Eng Puts Random Vandals BMW on Indy 8H Pole

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Philipp Eng took Random Vandals Racing to pole for Saturday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, in a front row lockout by U.S.-based teams in the Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge America season finale.

The BMW factory driver stormed to a 1:22.271 in his No. 51 BMW M4 GT3 EVO to edge out Jules Gounon in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo by a mere 0.012 seconds.

Raffaele Marciello qualified third in Friday evening’s Pole Shootout in the No. 777 Team WRT BMW, ahead of teammate Kelvin van der Linde in the No. 46 BMW that features Valentino Rossi, who is making his four-wheeled debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

GTWC Pro class points leader Connor De Phillippi completed the top-five in the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW.

Chaz Mostert qualified sixth in the No. 75 SunEnergy1-sponsored Mercedes-AMG that will see two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power make his GT3 race debut on Saturday.

Mostert led two additional Mercedes-AMGs driven by Lucas Auer (JMF Motorsports) and Maro Engel (GruppeM Racing), with Laurin Heinrich bringing up the rear in the Pro class in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW will start tenth after the newly crowned GT America powered by AWS SRO3 class champion Justin Rothberg elected to use the session as a systems check after having a fluid leak in qualifying.

It was the only Pro-Am car to make into the Pole Shootout and will therefore still start on class pole.

The sixth annual Indianapolis 8 Hour gets underway Saturday at 12:20 p.m. EST, with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Pole Shootout

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