Indianapolis Thursday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams unloaded in Gasoline Alley for the first time on Thursday, marking the series’ return for the first time since 2014 when it served as a support race for the Brickyard 400. With the WeatherTech Championship being the headline event, teams are utilizing both the Formula 1 and Indianapolis 500 garages.

***Dan Goldburg has been confirmed in the No. 8 Tower Motorsport Oreca 07 Gibson this weekend, with the Bronze-rated driver set for his LMP2 class debut alongside Louis Deletraz. “I met them first at Watkins Glen when I asked to have a seat in their LMP2 to get a feel for the cockpit,” Goldburg said. “Now I’ll be making my LMP2 debut with them and I thank Rick [Capone] and the team for the opportunity.”

***The No. 35 TDS Racing Oreca, meanwhile, will have Rodrigo Sales behind the wheel alongside Giedo van der Garde. Sales is subbing for Francois Heriau, who is again unavailable this weekend according to a team statement.

***After being on the pre-event entry list but missing the last two races, the No. 94 Andretti Autosport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves will race this weekend. Its last outing came at Lime Rock Park, where the GTD class contender sustained significant damage in an accident with the No. 92 Kellymoss with Riley entry.

***The No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R is again sporting its pink ‘Roxy’ livery that debuted last month at Virginia International Raceway. ‘Rexy’ which has been run for the majority of the WeatherTech Championship season, is coming off a top-five finish in last weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship race at Fuji Speedway, run on Project 1 – AO’s Porsche 911 RSR-19, with much fanfare.

***Team manager Gunnar Jeannette said: “The introduction of Roxy at Virginia International Raceway ended up being our best finish of the year. We’re excited to see what Roxy can do across the famous yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”

***A number of other teams and drivers are coming off last weekend’s WEC round, including Proton Competition, which is utilizing the exact same crew on its Porsche 963, driven by Harry Tincknell and Gianmaria Bruni. “It’s good for us because we can test different stuff between one race and another,” Bruni told Sportscar365. “But for the crew, it’s hard. It’s been a lot.”

***Bruni is making his return to The Brickyard for the first time since 2004, when the Italian took part in the F1 Grand Prix for Minardi.

***Meyer Shank Racing is set for its 350th sports car racing start this weekend. The Ohio-based team first came onto the scene at the 2004 Rolex 24 at Daytona, fielding a Doran-Lexus DP that had finished seventh overall in the race.

***Mario Farnbacher completed a shakedown of MSR’s Acura ARX-06 at Putnam Park on Monday. It marked yet another outing for the 31-year-old German in the car following a previous test with the team at Road America.

***Sportscar365 understands that Farnbacher’s future as a HPD-contracted driver is uncertain amid rumored changes to Acura’s NSX GT3 Evo22 program in North America for next year.

***GTP competitors are running on Michelin’s hard tire option (MHT) this weekend, although Sportscar365 understands that two compounds could be at play for the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans, with the possible return of the SLT soft tire as an option for the night-time hours alongside the medium SHT compound, which is already confirmed.

***Jack Aitken logged time on Dallara’s simulator in Indianapolis on Tuesday, in support of Action Express Racing’s efforts this weekend with drivers Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims. Aitken will take over from Sims as a full season driver beginning next year.

***The date change for next year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen will result in a tight turnaround for teams competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will occur on the previous weekend. Coupled with the Detroit round, which occurs the weekend prior to the Le Mans Test Day, it means several U.S.-based teams could be on the road for four consecutive weekends in June.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid told Sportscar365: “It makes it tight after Le Mans. It makes everything tight but much like the rest of this year, we’ve been able to adapt and figure it out. It’s going to be a busy time of the year. We executed an IMSA test on the Monday after Le Mans so we’ve dealt with some of those conflicts before and we’ll be able to do it.”

***PPM recently completed a rollout for its newly built U.S.-based test car, with Matt Campbell at the wheel. The team will be joined by JDC-Miller Motorsports for a test at Michelin Raceway next week, with a number of other WeatherTech Championship teams slated to run at Road Atlanta at the end of this month.

***JDC-Miller’s Porsche 963 will be on display at Porsche Rennsport Reunion 7 later this month at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It is one of several Porsche LMDh cars expected to be on-site at the Porsche celebration event on Sept. 28-Oct. 1, which will include a Porsche Penske Motorsport-run car turning laps of the newly resurfaced track.

***Sean Creech Motorsport is planning to complete the first rollout of its Ligier JS P217 Gibson sometime prior to Motul Petit Le Mans according to Joao Barbosa, ahead of the team’s step up to LMP2 competition next year.

***Barbosa said: “As competitive as the LMP2 class is, it’s definitely not going to be easy. We’re definitely going to have a big challenge ahead of us to make the Ligier competitive with the ORECAs. But I think right now everything is working well.”

***While the 2024 full season entry list, featuring confirmed entries in each class by car number and team name only, is expected to be released at Motul Petit Le Mans, IMSA is targeting for the completed list, including drivers and car designations, to be issued by the second week of November.

***A number of drivers and cars will headline the Battle on the Bricks Street Fest in downtown Speedway, Ind. this evening. The family-friendly event, which will feature pit stop demonstrations and an autograph session, will take place with free admission from 6-8 p.m. on Main Street.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John