INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time since 2014, the cars and stars of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship graced the hallowed grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Roger Penske, the owner of the track since 2020, historically pushes his teams to perform to their very best whenever his teams compete at the Brickyard. This weekend, the entire program was "Penske Perfect."
Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr, drivers of the Porsche Penske No. 7 car in the GTP class, qualified on the pole during Saturday's time trials. They outqualified teammates Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet in the Porsche Penske No. 6 entry by roughly 0.15 of a second.
From the drop of the green flag, it looked like the two Porsche Penske entries were the cars to beat. Matt Campbell, driving the No. 7 entry for Penske, locked up his brakes entering the first corner on the start. That allowed teammate Mathieu Jaminet to sneak by and take a commanding early lead.
Behind the two Porsche Penske entries, Sebastien Bourdais, driving the No. 01 entry for Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, was spun in turn one after making a daring three-wide pass attempt.
Bourdais was able to continue the race and was helped by an early safety car for Chandler Hull, driving the No. 97 BMW in the GTD class.
The safety car was brief, and the race resumed after less than 10 minutes. Mathieu Jaminet continued to stretch his lead over the other team car.
Jaminet and co-driver Nick Tandy led the way in the GTP class for nearly the entire race. The Whelen Cadillac for Action Express Racing, driven by Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims, took over the lead for 27 laps during pit cycles, but could not match the pace of the No. 6 Porsche Penske.
Nick Tandy, who took over driving duties of the No. 6 for the final stint, crossed the yard of bricks first with nearly a 17.5 second gap over the No. 7 Porsche Penske driven by Felipe Nasr.
In the LMP2 class, Dwight Merriman, driving the No. 18 car for Era Motorsport, had a frightening incident when his car spun exiting the final turn of the road course. Merriman's car was stationary in a blind, high-speed corner. Thankfully, everyone missed the stalled LMP2 car, but the incident did bring out a brief safety car.
Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jenson, driving the No. 11 for TDS Racing, took home the class victory in LMP2.
In the LMP3 class, which will not return during next year's six-hour event, was won by the No. 17 AWA Racing entry driven by Anthony Mantella and Wayne Boyd.
In the GTD and GTD Pro categories, which are differentiated based upon driver ratings, there was quite a lot of action throughout their respective fields. Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon took first in class in GTD Pro, driving the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes. Russell Ward and Phillip Ellis took victory in the GTD class, driving the No. 57 Mercedes for Winward Racing.