Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti, driving the #31 Action Express Cadillac, have won the IMSA Sportscar Championship’s Battle on the Bricks, with a controlling display of pace at Indianapolis on their way to victory in the 6 hour race.
Second was Ricky Taylor, alongside his teammate Filipe Albuquerque, in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
Third was Tom Blomqvist, in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura, who drove the car from last in the GTP field to the podium with his teammate Colin Braun.
Aitken started the winning #31 Whelen-sponsored Cadillac from pole. He kept the lead through the first yellow, called just minutes after the start, for debris on the front straight.
However, another yellow was called shortly after the race restarted. This time the pit lane opened, and most of the GTP field pitted under caution. The only two GTPs who didn’t were R. Taylor in the #10 Cadillac, and Matt Campbell in the #6 Porsche.
Thus, R. Taylor led from Campbell, with Aitken third. Aitken, with a significant pace advantage, challenged the Australian in front at the restart and while he didn’t get ahead then, it wasn’t long before he took second from the Porsche.
He then started chasing down R. Taylor, and soon retook the lead, a pitstop up on his nearest challengers.
Aitken was replaced at the wheel after 2 hours by teammate Vesti. The Dane led through multiple full course yellows, with Kaku Ohta in the #93 Meyer Shank Acura chasing him hard at times for the lead.
The Dane, though, kept his cool at the head of the field, handing the car over to Bamber. The Kiwi proceeded to pull out a seven second lead to the rest of the field, which at the time was headed by Marco Wittmann in the #24 BMW.
Bamber handed the car back to the rapid Aitken for the final stint of the race, which he customarily controlled through the final restart, with only a few minutes left in the race, to take a well-earned victory from a fairly dominant display for Cadillac.
Dominant display from Cadillac earns 1-2
This marked both Action Express’s and Cadillac’s first IMSA race win of the year, a win drought which has lasted almost a year for the American manufacturer in the national championship.
Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque finished second in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, to give Cadillac not only the race win, but a 1-2 finish.
R. Taylor started the blue car fourth and took the lead, through pitstop strategy, at the second caution of the race just over 10 minutes in. He lost the lead midway through the stint to a charging Aitken, and then stopped soon after.
Albuquerque soon got into the car to replace R. Taylor and kept the car in the podium positions. At one point, with just over 2 hours to go, they dropped off the lead lap due to an unscheduled stop to repair a puncture, but used a full course yellow to get back onto the lead lap.
R. Taylor, back in the car, fought his way back up the field, and he was soon back with Aitken at the head of the pack. The final caution with less than 10 minutes to go meant he had a shot at taking the win away from Aitken, but the American could not quite catch the Briton, with Wayne Taylor Racing having to settle for second, just under a second off Aitken at the flag.
Third was Blomqvist and Braun in the #60 Acura. Blomqvist started the car st the back of the GTP field, but together they fought their way through, passing the BMWs and Porsches, plus the other Cadillac and their teamcar, the #93 Acura, to take third at the flag. It’s a question of what-ifs for Acura, had they not had their pole position taken away for a technical infringement concerning their car’s bodywork after qualifying.
Fourth was Dries Vanthoor and Marco Wittmann in the #24 BMW. While they looked feisty and had decent pace, the BMWs lacked that little bit extra needed to challenge the Cadillacs for the win.
Renger van der Zande and Kaku Ohta finished fifth in the sister #93 Acura, while Sheldon van der Linde and Philipp Eng took sixth in the #25 BMW. The best Porsche could manage today was seventh, with Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche. Eighth with Nico Mueller and Tijmen van der Helm in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche, with Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor in the #40 WTR Cadillac ninth and Romain Grosjean and Edoardo Mortara in the #63 Lamborghini rounding out the top 10.
TDS Racing win LMP2
Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea took the win in LMP2, after a fraught competition in the Oreca-dominated class.
Thomas started the #11 TDS Racing Oreca from fifth. Polesitter Nick Boulle, in the #2 United Autosports Oreca, dominated the early part of the race, retaining the lead after stopping under the early caution.
However, Thomas stormed up into second behind Boulle, who lost the lead under caution during the pitstop cycle. McElrea had replaced Thomas in the #11 TDS car and took the lead at just after the half way mark.
From there he, and later his teammate Mikkel Jensen, were largely able to control the LMP2 race, emerging with the win amid competition from all sides.
Second was Tom Dillmann in the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, less than a second off Jensen after the final restart with just a few minutes remaining. Third was Felipe Fraga in the #74 Riley Oreca.
Ford, Inception claim victories in GTD Pro and GTD
Sebastian Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller took the GTD Pro win in the #64 Ford Mustang GT3. Rockenfeller started the car seventh in class but together the duo were able to work their way to the front over the six hours, emerging with the win.
Priaulx notably held off Albert Costa, in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, and Max Hesse in the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, to take the win. The two drivers behind put pressure on the young Guernsey-born driver, son of international racing driver Andy Priaulx, but the 24 year old was able to fend them off.
Costa finished second in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari, alongside his teammate Davide Rigon, while third went to Max Hesse and Dan Harper in the #48 Paul Miller BMW.
Harper had started the car from pole but couldn’t take the win, although Hesse was only a second back from Priaulx at the flag in a dramatic finish, just half a second behind Costa, who himself was half a second behind the Ford.
Finally, in GTD, Frederik Schandorff, Brendan Iribe and Ollie Millroy took victory in GTD in the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. They were followed by Elliot Skeer, Tom Sargent and Adam Adelson in the #120 Wright Motorsport Porsche. Daniel Serra, Manny Franco and Ben Tuck finished third in the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari.
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