BMW M Team WRT’s Sheldon van der Linde was able to dive underneath Action Express Racing’s Earl Bamber Sunday (Sept. 20) in turn 12 to take the lead with just over five minutes to go. From there, he was able to pull away to win the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks with Dries Vanthoor. It is the first win in IMSA for Team WRT.
“As soon as I got into the lead, I got goosebumps with three laps to go, which is not ideal,” NBC Sports’ Chris Wilner after the race. “We’ve waited so long for this [victory]. I even hurt my ribs getting out of the car trying to celebrate. I’m so proud of Dries. It’s incredible.”
The margin of victory was 2.926 seconds over Bamber and Jack Aitken. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Kevin Estre and Laurin Heinrich were third , then Wayne Taylor Racing’s Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor. Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun were fifth.
Blomqvist started from pole in his Acura. The initial start was full of stackups in both classes. Eventually, this resulted in a couple of incidents.
First, BMW M Team WRT’s Dries Vanthoor had contact with Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Kevin Estre in turn 1. This bounced Estre into teammate Julien Andlauer, who spun along with Nick Yelloly in his MSR Acura. JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Tijmen van der Helm also got a piece of Andlauer. Then, the LMP2 cars came onto the scene.
CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s George Kurtz, AO Racing’s PJ Hyett in “Spike,” and United Autosports’ Phil Fayer were all collected in an incident that brought out the yellow. Hyett and Fayer were unable to make it back to the pits and had to be towed. Kurtz drove back to the pits for repairs, but ended up being pushed back to the garage.
Andlauer was forced to pit for repairs and dropped a couple of a laps. Yelloly was able to continue without issue.
Blomqvist spent most of the first run of the race dueling with Aitken. 40 minutes into the race, they had to split Hyett on Hulman Boulevard. That allowed Aitken to get a run and sweep around the outside for the lead.
Once out front, Aitken pulled away from the pack quickly. The handoff to Bamber during the first round of stops went off without a hitch.
With just under an hour to go, debris in turn 1 brought everyone to pit road for their final stops. Bamber was able to maintain the advantage while van der Linde was able to get up to second.
Van der Linde’s BMW was able to put the pressure on Bamber for the overall lead with 25 minutes to go. However, Bamber was able to hold off the charge before they got back into lapped traffic. The traffic allowed Bamber to pull away by two seconds.
However, the traffic gives and takes away. Additional traffic allowed van der Linde to run Bamber back down. He only got one decent shot at Bamber. That came with six minutes to go and he made it work.
Inter Europol Competition’s Jeremy Clarke started from pole in his ORECA 07-Gibson. He was able to avoid the first-turn crash, which greatly benefitted him and teammate Tom Dillmann in the championship as his immediate competition was hampered.
Kurtz was able to get back out a lap or two after the restart. However, the car suffered a failure in the left front not too long after resuming, which sent him back to the garage. Hyett returned to the race 16 laps down.
Clarke was in full control of the race in class until he received a drive-through penalty for contact with DXDT Racing’s Mason Filippi. That resulted in United Autosports’ Paul di Resta picking up the lead. Clarke and Dillmann would finish sixth.
Ultimately, it was strategy that won this race. Era Motorsports went on an alternate pit strategy that forced Christian Rasmussen to go into substantial fuel conservation mode over the final. He had the advantage of a huge lead over his competition, but you can only save so much.
The lead was more than 30 seconds over Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathisen Motorsports’ Harry Tincknell with around 15 minutes to go. That allowed Rasmussen to substantially slow his pace.
On the final lap, Rasmussen gave away more than eight seconds of his advantage, but he managed to save enough fuel to take the class victory with Nick Boulle. It is Era Motorsport’s first win since 2024.
Boulle and Rasmussen’s margin of victory was 15.004 seconds over Tincknell and Misha Goikhberg. Di Resta and Dan Goldburg were third, then Tower Motorsports’ John Farano and Tristan Vautier. Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Chris Cumming and Pietro Fittipaldi were fifth.
Due to a thunderstorm that moved in just as the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race ended up Saturday, qualifying for both of the GT classes was cancelled. As per IMSA rules, the grids were set via “other means,” which refers to team points.
In GTD Pro, the cancellation put Paul Miller Racing’s Neil Verhagen on pole. Verhagen led during the first run of the race, then dropped back after his first pit stop.
Connor de Phillippi was able to get back up to third before he had contact with Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg entering turn 1. That contact ripped off his rear bumper, causing the race’s second yellow.
When Verhagen pitted and handed over to de Phillippi, Ford Racing’s Mustangs took control. Dennis Olsen led until the debris caution flew.
RLL Team McLaren’s Nikita Johnson attempted an alternate strategy that got them the lead, but put them in a tough spot on fuel. While Johnson had the lead, Olsen was not far behind, so Johnson couldn’t drive conservatively.
Further back, trouble broke out in turn 10. de Phillippi was hit by Ford Racing’s Frederic Vervisch and spun. That dropped the point leading BMW back to eighth. Vervisch had to serve a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
Johnson’s chances to claim his first IMSA victory ended with just a couple of minutes to go when he was forced to pit for a splash of fuel. That gave the lead to Olsen.
Catsburg was right there and battled Olsen hard on the final lap. The two were side-by-side entering turn 7, but Catsburg ended up going wide into the grass. That was all that Olsen needed to take the class victory with Ben Barker.
The margin of victory was for .993 seconds over Catsburg and Tommy Milner. Pfaff Motorsports’ Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell were third in their Lamborghini, then Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims in the second Corvette Racing entry. Vasser Sullivan’s Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth were fifth.
The second-place finish gives Catsburg and Milner the points lead by 47 over de Phillippi and Verhagen. Caldarelli and Mitchell are another six points back.
Winward Racing’s Russell Ward was supposed to start from pole in GTD. However, they were sent to the rear for violating the pre-race minute-by-minute schedule. As a result, Turner Motorsport’s Patrick Gallagher assumed the advantage.
However, The Heart of Racing’s Tom Gamble was on the move. A couple of laps after the first restart, he was able to get around Gallagher for the lead in turn 12, then proceeded to drive away.
The duo of Gamble and Eduardo Barrichello dominated much of the race until the debris caution came out during a round of stops. Conquest Racing’s Albert Costa was forced to stop for emergency service and had too much work done to his car. Despite restarting with the class lead, Costa was hit with a stop-and-60-second hold penalty that cost them a lap.
Once Costa pitted, Robby Foley ended up in the lead in the Turner BMW. He was chased by Myers Riley Motorsports’ Felipe Fraga in by far his best run of the year.
As the race continued on, Fraga faded out of the mix while Philip Ellis in the Winward BMW moved up to second and began to pressure Foley. Ellis ran Foley hard, but ultimately ran out of time as Foley and Gallagher held on to take their first win in two years.
The margin of victory was .501 seconds over Ellis and Ward. 13 Autosport’s Matt Bell and Orey Fidani earned their best run of the season in third. DragonSpeed’s Giacomo Altoe and Casper Stevenson were fourth, followed by Gamble and Barrichello.
The points are just as much of a dead heat as in LMP2. Ellis and Ward keep the points lead, but by only six over Foley and Gallagher. Barrichello is 116 points back.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks Unofficial Results
There is only one race remaining on the WeatherTech schedule. That is the 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Coverage of the race will begin at Noon ET Oct. 3 on NBC and Peacock. Coverage after 3 p.m. ET will be exclusive to Peacock. Frontstretch will be on-site in Georgia to bring you all the action.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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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