Craft-Bamboo Wins Indy 8H; Mercedes Clinches IGTC Title

Photo: Mercedes-AMG

Craft-Bamboo Racing has claimed a breakthrough victory in Saturday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, with Raffaele Marciello coming out on top of AF Corse’s Antonio Fuoco in a hard-fought duel.

Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, clinched the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli manufacturers’ title with one race to spare in the globe-trotting GT3 series.

Marciello drove his No. 77 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a narrow 0.8-second win over Fuoco’s No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 following a series of exchanges for the lead in the closing hours.

Having started from 18th on the grid, Daniel Serra charged to second in his opening stint, with Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Silver Cup champion Ulysse De Pauw taking over the lead following the first round of stops.

However, a drive-through penalty for spinning the sister No. 51 Ferrari of Pierre Ragues in the fourth hour took De Pauw out of the lead and put Dani Juncadella in control until the race’s first of two full course cautions that erased the Ferrari’s 20-second deficit.

While on split strategies due to the No. 71’s earlier penalty, the two cars went back onto the equal footing during the second yellow, with Fuoco making a move around Marciello through traffic with 1 hour and 58 minutes to retake the lead.

Marciello, however, got back by the Ferrari some 30 minutes later but came under attack from Fuoco through Pro-Am class traffic in the closing minutes of the race.

It marked the Hong Kong squad’s breakthrough first IGTC win and has seen Juncadella take over the drivers’ championship lead over Jules Gounon, who finished fourth in the No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes after getting trapped behind the safety car during the second yellow.

Silver-rated driver Daniel Morad, who completed an impressive three-hour opening stint, completed the winning lineup in the Craft-Bamboo entry.

The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Robby Foley, Michael Dinan and John Edwards finished as the best-placed Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS entrant in third overall.

Winward’s Mercedes, which was one of several cars to receive an unexpected wave-by during the first yellow, was fourth with Gounon, Russell Ward and Philip Ellis at the wheel.

AF Corse’s sister No. 51 Ferrari of Ragues, Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina completed the top-five overall.

GTWC America Pro class champions K-PAX Racing had a race to forget, with a puncture by the No. 1 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Marco Mapelli resulting in a high-speed crash in the final corner that brought out the first yellow in the fifth hour.

The team’s No. 3 Lamborghini finished 11th overall after multiple delays.

Bill Auberlen held off Dominik Baumann to give BimmerWorld top honors in Pro-Am and the team’s third consecutive class win in the race.

Auberlen shared class honors with Chandler Hull and Richard Heistand in the No. 94 BMW, which finished sixth overall and just a few seconds behind Baumann in the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing by Akkodis ASP Mercedes.

Despite finishing second in class, Baumann’s co-drivers Kenny Habul and Martin Konrad locked up the IGTC Pro-Am Challenge title and took home maximum points.

Farnbacher, Harrison Win GTWC America Pro-Am Title

Racers Edge Motorsports’ Mario Farnbacher and Ashton Harrison claimed the GTWC America Pro-Am championship by earning second place points and a third place class finish in the No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 alongside Christina Nielsen.

It came as trouble struck both the points-leading No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R and second-placed No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing with Riley Motorsports Mercedes early in the running.

Jan Heylen brought the Wright Porsche into the pits with power steering issues in the third hour, while an accident for Ben Keating damaged the radiator and front-end of his Mercedes.

Heylen and season-long co-driver Charlie Luck finished seventh in class, while earning sixth place points.

Am class honors went to the No. 88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini of Jason Harward, Jason Daskalos and 16-year-old Seth Lucas in his GT3 race debut.

RESULTS: IGTC Race/GTWC Race

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