- Porsche Lead the Way in FGTWCA Pro and Pro-Am
- BMW Looking Strong in IGTC Pro
- Pre-Qualifying Unofficial Results
With 90 minutes at their disposal, the Pre-Qualifying session provided the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and the Intercontinental GT Challenge teams with valuable track time to continue to get up to speed before dialing in for Qualifying later this afternoon.
Wright Motorsports established themselves as the frontrunners as the FGTWCA Pro entry took home the fastest overall time. In IGTC Pro, it was Random Vandals Racing who raised the bar for everyone else. Meanwhile in Pro-Am, EBM were standout performers as they set the fastest lap in class and second-quickest of the session overall.
FGTWCA Pro Class
Zach Veach was running at the top of the overall leaderboard in the opening segment of the session, equipped with his No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 EVO22. After 12 laps completed, it was Lauren Heinreich who made a push for the fastest time in his No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R and remained there all the way to the checkered flag.
Trent Hindman put in the work behind the wheel of the No. 85 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R, finishing third in class, with Philipp Eng and Alexander Sims rounding off the category with their respective No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 and No. 63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R machines.
IGTG Pro Class
Dries Vanthoor was at the top of the ICTC charts in the No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3, running steadily in third overall while Alex Palou gradually began to catch up in the No. 4 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. They were only separated by 0.104 seconds as the session began to come to an end. However, in the final minutes, Connor De Phillippi leapfrogged them both in the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3, taking over as the class leader.
A little further down the overall running order, Jules Gounon recorded the fourth-fastest time in class on board the No. 130 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with the No. 33 Team WRT sister car being the fifth-ranked IGTC Pro entry.
Pro-Am Class
Early in the session, the No. 888 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-AMG GT3, piloted by Jordan Love, topped the charts. However, the No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 was promoted to the front of the Pro-Am class for a solid portion of the session, but in the final 20 minutes, it was the No. 61 EBM Porsche 992 GT3 R of Bastian Buus who went on to secure the fastest time in class and second overall.
The No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 made a late lunge into the top 2 in class with under ten minutes remaining on the clock, bumping the Flying Lizard machine to third. Triple Eight JMR therefore finished in fourth place, with the No. 21 Car Collection Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R following very closely behind, as the margins were incredibly tight, with all three teams only separated by a total of 0.045 seconds between them.
Let’s Get Racing
The Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge fields will return to the track for Qualifying on Friday afternoon, October 4th, at 3:05 PM ET.
If you can’t make it to IMS, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free livestreams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #Indy8H.