Indianapolis Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

***Team WRT scored its third consecutive Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS win, in a result largely dictated by team strategy. The No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Kelvin van der Linde, who was running second at the time, pitted one lap earlier than the sister No. 777 car of Raffaele Marciello, to reset the South African’s 65-minute maximum stint length time, while under full-course caution.

***While the race restarted with 40 minutes to go, only two green flag laps were completed until the yellow came out again, for the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Jules Gounon, which stopped at pit-in. Worsening weather and track conditions saw the remainder of the race run under yellow.

***WRT team principal Vincent Vosse admitted they made a “mistake” by not pitting Marciello “at the right time” that ultimately gave the win to the sister entry. “I feel very sorry for Lello, but that’s racing,” said Vosse.

***Marciello, who lost out on the win and the IGTC drivers’ title wrote on Instagram: “I’m not going to lie, this hurts. Losing the IGTC [title] in this way it’s something I will bring forever with me. This will motivate me to push even more and be even better.”

***Van der Linde, who scored a record-extending seventh IGTC win and fourth of the season out of five races, shared the winning No. 46 BMW with Charles Weerts and Valentino Rossi. Van der Linde was crowned IGTC drivers’ champion, adding to his overall and Sprint Cup titles in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS that he shared with Weerts.

***Charles Weerts said: “The No. 777 was very strong the whole weekend and was ahead of us at the time of the red flag. They definitely deserved the win today. But the most important thing is that BMW won.”

***It marked Rossi’s maiden IGTC win and only his second GT3 victory outside of his home track of Misano, where the Italian earned a total of three GTWC Europe Sprint Cup wins in 2023-25. His only other GT win came in the 2023 Road to Le Mans race.

***The 46-year-old also becomes the first racer to have won on two-wheels (2008, MotoGP) and four-wheels at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in professional competition. Ironically, both of the races were weather-impacted, with the remnants of Hurricane Ike calling the MotoGP race early.

***BMW won its first IGTC manufacturers’ championship, joining, Audi, Porsche and Mercedes-AMG as brands to have triumphed in the globe-trotting GT3 series. Van der Linde and BMW won all races this season except for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

***Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos said: “What an impressive season in the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Four wins out of five races underline the remarkable consistency of our teams and drivers. Congratulations to Team WRT for their third consecutive victory at the Indianapolis 8 Hour. I am absolutely delighted that we were able to secure the manufacturers’ title in the series for the first time. Congratulations also to Kelvin van der Linde on the drivers’ championship – even though Raffaele Marciello would have deserved it just as much.”

***Maro Engel, who finished the race second in the No. 888 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG after jumping Marciello in the pit lane during the driver stint reset stops with 65 minutes to go, believed he could have won the race if it had restarted. “Of course, you never want to finish a race behind the safety car, but nobody can do anything about the conditions,” he said. “I am convinced that victory would have been possible if the race had restarted.”

***Fourth-place finisher Connor De Phillippi, who along with Kenton Koch won the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro drivers’ championship in the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW, believed they could have “definitely had five laps or so” of green flag running before the second wave of rain came, but largely praised race control’s efforts.

***De Phillippi told Sportscar365: “We were aqua-planing everywhere. When we all first got in, we probably could have went green for like five laps before it started raining again. Once the rain began again, we were obviously under yellow for a while. When it went yellow when the one car stopped in pit lane, that was about the right time before it started getting too sketchy again. I’m glad they erred on the side of caution rather than going too early.”

***Kenny Habul became the first-ever five-time IGTC class champion, winning the Independent Cup for the first time, by a single point over fellow Bronze-rated driver Antares Au. The U.S.-based Australian’s other previous titles came in 2018 and 2019 (Bronze) and 2021 and 2022 (Pro-Am).

***Habul said: “Thank you to Mercedes-AMG for the long-standing, fantastic partnership that has brought us this success. Everything came together this season: my teammates, the car, the support. Winning this title for the fifth time at my age makes me proud. It also shows that I am still one of the best Bronze drivers.”

***Had the race not restarted from the red flag, it’s understood that Au would have won the Independent Cup for a second consecutive year, despite running behind Habul’s car at the time, as half-points would have been awarded in IGTC due to the race not having reached the 75 percent distance mark of combined green and yellow flag running. The resumption of racing erased the 75 percent rule according to a SRO spokesperson.

***Full points would have been awarded in GTWC America regardless, as the race reached the halfway mark before the red flag. Only half points are awarded in the domestic championship if a race doesn’t reach the 50 percent point.

***Will Power initially climbed aboard the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG following the resumption of racing from the two-and-a-half hour red flag period but was replaced by Chaz Mostert during the car’s final stop with 65 minutes to go. Habul told Sportscar365: “Will’s never driven [a GT3 car] in the rain so he didn’t know what to expect and didn’t know the ABS settings, didn’t know anything. I’m sure he would have done great. But Chaz does it every week and we said, ‘Alright, it’s more comfortable.'”

***Mostert brought the SunEnergy1-sponsored Mercedes-AMG up to fourth during the two laps of green flag running but was relegated to a sixth place overall result after being one of three cars to have been handed 30-second post-race time penalties for unauthorized work in the pit lane during the lengthy red flag, the other two being the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 61 Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche.

***Power, reflecting on his GT3 debut weekend, said: “I had a lot of fun this weekend. Of course, I would have liked to have completed more laps because I wanted to learn as much as possible. But the support from everyone was fantastic. Our main goal was to help Kenny win the Independent Cup. We achieved that. So it was a successful race.”

***The No. 51 Random Vandals BMW, which started tenth on the grid after Philipp Eng lost pole due to his car understood to have been 2kg underweight, charged to the lead at the end of the opening hour, although the car went to the garage in the fourth hour with a throttle body issue.

***Eng said: “The first stint was a lot of fun; fighting my way through the field from tenth after the penalty was great. Unfortunately, we had to retire because we lost too many laps due to a technical issue. But for me, it was a great experience racing with this team, and I’d love to come back.”

***The No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer, which stayed out following the race’s resumption to take the lead, was handed a post-race time penalty of 19 minutes, 35.6 seconds due to Auer exceeding his stint length time. The foiled strategy call by the Canadian team was in attempt to win the GTWC America Pro class championship over Random Vandals.

***Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg picked up back-to-back GTWC America Pro-Am class titles after a hard-fought opening to the race with the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which led the class until the car went behind the wall in the fourth hour with a starter motor issue, giving the No, 29 Turner Motorsport BMW crew clear sailing.

***Foley said: “It was a crazy race with the weather, but we had the clear goal of winning the title. Our competitors dropped out early, so we had to be smart, sensible, and mistake-free – and in the end, we came home third. It was a great season with Justin; he’s improved so much in just one year.”

***Ozz Negri and Jay Schreibman, meanwhile, claimed the GTWC America Am class championship in their No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, which finished just one position ahead of their title rivals Dollahite Racing in what was a winner-take-all title scenario.

***The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche was the race’s first retirement in the fourth hour when Adam Adelson made contact with the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG of George Kurtz, resulting in a broken left-front toe link for the Porsche, which also was served incident responsibility.

***EBM’s Pro class Porsche also suffered numerous issues, including the car having failed to fire up following the red flag and resulted in another retirement.

***With both the IGTC and GTWC America seasons now in the books, competitors will look ahead to the 2026 seasons, which kick off at the Megiuar’s Bathurst 12 Hour for IGTC on Feb. 13-15, with Sonoma Raceway serving as the first round for the new-look GTWC America three-hour headline race format on March 27-29.

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