This weekend, IMSA’s top series will return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since 2014. While four different IMSA-sanctioned series will be on the grounds this weekend, there will be 92 cars entered between the top series.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks
There are 48 teams entered in Sunday’s 160-minute WeatherTech race on the 2.439-mile road course at Indianapolis. Compared to the last race with all five classes in action at Road America, this is an increase of three teams.
The GTP class has 10 teams entered. As compared to Road America, there are no changes team or driver-wise.
You will have four Porsche 963s (two factory cars, along with customer entries from JDC-Miller MotorSports and WeatherTech Racing), the factory BMW M Hybrid V8s, the factory-backed Cadillacs and the Acuras from Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian.
LMP2 will have seven teams entered. There are two TBAs on the entry list at Tower Motorsport and TDS Racing, both due to injury. At Tower Motorsport, John Farano has been out of the car since a crash at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May. TDS Racing may not have Francois Heriau back in the No. 35 after he sat out Road America due to injury.
In Heriau’s case, John Falb drove in his place at Road America. For Tower Motorsports, Rodrigo Sales deputized at Road America in place of Farano. Neither team has made an official announcement in regards to substitute drivers for this weekend. If they do, we will update this article.
There are nine LMP3 teams entered. Likely the biggest move in the class this weekend is the series debut for both 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year Kevin Conway and John Geesbreght for Ave Motorsports. The duo have been racing together in a Toyota GR Supra GT4 in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX for Smooge Racing, a team that the Geesbreght family owns, since the beginning of 2021. Frontstretch had the chance to catch up with Conway and Geesbreght at the beginning of last season in Daytona when they made a one-off appearance in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
Jr III Racing is back to two cars this weekend with VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3 points leader Bijoy Garg back for a second go-around. This time, he’ll be joined by Guilherme de Oliveira, who will be making his second start of the year. De Oliveira previously raced in the Rolex 24 at Daytona for MRS-GT Racing.
The full-time No. 30 has a change as well. Nolan Siegel is in the car for the weekend in place of Ari Balogh due to Balogh having to tend to a family matter.
GTD Pro has five teams entered. There are no changes from Road America.
The GTD class has 17 teams entered. Lone Star Racing is returning to WeatherTech for the first time since 2020. At the time, the team ran in collaboration with Riley Motorsports and Robinson Racing. Prior to that, the team ran a Mercedes full-time in what is now Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and a SRT Viper GT3-R part-time in WeatherTech.
At the wheel will be Lone Star Racing’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge regulars Scott Andrews and Anton Dias Perera. Dias Perera will be making his WeatherTech debut.
Team Korthoff Motorsports is no more. Earlier this week, the team announced that they will now be known as Korthoff/Preston Motorsports. Part-time efforts from Racers Edge Motorsports and Andretti Autosport are also back on the grid.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks Entry List
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Indianapolis Motor Speedway 240
Pilot Challenge teams will have their second and final four-hour race of the year Saturday, but with an added wrinkle. The race will finish under darkness. 44 teams are entered in the two classes.
There are 28 Grand Sport teams entered. In addition to teams running third drivers, there are some new drivers entered.
Ave Motorsports has new teammates for Alfredo Najri. He will be joined by Uruguay’s Fernando Etchegorry and Colombia’s Thomas Steuer, both of whom are making their series debuts.
Rearden Racing returns to Pilot Challenge for the first time since 2014 (then known as Skullcandy Team Nissan), fielding a Porsche Cayman for Vesko Kozarov and Jake Pedersen. Kozarov is a veteran racer who is a former Street Tuner winner with team co-owner Lara Tallman at Daytona.
Neil Verhagen, a factory BMW racer, will join up with Fast Track Racing this weekend. While he primarily races in Europe, Verhagen has been partnering with Samantha Tan in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.
CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing will have two cars this weekend. They also announced that the No. 39, which will have Siegel rejoin the lineup, will change from Porsche to BMW.
Stephen Cameron Racing is expanding to two BMWs. The new No. 77 BMW will be shared by Nick Shaeffer and Peter Mercier.
The TCR class has 16 entries, up from 13 at Road America. Road Shagger Racing and HART are back. They’re joined by an Audi from Gou Racing for Eddie and Lalo Gou.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Indianapolis Motor Speedway 240 Entry List
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway 240 is scheduled to go green at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon and will be streamed live on Peacock. The TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon. The race will air live on NBC starting at 1 p.m. ET.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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