Porsche Penske Motorsport led practice in the premier GTP class Friday during the first day of track activity for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Kevin Estre turned the quickest lap of the 90-minute session, 1 minute, 15.764 seconds, in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. Estre will share the prototype sports car with Laurin Heinrich in the two-hour, 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, which starts at 3:10 p.m. ET Sunday.
SEE: Practice Results
The speed of the No. 6 Porsche will be helpful for Heinrich, who is second in the GTP drivers’ standings, 118 points behind 2025 Battle on the Bricks winner Jack Aitken of Cadillac with just two races remaining this season. Porsche strategically moved Heinrich from JDC-Miller Motorsports back to the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car alongside Estre for this event to try and gain ground on Aitken.
Former NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Tom Blomqvist was second today at 1:15.853 in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. His teammate Sunday will be fellow INDYCAR SERIES veteran Colin Braun.
Sheldon van der Linde ended up third at 1:16.088 in the No. 24 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8.
Aitken’s teammate, Earl Bamber, was sixth quickest at 1:16.216 in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
Less than six-tenths of a second separated the top seven cars in the 11-car GTP field. That should produce a taut qualifying session for the class at 6:05 p.m. ET Saturday.
Tom Dillmann was the quickest driver in the LMP2 class, turning a top lap of 1:16.545 in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07.
Dillman and teammate Jeremy Clarke have won the class in the last two races this season to pull to within 36 points of the leading No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR shared by George Kurtz and Alex Quinn in what appears to be a two-car battle for the crown. Quinn was third in the LMP2 class today at 1:16.833.
LMP2 qualifying starts at 5:45 p.m. Saturday.
Nicky Catsburg led the GTD PRO class at 1:23.567 in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
GTD PRO has an intense title race, as just 67 points separate the top five teams, each of which represent a different manufacturer (BMW, Chevrolet, Lamborghini, Porsche and Ford). Catsburg and teammate Tommy Milner are second, just 23 points behind the leading No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 shared by Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi. Verhagen could only manage seventh in practice today, with a best lap of 1:24.437.
Qualifying for GTD PRO begins at 5:25 p.m. ET.
Trent Hindman was quickest in the GTD class with a best lap of 1:23.630 in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 he shares with Danny Formal. GTD qualifying starts at 5:05 p.m. ET Saturday.
The Michelin Pilot Challenge series will conduct the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120, a two-hour race at 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday with its two classes.
Michael Cooper was quickest overall in practice today for the Grand Sport class with a top lap of 1:29.533 in the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4. Cooper also led the opening practice at this event last year. LP Montour led the Touring Car class at 1:31.826 in the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR.
Michelin Pilot Challenge qualifying starts at 8 a.m. ET Saturday.
Visit IMS.com for tickets and more information on the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
