The second portion of the Indianapolis 8 Hour came with dramatic twists and turns and championship swings as rivals battled it out into the night during the final few hours of the 2024 season.

After a long and hard fought race, the No. 31 Team WRT BMW claimed the overall win and the IGTC championship crown. In the FGTWCA Pro class, Wright Motorsports were in a league of their own, clinching the class win and the title. The Pro-Am battle truly came down to the line, and although Herberth Motorsport crossed the line first, it was Turner Motorsport who walked away victorious in the North American championship by one single point.

Hour 1

Pole sitter Patric Niederhauser led the field to the American flag, waved by Ruthledge Wood, in his Pro-Am No. 10 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 R to kick off the Indianapolis 8 Hour. As per the Intercontinental GT Challenge customs, in lieu of the usual green flag, the hosting country's flag is waved.

The No. 4 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 had a challenging start to the race, as Luca Stolz dropped back several positions. He found himself sitting in eighth overall and fourth in class after originally starting on the front row. The No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sheldon Van Der Linde was thus promoted to the IGTC Pro class lead, and began to close in on Niederhauser ahead. He launched an attack as the first 30 minutes elapsed, briefly moving up into the overall lead, but the Porsche reclaimed the position one lap later.

In the FGTWCA Pro class, Adam Adelson was the frontrunner at first but his No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R was jostled back a couple of spots, with Philipp Eng taking over in the No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. It wasn’t long before Adelson and DXDT Racing’s Alec Udell were running nose-to-tail, and the No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R was eventually able to shuffle past as the one-hour mark loomed closer.

A yellow flag was brought out 49 minutes into the race as the No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Elias Sabo was spun off into the gravel. The safety car also welcomed a plethora of pit stops as the majority of the field opted to perform their first round of driver changes.

Hour 2

The race resumed with 7 hours remaining on the clock. Niederhauser and Herberth Motorsport opted for a different strategy than the rest of the field, coming down pit road much later for a driver change. Antares Au took over, but the strategy ultimately did not work out in his favor in the short term as he sat 13th overall as he returned to the field.

The No. 31 WRT BMW moved into the overall lead, with the No. 33 sister car running third, establishing the German manufacturer as strong contenders for the win.

The No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Samantha Tan faced a huge setback as the car grinded to a halt on track. She eventually limped back to her garage following a fuel pump issue, but the problem not only jeopardized their chances of kissing the bricks, but also their championship title hunt.

A transponder issue plagued the No. 4 Lone Star Mercedes-AMG GT3, which had to come through pit lane as race control requested that the issue be addressed. Jules Gounon got acquainted with Jefri Ibrahim as the two Mercedes touched. Although there was no apparent damage from the incident, Gounon lost valuable time to the leader.

As the second hour was coming to an end, the ST Racing Pro-Am machine was able to resume their efforts as they tried to salvage their championship title. Up front, Charles Weerts was comfortably in the lead, with Jules Gounon 3 seconds behind, and Augusto Farfus rounding off the top 3. In the closing minutes of the second hour, several teams came down pit lane, including Weerts, who handed over the wheel of his machine to Dries Vanthoor, retaining the lead going out of pit lane.

Hour 3

With a new mix of drivers on track, the action continued to ramp up. Notably, Kenny Habul took over the Pro-Am class lead in the No. 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3, while Justin Rothberg hopped in the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 as he replaced teammate Patrick Gallagher. However, it wasn’t long before he came under threat by Elias Seppänen in the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

There was some drama in the Pro-Am class as the No. 64 DXDT Racing Corvette of Patrick Liddy was side-swiped by the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R of Ayhancan Guven heading into the last corners of the road course. Guven received a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility, but DXDT had to bring the car behind the wall for repairs as it suffered a broken left toe link. Although they went several laps down, the Chevrolet team was able to address the damage to the suspension and get back on track to continue onwards.

Hour 4

After trying to hunt down the No. 130 Mercedes of Mikaël Grenier for nearly an hour, Augusto Farfus had finally managed to muscle his way past, but pitted shortly after. With Grenier choosing to stay out longer, the battle was reignited as Daniel Harper began the pursuit all over again. Harper was eventually able to pass the Canadian driver and claim third place overall.

As the halfway mark approached, Tommy Milner was leading in the FGTWCA Pro class on board the No. 63 DXDT Corvette, but Wright Motorsports’ Lauren Heinrich was desperately hunting him down, knowing fully well that the title fight was at stake.

He continued to cut into Milner’s advantage, drastically reducing the gap between the two. Just as it looked as though Heinrich was within striking distance, a full course caution was called in order to address the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Conor Daly that had pulled to the side of the track, stricken by a fuel pump issue. The safety car prompted the majority of the field, including the frontrunners across all classes, to perform another round of pit stops with four hours to go.

Hour 5

The race was momentarily halted by a caution flag brought out by Random Vandals Racing as drivers crossed over into the second half of the race. When the green flag was waved once again, Elliott Skeer immediately found the right opportunity to strike, sweeping his No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R down the inside line and overtaking Tommy Milner in the No. 63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for the FGTWCA Pro class lead.

Milner started to struggle slightly, further dropping to third in class behind Philipp Eng in the No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3, with Trent Hindman applying pressure in the No. 85 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R.

Another full course caution was called as Andy Lee pulled his ailing No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 off to the side of the track on the front stretch with an oil pressure issue. A series of pit stops and driver changes followed, and the race restarted with under three and a half hours remaining.

ST Racing were plagued by more gremlins as they came to a complete halt right before the pit lane entry. This brought out the fourth caution flag of the race, but Neil Verhagen was able to limp down pit lane after restarting his machine.

Hour 6

Most of the cars on the track took the opportunity to come down pit lane under the full course yellow. However, a few lucky cars had the foresight to jump down pit lane before the caution flag was brought out, which proved to be a bold and rewarding strategy for some.

This saw DXDT Racing return to the front of the pack, just ahead of Wright Motorsports as the frontrunners resumed the duel in the final hours. However, the Porsche was completely dialed in, and Skeer’s quick thinking and fast hands saw him pull off a clean overtake a couple of laps later.

Meanwhile, GruppeM Racing opted to reset their driver stint length as Jules Gounon made a quick stop in their pit box, gaining track positions ahead of Team WRT in the process. Sheldon Van Der Linde was unfazed by this strategy call, still completely focused on returning to the front of the IGTC Pro class. It was an intense showdown between the two highly skilled drivers, but the BMW’s pace was undeniable. He patiently waited for the right time to launch an attack, and pulled off the move cleanly with a little over two and a half hours left on the clock.

There was good news for the No. 38 ST Racing Pro-Am car as it was able to return from behind the wall for the second time, but bad news followed for the No. 33 Team WRT machine as they had to make lengthy repairs in pit lane to address a broken rear diffuser. It was a tough day for another BMW team, as Random Vandals Racing ran into more problems, pulling off to the side of the track for the second time, bringing out the safety car with just over two hours to go.

Hour 7

Drivers changes ensued, and the field went back to green with 1h52min on the clock. Heinrich led the way for Wright Motorsports, with a championship crown within sight as the sun began to dip lower along the horizon.

Meanwhile in Pro-Am, Turner Motorsport were quietly but confidently making some moves of their own, and propelled themselves up to the class lead as the final hours unfolded, inching closer and closer to clinching a title of their own.

The race went under yellow again as darkness loomed closer, this time due to the No. 88 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 being stranded off in the final corner of the oval circuit layout and requiring a tow back to pit lane. At the same time, the No. 33 Team WRT BMW had to go behind the wall to further assess the prior issues with the diffuser, promoting the Lone Star Racing Mercedes into IGTC Pro podium position in what was a true rollercoaster event for the team.

They went back to green with just over an hour to go, and leaders Wright Motorsports pitted one lap later to reset Heinrich’s driver time so he could push all the way to the end of the race, with Vanthoor choosing to do the same another lap later in the No. 31 Team WRT BMW.

Hour 8

With some teams still having to complete their last pit stops, all bets were off in the final hour of the race. Ultimately, it all came down to the closing minutes. Wright Motorsports were handed a 5 second post-race time penalty for pit lane protocol violation, giving Heinrich the extra task of maintaining a gap at the front in order to keep hold of the overall win.

He tried with all his might, but Vanthoor was able to stay within reach, with 4.7 seconds between the two as they crossed the line, resulting in the latter being promoted to the overall win. This marks back-to-back wins for Team WRT at the Brickyard, having previously won the 2023 edition of the endurance event.

GruppeM Racing, led by Maro Engel in the last portion of the race, finished second in the IGTC Pro class, with Lone Star Racing rounding off the podium in third as Fabian Schiller drove the final stint.

Wright Motorsports were the FGTWCA Pro class victors, as Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson took home the class championship in the process. Racers Edge Motorsports overcame two drive-through penalties throughout the race to finish second in class, with DXDT Racing completing the podium.

In Pro-Am, it was a best case scenario for Turner Motorsport, claiming the championship title by a singular point. They crossed the finish line in second, however the winners, Herberth Motorsport, did not earn points towards the American championship. Phillip Ellis had a stellar performance in the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to secure another podium finish for the team in the final race of the season.

The 2024 Season

To revisit the action from over the course of the season, SRO’s free livestreams are available on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports).