Heylen, Belluardo Take SprintX Race 1 Win at Indy

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Jan Heylen and Charlie Belluardo have scored victory in the first Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway following a thrilling battle to the checkered flag Thursday evening.

Heylen, in the No. 37 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, held off a hard-charging Roman De Angelis for victory in the 60-minute race, which featured multiple full-course cautions.

The No. 51 Panoz Avezzano GT4 of De Angelis appeared set for his second win in the last three races until a late-race yellow set up a ten minute shootout to the finish.

It was on the restart where Heylen managed to get by the Panoz, and despite multiple attempts, the Belgian held on for the overall and Pro-Am class win.

The margin of victory was only 0.138 seconds at the bricks.

De Angelis and Parker Chase, again subbing for Preston Calvert, finished second overall and took Silver class honors, with the No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Harry Gottsacker and Nick Wittmer coming home third overall and second in Silver.

Championship rivals Colin Mullan and Jarett Andretti were fifth overall and third in class, meaning the Silver title will go down to the wire in tomorrow’s season finale.

The fight for the Pro-Am championship lead took a number of twists and turns, with contact between Andretti and the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche of Matt Travis on the opening lap dropping Travis down the running order, with Andretti forced to serve a drive-through penalty.

Co-driver Jason Hart, however, managed to get the Nolasport entry back into contention following the round of pit stops, just as title rival Robby Foley was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for passing in the transition lane during his pit stop.

It resulted in a 17th place overall finish for Foley and Michael Dinan in the No. 21 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4, although the duo were still credited with fifth in class compared to Travis and Hart’s fourth.

Am class honors in Thursday’s race went to the No. 46 Nolasport Porsche of David and Russell Walker, who finished 10th overall.

The final race of the season is set for Friday at 8 a.m. EDT.

RESULTS: Race 1

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