2026 IMSA TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at Indy | Race Highlights | WeatherTech Championship

Acura on pole, Cadillac outside. The green and white Acura. So fast. Meyers Schenck racing all weekend long with both of their cars. It is the 60. Tom Blomquist behind the wheel. Green flag waves. Racing at Indianapolis. Racing at Indianapolis and already there's a scuffle in the back and that happened before the line, Calvin. That could be a problem. Yeah, well, if you take an avoidable action, I mean, there's just a big compression in the middle of the LMP2 field. You see the two prototype classes getting down towards Tom. Turn one. Tom Blomquist in the green. Oh, that's the number six car, I believe. Ninety-three. Oh, no. Look at this significant damage on the number two LMP2 car. That's the ninety-nine LMP2 car as well. Full course caution as the GT start was coming down to the green. The officials had no other recourse than to call that full course caution. Action early in turn one, oftentimes at this racetrack, Kyle, is a big, big problem. It's so hard to find the braking point when the tires are relatively cold here on this first lap. Ryan, there was a big compression in the middle of both prototype packs, certainly in the initial off waiting for the green. Oh, it's actually the seven car that's engine there. Take another look at this coming down into turn one. It's a big funneling effect. You don't have full tire temperature. Watch the second BMW. He hops over the curb, gets in the side of Estre, who's got no room to work with. That spits Adler around. Tymon van der Helm gets into the back of him as well, and then suddenly the front end of the LMP2 field had nowhere to go. Then in turn two, suddenly the ninety-three got punched, going through the apex there as well. Separate incident. I think you're right. On board. Black racing. On board. That was the forty car. Delatraz on the inside as we watch the system machine from the on board Felipe Albuquerque. Oh, and you're sitting there as Julian Adler was aboard the seven, and you're just watching cars come at you. Just nowhere to go. It's just a roadblock. And even though you want to go about 50 miles an hour through that very tight first corner, no time to react. Nowhere to go. You've got cars on either side of you. So it's always the danger zone when you start these races and you're funneling down into turn one. If something goes wrong, it has that knock on effect. Time to go back racing and hopefully last more than just halfway through turn one. On it early. Tom Bloomquist in the acceleration zone onto the front straightaway, looking for that hundred and eighty plus mile an hour before the brake zone down in turn one, weaving back and forth, trying to get some heat, some energy in those Michelin tires. And I think as importantly, just cleaning them off is very easy when you run behind the safety car to pick up those marbles, those little shreds of rubber that lay around the racetrack kind of snowball on your tires. Yes, getting heat in the tires is important, too. But right now they're just trying to have a good, clean restart here. There's the number six car. Most importantly, Kevin Nestor was involved in that. Remember, he's now the teammate of Lauren Heinrich, who's still very much in this championship chase. More about that in just a minute. As you see, those great shots from the Inception on board the Inception Ferrari on board. A little bit of an off there. No harm, no foul. Now, Brett, Marie, that's true. That really quick turn ten to eleven areas. You just dropped the wheels on the grass. Pitch the steering wheel. Just ride out a little bit. Try and keep the car straight and blend back into the traffic. Good thing is Roger Penske and his teams keep this facility in such tip top shape. It's almost like one of the greens on the golf course nearby. If you drop a wheel super smooth, we've now trying to squeeze the Corvette, the eighty one a little bit down the front straightaway. Casper Stephenson, they're making that move down to the inside and a problem for the zero four. You saw the incident at the beginning of the race. Turn one lap. One took the car back to the garage. Affected repairs. But Calvin, something seems to reared its head once again. One right way. If he did get punched in the tail and see some smoke off the left front, it was bizarre. There was like a rub against the wall there on the entry championship leader Aiken in the red and white number thirty one Cadillac wheel and this is where it is so tough for the championship leader. We talk about keys to victory. Stewart's decision. But he has got a run. He's got a run on the 60 now. He's right in the silhouette of that race you see in the middle of the racetrack. Does he make a move? Does he think big picture, which he did not do a road America? Now he goes for the lead. Gets cut off there. It'll be interesting. Bob Barfield talks about racing room and for me, Tom Blomquist was already on the line off the corner. A kid stuck his nose in there and almost got it chopped off. But are they going to look at that and say, Make sure you're leaving racing room. Look at the closing speed of the prototypes and the GT traffic. Twenty seven. Now to the lead. How did he get it? Take a look and see how he got the lead of this motor race. This is down into turn twelve. It's tricky to make that move all of your in the car. The lead of the car is over to the outside, but he manages to tuck it to the inside and get that passed on. I'm Patrick Gallagher. So portrays a aboard the Ferrari right there behind trying to get a bite of the apple as well. And now Gamble running right there in lockstep with the Aston Martin that is in GTD pro just in front of him. That is the number sixty eight house who run their cars, the BMW cars over in the World Endurance Championship. Here we see some traffic. They split. A kid goes to the outside. Can he calm the court? He does. And he gets alongside blockers. He's going to be on the inside of the upcoming right hander, a kid to the lead. As we said, he is not in cruise and collect mode by any stretch of the imagination, found the opportunity and pounced and then was having nothing to do with Tom Bloomquist at the apex, willing to run side by side, maybe a little touch and a kid through to the lead. Take a look and see how that developed. Big gaggle of traffic coming down Holman Boulevard after the fast chicane. Blomquist goes to the inside. I did do not think he even knew that a kid was to the outside. Let's see. As the spotter in the grand sense, he would not have seen that from his onboard camera. This side view mirror. I think he just went into that corner thinking I've cleared the traffic just to hit the apex and suddenly a kid was on his flank. Tell you what's impressive, though, is the handling of the number 31 able to run the higher line, actually tighten the arc a little bit. And that tells me that that car mechanical grip wise is working very, very well. The first opportunity to make it to the finish on one more stop. And sometimes you'll have the GTD pros come in a lap early in that or two laps, so they're not involved in any traffic, any trouble getting into their pit box. That's what we've seen so far today. Remember, the great battle we saw earlier, that was good, though. This has been going on for a while, but now you're going to throw some prototype traffic in there as well. It's going to catch them out. They allow them all to get away for Benjamin Peterson. I think he was shocked by the move that from all just put on him coming down to their pit stalls. Wheeling Cadillac leads the Meyers shank number 60, the Porsche Penske number six and the Wayne Taylor decks number 40 directly in front of me. Kevin Estra jumps out and Lauren Heinrich in his quest for the championship straps into the Porsche Penske number six. It's going to be a set of sticker tires for all the crews that I can see, although slightly scrub tires going on to Meyers shank, who are getting ready to launch the 60 final bit of energy being loaded into the car that just counting off staring at the screen in front of them, waiting for energy to be loaded into the cars. Final moments awaiting Lauren Heinrich, ready to roll the 963 into life. Cadillac wheeling have gone off and away, but Porsche Penske with some more pit stop magic, John, jump in front of Meyers shank and the number 16 had some issues, I think, on their outlap. Potentially Jordan Taylor now behind the wheel. Louis Delatraz. There he is. That's just cold tires there. Aaron T. Let's a little bit of a problem while we're in break. Gets caught in a traffic jam. You'll see him there about the fourth or fifth car back. Boom. Up on the curb. Yeah, he just gets that left rear up on that big curb there on the apex of turn seven. I think he's trying to keep his hands tight there to knock it into the 66 at the same time. And just a little lift there kind of releases the contact patch of that rear Michelin enough to turn Aaron around. He'll be disappointed with that one. Aaron T. Let's not one of those guys that makes a lot of mistakes and certainly knows how to win a board that Lexus and in the weather tech sports car championship up a bit. Yeah, let's take another look at this. So I mean, Connor's just kind of holding station straight line there. Nikki was kind of in no man's land and he realized the corner was coming up. He didn't want to miss the corner. So he he tried to start to turn in hoping that Connor would then arc at the same radius in sync with him and they get that contact. So I think race control are going to be very much in or any argy bargy that we see. Right. But I'd say that's really not this damage to the race car racing incident. But to Kevin's point, they're not full of fuel and they go the rest of the way. We're just under an hour to go. So they're pretty good strategy wise. Take a look at it again. I mean, you've got three cars, right? And you're wondering who's going to have the advantage into the corner. The GTD pro cars with anti lock brakes should over the prototype that's there. And that's kind of what happens. And I think Connor is paying attention to the car, the LMP two car. You get Katzberg out there to the outside and his lane started to narrow down a little bit. I just kind of look at that as it's one of those things. I think. Think about the burns there. This is what just happened here, fire in pit lane, but nothing like we saw at B.I.R. As crazy as Trent Hittman on board right now, Danny Formel started this race at awesome pace. And this is a team that has so much promise that great pace of B.I.R. this year. The last round that they competed in the Trent Hittman, just what is going on? He cannot believe it. He had a really fast race car and felt they had a chance to knock on the door of a podium here today. Chris, time to go racing again at Indianapolis and for Earl Bamber and that problem earlier, he needs to put his head down because he's got a lot of drivers behind that want that number one position, especially the number six. And here he comes up the inside, the red white Porsche there, side by side with the Valkyrie, the Roman D'Angelo's D'Angelo's keeps inside. There's a car through to Heinrich up on the way and looking for grip, looking for traction, pushing it into turn three. Heinrich cannot afford to give an inch. He needs to move forward now. Sightset squarely on the 60 in front, but D'Angelo's not really letting go of the rear wing of that Porsche at all. Yeah. Watch this. Aston Martin racing Valkyrie down this backstretch, Holman Boulevard. He's got pace. D'Angelo's to the outside, into the brake zone and look at the second BMW hits the twenty three and turns him around as Michael Vittman on D'Angelo's there on the ninety three have to take evasive action off to the grass as well. That removes D'Angelo's from the rear wing of Lauren Heinrich. That's a little breathing room for him. But I can tell you one thing, Roman D'Angelo's is not going to be happy about that. Look at them skating around, trying to scramble for traction there in the grass. Rope and she's going to be happy with those boys spoiling the visuals here. But nonetheless, we get back to racing Vittman trying to get back up to speed. I'll have to clean those Michelin slick tires off before you can have grip again. But Lauren Heinrich, it shows you just how focused he is on moving forward. Tell you seven. A great day. The 16 car Philippe Fraga. They have a horrible season. They're now on the tail of Robby Fuller's. Take another look at this. You see D'Angelo's flick to the outside and Vittman says, I'm going to follow the six car through. There's just not enough room. I'm not sure D'Angelo's recognized that he was there at first. I thought it might be a late lunge by Vittman, but when I look at it, I don't see it that way now. Now, I think he was just trying to follow the wheel tracks of Lauren Heinrich there. I'm not sure D'Angelo's recognized there was another car to his inside. He's trying to make a move on the six right now. He has to talk back in, and there's just another car there. Wow. Some penalties being handed down car 77 more than emergency service in a closed pit stop plus 60. That is a O racing and GTD Pro in the 34 who was your leader in GTD will have the same 34 car that is crazy that could give the lead to Robby Fuller is very much in this championship fight right now. Heinrich on the move, trying to make a move there. Seventy-seven serving the penalty Heinrich trying to get the better of Colin Brown aboard the number 60 from Meyershank Racing Porsche versus Accurate Indianapolis. Heinrich has to be all in. Brian, he's going to be going for the only way he keeps this championship deal open with the 31 car leading is to finish right behind them. Crazy. That could give the lead to Robby Fuller is very much in this championship fight right now. Heinrich on the move, trying to make a move there. Seventy-seven serving the penalty Heinrich trying to get the better of Colin Brown aboard the number 60 from Meyershank Racing Porsche versus Accurate Indianapolis. Heinrich has to be all in. Brian, he's going to be going for the only way he keeps this championship deal open with the 31 car leading is to finish right behind them. That is his only chance. Three cars between Heinrich and the rear wing of the 31 doesn't have the top speed down the straightaway. We cannot get anything done. But what about the tighter sections of this racetrack? Which car is better in the transitions left to right, right to left? We'll find out. This pit and hold for 60 is just brutal here, essentially cost you a lap. And really, it's what it's designed to do pretty much anywhere we go. That penalty is going to hurt you big time. Now we need to just check that it's all fine. All right. Well, that's a three span tour again, watching Sheldon Vanderland bring this car home, nursing with one eye of a mega job here. So you are. We just saw a mega move. Ninety three was off the road. But just before that, Lauren Harvick made an outside move on Jordan Taylor through turn seven. Great respect by Jordan Taylor. They've given that driver some racing room, and you'd have to think maybe that's down to the briefing or the words of warning that Bill Barfield, the race director, gave the team's drivers this morning. We also saw Dennis Olson get by Conor de Felipe in turn one. That's when Lauren Heinrich came through that battle and look at this move. That's hot racing. You've got to allow that, Kevin. So right before that, he was told the fifty nine in front of you is not going to make it on fuel. You're racing those behind you. And then he was warned. Hey, the sixty four Dennis Olson is very aggressive. It wasn't five seconds later before that overtaking that change a position happened. Look at this. Suddenly, Katzburg is all over the tail of the number one car as well, and that is significant. That could change the lead in the championship as they run. If he can get by the BMW right now, I'll take you back to walk its land with Corvette and Ford. When they got together in the late going, you've got Katzburg wheel to wheel with the sixty five. Got to mind your peas and queues. The Dutchman against the Belgian here. They go side by side, trying to give each other enough racing room. Katzburg carves the corner and cuts Vavish off. Here comes the fourteen car trying to get in the mix. Jack Hawksworth. Does he ever say in this battle, I gotta worry about the sidewall of those Michelin tires as well. With all of that carbon fiber bodywork rubbing up against them, they are playing hardball here at Indy and the sixty five car. Let's not forget that very much in this championship picture as well. So Vavish is going to be up on the wheel of the ones around no championship leader Conor de Felipe. Did he get botched out of the way? How did this happen? We'll have to take a look. A lot of times in that area of the racetrack that was close in that area of the racetrack. People make a late move down to the inside and it turns the car around. Did he get help there in turn ten anxiety? Even rants up the further not just spun out late in the going near the championship leader. You can't believe your day is going upside down. Was he helped? Yes, he was. He was. Absolutely. That's the sixty five. It's held up by prototype. He just sends it. Does the downshift. That's too late. Heavy. So we talked earlier about the message from Bo Barfield and one of his stances that one of the things he said multiple times was coexist. Remember that? He just said coexist. My belief. He's angry. And not just with this incident with others today. Nikita Johnson leading in GTD pro. But the top three, you could throw the proverbial blanket over a McLaren Ford Corvette right there in the shot. But for Nikita Johnson, twenty twenty six in the next champion, does he have enough fuel on board? Calvin? I don't know how he could. He's getting closer to it, though. I think what he's doing. He's allowed the gap to close down there between he and the guys behind him, but he's because he's having to save fuel. He's doing an amazing job. I think he's getting closer to the number got 20 percent energy left on board to wait and see. They talk about sixty seven minutes. So you're looking about. You double that. You know what? Thirteen minutes. There's thirty minutes in this race. He's getting very close to making this. I think a lot of it could depend on the time of the race where the overall leader is. Now, if he has to do an extra lap, but he's getting pressure on the Ford and now Nikki Katzberg, who, as they run, the four car has the lead in this championship. A championship as they run right now, Jack Aiken, just by starting at road Atlanta that was close. There were Bamba and that L.A. P two machine there coming in to turn twelve Vanderlinda slides underneath the eighteen giving chase. He is not let go. And in fact, he got separated with traffic a few laps ago and now has closed the gap back down. Yeah, there's an ebb and flow in this traffic. Sometimes you catch it right. Sometimes you catch it wrong and it could be one, two, three seconds in a moment. So Vanderlinda keep the pressure on, you know, he's going to go all in if he gets close enough to Bamba. Bamba has been up to the task so far today. They've got three excellent drivers, Bamba and Aiken here this weekend. Freddy Vesti will join them at the T. He's got a gaggle of GT cars in front. Look at him. Check up a little bit. Bamber slows down to get the run through. But I'll tell you what. Sheldon Vanderlinda is there. He is there. He's looking for a way by. He flicks to the right hand side. He goes to the right side of the Corvette battling in the brake zone. Vanderlinda is going to try and send it around the outside. Bamba locks up momentarily. Vanderlinda in the dirt. Bamba carves the corner and gets back to the lead. Unbelievable stuff. And Earl Bamber not willing to give it up. If they leave here victorious, the championship is essentially sealed for Aiken and Vanderlinda. Another good run. Looks up the inside. Oh, that's going to be tight. Has to use the curb. You can't come in at that angle. You have to use all of the curb to not have contact with the 31. The 31 is bulked here a little bit. He's going to try and go to the outside of the FAF Racing Lamborghini. Vanderlinda goes to the inside. He's gone around the Corvette. He has no one between he and Robby Foley go on the attack for that GTD win here today. BMW versus Cadillac down to turn one. Vanderlinda absolutely demonic on the brake pedal. Closes the gap yet again. Closing down on six minutes to go from here at the Indianapolis motor speedway. And Bamber is being told, remember the big picture. What that means is you better not crash. We need a car to finish, and it needs to finish first or second right now. I mean, second won't give him the championship. Look at Jack Aiken. He's talking to Chris Mitchum, the team manager, talking about the situation is like, okay, as they run the title, if they start the race in Atlanta is Jack Aiken's. If he gives up one position, that means Heiner could be third, he'd be second, and that would keep the title alive. They need a disaster for it to go wrong Atlanta. But that race, anything can happen. What a decision that has to be made here by the whole group. And for Elbam, report that 31, Vanderlinda to the inside, takes the lead. Can he stay on the racetrack? He does. Vanderlinda through. Bamber slides back to second. Can he answer back? What a move by Sheldon Vanderlinda, the South African driver, takes BMW to the front, looking for their second overall winner, Indianapolis, in the last three years. And they're first with the new organization running this program here in North America. What a move. I'm sure he had said, coming off the apex of ten, I am passing him right here, right now. Maybe Bamber got that message. If it gets too tight, you've got to give it up. Don't throw it all away. There's no way they want to finish like P7, P8 with a damaged race car. This I think is big picture thinking, and for the BMW squad of WRT, they know they can afford to go all in and try and wrestle this win away and win here at this iconic racetrack. Look at the top of the shot, the red and white prototype back of the shot is Lauren Heinrich. He's coming as well. Look at this. Yeah, and I'm not sure that Bamber even knew he was there. The BMW, excuse me, the Ford was in between them, too. I'm not sure if that rear view facing camera or the side view mirror would allow Bamber to know that Sheldon had carved to the inside like that until it was too late. And race control just warned the 31 for the contact that happened back in turn seven a little while ago. So it's one of those things you're under the microscope of not only your team but race control as well. Vanderlande is through and is beginning to pull away with the LMP two car. He's taking it down to the Y here. Can he stretch it? Guys, I'm over by the team right now, and everyone looks like that they're gonna make it. I see Nick Bull. He seems excited. Hugo, the guy that I've been asking questions back and forth, he says, I think we got it. There's the answer to the question, Chris. They're coming to you. Fifty eight seconds. Shy, Chris. Yeah, they just told actually Dennis Olson on the radio for the Ford Mustang that said he's out of fuel. Push, push, push. They were curious. They actually were starting to fall off the pace a little bit, but obviously got a gift here with the fifty nine headed to Pit road. Wow. Heartbreak. You gotta play a strategy that you think is going to get you there, and they played There's early on. Close, but not close enough. Yeah, the 18 car just being told back safe because the timing of where the leaders were. I think they were just within a couple of seconds of getting the white flag. They didn't get it. So they got to do a complete lap. That means the whole field has to is not is not great news for Rasmussen is the battle for the wind continues. Katzberg is putting the pressure on Olson for the lead in GTD Pro. And if I'm thinking the way race control is thinking, I'm gonna believe that they didn't really like the move that Dennis Olson made in the break zone. White flag out. See the time on the clock. It was like two or three seconds. Brian. That was how close that was to be in the finish of this race. Wow, it is intense and all the classes. Great stories. BMW looking for their first win of twenty twenty six for the GTD Pro to the inside. Now the outside of the sixty four machine working Olson over, back and forth and again. Last time they went down this following long straightaway here. This next long straightaway. There was a pretty good block at the end of it. Will Olson do it again? Will race control call it big picture thinking? What do we do here? Another brick in the wall is one of the keys to victory. How much is Nikki Katzberg on the win versus thinking about the championship? Where's the win? BMW wins at Indianapolis. Sheldon Van Der Linde behind the wheel takes the victory. What a spectacular run for W. R. T. Sheldon. Van Der Linde and Dries Van Dorn. Katzberg was off the road. Katzberg was off the road in a little sideways move with Dennis Olson. Olson is hanging on. It looks like for the win in GTD Pro BMW Cadillac and then Lauren Heinrich in GTP. And wow, he's going to make it unbelievable. Stint by Chris Rasmussen. Will he make it back to victory lane? That's the real question. He may be out of fuel right now. Looking at the top of the shot. There it is. Mustang. Dennis Olson behind the wheel of the 64 takes the win here at Indianapolis. Talk about battle of the brick and BMW holds on Turner Motorsport. Chris, you better watch out. Champagne's coming your way shortly. What was it like watching what your co-driver had to do to win here at the Brickyard? Yeah, it was nerve wracking. I mean, honestly, it was tough. I mean, I didn't the traffic came by certain amount of times coupled by the laps. And that was the only shot we could get. And by the end, it was I wasn't sure if it was going to if it was going to work. But he did a great move. I mean, send it up the inside and made it sick. So very happy. I mean, I was looking with one eye, but I could see it. And a great win and a great drive for Sheldon Vanderlinde, who is giving everyone at BMW and WRC high fives. Walk me through the pass on the Cadillac. You know, it's go time. You know what's at stake. And now you're a winner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. How did you get it done? Honestly, I was actually really frustrated after the restart, because every time I was close to him, we were in turn five and six and you always got to run on me on the GTs. But yeah, as soon as I got into the lead, I got goosebumps with three laps to go, which is not ideal. You obviously try and stay composed for this, but we waited so freaking long for this man. I even hurt my ribs trying to celebrate on the way out of the car. So I'm so proud of Drees. He did an incredible job. We've been fighting for this one for so long. We've been so close so many times. So yeah, it's incredible. Your winners at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway BMW back in victory lane here in Imsa. And Patrick, we already talked earlier about what this race meant to you and the emotions that you had coming into the weekend with Matt Dalton's Van Halen stripes on the car, his name on the car. Why are some days just meant to be? Yeah, I don't know. This was his favorite racetrack, his hometown, a great guy, lucky to know him and happy to get this win. Thanks to Turner, Liqui Moly, Belhaven. But that one was for Mr. Dalton. And yeah, struggling to keep it together. Congratulations, Patrick. Move over to Robbie. And with one race left, you guys came in and did exactly what you need to do. Why will momentum be on your side of petite? Yeah, we're just going to keep keep it up. We've been pretty consistent all year. We finally broke through for that win. And yeah, this day is for our boy, Matt Dalton. We miss him a lot. And we knew he was with us today. This is his home home track. Basically, he's being from Indiana. So this one's for him and we'll we'll try to keep fighting. It's been a while since you guys have tasted some tacos. Have you thought about what they're going to taste like tonight? Yeah, no doubt they're going to be good. Tacos with beer, I think. I'd second that. Yeah. Congratulations to Turner Motorsports. Check this out. Wow. Six points and any position wherever is in the field is a maximum of a ten point swing. So it's really whoever finishes in front of each other. But qualifying could play into that a little bit. So everyone's going to be on their game trying to get that single lap pace to not let the other have the upper hand here. By the time the green flag drops at Road Atlanta, BMW strong here. It's really interesting. The past two times BMW won in GTP. They also won one of the GTD classes. So BMW is up front. Let's check in LMP two with Kevin and Christian Rasmussen gave us memories. He's an IndyCar driver and a race winner. The hundredth Indy 500. I heard lift and coast for Alexander Rossi. You did the same thing. How did you make it to the finish and how did you get up to the front to begin with? Well, first of all, Nick did a great job in his first stint there. You know, he just kept it clean, drove around people and put us in a good spot. So whenever we we boxed there, we knew it was going to be tight. But man, we just committed to the fuel save super early. And like he kept giving me a fuel target. And then like the next lap. Oh, we need we need more fuel save than that. Next lap. Need more fuel save than that. But no, we we got it done, man. It's so fun to be back in the P2 car. One Daytona 24 hours with this group a couple of years ago. So it feels good to be back with the Aero boys and been a pleasure working with Nick all this weekend. So, yeah, good way to go into the offseason. He thought about a week ago he's going to do this race as well. And Nick Bull has won races in IMSA before, but we hadn't seen you a lot again until this year. Pretty glad you came back now. Very. The air crew did an amazing job and Christian did an awesome job as well. You know, I have to say it was a surprise for me to be here up until about two weeks ago. And then Kyle and I put something together so I couldn't be happier. You know, we talked about it at the start of the race and fuel targets and strategy. That was a huge part of our strategy to begin with an issue in qualifying, but made up for it. And Christian delivered, to say the least. Congratulations. Time to kiss the bricks for Nick Bull and Christian Rasmussen. Yeah, I mean, LMP two points. They're hard to believe. They're closer than GTD. It's crazy. I mean, look at that four points at the end of the last round of the championship. Just incredible. And all to play for. Just fantastic stuff. The question of what might have been 43 car looked to be in great shape, had that drive through penalty, just couldn't recover. Get it back to the front. I thought they were going to win here again, go three on the bans, but not to be. But anything could happen. I mean, the 99 had their problems earlier, but I'm looking at 108. They could longshot, but mathematically they could. And then you've got more. Then you've got drivers like Rasmussen and Nick Bull coming in here. Bull, the twenty twenty four LMP two champion. A lot of talent. They step in and they take points away from everybody else said, Who's your spoiler? Yeah. Well, there you go. And Denny Olsen. Ben Barker. You just saw that incredible past. And Nikki came over to talk to you afterward. You can just see the mutual respect. Yeah. I have a lot of respect for for Nikki. And honestly, I felt sorry for shoving him wide. But at the same time, I had this prototype inside and that, you know, didn't know what to do. So I tried to stay in the middle as good as I could. But yeah. Anyway, we got to win the second year in a row for victories victorious here at Indianapolis. What's it mean to win at Indy? I mean, so much, you know, there was no pressure going into it, obviously, from last year's win. And but we controlled that pressure and managed to grab it. So for the Mustang GT three to win here and kiss the bricks again is bloody awesome. Congratulations, Ford. Back in victory lane here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Here's your look at GTD Pro. Maybe a larger margin is still very doable for the top three. Yeah. To put it in perspective, the one car should win at Petit Le Mans. The four car has to finish on the podium. Do you know what I mean? I have to finish second. Third would not be enough. Obviously, qualifying points are going to be adjusting that a little bit. But that's how tight it is. The nine cars right in the mix as well. Fantastic finale we're going to have in two weeks. Really looking forward to it. GTP winner is up on victory podium right now. And there's a look at points. Like I said, a little more wide or a little more wide open for Jack Aitken here, but was not able to get the deal closed. Yeah, basically looking at 165 point swing potential at that last race with qualifying included in that. And Lauren Heinrich is still in this game, Chris. He is indeed. Cal still in the game. The good news is that championship will go down in two weeks at Road Atlanta. But bad news. You're not in victory lane. What? How would you describe today? And the desire? I know you wanted to get around that. Thirty one at the end. Yeah. I mean, I live for winning. You know, I want to I want to win. And we should be happy that we brought our package onto the podium because there was a great team performance today. I mean, I'm so glad to be back with PPM. You know, once again, they reminded me of what this team is capable of. It's a big honor for me as a 24 year old to race for them. But yeah, we lost some points, you know, it's I'm a racer. It doesn't doesn't make me happy. But taking a trophy home today, if you would have told me that at the beginning of the day, I would say, yes, podium run is really, really good as far as momentum. But I know you like you said, you want to win. So what is the approach at Motul Petit Le Mans in two weeks for you to try to secure this championship? Yeah. Let's see what we have in Petit. I mean, we've been strong in the endurance races, you know, that makes me confident. I try to to up my game as much as I can in the two weeks that I have to prepare. I'll arrive in the best version of myself, you know, and just give it everything put on a show for the fans and hopefully bring Porsche up on top. They're going to regroup here in two weeks time. Porsche Penske Motorsport and Lauren Heinrich going to try to take the fight to the Cadillac in two weeks. Jack Aitken expanded his championship here lead here today. There was a point where maybe it was effectively wrapped up. Earl Bamber was in the car to try to finish it. The only reason he's not listening to this championship because he had to miss around this year. So you had that dilemma. You're fighting for a win, but you know, you can't take a chance and crash the race car. What is that like in the final stages of this race? Yeah, I mean, that's a tough one. We've all worked really hard and, you know, goal number one was to try and clinch the manufacturers championship for Cadillac, and I think we've managed to do that. And then the team's championship. So overall, it's a good day. We just need to start in Petit. And then, you know, it was a dicey battle. The 24 was definitely really, really quick today, BMW. So you know, if you can't finish first, finish second, another extend that points lead for Jack and Roland Petit. Here's that we're going to see the final challenge, and you actually held him off one time right before this. This was quite dicey, especially with the traffic. Yeah, it was quite dicey. You know, he I sort of was stuck to go around the outside, and he dove from a long way back. He did a really good move. You know, if it was a different day, maybe early in the championship, we'd fight a bit harder. But, you know, they deserved it. They definitely had the speed. And, you know, like I said, we'll go down to Petit. Jack, you were faced with the same quandary early in the race, and you made a pass to get to the front. What was the race day like for you? And what is this give or take like trying to decide how aggressive to be, knowing you've got a little bit of a gap? I think, like I said before the race, we're just trying to approach every race as if it's, you know, a normal day at the office. We've had a really good year from when we had our win here last year, and we've done that by sticking to what we know are good processes, and we've been doing a good job. You know, why would we change it? So I've not changed too much. I had a lot of fun fighting with Tom at the first stint. Yeah, I think Earl was in a bit much harder position at the end there with the BMW flying up to him. And, you know, he's as much part of this championship as I am, but I know he feels a lot of responsibility as well. So it's a tough place to be, but we've had a really good day at the office and looking forward to Petit. And by the way, you've started another podium streak. This is where it started last year that went for almost a full year. We'll see if we can go almost another year. Jack Hagan and Earl Bamber, and Jack is the championship leader headed to Motul Petit Le Mans in two weeks.