This weekend, IMSA has their penultimate race weekend of the season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Four different series will do battle on the infield road course.
TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks
For the now Battle on the Bricks, there are 56 teams entered, an increase of 12 cars over last year. Last year, this race was run as a 160-minute sprint race, but with five classes.
The Prototype class has 11 teams entered. Lamborghini Iron Lynx is back with their SC63 for the first time since Watkins Glen. Matteo Cairoli, Andrea Caldarelli and Romain Grosjean will drive.
Only four of the 11 teams have three drivers entered. In addition to Lamborghini Iron Lynx, Proton Competition, Action Express Racing and JDC-Miller MotorSports have a third driver present.
The LMP2 class has 10 cars entered, down from 12 at Road America. Teams that aren’t entered include Proton Competition’s LMP2 one-off entry. The other is Sean Creech Motorsports with their Ligier JS P217-Gibson.
SCM has been a full-time team this year. However, Dr. Lance Willsey has decided to suspend his racing career. Willsey’s decision means that the team is down on funding. The team has indicated that they are hoping to be back for the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, but that is dependent on funding.
The only driver change of note here is that Dylan Murry will drive the No. 88 AF Corse ORECA 07-Gibson alongside of Nicklas Nielsen and Luis Perez Companc. Murry is driving in place of Lilou Wadoux, who is full-time in the Autobacs SuperGT Championship and will be racing this weekend at Sportsland SUGO in Japan.
For Murry, this will be his first start in WeatherTech since 2022. Back then, he had a part-time deal with Racing Team Nederland. However, that deal went away after team owner/driver Frits van Eerd was arrested as part of an investigation into money laundering that led to the team shutting down.
There are 12 entries in GTD Pro, up from nine at VIR. All nine of the normal teams are entered, plus part-time cars from Iron Lynx and Risi Competizione. Iron Lynx’s car has Maximilian Paul as part of the lineup with a currently unannounced second driver.
The third extra car is from SunEnergy1 Racing, which will make their first start since last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. Team owner/driver Kenny Habul will be joined by Repco Supercars Championship regular Chaz Mostert and Jordan Love.
At AO Racing, Michael Christensen will be back in the car in place of Klaus Bachler.
GTD has 23 cars entered, up nine cars from VIR. The growth is due to a number of part-time operations returning as part of the Michelin Endurance Cup. Those teams include AF Corse’s No. 21, Triarsi Competizione, Cetilar Racing and the Iron Dames.
There are a couple of other new squads. DragonSpeed has a Ferrari 296 GT3 this week that will be shared by Henrik Hedman, Rasmus Lindh and Toni Vilander. It is the first time that the team has fielded a GT car in IMSA competition since the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Andretti Motorsports is back with their Porsche for the first time since Watkins Glen. They were originally full-time, but cut back to an endurance schedule after Watkins Glen.
Kellymoss with Riley is back with a Porsche 911 GT3 R that will be shared by Riley Dickinson, Jake Pedersen and Kay van Berlo. This team is considered to be a separate team from either of the cars that were originally on the full season entry list, so it will run as the No. 90.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks Entry List
Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120
For Saturday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race at IMS, there are 33 cars entered, up three from VIR.
The Grand Sport class has 20 entries, flat with VIR. The only team that was entered at VIR, but not this weekend is JMF Motorsport’s Mercedes for Michai Stephens and Jesse Webb. That team withdrew after qualifying.
At McCumbee-McAleer Racing, Nate Cicero will make his Pilot Challenge debut alongside Jenson Altzman. Cicero has been racing full-time in Mustang Challenge.
Alex Premat returns to van der Steur Racing, replacing Scott Andrews. Andrews will return to Lone Star Racing, where he drove full-time last year. This time, he will partner with team owner Dan Knox.
Finally, van der Steur Racing is also breaking out their second car in association with Ruckus Racing. Scott Blind will share that car with Brady Behrman.
In TCR, there are 13 teams entered, up three from VIR. Baker Racing from Canada is not entered with their Audi.
In their place, we have the returning Road Shagger Racing out of Las Vegas. Racers Edge Motorsports is back with their Honda, while Pegram Racing makes their second start.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 Entry List
The TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks is scheduled to go green at 11:40 a.m. ET Sunday morning. The race will stream live flag-to-flag on Peacock with live coverage on NBC joining in progress at 3 p.m. ET.
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.