Motorsport fans love stories of drivers who are penalized to the last row and still manage to win the race, as AO Racing’s Porsche team did in the GTD-Pro class. At the six-hour race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this happened to our Porsche customer sports team AO Racing.

In qualifying, Laurin Heinrich put the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#77) in sixth place on the grid in the GTD-Pro class, but was relegated to the last row after qualifying. From there, the AO Racing Team with the two drivers Michael Christansen and Laurin Heinrich started the attack.

With his third class win in this year’s IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, Laurin Heinrich currently leads the drivers’ championship in the GTD-Pro class. Porsche is also in contention for the manufacturers’ championship title in the GTD-Pro class. By the way, all Porsche GT3 R, as well as the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo and BMW M4 GT3, are homologated with KW V6 Racing dampers.

The top 10 in the GTD-Pro category is completed by the two Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo in fifth (#23) and sixth (#027). Ninth place went to BMW Team Paul Miller Racing with their M4 GT3 (#1).

In the GTD class, another Porsche celebrated class victory. Team Wright Motorsports (#120) crossed the finish line first in their classification. In the GTD, three drivers always share the cockpit, of which one driver must have a “silver” or “bronze” approval.

The GTD class has stricter testing regulations to reduce costs and improve competition. Second place went to BMW Team Turner Motorsport with their BMW M4 GT3 (#96).

Eighth place went to the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#90) of the KellyMoss with Riley team, while the Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (#44) crossed the finish line in eleven place.

The Porsche racing teams MDK Motorsports (#86) and Andretti Motorsports (#43) finished the penultimate race of the 2024 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship in twelfth and 14th place in GTD.

The Lamborghini Iron Lynx team’s SC63 (#63) was forced to retire early due to an accident in the final third of the race.

Previously, the LMDh was in the front third of the overall standings and also briefly took the lead at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

So-called “bronze cars”, in which professionals and amateurs share the cockpit, are not only used in IMSA, but also in the GT World Challenge.

For the first time in motorsport history, a bronze car won the GT World Challenge Europe last weekend.

The OQ Racing BMW M4 GT3 (#30) crossed the finish line ahead of the professional driver pairings at Monza. In addition to the overall victory in Italy, the three drivers Sam de Haan, Ahmad Al Harthy and Jens Klingmann also celebrated the class victory in the “Bronze Cup”.

Second place went to Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts in the WRT BMW M4 GT3 (#32) team, who also took the class win in the “Pro Cup” for the white-and-blue car manufacturer to Munich.

Fifth in the standings and fourth in the “Pro Cup” was WRT’s second Pro BMW with Raffaele Marciello, Maxime Martin and Valentino “Dottore” Rossi in the #46 M4 GT3.

Second place in the “Bronze Cup” was once again a BMW M4 GT3. This time the M4 with the #991 from Paradine Competition. In the overall standings, the BMW finished seventh.

Eighth in the overall standings was the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#911, Pro Cup) of Pure Rxcing with the reigning LMGT3 champions in the WEC Klaus Bachler, Aliaksandr “Alex” Malykin and Joel Sturm. The Porsche 911 GT3 R (#96, Pro Cup) of Rutronik Racing finished 13th.

Second and third place in the Silver Cup went to the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Comtoyou Racing (#12, 15th overall) and Walkenhorst Motorsport (#35, 19th overall).

Photos BMW Motorsport, Porsche Motorsport, Teams, Event Organizers