Indianapolis Friday Notebook

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

***Patric Niederhauser’s pole position for Saturday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour powered by AWS will mark the second consecutive time a Pro-Am car topped overall qualifying for the event. Last year, Laurin Heinrich went quickest in a Huber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R that notably also featured Antares Au as the Bronze-rated driver in the lineup.

***Contenders for the Intercontinental GT Challenge drivers’ championship assembled at the yard of bricks for a photoshoot (pictured above). Porsche’s Ayhancan Guven holds a seven-point lead over BMW’s Charles Weerts, with Dan Harper and Max Hesse both eight points further behind and Mercedes-AMG driver Luca Stolz holding an outside chance of the title at a 17-point deficit.

***Porsche, meanwhile, has a 16-point lead over BMW in the manufacturers’ standings as it seeks a first title since 2020. Reigning champions Mercedes-AMG still hold an outside shot at the championship but will need their rivals to suffer significant misfortune to overcome a 25-point deficit.

***Meanwhile, wins at both the Nürburgring and CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa mean Au has one hand on the Independent Cup crown. A 25-point advantage over Prince Jefri Ibrahim means finishing the race will be enough for Au to succeed compatriot Jonathan Hui as champion. Even if the No. 10 Herberth Motorsport Porsche retires in the race, the No. 888 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo needs to win for Ibrahim to take the title.

***Regardless of which driver wins the title on Saturday, IGTC’s ongoing streak of never having crowned a repeat winner of the drivers’ championship is set to continue. Reigning champion Jules Gounon and Augusto Farfus (2020), the only two former champions on the grid, are mathematically no longer able to secure the title.

***The IGTC points standings were altered in the aftermath of ROWE Racing’s rejected appeal about the ending of the Nürburgring 24 in July. Previously, half points had been awarded as organizers determined that less than 75 percent of the original race time was completed. However, this was later changed when it was pointed out to organizers that the race result shows the total time completed by the winning car to be 23 hours, five minutes and 27.680 seconds. Sportscar365 understood that half points were still awarded in the buildup to the Indianapolis 8 Hour, as the change was not publicly communicated to the press.

***The Indy 8H has yet to see a repeat winner since the event joined the IGTC calendar in 2020. Before Team WRT, it was won by Craft-Bamboo Racing, Sainteloc Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport.

***Both of the DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs failed to make the Pole Shootout, with the No. 63 Fanatec GT Pro entry of Tommy Milner, Alec Udell and Alexander Sims the best in 15th. Milner said they’ve struggled all week and have been “miles slower” in a straight line and on power.

***Milner told Sportscar365: “There’s nothing we can do. We’ve tried trimming, full downforce, we’ve gone everywhere with the car setup. We all like the car; it feels good. We just don’t have any power. It’s frustrating for sure because, being nice, we’re probably seven-tenths of a lap slower than everybody else and it’s probably more like a second, generally. We’re doing everything we can on our side to get the most out of it.”

***There has been no indication of forthcoming pre-race Balance of Performance adjustments although SRO Motorsports Group holds the right to make changes as has been commonplace in IGTC events. SRO technical director Claude Surmont is on-site this weekend.

***Augusto Farfus praised the “quite remarkable” job by Team WRT to get the No. 33 BMW M4 GT3 up and running after it missed Thursday’s test session, but noted that the car still misses “a little bit of speed” as the team plays catch-up after it arrived a day late due to logistical issues.

***Farfus told Sportscar365: “To pull out the car from the container, start clean and wrap and set up, it’s quite remarkable. It’s a shame because we missed the paid practice, so we kind of copied the setup from the other car to start, but not every car is exactly the same. So even if you copy, you get a good baseline, but it’s not the same. So the car seems okay. We are still finding some tweaks to do on the car, so we still miss a little bit of speed. So we are trying to optimize for tomorrow.”

***The Brazilian returns to The Brickyard a year after an incident with a back marker cost the No. 31 BMW a potential race win. “I always approach every single event to win,” Farfus reflected. “The mistake from last year is in the books, there is a new chapter here and every race I [do], it is to win. It’s not to participate. So it’s a shame what happened last year, this year we have to do better.”

***Loek Hartog, making his U.S. GT3 debut in the No. 10 Porsche 911 GT3 R, arrived at Indy on Thursday afternoon after completing a test with Kellymoss at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta ahead of next week’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America finale. “To make the shift [from one car to the other] took me three laps,” Hartog told Sportscar365. “I would say, two laps too long, but I was dialed in after a few laps which was nice. Pace looks already to be on par with where it needs to be so I’m happy.”

***BMW has brought several historic cars from its USA Classic Collection to put on display in the fan zone on the Midway. The display includes a BMW M3 GTR raced in the 2001 edition of Petit Le Mans by Hans-Joachim Stuck, Boris Said and Bill Auberlen as well as a McLaren F1 GTR that was entered into the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans.

***Among the dignitaries on-hand include IMSA President John Doonan, who is supporting the IMSA-sanctioned Mustang Challenge, which wrapped up its inaugural season on Friday. Robert Noaker claimed the Dark Horse championship, with Alex Bachoura coming out on top in Dark Horse Legends.

***Coverage of the fifth edition of the Indy 8 Hour begins at 12 p.m. EDT on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch, with the American flag dropping at 12:15 p.m. Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish will be joined in the booth by Kyle Heyer, with Amanda Busick and DJ Clark in the pit lane.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report

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