Indianapolis Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

***Cadillac scored its first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory since last year’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans, while Action Express Racing broke a 918-day winless streak, with the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R’s last victory having come at the 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Jack Aitken was the only driver part of both winning lineups. Aitken was joined by Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims for what was the brand’s first-ever GTP win more than two years ago.

***Aitken was joined on Sunday in the winning Whelen Engineering-sponsored Cadillac by Earl Bamber and Fredrik Vesti, the latter who claimed his first career WeatherTech Championship victory. The trio combined to lead 210 laps, while a Cadillac was out front for all but seven laps, in the final scheduled Michelin Endurance Cup round to be held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

***It marked Action Express’ 30th victory and 100th podium in IMSA competition.

***With the win, 17 of IMSA’s 18 automotive manufacturer partners have now visited victory lane at least once this year. Cadillac was joined by newcomer CUPRA, which won Saturday’s Michelin Pilot Challenge round in TCR with Victor Gonzalez Racing, as first-time winners this season during the weekend.

***Porsche’s lead in the GTP manufacturers’ championship has been reduced to just seven points over Acura, which had both of its Meyer Shank Racing entries finish ahead of the factory Porsche 963s in what was arguably the most difficult race of the season for Porsche Penske Motorsport, which finished seventh and 12th.

***Renger van der Zande, who finished fifth, said: “The mission was to stay in front of the Porsche and close the gap in the manufacturer championship, which we did. It’s never nice to sacrifice a good result in the race when you could have gotten more out of it. I think we nailed it at the end with the fuel save and strategy.”

***The No. 6 Penske Porsche duo of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell now holds a 131-point lead over teammates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy heading into next month’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans. The No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 pairing of Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng still have a mathematical chance of the GTP drivers’ title, 145 points back in third.

***Tandy and defending GTP champion Nasr came home last in class after a challenging race that saw two drive-through penalties for incident responsibilities, as well as a spin for the Englishman while battling the No. 25 BMW of Marco Wittmann for fourth at the time. The car also had a reported issue with the paddle-shifter in the closing hours.

***IMSA race control issued a total of 38 penalties over the course of the six-hour race, either for on-track conduct or pit lane infractions.

***Runner-up finisher Filipe Albuquerque said: “I like where IMSA is going, to be honest, with the fighting on track and giving. We need to give room to the others because it’s easy for us to push others into the grass because until now that was how it was. But now the race director is giving drive throughs like no tomorrow. But we are getting behaved, and I’m included in that way.”

***AO Racing’s Dane Cameron and PJ Hyett, who along with Jonny Edgar finished fifth in LMP2 after a late-race penalty for Cameron due to contact with the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Daniel Serra, has seen their points lead reduced to 85 points over United Autosports’ Daniel Goldburg, who came home in fourth.

***It came in a rough-and-tumble final 30 minutes in the class that saw both United cars collide with the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Tom Dillmann, an incident which did not result in any penalty. A separate incident five minutes later involving the No. 2 car of Ben Hanley and Sebastien Bourdais’ No. 8 Tower Motorsports entry also did not result in any sanctions by race control.

***Remarkably, three of TDS Racing’s five career WeatherTech Championship class victories have now come at Indianapolis, with the French squad undefeated at The Brickyard. Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen were part of the winning lineup for all three editions, with Hunter McElrea in the last two, although the U.S.-based Australian pointed out in the post-race press conference that he also has three wins at Indy, courtesy of his INDY NXT triumph in 2023.

***AO’s hopes of claiming titles in two different classes in the same season were eliminated with a seventh place result in GTD Pro for Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler in the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, which dropped down the order in the final our after contact between Heinrich and the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg while battling for fourth in class in the final hour. Catsburg was given a drive-through for incident responsibility, which he admitted post-race was warranted.

***Heinrich and Bachler led a class-high 77 laps. “What a disappointing day,” said the Austrian driver. “Unfortunately, we’re no longer in contention to defend our title. At times, things looked promising, but we had to take significant risks just to reach the leading group. In the final stages, there wasn’t a lot we could do. We were shunted from the track several times. It’s frustrating.”

***The No. 65 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 lost more than 25 laps replacing the car’s rear-end after Frederic Vervish got into the No. 40 WTR Cadillac of Jordan Taylor in the third hour, resulting in a drive-through for the Belgian driver.

***Pfaff Motorsports’ Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 also incurred significant damage early on when Marco Mapelli came together with the No. 4 Corvette of Catsburg, resulting in a penalty for the Italian driver.

***The 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Kenny Habul, Mikael Grenier and Broc Feeney, which incurred multiple penalties early on, dropped out with gearbox issues in the fourth hour. It was one of nine retirements in the race.

***Inception Racing took its long-awaited first WeatherTech Championship victory in GTD, 1,226 days after Brendan Iribe and Jordan Pepper lost their class win at Mid-Ohio in 2022 due to its McLaren 720S GT3 being underweight. “I definitely didn’t think it would take this long,” said Iribe. “I still spiritually count that win. But rules are rules, and I understand. So it’s good to be back, and it’s good to be here.”

***The British squad’s previous best result were six second-place class finishes, its most recent coming at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in June with the same lineup of Iribe, Ollie Millroy and Frederik Schandorff.

***Iribe, who claimed his maiden class win in his 38th series start, is now tied for the lead of the Bob Akin Bronze Cup with AWA’s Orey Fidani heading into next month’s title-decider, the winner which will receive an automatic invite to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMGT3.

***Hyett, meanwhile, holds an 85-point lead over Goldburg in the battle for the Jim Trueman Award in LMP2, which also has an invite to the French endurance classic up for grabs.

***Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis and Russell Ward now have a nearly insurmountable 224-point lead in the GTD standings, despite Ellis having been handed a drive-through penalty for a pit lane speeding infraction on his final stop while in the class lead.

***Heart of Racing driver Casper Stevenson, who claimed his first career pole on Saturday, sits second in the standings after his No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo was hit by the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca of David Heinemeier Hansson in the fourth hour, resulting in a drive-through for the Dane. The Aston finished 11th in class.

***WTR’s day in GTD came to a dramatic end while under the race’s sixth full-course caution in the fifth hour when the No. 45 Lamborghini of Trent Hindman stopped at pit-in with a reported differential issue. Hindman had been running in the top-three in class at the time.

***The No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari, meanwhile, was taken out of contention after Ferrari Hypercar driver James Calado was hit by the No. 7 Porsche of Tandy with two-and-a-half hours to go, resulting in a penalty for the GTP entry.

***Tire Rack announced pre-race an extension of its entitlement sponsorship of the Battle on the Bricks event, while also continuing as an “Official Partner” of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Next year’s WeatherTech Championship race at The Brickyard reverts to a two-hour and 40-minute contest, with the Michelin Endurance Cup round moving to Road America.

***The ten-hour Petit Le Mans enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Oct. 11 will close out the WeatherTech Championship season for all four classes.

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