Two races remain in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. With championships on the line, every lap and every point counts. To add to the late-season press is a trip to one of the most revered grounds in motorsport. All four classes come to the Brickyard, the only regular round of the season that can say that. What can we expect from Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Join us as we preview the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
Note: This article will only preview the prototype classes. Join us for the GT classes preview tomorrow.
GTP: Unseen Twist, Sneaking Comeback?
After a wild conclusion to the six-hour enduro at Road America a month ago, the driver’s championship has been a topic of discussion. Some question Jack Aitken’s actions at the end. Why go for another position when the win was questionable? Take third, grab the points, build the lead and run. Right? Well that was not the case. Instead, going for second both he and Kevin Estre both wrecked taking them to the bottom of the GTP class.
The wreck promoted Aitken’s closest rival, Laurin Heinrich, to a second-place finish, tightening the points gap. Now there is a new twist that could impact this championship. To better their chances of giving Heinrich the championship, Porsche announced last Wednesday the German will move to the No. 6 Porsche for this weekend. Heinrich will replace Laurens Vanthoor alongside Estre. Some have said this is an interesting decision, given Estre is on probation for the season’s final two races.
But this is more about Heinrich. Granted Heinrich raced with – and won – with the team at Daytona and Sebring. But that was with the No. 7 crew. As a pro, I know he can switch engineering teams quickly. Case in point, he was won with two teams already this season. Nevertheless, this remains a big gamble for Porsche. Quite the wrinkle in the championship race.
“Business as Usual”
While he is not in the driver’s championship fight with teammate Aitken, Earl Bamber has a big role still as Action Express leads the team championship. Despite being off the podium for the first time this season, the late-race drama at Road America has not changed anything. “It’s going to be business as usual,” says the Kiwi. “I don’t think we really need to change a good thing. We’ve been executing some really good races. We had a good look at Road America. I don’t think we have the outright fastest car like we had at Detroit or Watkins Glen. But we still put ourselves in a position to be in the top three there at the end of the race. So that’s what we’re going to try and do again.”
Action Express has a 185-point advantage over Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 93 Acura. This is slighty more comfortable than Aitken and Cadillac, both holding a 112-point lead in the driver’s and manufacturer’s championship respectively. Action Express return to Indy as defending champions, albeit as a six-hour race. The team has been the picture of consistency and look to get back to their regular scheduled programming.
Best Way Around Indy
With no elevation change on the IMS road course, what is the inside track to have a fast car at this place? Nick Yelloly says aerodynamics. “We would usually tend to rely on the aerodynamic performance of the car,” quotes the Acura factory driver. “We have to take quite a different philosophy into the race in order for us to be more competitive, compared to a track like the previous race at Road America.” Yelloly points out the high traffic will also play a roll in setup and strategy. ““You also have to really think about having good, combined traction to be able to get by the slower traffic. Because if you struggle there, getting through in between the traffic in the tight spots is a bit tricky.”
Bamber says a big key is the rubber. “Putting energy in the tires making sure we’ve got good degradation,” Bamber comments on tire life. “We’ve been quite good on the mechanical grip side, so coming to a slower track like Indy is favorable.” Both say the shortened race distance will lead to a change in approach. How that approach will play out, only time will tell.
That Winning Feeling
Wayne Taylor Racing will be heading to Indianapolis with some massive weights lifted. Road America saw the team capture their first win since returning to Cadillac, breaking a two-year winless drought. Now the team could be on a new run. Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque finished second here at Indy last year. Some would attest that to strategy as opposed to outright pace. But the ability to get results means more at the end of the day.
Pfaff Motorsport in GTD PRO broke a major winless drought and followed it up with another win. What’s to say the same cannot happen to WTR? Victories at the end of the year to give them momentum to charge for a championship next season? Where have I heard that before?
Odds and Ends
The three races in the GTP era at Indy have seen three different manufacturers and three different teams finding victory. Acura has the best chance of keeping the streak going. Meyer Shank Racing are searching for another win to send this season out on a high. This would also be significant as Indianapolis will be the first race under the direction of Kelvin Fu. Fu replaces David Salters as President of Honda Racing Corporation USA.
Fu took over the role on September 12 and will be helping oversee the final two races in IMSA as Honda will increase their focus on Indycar racing.
Heart of Racing was in Silverstone testing joker upgrades for the Aston Martin Valkyrie set to be installed for the 2027 season. No indication if or when we will see the Evo come to IMSA. The Evo will likely debut in WEC at the start of next season. This comes off the heels of a best result for the Valkyrie in the championship with a fourth at COTA.
And let’s go back to the Heinrich move. We forgot to discuss the domino effect that will have. As a result of Heinrich departing JDC-Miller, this open the door for fellow Porsche factory driver Nico Muller. The Swiss native will partner Tijmen van der Helm in the No. 5 Porsche at Indianapolis.
Balance of Performance Updates
There are a few BoP updates to GTP for this weekend’s affair at the Brickyard. Starting with weight, both specs of the Porsche 963 will carry 4kg of additional weight. Conversely, Acura will get a 9kg weight break from Road America.
On the power levels, let’s start with BMW who will get a 0.7% increase in Stage 2. Cadillac will see 0.2% reductions in both stages. Acura will see a 0.5% drop in Stage 1. Finally, there is an interesting compilation with Porsche. The 2026-spec 963 will get a 1.6% increase for Stage 1, but will see a 0.2% drop for Stage 2. Meanwhile, the 2025-spec 963 sees a 0.4% drop in Stage 1 and a 0.2% increase in Stage 2.
Turning attention to the energy, most manufacturers will see slight losses from Road America. Porsche is the one exemption as both specs of 963 will see slight increases. The 2026-spec 963 will see a 3MJ increase while the 2025-spec car will only see a 1MJ increase from Road America.
LMP2: Fun, Fun, Fun
In LMP2, I would say we are having fun with this championship. Only seven races and that means every point and every lap matters. As with all the other classes, this championship is very tight. On the heel of back-to-back wins, Tom Dillmann and Jeremy Clarke enter Indianapolis just 36 points back. The guys they are chasing in the championship, Alex Quinn and George Kurtz, have been chasing them home finishing second in both races.
With damage limitation in the last two rounds, attack must be the mindset going into Indy this weekend. For Kurtz, Quinn and their team Crowdstrike by APR, a win at Indy would be retribution after last year’s race here went very wrong so late in the going. There is a thought that because of that race, the team could play it safe.
But playing it safe risks opening the door for Dillmann, Clarke and InterEuropol Competition. And this is a group that does not need an open door. Since Canada, there has been no slowing down for this team and now have their sights set on their second championship in three years. Combine that with a class that wide-open and values the talent of both their Bronze and their pro, LMP2 could prove to be a fun class to watch this weekend.
Indy Expert
Mikkel Jensen was part of the winning team the last two seasons at Indianapolis. This season, the Dane has been running full-time in IMSA’s LMP2 championship this season for United Autosports. He discusses how IMS’s road course stands out. “It’s a fun track in traffic,” says Jensen. “It’s a track that doesn’t really have super high-speed corners, you don’t need to commit like you do on other tracks, but in another way you really have to work with the car, the way the tires work. It’s very different to the other tracks on the calendar.”
Jensen also gave insight into car setup for the LMP2 platform. “It’s very smooth. The other IMSA tracks have more high speed, more bumps, so I think the way you set up the damping on the car is the biggest difference. (LMP2 cars) can run very low at Indianapolis, because there’s not much with ride heights. So I think it’s simpler, probably, than other tracks, so it’s more a question of how you make the tires work.”
Preparing for the Future
Jensen is taking the season at United Autosports to get familiar with the team before transitioning to the McLaren Hypercar program, which United runs. But not everything will carryover. “I’m working with more or less the same team as Hypercar, at least the name, but
it’s a different crew. Some guys in the organization in IMSA are joining the hypercar program in the future, so you have a little bit of a smooth transition between the two this year, before then everyone is moved entirely to the Hypercar program.”
Even with this being a bridge year, Jensen is definitely enjoying himself. “It’s great to be in IMSA where you have the best action. The best place to stay hot as a racing driver, because you have action all the time, the restarts, the traffic, so you certainly don’t have boring races, and it’s good preparation for next year.”
Other Nuggets
When the entry list was released last week, Era Motorsport’s second seat alongside Bronze driver Nick Boulle was listed as TBD. Indeed, we now know that it will be Christian Rasmussen as the second driver in the No. 18 Oreca. The Indycar race winner makes his first appearance in IMSA since January’s Rolex 24 while reuniting with Era for the first time since 2024.
For Boulle, this will be his first start of the season. It is unclear if Boulle will also race at Petit Le Mans in two weeks. Naveen Rao, Jacob Abel and Ferninad Habsberg have completed the Endurance Cup rounds for Era so far. It is worth noting the team missed the other sprint round at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in July.
This concludes our prototype race preview. Join us Thursday for our GT race preview.
Featured Photo: GTP on the frontsretch at 2025 Battle on the Bricks – Photo Courtesy: Porsche Newsroom
