Port Strikes Cause Freight Delays for WRT, GruppeM

Team WRT and GruppeM Racing have had their pre-event preparations for the Indianapolis 8 Hour impacted by delayed freight arrivals as a result of a major port worker strike.

Both the No. 33 BMW M4 GT4 and No. 130 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo were absent from Gasoline Alley on Wednesday morning as setup took place ahead of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season finale.

Sportscar365 understands that the delays are connected to a significant dock workers union strike that started at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Tuesday and has affected ports across the East and Gulf Coast.

The containers carrying the cars are expected to arrive at Indianapolis around 1 p.m., giving the teams just 30 minutes to get ready for the start of the first of two 90-minute IGTC test sessions that are on tap for today.

Notably, while the No. 33 BMW was absent from the garage on Wednesday morning, its sister No. 31 machine set to be piloted by Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde and Charles Weerts was present.

Dan Harper, who will share the other car with Max Hesse and Augusto Farfus, told Sportscar365 that he hopes to be able to take part in the test, noting that he “might do a few laps” in the sister car should the No. 33 be too significantly delayed.