Charles Weerts, Team WRT and Porsche celebrate at the end of a beautiful 8h of Indianapolis which crowned the Champions of the 2024 Intercontinental GT Challenge together with their colleagues from GT World Challenge America.
The race immediately highlighted the great difference in values on the field between the PRO crews and the rest of the group, but the entry of as many as six Safety Cars during the contest shuffled the cards several times, especially in the second half, keeping the result in the balance until the last round.
At the start, poleman Patric Niederhauser had kept the #10 Herberth Motorsport Porsche in first place, but when Kenny Habul and Elias Sabo came into contact on lap 34, the latter got stuck in the sand with his BMW #8, causing the first neutralization with SC. Here most immediately chose to make the first stop, except for the leader, who had to return to the pits later.
Departure
Photo by: SRO
At the 3rd Hour, the WRT BMW #31 of the Vanthoor/Weerts/Van Der Linde trio took the lead and remained there for a long time, even gaining over half a minute on its pursuers, only to see the margin canceled out by the subsequent SCs, sent to the track in the 4th Hour due to the stop of Conor Daly (BMW #99), in the 5th due to Andy Lee (BMW #8) stopping when he exited the pits and shortly afterwards due to the problems suffered by Neil Verhagen’s BMW #38 while he was trying to enter the pit lane.
In the latter case, Wright Motorsports decided not to bring in the #120 Porsche of Adelson/Heinrich/Skeer, with the result that the green-yellow 911 jumped to the lead, while in WRT they were given 5″ of penalty for an infringement committed during a previous stop.
Having served the penalty, the M4 with Dries Vanthoor on top found itself having to chase in the last two hours, even when a final SC was decreed in the 7th Hour. With the round of stops over, Wright received the cold shower of a 5″ penalty (for having obstructed a rival during a pit stop) which would have been added to the final time.
Laurin Heinrich, who had already been irresistible in his first stint, quickly climbing back up to the Top5, pushed as if he were in Qualifying to keep a safety margin over Vanthoor; the Belgian also did the same and the 5″5 gap he had with 20′ to go dropped to 4″740 at the checkered flag, thus resulting in him winning by 0″260 thanks to the sanction imposed on his rivals.
#120 Wright Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3-R: Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer, Laurin Heinrich
Photo by: SRO
The success of the BMW-WRT therefore allows Charles Weerts to become the 2024 IGTC Champion, also due to the KO suffered in the 4th Hour by Ayhançan Guven due to the broken steering on his Porsche #32 designed by GMG Racing and entered in the PRO-AM Class together in Washington/Sargent.
The other car competing for the driver’s title was the BMW #33 of Max Hesse and Dan Harper, who teamed with Augusto Farfus put on a great show right from the start. Starting from the back of the grid to replace the engine, the three from WRT quickly recovered positions until reaching the podium, engaging in a wonderful battle with the Mercedes #130 with which they fought several times with braking, overtaking and counter-overtaking.
The breakage of the diffuser in the 6th hour caused the black M4 to drop down the order, only to reach its final withdrawal in the penultimate hour, by which time it was cut out of the competition.
The #99 BMW of Koch/Daly/De Phillippi (Random Vandals Racing) was also in contention for the podium, but a technical problem in the sixth hour forced it to raise the white flag.
This allowed the Porsche #120 to gain further positions and, thanks to the aforementioned successful strategy, take the lead until the final epilogue. The second place of Heinrich/Adelson/Skeer not only allows the trio to win the PRO Class of GTWC America and the related crown, but also gives the points in the Constructors’ category to bring the IGTC title to Weissach, beating BMW and Mercedes.
#31 Team WRT, BMW M4 GT3: Dries Vanthoor, Charles Weerts, Sheldon Van Der Linde
Photo by: SRO
And it is precisely at AMG that there is reason to complain because the #130 of Engel/Grenier/Gounon, as mentioned, was on the lookout for the overall podium for a long time, often in contention with its rivals and in the end third overall at the finish line. But if the GruppeM Racing car performed well, the same cannot be said of Lone Star Racing’s #4, given that the Palou/Schiller/Stolz trio was plagued by electronic problems right from the start, unable to point high despite the great effort of the drivers, ultimately in 13th place at the finish line.
The other best Mercedes is the #91 of Burton/Seppanen/Ellis (Regulator Racing), ninth overall and third in the PRO-AM Class, while the #75 of 75 Express (Ojeda/Habul/Auer) stops at the end losing a potential PRO-AM success due to a broken rear axle, after also suffering from poor steering following the initial contact with the #8 BMW.
In the Top5 we also have the others from the PRO GTWC America podium, namely the excellent Acura #93 of Mars/Veach/Chaves (Racers Edge Motorsports) and the Corvette #63 of Udell/Sims/Milner (DXDT Racing), which loses by the title is a breath.
Sixth at the finish line was the Porsche #85 of Pedersen/Van Berlo/Hindman (RS1) with the #10 of Au/Hartog/Niederhauser behind who celebrated in PRO-AM to the joy of Herberth Motorsport.
Turner Motorsport’s BMW #29 was eighth, second in PRO-AM with Rothberg/Gallagher/Foley and eighth overall, but above all putting the GTWCA category title on the board after the countless problems suffered by the ST Racing BMWs #29 and #38.
Top10 completed by the Ferrari #163 of AF Corse driven by Schreibman/Negri/Vilander.
IGTC – 8h of Indianapolis: Final Standings
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