You probably couldn’t ask for a more exciting finish than what happened at the Indianapolis 8 Hour, third round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge and final round of the 2022 FANATEC GT World Challenge America, where “foreigners” CRAFT Bamboo Racing and AF Corse fought to the final meters for the win, with the No. 77 Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo prevailing in the hands of Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella and Daniel Morad.
Despite the field not being entirely in formation, the start was confirmed with the No. 33 Winward Mercedes keeping the top position from the Qualifying, though the No. 34 Conquest Ferrari and the No. 1 K-PAX Lamborghini were in contention to not let Russell Wardi get too comfortable in clear air.
Most of the manufacturers present sent at least an entry with full factory power, and among them, AF Corse wasn’t hiding the best cards in the first hour, with Daniel Serra compensating for the bad starting position and climbing from 18th position to the podium spots. Ahead of Serra, Alessandro Balzan made the pressure pay dividends, putting the No. 34 in front with less than 20 minutes of racing, which opened the door for the No. 1 to come along and do the move, with Serra coming to third 20 minutes later.
The lead battle turned into a pair of Italians setting their differences, and it worked well in favor of Marco Mapelli as the No. 1 got the lead, leaving Balzan as prey for Serra. The Brazilian was in for some risk taking, which gave him the second place before the first pit window. Once the first stop was done, the No. 71 AF Corse was sent to the lead while the No. 34 and the No. 1 dropped.
The halfway point was reached with disastrous consequences to the No. 1 K-PAX Lamborghini, as a rear left puncture forced Caldarelli to limp back to the pits, and minutes later the Pirelli P Zero DHF on the rear left failed again, but being at the main straight meant the No. 1 met the wall in the process, being left with massive rear damage and a disgruntled Marco Mapelli, who blasted out that the tires aren’t safe in the interview after his crash.
Ulysse de Pauw enjoyed a trouble free run in his stint with the No. 71, having a comfortable advantage to the No. 1 K-PAX Lamborghini for the whole second hour, with the No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes returning to second place after the pit cycle. Antonio Fuoco carried the lead for the No. 71 in the third hour, again as clear as possible of the opposition.
Half of the fourth hour was spent behind the Safety Car, so when the green came back and the No. 77 jumped into action to the lead, but Daniel Juncadella still had Daniel Serra in his mirrors during the fifth hour. The No. 71 could have outpaced the No. 77 during the pit cycle, but it got stuck behind traffic, which ate a chunk of the advantage.
Hour six was gone when a Safety Car call came due to tire barriers on track, and when the green came back, having traffic in front couldn’t have been worse for Raffaele Marciello, and a stuck No. 77 had to look Antonio Fuoco barge into the inside and put the No. 71 back into first place. After being offered the room and then having the door shut on his face, Marciello found a gap on the inside and returned the favor to Fuoco, getting back the lead and opening the gap, only to lose pace during the final hour.
In the Pro-Am Cup, what appeared to be a nice cruise for the No. 94 Bimmerworld BMW turned into worry in the final half hour with the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes coming fast and mounting an attack, though Bill Auberlen had all bases covered to hold Dominik Baumann.
The No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari could fancy a shot at the lead with 1 second to the No. 77 CRAFT Bamboo Mercedes and 10 minutes to go, but it would need traffic to play the part and give the final help. Fuoco in fact closed in as to put the front of his Ferrari alongside the No. 77, but Marciello held it in the toughest way possible to keep the win with CRAFT Bamboo. The overall lead battle actually split the Pro-Am Cup lead battle, which was more than enough for the No. 94 Bimmerworld BMW to secure the class win.
Indianapolis 8 Hour - Race results
The next and final race of the Intercontinental GT Challenge is the debut of the Gulf 12 Hours on 11 December, while the FANATEC GT World Challenge America only returns in 2023 on 25 and 26 February at the NOLA Motorsports Park.
PHOTO: SRO/Brian Cleary
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