Schandorff Out Front at Halfway Mark in Indianapolis

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Frederik Schandorff led the way ahead of Maxime Martin at the halfway mark of the Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour, as the Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season finale set into a long green flag run.

Schandorff, in the No. 12 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, was 12.135-seconds ahead of the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Martin, who, if the race ended now, would be crowned IGTC champion.

The two cars swapped positions during the most recent pit stop sequence in the fourth hour, which saw Martin’s co-driver Michai Stephens hold off Nicklas Nielsen.

The No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Robby Foley ran third with four hours completed.

Laurin Heinrich held command in the Pro-Am ranks, aboard the No. 31 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, ahead of Aaron Telitz and Robert Renauer in their Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and Herberth Motorsport Porsche, respectively.

Another Pro-Am car in contention, the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche, had run on an alternate strategy.

The Am class, meanwhile, was paced by the No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari of Benny Simonsen at the halfway mark.

In addition to the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG, which retired at the end of the opening hour due to Lin Hodenius’ accident, two additional cars have been forced out of the running.

The No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 EVO, which led for much of the opening hour with Alex Sedgwick, dropped out in the second hour after Scott Dollahite damaged the car’s left-front suspension after going over a curb.

Fellow GTWC America competitor Jason Daskalos, meanwhile, also called it quits after his No. 27 JMF Mercedes-AMG had gearbox failure in the third hour, which brought out the race’s fourth full-course caution.

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