Bourdais Leads Rain-Soaked Opening Hour in Indy

Sebastien Bourdais led after a rain-soaked opening hour of action in the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Bourdais and Felipe Nasr were locked in a tight battle in the rain at the head of the field, with the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R and No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 swapping the lead numerous times before the Frenchman took his Cadillac back to the top spot just before the race’s third full course caution.

The No. 7 Porsche was on a charge in the opening laps, with Nasr moving his way up to the lead from seventh on the grid over the course of just three laps.

However, as rain began to fall, Jack Aitken lost time in the pits as rain began to fall with the No. 31 Action Express Racing crew mixed wet and dry tire sets on Aitken’s car, forcing the Brit to come back down pit lane to swap out the left-rear slick tire that had initially bene fitted to the Cadillac, dropping the car to ninth.

Gianmaria Bruni gained significant ground in pit lane, bringing his No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche up to third from ninth with a speedy pit stop.

Matthieu Jaminet’s No. 6 Porsche ran fourth just ahead of Connor De Phillippi’s No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 in fifth.

The No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 of Louis Deletraz was hit and spun from third by the No. 56 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, dropping Deletraz to the rear of the GTP field.

Deletraz suffered a second spin behind the safety car after changing to wet weather tires and ran eighth.

Keating took his No. 2 Oreca 07 Gibson past Boulle and into the lead early on, but Boulle muscled his way past Keating to reclaim the class lead after the field stopped for wets.

GTD Pro pole-sitter Alexander Sims led a Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports 1-2 after the Nos. 3 and 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs were among the first GT runners to change to wets as rain began to fall.

Patrick Gallagher’s No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 sat at the head of the GTD field, with the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo behind.

The No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 went behind the wall early after being hit by series debutant Maximilian Paul in the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, earning Paul a drive-through penalty, though the car was retired with suspension damage.

The field fell under yellow in the opening half-hour for a stranded Luis Perez Companc, who spun his No. 88 AF Corse Oreca while hunting down Daniel Goldburg’s No. 22 United LMP2 machine, with Goldberg spinning just a few corners later after door-to-door contact with the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.

The race’s second yellow was brought out to recover the Gradient Acura at Turn 1, with the third and most recent yellow was shown for a stricken Frankie Montecalvo, whose No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 found the wall on the front straight.