Global GT Sports Car Series To Compete This Weekend at IMS
October 06, 2023 | By Paul Kelly, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Sports cars from prestigious manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, BMW and Porsche, along with some of the best GT drivers from around the world and North America, will compete in the Indianapolis 8 Hour Presented by AWS on Friday, Oct. 6 through Sunday, Oct. 8 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The eight-hour endurance sports car race, which starts at 12:15 p.m. ET Saturday, will feature the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli and the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS racing together on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at IMS. A total of 22 GT sports cars are expected to compete into the dusk, a unique sight for fans at the Racing Capital of the World.
Other series racing during this fall festival of sports car and touring car action include GT America, Pirelli GT4 America, TC America, Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup North America and Porsche Sprint Challenge. Those series are conducting doubleheader sprint races Friday through Sunday.
Tickets are available at IMS.com.
Thirteen cars are eligible to score points in the eight-hour feature race for the globe-trotting Intercontinental GT Challenge series, which will conduct its fourth of five 2023 rounds this weekend.
No driver can clinch the overall championship at the Brickyard, but BMW can lock up the manufacturers’ title. BMW, which leads by nine points in the manufacturers’ standings, must grow that edge to 44 to claim the title with a round to spare.
The No. 77 Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing team will return to defend its overall victory last year in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 but with a different driver lineup. Raffaele Marciello is the only returnee from the trio that won by just .800 of a second last year after eight hours of fierce action at IMS. This year, Maximilian Gotz of Germany and Jules Gounon of Andorra will join Swiss-Italian Marciello in Craft-Bamboo’s lineup in the No. 77.
A few names known to INDYCAR fans also will race Saturday at IMS.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Callum Ilott will be part of the three-driver lineup in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche GT3 R trying to win the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Pro-Am title this weekend at IMS. Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer will team with Ilott behind the wheel.
This will be Ilott’s first start at IMS outside of his full-time ride with Juncos Hollinger Racing since the 2021 Indy 8 Hour, when he contended for overall victory with AF Corse before a late-race incident with a GT4 car.
INDY NXT by Firestone race winner and 2023 Rookie of the Year Nolan Siegel will team with fellow American drivers George Kurtz and Colin Braun behind the wheel of the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes AMG GT3 car.
Eddie Cheever III, the son of 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever Jr., will race the No. 535 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo along with Jonathan Hui and Christopher Froggatt.
Cheever could help Hui clinch the Independent Cup championship this weekend, as Hui leads Stephen Grove by 13 points. Hui will aim for his second title in a week, as he won the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Bronze crown with Sky Tempesta – and Cheever and Froggatt – last weekend at Barcelona, Spain.
Spectators are admitted Friday through Sunday at IMS, with gates opening at 7:30 a.m. ET all three days. Among the schedule highlights besides the 8 Hour race is 8 Hour qualifying at 3:35 p.m. Friday and the pole shootout for that event at 6:45 p.m. that day.
Click here for the complete schedule and more event and fan information.