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BMW leads Battle on the Bricks at halfway after fraught wet start

The first half of the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks saw a lot of rain falling on Indianapolis Motor Speedway, several full-course cautions, and the surprising sight of a Lamborghini SC63 leading an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.

In tricky, changing – but always wet – conditions, Roman Grosjean was working magic to get the No. 63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63 to the front, although slight contact with then-leader Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 helped. The car in Grosjean’s hands was clearly the best car on a wet track. Unfortunately when he pitted to hand the car over to Matteo Cairoli, the car received a drive-through penalty for too many crew over the wall, handing the lead back to Jaminet

The two BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s also seemed to be performing quite well in the wet, and both the No. 25 and No. 24 were running toward the front on pace.

Early in the race, pre-rain, it was a back and forth between Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 01 Cadillac and the two PPM Porsches. Felipe Nasr, who qualified in eighth, made a quick charge to the front, but his efforts were for naught after a drive-through penalty for a pass under yellow and a trip through the gravel.

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As the halfway point neared, the track dried enough for several teams to change to slicks, but the GTP cars that did so – the No. 24 BMW and both WTRAndretti Acuras – appeared to be struggling on the hard-compound tires.

The halfway point arrived under the race’s fourth full-course caution for the No. 023 Triarsi Competition stuck in the gravel after a three-Ferrari side-by-side incident. The No. 25 BMW in the hands of Nick Yelloly led, pursued by Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series R. Richard Westbrook in the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 was fourth. Matteo Cairoli was the fastest car on track and running fourth, with Dane Cameron in the No. 7 PPM 963 in fifth. However, all those cars were still on wet tires and would need to pit soon as the crossover point between wets and slicks was clearly being passed.

The No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA led LMP2 at halfway, followed by the pair of United Autosports entries, the No. 2 leading the No. 22. Nearly the entire LMP2 field had received drive-through penalties for passing under yellow, the result of an unauthorized class split.

Paul Miller Racing led GTD PRO with Neil Verhagen at the wheel of the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3, although it would need to pit soon for fuel. Michael Christensen was pursuing the No. 01 in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, having recovered well from its post-qualifying penalty for insufficient ground clearance. The No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 ran third with Harry Tincknell in the cockpit, ahead of the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

Elliott Skeer led GTD in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R over Frederik Schandorff in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. The No. 55 Proton Competition Mustang GT3 was third with Corey Lewis at the wheel.

The race has seen seven different official leaders. At halfway, the race had run 87 minutes under yellow in the first three hours. The only official retirements are the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, which Frankie Montecalvo planted against the front-straight wall on the second restart, leading to the longest yellow after IMSA officials extended it for standing water on track. The No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 also retired after Maximilian Paul dove inside and had contact with the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 of Dirk Mueller.

HOUR 3 RESULTS

Story originally appeared on Racer