Sebastien Bourdais was propelled by his pole run in the qualifying for today’s six-hour TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This brought a glimpse of hope that the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R may not be out of the championship race.
At the same time, he acknowledges that the Porsche Penske Motorsport, currently in first and second place in the championship, seems to be capable of achieving a good result in any circumstance.
“They always seem to come back from the dead,” Bourdais said with a laugh. “So every time you think they’re pretty much done, they come back and finish on the podium or win the race. It’s the beauty of IMSA — it never ends. But, at the same time, they haven’t had a single bad race so far this year, and we’ve already had one DNF and one that looked like a DNF.
“So, yes, we need help for sure. If the stars align, and we have a bit of luck, then anything is possible. In pure results, if they finish placed, then it’s pretty much over.”
Indy Newcomers
Ben Barker, driving the Ford Mustang GT3 Proton Competition No. 55 with Giammarco Levorato and Corey Lewis, is one of several drivers on the grid who will make their debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and RACER sought his first impressions.
“First time at the mecca of motorsport in the USA, and yeah, it’s pretty amazing. Like, the whole complex is pretty crazy. It’s a short and exciting track with a lot of cars, so it’s going to be busy.
“It’s short, it’s not much. But, equally, there are a lot of combined corner sections where you really have to think about the placement of your car. Trying to learn the track with a lot of cars was a bit challenging, so I didn’t really get into a proper flow.”
Weather Forecast
Who knows? Every time we think rain or storms will impact a race, we are wrong. The chance of rain has decreased since yesterday, and now the forecast predicts only a small chance near the end of the race. It will also be considerably cooler than in recent days.
The biggest impact, if the storms that rolled in Friday night are any indication, is lightning. Lightning within a certain radius of the track will bring out a red flag.
Driving Time
The minimum driving time for GTP and GTD PRO in the six-hour race is 30m. The minimum driving time for LMP2 and GTD is 1h30m. The maximum driving time for all classes is four hours.
Tire Allocations
GTP and LMP2 have seven sets of Michelin hard compound tires between qualifying and the race. GTD PRO and GTD have nine sets for the event. Rain tires, which have a chance of coming into play, do not count towards the allocations.
How to Watch and Listen
The race will be broadcast in full, starting at 11:30 AM ET on Peacock, with NBC’s broadcast starting at 3:00 PM ET. The audio coverage from IMSA radio will be available on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com, and SiriusXM (XM 206, Web/App 996)
