IMSA Indianapolis: Tandy pounces on Nasr error to lead Porsche 1-2

The #7 Penske Porsche Motorsport 963 of Matt Campbell started on pole and led the field to the green flag.

Sebastien Bourdais, who started fourth in Chip Ganassi Racing’s #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, jumped to the outside and immediately made it a three-wide fight for the lead entering Turn 1.

Campbell, on the inside of both team-mate Mathieu Jaminet (starting the #6 963) and Bourdais, locked up and missed the apex of the opening corner, which allowed Jaminet in the #6 entry to grab the lead. Consequently, it squeezed Bourdais, who was hit and spun around by the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist, who was then hit by Phillip Eng in the #24 BMW M Team RLL machine.

The first caution came out due to debris left over from the incident, which sent Bourdais into the pits with right front damage and in need of a nose change. Blomqvist remained out on track despite damage to the front of his car, while Eng’s damage was significant enough to require multiple visits to the pitlane as it finished 41st overall, and last in the GTP class, at 10 laps down.

The second caution came out when the #18 ORECA LMP2 07 of Dwight Merriman (Era Motorsport) made slight contact with the #93 Acura NSX GT3 (Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR) in the GTD class coming out of the last corner of the 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit. Merriman was sent into a spin in front of the field, with several near misses until the yellow came out.

A run of driver changes followed soon after, with Tandy replacing Jaminet, while Nasr swapped with Campbell. At this time, Blomqvist remained in, but was serviced with a nose change from the earlier contact.

During the GTD split sequence under the caution, the Penske cars failed to yield appropriately, according to race control, allowing the #31 Whelen Cadillac of Pipo Derani to bizarrely sprint to first place, despite running under yellow, ahead of the Penske Porsches.

Nasr jumped ahead of Tandy on the restart going into Turn 1 with 1h35m to go, while Derani sped off in the lead.

#31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V- Series.R: Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

It took 25 minutes for Nasr to close on Derani, who overshot Turn 1 after struggling with lapped traffic. As a result, Nasr grabbed the lead and brought Tandy through, as well, while Derani fell to third and immediately began to drop back from the Porsches.

With one hour remaining, Nasr and Tandy made slight contact while weaving through traffic, which let Tandy close and tease a shot for the lead coming out of Turn 4. However, the track position remained unchanged.

The moment of the race came with 46 minutes left. Nasr pitted as Tandy inherited the lead and stayed out an additional lap. On his out-lap, Nasr locked up going into Turn 7 and lost time on the grass, while Tandy kept it clean and came away 7s ahead after the cycle was complete.

From there, the Briton maintained the lead and gapped his team-mate to win by 17.421s. The #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing finished third, with Connor De Phillippi guiding the team to the finish after co-driver Nick Yelloly handled the early running.

The LMP2 battle was won by Mikkel Jensen in the #11 TDS Racing entry also co-driven by Steven Thomas. The winning move came with 25 minutes left in the race, with Jensen driving by the #8 Tower Motorsports machine of Louis Deletraz, who had led the majority of the way in the category.

Anthony Mantella and Wayne Boyd guided the #17 Ligier JSP320 for Tower Motorsports to victory in LMP3, 12s ahead of Josh Burton – and co-driver Gar Robinson – in the #74 Riley Ligier.

#79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3: Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

GTD Pro was won by the #79 Mercedes AMG GT3 co-driven by the WeatherTech Racing duo of Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon. They finished 3.493s ahead of the #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for Heart of Racing Team, piloted by Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas.

Philip Ellis provided the late magic in GTD, pulling off the class-winning move with four minutes to go in Turns 8-9. Ellis pushed the #57 Mercedes AMG GT3 (Winward Racing) by Loris Spinelli’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 (Forte Racing), who ended up second at 1.268s behind at the finish.

IMSA Indianapolis race result

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Drivers	#		Chassis	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	N. Tandy M. Jaminet Porsche Penske Motorsport	6		Porsche 963	113	-		3
2	M. Campbell F. Nasr Porsche Penske Motorsport	7		Porsche 963	113	+17.421	17.421	3
3	C. de Phillippi N. Yelloly BMW M Team RLL	25		BMW M Hybrid V8	113	+32.964	15.543	3
4	P. Derani A. Sims Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing	31		Cadillac V-Series.R	113	+48.431	15.467	3
5	R. Taylor F. Albuquerque Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06	10		Acura ARX-06	113	+1'00.008	11.577	3
6	T. Blomqvist C. Braun Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian	60		Acura ARX-06	113	+1'09.574	9.566	3
7	S. Bourdais R. van der Zande Cadillac Racing	01		Cadillac V-Series.R	113	+1'10.986	1.412	5
8	T. van der Helm M. Rockenfeller JDC/Miller Motorsports	5		Porsche 963	113	+1'11.470	0.484	3
9	H. Tincknell G. Bruni Proton Competition	59		Porsche 963	113	+1'13.652	2.182	5
10	T. Steven M. Jensen TDS Racing	11		ORECA LMP2 07	110	3 laps		5
11	D. Goldburg L. Deletraz Tower Motorsports	8		ORECA LMP2 07	110	3 laps		5
12	G. Kurtz B. Hanley Crowdstrike Racing by APR	04		ORECA LMP2 07	110	3 laps		5
13	B. Keating P. Chatin PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports	52		ORECA LMP2 07	109	4 laps		6
14	R. Sales G. van der Garde TDS Racing	35		ORECA LMP2 07	108	5 laps		6
15	A. Mantella W. Boyd AWA	17		Duqueine D08	107	6 laps		4
16	G. Robinson J. Burdon Riley	74		Ligier JS P320	107	6 laps		5
17	N. Siegel G. Grist Jr III Racing	30		Ligier JS P320	107	6 laps		4
18	B. Garg G. de Jr III Racing	29		Ligier JS P320	107	6 laps		4
19	O. Fidani M. Bell AWA	13		Duqueine D08	107	6 laps		4
20	D. Merriman R. Dalziel Era Motorsport	18		ORECA LMP2 07	106	7 laps		6
21	L. Willsey J. Barbosa Sean Creech Motorsport	33		Ligier JS P320	106	7 laps		4
22	K. Conway J. Geesbreght Ave Motorsports	4		Ligier JS P320	105	8 laps		5
23	D. Juncadella J. Gounon WeatherTech Racing	79		Mercedes AMG GT3	104	9 laps		4
24	R. Gunn A. Riberas Heart Of Racing Team	23		Aston Martin Vantage GT3	104	9 laps		3
25	J. Hawksworth B. Barnicoat Vasser Sullivan	14		Lexus RC F GT3	104	9 laps		3
26	R. Ward P. Ellis Winward Racing	57		Mercedes AMG GT3	104	9 laps		4
27	M. Goikhberg L. Spinelli Forte Racing Powered by USRT	78		Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	104	9 laps		5
28	B. Sellers M. Snow Paul Miller Racing	1		BMW M4 GT3	104	9 laps		3
29	R. De Angelis M. Sorensen Heart Of Racing Team	27		Aston Martin Vantage GT3	104	9 laps		3
30	P. Gallagher R. Foley Turner Motorsport	96		BMW M4 GT3	104	9 laps		5
31	A. Brynjolfsson T. Hindman Wright Motorsports	77		Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	104	9 laps		4
32	K. Bachler P. Pilet Pfaff Motorsports	9		Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	104	9 laps		5
33	A. Garcia J. Taylor Corvette Racing	3		Corvette C8.R GTD	104	9 laps		3
34	B. Auberlen C. Hull Turner Motorsport	97		BMW M4 GT3	104	9 laps		4
35	D. Brule A. Udell Kellymoss with Riley	92		Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	104	9 laps		4
36	M. Skeen M. Grenier Korthoff/Preston Motorsports	32		Mercedes AMG GT3	104	9 laps		5
37	P. Hyett S. Priaulx AO Racing	80		Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	104	9 laps		5
38	J. Rabe D. Dickerson MLT Motorsports	54		Ligier JS P320	103	10 laps		4
39	A. Metni K. van Berlo Kellymoss with Riley	91		Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	103	10 laps		6
40	P. Eng A. Farfus BMW M Team RLL	24		BMW M Hybrid V8	103	10 laps		6
41	J. Andretti G. Chaves Andretti Autosport	94		Aston Martin Vantage GT3	103	10 laps		4
42	S. Monk K. Legge Gradient Racing	66		Acura NSX GT3	103	10 laps		5
43	F. Montecalvo A. Telitz Vasser Sullivan	12		Lexus RC F GT3	103	10 laps		4
44	A. Dias S. Andrews Lone Star Racing	15		Mercedes AMG GT3	103	10 laps		4
45	A. Koreiba C. Bloum Performance Tech Motorsports	38		Ligier JS P320	102	11 laps		6
46	B. Iribe F. Schandorff Inception Racing	70		McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	96	17 laps		6
47	D. Andersen E. Jones High Class Racing	20		ORECA LMP2 07	78	35 laps		6
48	A. Harrison K. Marcelli Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR	93		Acura NSX GT3	24	89 laps		1
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