Morad Takes Thrilling Indy Win in Late-Race Pass

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Daniel Morad survived a late-race restart and made a pass around Elliott Skeer to take victory in Saturday evening’s four-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Morad took his No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 to a 0.566-second win over Scott Andrews in the No. 27 Lone Star Racing Mercedes after Skeer dashed to the pits on fumes while heading into the final lap.

The hard-fought battle, in darkness, saw Skeer, in the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, take over the lead with 18 minutes to go through a move around Morad in Turn 1.

A caution for the crashed No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR of Tim Lewis Jr. set up an 11-minute shootout to the finish, which saw Morad veer through the run-off but maintain second before retaking the lead with less than five minutes to go.

Morad shared top honors with co-driver Bryce Ward, marking the duo’s second win of the season.

The No. 92 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Kenton Koch and Paul Sparta completed the overall and GS class podium in third, followed by the No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R of Robin Liddell and Frank DePew.

Robby Foley and Vin Barletta completed the top-five, maintaining their points lead in the process.

TCR saw the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS TCR of Mikey Taylor and Chris Miller come out on top, thanks to a late-race pass by Taylor on the then class-leader Robert Wickens.

The South African got around the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR with two minutes to go to take a 1.138-second class victory in similar dramatic fashion to the GS class.

The No. 98 BHA Hyundai, brought to the finish by Mark Wilkins, finished third in the category.

Wickens and co-driver Harry Gottsacker enter next month’s season-ending round at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with a 20-point lead in the drivers’ championship.

RESULTS: Indianapolis Motor Speedway 240

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