BMW M Team RLL finally took an on-track victory in the most spectacular way possible — a 1-2 finish in the inaugural six-hour race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn led the sister No. 25 of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly home by 1.647s.
Yelloly and De Phillippi inherited a victory in last year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen after the winning Porsche was moved to the back for too much skidplank wear, but this was the first time the team claimed a win at the checker. Not only was it the first win for the No. 24 in the new GTP era, it was the first time the No. 24 crew stood on the podium.
Eng took the lead with an impressive move inside Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 at Turn 13 – a tight left-hander where almost no one attempts a pass – with 47m to go. De Phillippi followed him past Deletraz less than a lap later.
Deletraz was holding station – and holding off Mathieu Jaminet – behind the BMWs until, with less than half an hour left, he had contact with the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Chaz Mostert, knocking the Mercedes off track. Deletraz received a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility, taking the No. 40 out of the fight.
It left Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 he shared with Nick Tandy in third. With trouble for both the PPM No. 7 and the No. 01 Cadillac, the fight for the championship heading to Petit Le Mans is solely between the two PPM cars.
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TDS Racing is now two-for-two at Indianapolis in LMP2 after Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea used strategy and the yellow flag pass-arounds to recover from being a lap down and take the victory over the polesitting and championship-leading Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports squad of Nick Boulle, Tom Dillmann and Jakub Smiechowski.
Era Motorsport had its own difficulties to overcome to claim a third-place finish for Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch and stay in the fight for the championship, even as Boulle and Dillmann stretched their lead.
In GTD PRO, AO Racing recovered nicely in the race after the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R was moved to the back of the field for not meeting minimum ground clearance rules in qualifying. Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen moved steadily through the field, claimed the lead in the final pit stop and drove to a 12.527s victory. The No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 claimed the car’s best finish after Mike Rockenfeller and Harry Tincknell starting second and finished second, ahead of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R.
There was another breakthrough win in GTD as Adam Adelson and Elliot Skeer took their first victory with Jan Heylen alongside. The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R had an impressive debut at Daytona, but the mid-season has been fraught with struggles. The No. 120 led the class for much of the race, with Heylen taking a 2.465s victory over a charging Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 he shared with Patrick Gallagher and Jake Walker. Kenton Koch, Mikael Grenier and Mike Skeen finished third in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG that saw its first victory in the most recent race at VIR.
Full reports to follow