Indianapolis Thursday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***Jake Pedersen was quickest in Thursday afternoon’s Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS Bronze Test in the No. 85 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Silver-derogated driver completed a best lap of 1:24.150, edging out the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Bronze-rated Kenny Habul by just 0.050 seconds. Click Here for the results.

***The 75 Express-run operation celebrated the birthday of Julian Habul, Kenny Habul’s youngest of four children, with a sticker on the team’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo as well as a poster in the garage (pictured above).

***Team WRT’s No. 33 BMW M4 GT3 arrived at Indianapolis Motor Speedway early Thursday afternoon via train and truck, after being delayed due to a port worker strike that’s impacted much of the East and Gulf coasts. Sportscar365 understands the chassis originated from the team’s workshop in Belgium but was unloaded in bare carbon fiber, with the full BMW M livery applied in less than three hours.

***Indianapolis rookies Max Hesse and Dan Harper, who are joined by Augusto Farfus in the No. 33 BMW, each turned eight laps in WRT’s sister No. 31 entry during Wednesday’s pair of test sessions.

***Patrick Liddy, who along with Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America co-driver Blake McDonald are making their Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R debuts in the No. 64 DXDT Racing entry this weekend. “This is currently a one-off event, but there is a possibility of a program next year,” Liddy told Sportscar365. “I am in talks with a few teams to try to get back into GT3 machinery next season, and my primary goal is to be fast and consistent here.”

***Silver-rated Liddy, who claimed GTD class victory in last year’s Motul Petit Le Mans in Forte Racing’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, is making his SRO America debut. “I’ve been at Indy quite a bit and enjoy the intricacies of this place that make it much more technical than meets the eye,” he said. “There is a lot of talent in the SRO paddock so it will be a fun test to see where we stack up.”

***The Indy 8 Hour marks the first time that Corvette is part of an IGTC event since the 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours when Callaway Competition with Bingo Racing fielded a Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R. Ironically, a Callaway Corvette is in the GT America paddock this weekend for owner/driver Mirco Schultis.

***The No. 10 Herberth Motorsport Porsche is the same chassis that took the Independent Cup victory in June’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa entered under the Lionspeed X Herberth banner. The car, owned by Bronze-rated driver Antares Au, was stored at Manthey in between events and is slated to take part in the Asian Le Mans Series later this year.

***Au will be reunited with Patric Niederhauser this weekend. The two drivers took the SP9 Pro-Am class together at the Nürburgring 24 earlier this year. Niederhauser raced in the 24H Spa with Rutronik Racing.

***The team’s third driver, Loek Hartog, arrived late Thursday directly from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta where the Dutchman was testing in preparation for next weekend’s season-ending Porsche Carrera Cup North America round. Hartog currently leads the Pro class standings in the single-make series.

***ProSport Competition has reverted to an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for the GT America races this weekend following a fire that damaged Tim Savage’s No. 007 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the morning’s Bronze test session. The Indianapolis-based team took the GT4-spec Aston out of its shop following the fire and spent the day prepping it, ahead of tomorrow morning’s qualifying session.

***GMG Racing has been fined $10,000 for having ten unsecured nitrogen bottles during the Barber Motorsports Park event. SRO America has cracked down on this matter in the wake of a nitrogen bottle explosion at a NLS event that resulted in multiple serious injuries.

***Pirelli GT4 America entrants ACI Motorsports and Rotek Racing have both received waivers for the use of Motec data loggers due to damage sustained on other cars in previous races. Additionally, the stewards approved a waiver on the Dollahite Racing Audi R8 LMS regarding the software on the mandated ADR unit, which did not have the latest software update.

***GT4 America Silver class points leader Eric Filgueiras told Sportscar365 that he’s targeting an IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup drive in the GTD ranks next year, with the 2023 Fanatec GT America Pro class champion revealing that he came close to becoming the third driver in MMG’s Porsche 911 GT3 R for this weekend’s race prior to the team’s withdrawal.

***GMG team principal James Sofronas is taking a wait-and-see approach to SRO America’s announced raft of changes to GT America for next year, which will expand to 50-minute races with mandatory pit stops and optional two-driver lineups. Sofronas admitted he and fellow GMG driver Kyle Washington will continue as solo drivers in the series.

***Sofronas told Sportscar365: “I think it opens up the opportunities for more entries. You see the growth in Super Trofeo [with two-driver entries] and I think that has carried them to grow their grids. But I don’t want to lose that sprint format, old World Challenge-esq race program that I’ve always enjoyed. But I think it has some merits, we have to work through it, and see what the driver pairings would be like. I’m always supporting SRO and will continue to do so.”

***Thursday’s track action will wrap up with a 90-minute Free Practice session for IGTC/Fanatec GT America competitors, in the first official session for the Indy 8 Hour. The session runs from 6:45-8:15 p.m. EDT.

Davey Euwema & Jonathan Grace contributed to this report

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