Porsche Penske secured a 1-2 finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend at the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship Battle on the Bricks. The lead up to the race was a thriller with multiple on track incidents and periodic worries regarding rain on the forecast. However, one thing that didn’t change was the Porsche Penske Motorsports dominance over the weekend.
The team lead all practice sessions as well as qualifying so it was not surprise to see them at the front of the race. The No. 06 car driven by Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet claimed the victory in the 2-hour 40-minute race. The sister No. 07 Porsche 963 driven by Felipe Nasr and Matt Campbell finished second ahead of the third place finishing RLL Racing No. 25 BMW M. The result brought the top 5 teams in the GTP class all within championship winning position heading into the season finale at Le Man Petit in Atlanta in one month’s time.
Trouble in the Pits
The Porsche had a small mishap during a pitstop under caution where the sister Porsche cars did not leave enough space for the No. 31 Whelen Engineering car to exit their. The result was race control award the lead of the race to the No. 31 car. There were mixed feelings on the decision amongst fans but ultimately both of the Porsches got past and the decision by race control didn’t matter. Tandy stated to IMSA.com, “I said before the weekend that we really needed to win here to have a decent shot going into Atlanta. It’s given us a chance at the end of the day. The teamwork that’s gone into giving the people that work in this team a chance to win in Atlanta is amazing.”
The No. 24 RLL Racing BMW was the only GTP car to not finish on the lead lap.
LMP2
TDS Racing bounce back after falling short in qualifying to secure the LMP2 win. The win meant the No. 11 car holds a 28 point lead ahead of second place No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA. The No. 52 car finished fourth on grid after start on in class pole. The No. 11 car finished just over 19 seconds ahead of the No. 08 Tower Motorsports car. Crowdstrike Racing took third 2 seconds behind Tower Motorsports. The LMP2 lead lap was 3 laps behind the GTP class with the top finishers completed 110 laps for LMP2.
LMP3
AWA Racing secured their second win of the year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The win broke the 4 win streak by the No. 74 Riley motorsports car which has been dominating the class. The team currently holds a massive 244 point lead over second place. While anything can happen at Le Mans Petit, Riley appear to have the championship locked down. They have not yet clinched so we will see if their championship winning standing will hold.
GTD Pro/GTD
The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 secured their third win of the season. In second was the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin that finished 4.394 seconds behind. Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat finished third in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. The finish extended their GTD PRO championship lead to 188 points over the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R GTD. The championship is essentially decided but nothing is official until Petit.
Mercedes secured a double win in GTD and GTD Pro as a manufacturer with No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 winning. The win however was futile for the championship race. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 clinched the GTD title by finishing in 3rd place. In addition The No. 1 BMW was also crowned winner of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup sub-championship.
The next and final round of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Motul Petit Le Mans. The event takes place October 11-14 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Full Race Results are Below