Submitted by IMS
Sports car racing makes its annual return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks on Sept. 19-21, with the unique, “race within a race” format of class racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge series.
Just one type of race car competes either on the 2.5-mile oval or the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at the Racing Capital of the World during NTT INDYCAR SERIES and NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series competition. The length of those series’ races also is measured by laps, and there is just one driver assigned per car.
Sports car racing is different and unique.
Four separate classes of cars will race simultaneously when the featured WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race starts at 11:40 a.m. Sunday on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. And the race is not measured by laps; it’s measured by time – a six-hour endurance race for the second consecutive year.
Drivers from all over the world compete for overall victory but also for first place within their respective class. That unique format always keeps the racing interesting, and the varying speeds of the four classes of machines create intense racing within classes and plenty of traffic for the fastest classes to navigate for most of the race.
The four classes of cars in the series are comprised of two styles of cars – prototype, which showcases the latest automotive technology and are designed uniquely for the racetrack; and GT, based on road-going production models.
Teams also perform driver changes during selected pit stops, as drivers rotate in and out of the cars over the six-hour endurance race.
INDYCAR fans will recognize plenty of names competing in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks in a number of classes.
Former NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers Tom Blomqvist and Romain Grosjean are racing in GTP for Acura and Lamborghini, respectively.
The LMP2 class is filled with drivers familiar to INDYCAR fans, led by four-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais. Other former INDYCAR SERIES drivers competing in the class include Pietro Fittipaldi, Hunter McElrea, Benjamin Pedersen and Toby Sowery.
Pedersen’s No. 55 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports team will gain even more attention than usual this weekend, as former Williams Racing Formula One driver Logan Sargeant will share the seat with fellow Americans Pedersen and Naveen Rao.
Current INDY NXT by Firestone standout James Roe also is racing in the LMP2 class, sharing the No. 73 Pratt Miller entry with Fittipaldi and Chris Cumming.
Former INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT driver Jack Hawksworth has been a standout in IMSA for nearly a decade, winning the GTD Pro season championship in 2023 for former INDYCAR SERIES team Vasser Sullivan Racing. He will lead the team’s No. 12 Lexus in GTD this weekend with Frankie Montecalvo and Parker Thompson.
Also grabbing attention in the GTD class will be Eduardo Barrichello, the son of longtime Formula One star and NTT INDYCAR SERIES veteran Rubens Barrichello. Eduardo Barrichello is sharing the No. 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin with Valentin Hasse-Clot and Anthony McIntosh.
The Michelin Pilot Challenge also is racing this weekend at IMS in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120, a two-hour race starting at 12:40 p.m. Saturday. That series also features a “race within a race,” but with just two classes of production-based sports cars and touring cars.
There are two familiar names to INDYCAR SERIES fans racing in the Michelin Pilot Challenge this weekend. Former series driver Zach Veach is racing in the GS class, while 2002 Indianapolis 500 pole winner Bruno Junqueira is driving in the TCR category.
An event weekend full of variety also will feature two single-make series in which competitors race the same brand of car, placing the skill of the driver in the spotlight.
The Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America features a 50-minute race at 4 p.m. Friday and another 50-minute event at 5:10 p.m. Saturday. Drivers compete in machines from the exotic Italian marque.
Porsche enthusiasts also can see the evocative German machines compete in identical 911 GT3 Cup race cars in two Porsche Carrera Cup North America races this weekend. Both races are 40 minutes each. Race 1 is at 3 p.m. Friday, with Race 2 at 10:45 a.m. Saturday.
Tickets and information for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks are available at IMS.com.
