Indy 8H, Hours 5-7: #30 WRT BMW Back In Front

The #30 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Philipp Eng, Sheldon van der Linde, and Dries Vanthoor has overcome a drive-through penalty for a procedural and driven back to the front of the Indianapolis 8 Hour with 60 minutes left.

That unusual mis-step from WRT opened the door for the two top-tier Mercedes-AMGs to take the effective lead of the race, but Eng would quickly get to work to erase a 15-second deficit. The Austrian driver drove past Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon with three hours and 30 minutes left, and once Eng took the lead, he and Van der Linde drove away from the field.

Van der Linde has a 40-second advantage over the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Raffaele Marciello in second, with another 15 seconds to Luca Stolz in the #999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes in third. These are the three cars remaining on the lead lap after 290 laps of racing.

But as one WRT BMW is an hour away from triumph, the #31 BMW has had its hopes of victory dashed.

With two hours and 30 minutes left, Augusto Farfus crashed into the lapped #33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Onofrio Triarsi Jnr at turn one. The BMW’s left-front suspension snapped and a livid Farfus slammed the door of his car in disgust when he got out.

15 minutes of repairs were needed for both cars to return to the race, and they now sit 18th and 19th overall, 11 and 15 laps down respectively.

The #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R is running fourth overall and is in firm control of the FGTWCA Pro class with Trent Hindman at the wheel at the bottom of the hour. Behind them, the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes is fifth overall and leads the Pro-Am class.

Colin Braun and co-driver George Kurtz are an hour away from sealing the 2023 GT World Challenge America Pro-Am title after the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche fell to a distant second.

Callum Ilott had taken the lead from Nolan Siegel on the track but had to come in early for an unspecified mechanical issue – then, a left-rear puncture forced Elliott Skeer to make another unscheduled stop which put the #120 Porsche over a minute behind the #04 Mercedes.

Likewise, with the #45 Wright Porsche leading FGTWCA Pro, the sixth-placed #28 RS1 Porsche is set to win the GT World Challenge America Pro title for Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer.

Bill Auberlen is seventh aboard the #94 BimmerWorld BMW which has dealt with fuel rig issues and hasn’t caught the opportune Safety Car they needed to get back in the lead fight. Laurin Heinrich is leading the fightback for Huber Motorsport, the young German dynamo runs eighth in the #20 “Bomb Pop” Porsche.

Trenton Estep is ninth in the #53 MDK Motorsport Porsche, and after starting at the rear and fighting back from a drive-through penalty for pit work violations, the #27 TR3 Racing Mercedes is now tenth overall as the final hour begins.

Both DXDT Racing Mercedes are now out of contention; the #91 retired in the second hour with a driveline failure, and with two hours and 30 minutes left, the right-rear suspension upright failed on the #08 while Bryan Sellers was fighting for a Pro-Am podium place.

Feature image © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America

The post Indy 8H, Hours 5-7: #30 WRT BMW Back In Front first appeared on dailysportscar.com.