Yahoo Autos WRT BMW wins Indy 8 Hour while GTWC championships wrap up
The No. 30 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Philipp Eng, Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon Van Der Linde won the fourth running of the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, and the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS PRO Class celebrated the No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R as its winner. The PRO-AM Class victory went to the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 of George Kurtz, Colin Braun and Nolan Siegel.
Championships for the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS were decided with the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer wrapping up the PRO class championship. PRO-AM race winners George Kurtz and Colin Braun earned the class championship in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3.
A first-first for IGTC PRO class winner Team WRT
The No. 30 Team WRT BMW win gave Team WRT its first win on American soil with their greatest competition of the day in the form of teammates. The No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Augusto Farfus, Charles Weerts and Maxime Martin led late into the race but, within the sixth hour had a coming together with a PRO-AM Class car. The collision allowed both entries to continue but took the No. 31 Team WRT BMW out of the lead.
The incident advanced the top qualifying No. 77 Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG of Maximilian Goetz, Jules Gounon and Raffaele Marciello to a second-place finish. The No. 999 Maro Engel, Daniel Juncadella and Luca Stolz finished third. The No. 31 Team WRT BMW would round out the field in fourth. The IGTC PRO class carries its momentum into the final Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli round — the Gulf 12 Hours in the United Arab Emirates.
Wright Motorsports win kept championship fight tight
The No. 45 Wright Motorsport Porsche of Jan Heylen, Madison Snow and Trent Hindman joined the PRO class later in the season, keeping the championship off the table and making the win the entry’s top honor of the season. Second place may have felt like a win for the No. 28 RS1 Porsche of Eric Filgueiras, Stevan McAleer and Klaus Bachler as the team walked away with the PRO Class Championship. Third place went to No. 53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Seth Lucas, Trenton Estep and Matteo Cairolli began the race sixth in class. Ever the consistent team, the trio fought back for its fourth-place finish and solidified a third-place finish in the championship.
Fourth in points went to a very competitive No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX. Ashton Harrison, Mario Farnbacher and Kyle Marcelli fought back after three incidents with the No. 85 Rearden Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R in the PRO-AM class to finish fifth.
The No. 21 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 went behind the wall during the first hour of the race. While the team returned drivers Manny Franco, Alessandro Balzan and Ferrari Factory Driver Lilou Wadoux to race action, the team was never able to overcome the lap deficit. They finished the race fourth ahead of the No. 94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen, Chandler Hull and Robby Foley.
CrowdStrike by Riley wins PRO-AM class and championship
The PRO-AM Class winners Colin Braun, George Kurtz and Nolan Siegel qualified 17th overall, a far cry from overall pole sitter No. 20 Huber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R. But as the clock wound down the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG came alive. The No. 20 Hubler Motorsport Porsche of Laurin Heinrich, Antares Au and Alfred Renauer took home the second-place finish. Third-place finishers Kenton Koch, Jon Branam and Matt Bell in the No. 27 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 overcame tremendous adversity with last-minute driver elections, transponder issues and an early drive-through penalty.
The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Adam Adelson, Elliot Skeer and Callum Benjamin Illot finished fourth in class. The No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Samantha Tan, Neil Verhaegen and Jake Walker certainly had pace, but a late pit lane violation netted the team with a late 10s time penalty, relegating them to a fifth-place finish. Tan finishes the year fourth in the points championship. The No. 535 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO of Eddie Cheever III, Jonathan Hui and Christopher Froggatt finished the race sixth.
Seventh went to the No. 007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Derek DeBoer, Valentin Hasse-Clot and Ben Tuck. The trio finished high enough in the class to give DeBoer a third-place finish in the points championship. The No. 4 Grove Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Brenton Grove, Stephen Grove and Earl Bamber finished eighth in class. Ninth place in the PRO-AM class went to the No. 85 Rearden Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jake Pederson, Vesko Kozarov and Christian Engelhart. The entry couldn’t seem to stay away from the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsport Acura. The two cars came together three times over the eight hour race.
The No. 33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Justin Wetherill, Ryan Dalziel and Onofrio Triarsi continued after contact with the No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 IGTC PRO class entry. Their run to the front of the field came to an end, winding up 10th in class. The No. 08 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Scott Smithson, Thomas Sargent and Bryan Sellers dealt with a late right rear suspension failure. The team repaired the car and pushed on to finish 11th. Finally, the No. 91 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jeff Burton, Corey Lewis and Philip Ellis finished 12th after loss of power forced the Mercedes-AMG to park in the second hour of the race.
GT America powered by AWS, Pirelli GT4 America and TC America powered by Skip Barber all finish the year Sunday, Oct. 8 with one final race.
