INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team celebrate a win in victory lane.
During Sunday's "Battle on the Bricks" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the BMW M Team RLL cars piloted by Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn (Car No. 24) and Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly (Car 25) took victory overall and in the GTP class, delivering Bobby Rahal, David Letterman, Mike Lanigan and BMW a victory at the Racing Capitol of the World.
Not only was it the team's first on-track win in IMSA, but it was also their first 1-2 finish in the GTP class.
The victory comes as a bit of redemption for the team. The last two years, RLL has struggled during qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. Even though their IndyCar and IMSA teams operate more or less separately, a win at Indianapolis is always a big deal.
The race itself was plagued by rain. A full-course caution due to heavy downpours occurred just 45 minutes into the race. Standing water all over the track caused the race to see a large amount of its six-hour time limit to be run behind the safety car.
Thankfully, the rain eventually subsided, setting up a thrilling battle for the overall victory.
Philipp Eng was in the cockpit when he crossed the line first at the end of the six hours, followed by his teammate De Phillippi. Defending race winners Penske Porsche saw their No. 6 car, piloted by Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet, finish third.
The second Porsche Penske, Car No. 7 driven by Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron, suffered power steering issues in the race, causing them to finish ninth in class and tightening up the championship points battle. The No. 7 car now has just a 14-point lead over the No. 6 car heading into the final race of the season: the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
In the LMP2 class, the No. 11 TDS Racing car took victory with drivers Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and former Indy NXT driver Hunter McElrea. Connor Zilisch, who won in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut a week ago at Watkins Glen, finished third in LMP2 driving the No. 18 for Era Motorsports.
In GTD Pro, the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche took home a class win thanks to drivers Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen.
Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Jan Heylen won the GTD class, piloting the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche.