Saintéloc wins Indianapolis 8 Hours

Things looked set for a Ferrari show at the Indianapolis 8 Hours, but a sequence in the Intercontinental GT Challenge was interrupted by trouble for both AF Corse entries, with Saintéloc Racing making the most of it and winning with the No. 25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.

Green flag was waved with the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari jumping ahead pretty far while Maro Engel put the No. 99 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes in second to prevent an all-Italian 1-2 as the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari was on the hunt for the second place. Most cars came out unscathed from the crowded first lap, but then the No. 70 Inception McLaren got beached in the gravel to avoid major damage along a spinning No. 88 Zelus Lamborghini, which caused the first Safety Car intervention.

30 minutes into the race were enough time for the first setback to a major contender, as the No. 37 WRT Audi lost time in the pitlane after contact with the No. 70 Inception McLaren, which smashed the right front quarter of the car. Back to racing, the No. 59 Crucial McLaren sustained a good lead as pit strategies started to split before the end of the first hour, but was quickly thrown down the order as the main contenders started appearing again, being led by the No. 99 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes with the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 25 Saintéloc Audi hot on the Mercedes back wing while the leading No. 89 AKKA-ASP Mercedes was still out of reach.

A sequence of yellow flags were keeping the cars close, but in between this, the No. 32 WRT Audi went too deep and found the No. 99 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes, meaning that Charles Weerts and Maro Engel lost a lot of contact with the frontrunners, and this allowed the No. 25 Saintéloc Audi of Markus Winkelhock to isolate in the lead before the AF Corse cars start their approach.

The Ferarris were fast all the time, and with 2 hours and a half, Winkelhock was the victim of a decisive Antonio Fuoco, who put the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari on top, and a later driver through penalty for the No. 25 took care of the rest, opening the way to a charging No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari before the third hour came.

The Ferraris spent the third hour slicing through backmarkers, but Nicklas Nielsen had a bit more difficulty to deal with traffic than Alessio Rovera, as the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari was spun by the battling GT4 field, although he didn’t lose any positions. This scenario of total control lasted until hour five, when the No. 3 K-PAX Lamborghini and the No. 89 AKKA-ASP Mercedes jumped in front during a sequence of yellow flags, as teams kept changing their pit strategies. Eventually the No. 3 stopped too and the No. 99 Mercedes was back to the top, but this place was passed to the No. 25 Saintéloc Audi and the No. 89 AKKA-ASP Mercedes during the fifth hour.

AF Corse kept their best cards for the final moments, deploying Callum Ilott to the No. 71 and Alessandro Pier Guidi to the No. 51 in the final 90 minutes, and the British driver was quick in action, passing both the No. 25 and the No. 89 for the lead of the race, but Patric Niederhauser got his pace up right after losing position, pressing Ilott as hard as he could, but couldn’t make the decisive move.

The final hour looked secure for the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari, but miscommunication while clearing a backmarker made Callum Ilott crash into a GT4 Aston Martin, and with most of the right side bring damaged, Ilott had no option than park the car, handing the lead to Dries Vanthoor once the pit cycle was completed.

Another Safety Car, triggered by the No. 99 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes crashing the No. 59 Crucial McLaren, neutralized the field with 30 minutes to go, leaving the Audis in a favorable position, with the No. 32 WRT leading the No. 25 Saintéloc entry, but the No. 25 got the lead back after a drive through being handed for the No. 32, with the No. 89 AKKA-ASP Mercedes just 6 seconds away in second. This gap just increased in the final 20 minutes, to a point where the No. 25 was simply unreachable, meaning it was open way to get the flag for Niederhauser and the French team.

Indianapolis 8 Hour - Race results

The No. 26 Saintéloc Audi won the GT3 Silver Cup from fourth overall after the No. 77 Compass Acura was put out of action in the final minutes, and the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes had the GT3 Pro-Am Cup win. The GT4 Cup was dominated by the No. 36 Bimmerworld BMW in a flawless race where no one came close of them, repeating the 2020 performance with flying colors.

The final race of the season will be the Kyalami 9 Hour on 4 December.

PHOTO: SRO