Porsche Penske’s Tandy, Jaminet Win Battle on the Bricks

Photo: Porsche

Porsche Penske Motorsport came out on top in the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet leading a 1-2 finish for the pair of factory Porsche 963s.

Tandy took the No. 6 Porsche to a 17.421-second win over the sister No. 7 entry of Felipe Nasr, which swapped positions in the final round of green flag pit stops following a hard-fought battle between the two GTP entries.

The No. 6 Porsche of Jaminet took an early lead after pole-sitter Matt Campbell locked up the brakes at the start of the two-hour and 40-minute contest, but settled into second through the opening stint.

An apparent miscommunication with both of the Porsche Penske entries, however, saw the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani take the lead after the first round of stops under yellow, which saw IMSA race control wave Derani by due to both Porsches not adhering to wave-by procedures in a “timely manner.”

Derani led for 25 laps until getting passed by the No. 7 Porsche of Nasr with 1 hour and 2 minutes to go, which saw the Brazilian get shuffled back to third behind Tandy.

The Action Express Cadillac faded to a fourth place finish with Alexander Sims completing the closing stint. Sims overcame a brake lock-up that forced him into an escape road with 29 minutes to go.

Up front, it marked the third IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season for Porsche Penske and second consecutive following Nasr and Campbell’s win last time out at Road America.

Additionally, it was the first 1-2 finish for the team in the new GTP era.

The No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly completed the GTP podium in third, with the Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque-driven No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 completing the top-five.

Sixth went to the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura, followed by the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, which was turned around by the No. 24 BMW of Philipp Eng at the start that required a new nose and right-rear tire.

While the No. 24 BMW later lost ground with electrical issues, the privateer Porsches from JDC-Miller Motorsports and Proton Competition were eighth and ninth, respectively.

TDS Racing’s Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas claimed the LMP2 class win, with Peugeot factory driver Jensen passing the No. 8 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Louis Deletraz in the final 30 minutes and extending his advantage to the line by nearly 20 seconds.

The No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca of Ben Hanley and George Kurtz completed the class podium in third.

LMP3 class honors, meanwhile, went to the No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08 Nissan of Anthony Mantella and Wayne Boyd, ahead of the No. 74 Riley Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Josh Burdon and Gar Robinson.

It was the Canadian squad’s second class win of the season after its triumph in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Sellers, Snow Clinch GTD Sprint, Season-Long Titles

While WeatherTech Racing returned to victory lane in GTD Pro and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo claimed top honors in GTD, a third place class finish for Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow was enough for them to clinch the season-long title one race early.

The Paul Miller Racing duo also won the WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship by just starting Sunday’s race.

Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon co-drove the No. 79 Mercedes to a 4.394-second class win over the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas in second.

It marked the Proton Competition-run squad’s third class win of the season and first since WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May.

The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan duo of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat completed the GTD Pro class podium.

Philip Ellis, meanwhile, came out on top in a hard-fought battle for the GTD class win with Loris Spinelli, who led the closing stages in the No. 78 Forte Racing by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which was forced to settle for second in class.

Ellis shared class honors with Russell Ward, whose team also took Michelin Pilot Challenge honors in Saturday’s four-hour enduro.

The No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 of Sellers and Snow were third at the line, enough to head into next month’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans as class champions.

Sellers crucially finished ahead of championship rival Marco Sorensen in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston, which was classified fourth in class.

RESULTS: Battle on the Bricks

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