Action Express Leads After Frantic First Half at Indy

Frederik Vesti controlled the field at IMSA’s Battle on the Bricks for Action Express Racing as the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race hit its halfway point after three action-packed and caution-filled hours.

The No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R led most of the opening half of the race after starting from the pole in the hands of Jack Aitken, despite Ricky Taylor going off-strategy to put his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry at the head of the GTP field.

Aitken, despite having come into pit lane for a splash of fuel under the race’s second yellow, charged back into the lead before the end of the first hour to retake the lead from Taylor on track.

Frederik Vesti maintained his teammate’s advantage after climbing aboard the No. 31 car, surviving a pair of restarts during his stint to keep the Action Express machine out front.

Kaku Ohta ran second in the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06, which started fourth in the hands of Nick Yelloly. The Japanese driver defended pressure for second on multiple occasions in the HRC US-run prototype after passing the sister No. 60 entry, which ran third at the halfway mark with Colin Braun at the wheel.

The No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 of Nick Tandy ran fourth, after jumping up the order in the pits, compliments of a short energy fill to recover from an early drive-through penalty gained while battling the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8.

Philipp Eng’s No. 24 BMW ran in fifth overall, with the No. 25 car just behind.

Filipe Albuquerque made an unplanned trip down pit lane after a puncture curtailed a fight for a top-five position in the once-leading No. 10 Cadillac, which lost a lap in the process.

Just before the halfway point, Frederic Vervisch hit the rear of Jordan Taylor’s No. 40 Cadillac, inflicting left-rear suspension damage to the No. 65 Mustang GT3, which was running second in class at the time.

Vervish was handed a drive-through for incident responsibility.

Tom Dillmann led the LMP2 field after strong work from the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition crew in the pits brought the Frenchman to the head of the class after running mid-pack in the early running.

A fierce LMP2 battle for the podium positions saw Hunter McElrea hold second place for TDS Racing, with the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca of Toby Sowery holding third.

Paul Miller Racing’s Neil Verhagen controlled the GTD Pro field after benefiting from a strong pit stop under the race’s fifth caution to bring his No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO to the head of the class, leapfrogging the then-leading back and the sister No. 48 BMW of Max Hesse.

Klaus Bachler’s No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R held third after leading the class for most of the first half of the race.

AO, Ford Multimatic Motorsports battled for the lead before a caution allowed the No. 65 car to gain track position prior to its run-in with the No. 40 Cadillac.

Triarsi Competizine’s No. 023 Ferrari 296 GT3 led GTD with James Calado at the wheel after the team made steady progress up the order after starting eighth in class and an early drive-through penalty for a start procedure violation.

A chaotic first hour saw a pair of full-course cautions in the opening minutes an incident between the  No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari, No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, and No. 19 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo left debris on track.

The race’s second caution came out when George Kurtz spun and got stuck in the Turn 4 gravel trap.

A third yellow was for Salih Yoluc making contact with the oval barrier exiting the final corner and damaging his DXDT Racing Corvette’s left-rear suspension and leaving the car stranded near pit-out.

A brief fourth yellow was shown when the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo lost its rear-left wheel on track before a multi-car collision triggered the fifth caution near the halfway mark.

In total, 27 penalties were handed out by race control in the first three hours of the race.