IGTC Points Leader Vanthoor Stands Down from Indy 8H

Photo: Porsche

Intercontinental GT Challenge points leader Laurens Vanthoor will not take part in next month’s season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, having elected to stand down from the race in order to focus on his points-leading effort in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

It comes amid Porsche’s decision to forgo entering an IGTC Pro class entry in the race, despite leading both the drivers and manufacturers’ standings in the globe-trotting GT3 series.

Vanthoor, who is tied with Ayhancan Guven at the top of the IGTC standings, told Sportscar365 that it was a joint decision between himself and the German manufacturer to not take part in the race, despite having an option to be a third driver in one of Porsche’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS entries.

The Belgian also currently leads the world championship with Porsche Penske Motorsport, which will take up his full attention until the season finale at Bahrain in early November.

“There’s unfortunately no Pro car from Porsche’s side [at Indy],” said Vanthoor. “It would have made it very difficult to go up and fight against the Pro cars from BMW and Mercedes.

“Also for that reason we decided that I should rather fully focus on Bahrain and WEC and save the travel.

“It would have been complicated with the sim [for Bahrain] as well.

“It’s a shame as I’m leading the championship together with [Ayhancan] Guven. I would have really liked to win the championship.

“Winning WEC and IGTC together [in the same year] would have been really cool together but there’s no proper opportunity to fight.

“You then have to decide what to prioritize. I rather put my full focus on WEC.”

Sportscar365 understands that Guven, who holds a seven-point lead over Team WRT’s Charles Weerts, will be placed with Fanatec GT America squad GMG Racing for the race.

GMG has fielded a Pro-Am class Porsche 911 GT3 R this season for Silver-rated Tom Sargent and Bronze gentleman driver Kyle Washington, who are likely to be his co-drivers.

It’s understood that fellow Porsche-contracted driver Laurin Heinrich, meanwhile, will reinforce Wright Motorsports’ lineup in its Fanatec GT America Pro class entry for points leaders Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson.

Heinrich scored overall pole for last year’s Indy 8H in a Huber Motorsport-run Porsche.

Porsche currently holds a 16-point lead over BMW in the IGTC manufacturers’ standings, which is set to see factory or works-supported entries from the other two German brands in the 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