INDIANAPOLIS — There’s a lot at stake for Sunday’s TireRace.com Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Here are 5 storylines surrounding the race.
IMSA’s Return
While there’s been other sports car races at IMS over the years, it’s been since 2014 since IMSA has been here competing on these hallowed grounds. This is the first time too that they’ve been a standalone event as well. That’s why this is a big storyline. With the NTT INDYCAR SERIES being done for the year and this essentially their home track, plus NASCAR having their race at Bristol on Saturday night, the stage is all on IMSA on Sunday afternoon on network NBC.
This is a true barometer on where sport cars lie here in the United States. It’s always big in Daytona because it’s the annual kick off to the motorsports calendar. They’re the first out the gates.
But, as the season goes on, usually it falls down the pecking order. We know how big NASCAR is here and how much INDYCAR is still growing. But so is F1 and NHRA too. Now, in a key Fall weekend, where does this race land in importance?
F1’s race would have already been completed by time this one starts on Sunday. There’s nothing rivaling this race on TV. The limelight is all IMSA’s and for a return to Indianapolis, the mecca of all things racing, how does this race do?
Bourdais’ Back
Sebastien Bourdais knows a thing or two about getting around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He’s completed nine Indianapolis 500’s with turning 1,687 laps on Memorial Day weekend here. He’s also turned 685 laps in 10 races around the 2.439-mile road course layout in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES too.
Last month, he got behind the wheel in a different beast. The Frenchman tested his No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-LMDh entry alongside seatmate Renger van der Zande in an IMSA test session on a rather hot and steamy summer day in Indianapolis.
“Obviously it’s great to be back here at the speedway,” Bourdais said. “It’s going to be a great event for IMSA and something that everybody wants to be part of. Indianapolis is a great motor racing town and it was very much desired by the crowd to put something together here.”
While this wasn’t the first time that he’s turned laps around here in a sports car, this was the first time that he’s done so in 10 years. The last time was with the old F1 style road course to where they used all of the south end oval to scream down the front stretch clockwise.
This time, he’s in a GTP car on a somewhat different layout for which he said that didn’t take him much time to get used to it.
On Day 1 of the test, Bourdais and van der Zande turned 71 laps around the famed track with a top lap being fifth overall 1:15.537-seconds. On Day 2, it was 124 more laps. This weekend, they turned 36 laps on Friday and 50 more on Saturday morning.
Bourdais said that one of the difficulties between an IMSA car here and an Indy Car is that you don’t have the braking and downforce levels that the open wheel car has. You have to brake much further back in order to get the car now slowed down enough to make the corners.
“It’s a very different era for the cars,” Bourdais told a group of reporters on the fourth floor of the IMS Media Center between sessions this July. “The biggest difference is actually the layout of the track. I actually really liked that track (the old layout), but this one is a completely different challenge, but the feel is quite similar.”
Bourdais is hopeful to become the first winner back here since the inaugural sports car race back in 2012. He led 24 laps that day. He’ll start fourth on Sunday.
“Everybody wants to kiss the bricks, right?” he said.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Battle Back
When Meyer Shank Racing announced that Tom Blomqvist would be one of their INDYCAR driver’s in 2024 and that Helio Castroneves would stay with the team but as a part-time driver and full-time owner, one under the radar tidbit from that press conference was the future of their IMSA program.
“We’re still working on that. They’re up in the air right now,” Mike Shank said that morning of the shared INDYCAR-NASCAR race weekend.
The reason being in flux is due to the Daytona incident this past January.
HPD well after the race finished discovered some tire pressure data manipulation and reported it directly to IMSA officials. As a result, a bevy of penalties was unleashed on MSR and at that moment, some friction between HPD and MSR came about.
There’s been some awkwardness ever since. Then you get to WTR Andretti announcing that they’ll field a second car for 2024 with the Acura badge. Is that in addition to MSR’s team or is WTR Andretti getting MSR’s program?
Then you read statements like we saw in the press release with WTRAndretti and you get a sense that this relationship between MSR and Acura is more than likely done.
“We’re looking forward to working with both (cars),” said HPD President and Technical Director, David Salters. “I’m stoked to see we have a super strong driver line-up across both our electrified Acura hypercars.”
“Both” of our electrified Acura hypercars. Not three. I feel like that’s some strong wording there. Which is why I’m not shocked that after Shank made his comments last month, he then went off the cuff and spoke of almost as if it his words were an audition or job interview for other manufacturers paying attention.
“Those guys, through our tough January, have battled back and they’re in the championship again, which is unbelievable,” he continued. “You put those points back on the board and they’ve checked out on the championship.
“We don’t know yet, is the answer. We’ll know probably in four to five weeks. This is my 20th year as a team in the Rolex. We’ve won it three times. We’ve had much success. It was kind of the start of all this. We’re doing everything we can to stay on.”
In saying that, you’d think a team of that much success, one that is the two-time defending Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona champions, more on that in a second and the defending IMSA champion would be attractive to remain inside the HPD camp.
They’ve ran under the HPD badge since 2015. Why stop now?
Well, that Daytona tire fiasco could be why.
However, as Shank said, they went from a hole of 200 points back up to fifth (-118) with two races remaining. It was a remarkable comeback for which they feel like they have a lot to offer.
But, if HPD doesn’t support them, where do they go?
“I don’t know what the odds are. They float. It goes from 50/50 to 80% right now,” Shank said on if he’ll be on the IMSA grid in 2024. “It’s coming down to the last minute, which I don’t like a lot. That’s the way it is right now.”
How much of this is manufacturer dependent?
“That’s a good question. In my life, Jim (Meyer) and I yelled at each other over this for a while now, the team that Jim and I have created on that side has won everything, is extremely competitive, fought back from a 200-point deficit, has a chance at the championship again. In my mind, they’re at the pinnacle level of sports car racing,” Shank said. “That’s where they deserve to be. You can imagine where I think we need to be.”
Meyer chimed in and said don’t count them out just yet. They’re in the thick of it and we’re about to see the aggression get ramped up even more.
“If we’re in contention when we leave this place in a month, might as well come (to Road Atlanta, season finale) because it’s going to be a Martinsville short track race,” Shank agreed.
We’re reached that place. Blomqvist and Braun have put together a hell of a run with three straight podiums including a win in Mosport and a runner-up in Road America. Can they continue this string through Sunday?
They’ll start third.
There’s a lot riding on the final two races for MSR and one of which could be their sports car future. Ironically enough, MSR shares an alliance in INDYCAR with Andretti and it appears at least for today, Andretti is taking their IMSA car.
Vasser Sullivan Racing Could Win A Decade After Indy 500 Triumph
Jimmy Vasser knows a thing or two about racing here. He’s made eight Indy 500 starts during the course of his highly decorated open wheel career. Now, he’s back at Indy. This time, he’s hopeful to take his sports car team to victory lane on Sunday afternoon? KVSH won the 2013 Indy 500. A decade later, they’re eyeing an IMSA win in GTD Pro.
Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 entry give them the best shot. They hold a 144 point lead in the standings on the heels of two wins in 9 races. While they’ve not won since June (Watkins Glen), they do have three straight runner-up finishes and 7 top 2 results in the last 8 races.
Among the pro class, this car was quickest in all four test sessions in July too. This weekend, they were quickest on Friday but third on Saturday. That’s where they’ll start.
Can Penske Pull The Sweep?
Josef Newgarden won this past May’s Indianapolis 500. Can 1 of his 2 Porsche’s win Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks?
Team Penske has a pair of Porsche Penske Motorsports entries. Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet is in the No. 6 Porsche 963 and Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche 963. They went 1-2 on the opening day of July’s test, 1-8 on Friday, 1-2 on Saturday and 1-2 in qualifying as well.
Tandy and Jaminet sit fourth in points after finishes of 8th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 9th, 5th, 7th.
Campbell and Nasr are seventh in points with results of 7th, 5th, 3rd, 9th, 7th, 6th, 1st. Can they win two straight races?
Penske has won the Brickyard 400 (2018 with Brad Keselowski), the Xfinity Series race on both the oval (2012 with Brad Keselowski) and road course (2021 with Austin Cindric), the GMR Grand Prix (5 times), the Harvest Grand Prix (swept 2020) and the Gallagher Grand Prix (2021 – Will Power).
He’s won 19 Indy 500’s, 18 poles and 18 Pit Stop Competition victories.
The only thing missing – IMSA road course win.
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