Seven series featuring some of the most evocative sports car brands in the world will compete on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Oct. 16-19 during the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS event weekend.
The marquee race is the Indianapolis 8 Hour on Saturday, Oct. 18, the longest event of the season at the Racing Capital of the World. Elite sports car drivers from around the world – and three familiar names to IMS fans – will compete in the season finale for the headlining Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge America powered by AWS series on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.
SEE: Indianapolis 8 Hour Entry List
Teams of drivers will race from 12:20-8:20 p.m. ET Saturday, with headlights from the GT3 sports cars illuminating the circuit when the checkered flag flies in darkness – a unique site at IMS. Both headlining series race simultaneously, with overall winners in each series crowned.
There will be 25 cars competing in the eight-hour race from renowned manufacturers Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche. These are all GT3-specification sports cars, which resemble their showroom counterparts.
Three drivers very familiar to IMS fans are racing in the feature event Saturday.
Two-time INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power will add another chapter to his long, legendary career by competing in sports cars for the first time. He will join fellow Australians Chaz Mostert and Kenny Habul in the No. 75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. Power has five NTT INDYCAR SERIES victories on the IMS road course.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES fan favorite Conor Daly returns to this event, joining Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi in the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Two other drivers with limited INDYCAR SERIES starts, Toby Sowery and Colin Braun, will share the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO with George Kurtz.
The third driver well-known to Central Indiana fans competing this weekend is a two-wheeled legend making his IMS four-wheeled debut in this event. Seven-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi will share the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO with Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts. Rossi rode the No. 46 Yamaha to victory in the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP MotoGP race at IMS in 2008.
Rossi will be part of a fascinating duel for the Intercontinental GT Challenge driver’s championship, a duel between BMW drivers van der Linde, from South Africa, and Raffaele Marciello, from Italy. Van der Linde leads Marciello, 85-80, in the standings with 25 points available to the winner Saturday.
Van der Linde and Marciello teamed up to win this season at Nurburgring and Suzuka for the WRT BMW team, but they were separated at Bathurst and Spa and will continue to be rivals this weekend at IMS. There’s little to separate the two drivers, as van der Linde has three victories and Marciello two. The WRT team also has won the Indianapolis 8 Hour the last two years, so there’s no team advantage for either driver.
BMW also is trying to win its first manufacturers’ title this weekend. It leads Porsche by 18 points, with a maximum of 43 points available to a manufacturer that finishes 1-2 in the race. There are seven Porsches in the field compared to five BMW cars, with the two highest-placed finishers for each brand contributing toward manufacturer points.
Power also can help a teammate win a season championship Saturday. Co-driver Habul is a contender for the Intercontinental GT Challenge Independent Cup title, battling Porsche drivers Ralf Bohn of Germany and reigning Independent Cup champion Antares Au of Hong Kong. Bohn and Au are tied atop the Independent Cup standings, with Habul just six points back.
Intercontinental GT Challenge practice sessions will take place at 6:55 p.m. ET Thursday, Oct. 16 and 9:50 a.m. ET Friday, Oct. 17. Qualifying starts at 3:35 p.m. Friday.
Other sports car series racing from Thursday through Sunday at IMS include GT America powered by AWS, McLaren Trophy America, GT4 America, TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School and Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup North America.
Former INDYCAR SERIES driver Matheus Leist is sharing the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport with Matt Travis in the GT4 America series. Jaxon Bell, the son of INDYCAR SERIES veteran and FOX INDYCAR analyst Townsend Bell, is racing in the No. 7 Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR86 in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup North America.
Gates are open to the public Thursday, Oct. 16, Friday, Oct. 17 and Saturday, Oct. 18 for this event. Click these links to buy tickets and parking, to see the event schedule or to plan ahead for the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS.
