four classes and one of the season’s largest fields – making it possible to honor approximately 50 children.


 

Some of the pairings were based on a child’s favorite things such as color, number, type of car or hometown connection.


 

Beginning on Sept. 1 and throughout the run-up to the race, IMSA and its charity partners will highlight participating teams and children across their social and digital channels. 


 

Race teams are embracing and supporting the initiative through a number of creative and meaningful ways, by hosting kids at track, incorporating them in their hero cards, sharing video messages during the event and providing team gear and memorabilia.


 

The Resilient Racers effort is a special program that will make for an uplifting part of the Indianapolis weekend for both of IMSA’s proud charities.


 

“The Resilient Racers program is a powerful example of how we merge the world of motorsports with our mission to empower families facing childhood cancer,” said Amy Jo Osborn, CEO and co-founder of the Austin Hatcher Foundation whose son, Austin “Hatch” Osborn, will be among those honored. “At the Austin Hatcher Foundation, we use racing as a platform to teach resilience, teamwork, and perseverance – qualities that our children and families live out every day. Our partnership with IMSA, which has spanned over a decade, allows us to bring this to life on an incredible stage, connecting the racing community with a cause that truly changes lives. Together, we’re not only building champions on the track but also building strength and hope for families across the country."


 

“Our long-time partnership with IMSA has always been rooted in their dedication to giving back,” said Jacqueline Boykin, chief development officer at Camp Boggy Creek. “This latest effort of Resilient Racers is just another example of how IMSA, and this community of racing, continues to stand alongside Camp Boggy Creek in bringing joy and empowerment to children living with serious illnesses.”


 

While the race runs on Sept. 21 – with the final three hours airing on network NBC starting at 3 p.m. ET, bringing widespread awareness to the cause – fans are invited to join the movement by making a donation, of any amount, through the end of September to support IMSA’s Resilient Racers program. Donations can be made by going to hatcherfoundation.org/resilient-racers. Fans can also donate in support of their favorite team by including the team’s name in the Donor Note section of the donation page. 


 

All proceeds are shared between the Austin Hatcher Foundation and Camp Boggy Creek, helping provide children with therapy, resources and joyful experiences. To learn more about each of IMSA’s two proud charities, we invite you to click the links below.


 

Austin Hatcher Foundation


 

Camp Boggy Creek