BMW M Team RLL Secures Historic 1-2 Finish at Indy

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

BMW M Team RLL delivered a historic 1-2 finish for its pair of BMW M Hybrid V8s in Sunday’s wet and wild Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Philipp Eng held off teammate Connor De Phillippi for the win in the six-hour IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup contest, marking only the second win, and first on the road, for the German manufacturer’s LMDh car in worldwide competition.

It came following a final restart that saw leader Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, who had a virtual lap up on the GTP competition prior to the yellow by virtue of not yet pitting, lose the lead and second place to the BMWs in succession.

Eng finished 1.647 seconds ahead of De Phillippi at the checkered flag, giving the win for the No. 24 BMW that he shared with Jesse Krohn.

It came one year after the team’s last podium finish in WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition.

Both BMWs had a steady race, which started and finished in dry conditions but was highlighted by heavy rains from the 30-minute mark that lasted the better part of two hours, including nearly an hour behind the safety car due to track conditions.

Deletraz and co-driver Jordan Taylor were on track for a third place finish until the No. 40 Acura was handed a drive-through for incident responsibility with the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Chas Mostert in the final 30 minutes.

It gave the final podium position to the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy, which enjoyed an early race battle with the pole-sitting No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Renger van der Zande and time out front later in the race as well.

CGR’s race and title hopes, however, faded when Sebastien Bourdais suffered a right-rear puncture with 1 hour and 23 minutes to go, dropping multiple laps down and en route to an eighth place result.

There was also drama for the GTP championship-leading No. 7 Penske Porsche of Felipe Nasr, which ground to a halt on track just ten minutes later with power steering issues to bring out the race’s sixth and final full-course caution.

Nasr limped the car home to an 17th place overall finish, ninth in class and has seen the Brazilian and co-driver Dane Cameron’s championship lead reduced to just 14 points to teammates Jaminet and Tandy with one round to go.

Issues for multiple GTP contenders opened the door for the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Richard Westbrook, Tijmen van der Helm and Phil Hanson to score a season-best fourth place result, with the No. 10 WTR Andretti Acura completing the top-five ahead of the delayed No. 40 sister car in sixth.

Iron Lynx had a standout race with its Lamborghini SC63, which saw Romain Grosjean lead multiple laps in the wet, until contact between Andrea Caldarelli and the No. 55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 of Ben Barker resulted in race-ending suspension damage with 90 minutes to go.

The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, which was also in the mix early on with Jack Aitken, retired in the third hour with a loss of oil pressure with Pipo Derani at the wheel.

LMP2 class honors went to the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea, in an incident-filled race that saw nearly all of the cars either face penalties or setbacks.

Peugeot factory driver Jensen brought the car home 26.049 seconds ahead of second-placed Tom Dillmann in the championship-leading No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports machine.

It came after the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca of Connor Zilisch, who was running second at the time, was handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility with the No. 22 Untied Austosports entry of Paul Di Resta.

Zilisch rebounded to finish third in class.

Earlier in the race, the top nine cars in class all received drive-throughs for an unauthorized class split during the race’s nearly hour-long safety car period.

AO Extends GTD Pro Points Lead With Win; Wright Scores First Victory of Season

Quick pit work on the final stop helped propel Laurin Heinrich, Michael Christensen and AO Racing to GTD Pro class honors.

Heinrich’s No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, which was locked in a race-long battle with the No. 64 Multimatic Ford Mustang GT3 and No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, got out ahead of Mike Rockenfeller following the stop.

The Porsche-contracted driver then drove to a 12.529-second class win over Rockenfeller, who along with Harry Tincknell, recorded their second consecutive runner-up finish despite Tincknell leading a portion of the middle stages.

A late-race battle between Jack Hawksworth and the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Antonio Garcia saw third go the way of the Spaniard, who along with co-driver Alexander Sims completed the class podium.

Fourth went to Hawksworth in the No. 14 Lexus, with title contender Ross Gunn losing ground with a fifth place class result in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

GTD saw a dominant run by the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche net the team’s first class win of the season, with Elliott Skeer, Adam Adelson and Jan Heylen.

It marked the first WeatherTech Championship wins for both Skeer and Adelson.

Heylen finished 2.465 seconds ahead of the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Robby Foley, with the class pole-sitting No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG rounding out the class podium.

A fifth place class finish for championship leaders Philip Ellis, Russell Ward, along with Indy Dontje, has put them one step closer to locking up the title heading into next month’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.

Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, clinched the GTD manufacturer’s’ title by just having its cars roll off the grid for today’s race.

RESULTS: Battle on the Bricks

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