Porsche Penske Motorsport takes IMSA podium at Indianapolis - leads standings into final round

Porsche Penske Motorsport scored a podium finish in the IMSA GTP class, while the 911 GT3 R won both the GTD Pro and GTD categories in the Battle on the Bricks race at the prestigious Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car has been in a rich vein of form in the top class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and led a large chunk of the six-hour Battle on the Bricks race.

It was only jumped by different strategies from the #24 and #25 BMW cars, which shared the podium in a rollercoaster race that featured almost two and a half hours of caution time mostly caused by heavy rain and associated carnage.

Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy have put the #6 car within 14 points of the sister #7 entry which leads the championship, with just one race to go in the season.

The #7, shared by Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, had a drama-filled day with a highlight reel string of overtakes at the start of the race in intermittent rain in the hands of Nasr, but suffered from a power steering issue late in the race and went multiple laps down finishing ninth in class.

In the GTD Pro category, the championship-leading AO Racing #77 Porsche started from second to last in the field after a ride-height infringement robbed it of pole position on Saturday.

But it carved through the field of 13 cars to take the victory thanks to strong drives from Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen.

Adam Adelson, Jan Heylen and Elliot Skeer took their first class win of the year for Wright Motorsports, heading a 22-car GTD class. They also started deep in the pack, 15th in class, but led for the majority.

Story of the race

Mathieu Jaminet took on qualifying duties in the #6 car and was the top 963 qualifier in third, but fell back at the start. It was Felipe Nasr who stormed from his seventh-place starting spot to take the lead after just three laps, excelling in the light drizzle over the famed Brickyard.

He built a big gap too, before heavy rain started to cause big problems for the drivers. The pitlane especially became extremely treacherous as water slid down from the circuit’s famous banking, and standing water proved an issue.

Nasr lost the lead just before the second caution that lasted almost an hour because of the standing water, and Nasr pitted at the end of that caution dropping him back to the back of the GTP field.

With Dane Cameron taking over the car later in the race they had fought back into the top five but with just over an hour on the clock Nasr - back behind the wheel - slowed on the main straight and then it became clear he had no power steering. It’s an issue Porsche will investigate immediately after the race.

It left him to limp home in 17th, ninth in class.

After dropping back initially, the #6 car was soon back fighting and spent most of the rest of the day in the top three positions.

Jaminet did most of the wet weather running early, and excelled shortly after the hour long caution by scything his way into the lead extending that over seven seconds.

However, he lost the lead in traffic and was bumped wide by the #63 Lamborghini.

With multiple strategies playing out and with Nick Tandy doing his stint in the car, with an hour and 40 minutes to go Tandy delivered a textbook overtake for the lead at the Turn 7 90-degree right-hander at the end of the back straight.

Tandy then pitted to hand to Jaminet but was passed in the pitstop phase by the two BMWs and also had to pass the #40 Acura in the closing stages.

It wasn’t the win the duo had hoped and been in contention for, but the #6 has finished on the podium in the last four races in a row, helping it cut the points lead dramatically to the sister car. Porsche is still the only manufacturer to have at least one podium in every race.

There are 390 points on offer at the Petit Le Mans next month, so there is plenty to play for.

In the manufacturers’ championship, Porsche holds a 124-point lead heading to Road Atlanta.

Best result for customer racing team

The #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 earned its best result of the season in the hands of Phil Hanson, Richard Westbrook and Tijmen van der Helm.

They finished fourth after a rollercoaster race, in which an early drive-through penalty for an on-track collision set them back but there was no sign of giving up.

Hanson especially did two hours, 21 minutes of the driving consecutively to finish the race and a fortunate yellow flag helped them claw the time back from the early problems.

The #5 Proton Competition Mustang Sampling car set the fastest lap of the race in Gianmaria Bruni’s hands, with Alessio Picariello and Bent Viscaal sharing the car.

They scored seventh place overall and lie 10th place in the championship, one place behind the #85.

AO Racing leads GTD Pro heading to Petit Le Mans

The #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R won its third event of the season, no other team has more than one event in the GTD Pro field.

It means the team has a 99-point lead heading into the season finale at Road Atlanta and a third place in class would win it the title.

After Laurin Heinrich gave the team pole, a post-qualifying penalty for a ride-height infringement meant the car dropped to the penultimate spot on the grid, leaving a huge fightback for race day.

However, Heinrich was clearly up to the task as he’d made up six places by the second lap, and excelled in the rain once it hit.

From then on the car was always inside the top five and in podium contention, and the key moment came with just over an hour to go when a lighting quick pitstop - complete with Heinrich displaying immense car skill as he slid out of the pitbox - jumped the car into the lead.

Not only did Heinrich have it in hand from there, he extended a lead of over 12 seconds to take one of GTD’s most assured wins of the season.

Christensen had also been very impressive in the middle of the race and a safe pair of hands drafted in to assist Heinrich.

Because of mixed driver pairings this season, Heinrich is the only driver who has contested all the races in this car and therefore is solo at the top of the championship.

He praised the team’s resilience in the wake of its qualifying drama.

He added: “A 99-point lead is good, but it will be a tough race in Road Atlanta, 10 hours of racing to go.”

Wright on time in GTD

Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer took their first IMSA wins - assisted by Jan Heylen - despite a practice crash that had meant Skeer and Adelson didn’t get out in the #120 Wright Motorsports car until Saturday.

Despite starting so far back, 15th in class, Adelson produced a really strong first stint in the car and the team managed the strategy and the conditions well to get track position.

The team led for the first time around two hours into the race and led 140 out of the 207 laps by the end.

Skeer was the most emotional of the squad after the race.

Series regulars Adelson and Skeer are ninth in the championship heading into the final race.

The #90 Kelly Moss with Riley car finished eighth in class, with the #86 MDK Motorsports car in 12th. The Andretti #43 car was another two spots back in 14th.

With just one round remaining before Porsche can secure both drivers’ and constructors’ glory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the race is now truly on for the whole team.

Petit Le Mans, the final race in the 2024 IMSA series, is also the next race for Porsche Penske Motorsport on October 12, as the team hopes to wrap up the titles in North America.

The team will then head to the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain in November, where Porsche Penske Motorsport is also gunning for both titles in what looks set to be a thrilling finale.