- Acura NSX GT3 EVO22 earns sixth consecutive podium finish in GT World Challenge competition
There is no place quite like the racing capital of the world, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 2.4-mile road course within the most famous racing facility in the world played host this weekend to the final round for the SRO GT World Challenge America and Touring Car America series.
Winning at the "Brickyard" is a bucket list item for teams and the HRC Honda and Acura drivers claimed multiple victories at the season ending race, highlighted by the Integra Type S sweeping the weekend in the TCX division.
FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE AMERICA POWERED BY AWS
The season ending weekend is setup differently for the GT cars compared to the rest of the year. Instead of two 1.5 hour races, the largest GT field of the year took to the Brickyard for one eight hour double points race to conclude the season. Eighteen-year-old Luca Mars took the green flag 12th behind the wheel of the Acura NSX and had a huge start making up four places in turn one. He continued to make moves throughout the rest of his stint getting the Acura up to the sixth overall (second in class) when he handed the car over to Zach Veach. Unfortunately, the team was called for a pit infraction and had to serve a drive-through penalty putting them back into 12th. The NSX was performing great with Veach and third-hour driver Gabby Chaves working their way through the field. By the time Mars was behind the wheel again, they were back into fourth place in class. Through the next cycle of drivers the team had worked all the back into sixth overall and third in class.
With just two hours remaining, Veach made contact with a driver slowed unexpectedly and was given another drive-through penalty, but the team keep pushing. They were able to pit under caution with a little over an hour remaining, getting Chaves behind the wheel and needing to save fuel to make it to the end. Despite being in fuel saving mode, Chaves was able to use the NSX to carve his way through the field, making it all the way up to fourth overall and second in class. That is where they finished as the Acura runs out of gas on the cool-down lap after a very successful Indy 8-Hour race.
Quotes
Zack Veach (#93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3) "What a day! It seemed like everything that could happen to put us down, did. We had an issue with the timer in pit lane that resulted in a drive-through. We clawed our way back to run second and then a bronze [rated driver] broke really early in front of me and I hit him, so we had another drive-through. But this team never quit and I'm just so proud of Racers Edge. These guys have so much heart and worked so hard to make this car what it is. I just can't thank them, and Acura and HRC, enough for the opportunity. It's been a great season and I'm thankful to end it on a high note like this."
Luca Mars (#93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3) "It was awesome. I learned so much this year – from Zach [Veach], and from everyone at HRC. We just kept getting faster and better, improving all around, throughout the season. So we were fighting for wins and podiums at the end. After a eight hours here, I'm super happy with P2 here. We fought hard. We had some setbacks, but never gave up and were able to get it done there at the end."
Gabby Chaves (#93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3) "It was awesome. I'm so glad we were able to come back from the penalties. Everyone just put their head down and we made the right strategy calls. Opting to go to the fuel save early, I think that was really good. We were able to keep up our pace, even while saving fuel. It was perfect."
Next
This weekend's races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway closed out the 2024 SRO TC America and Fanatec GT World Challenge America seasons. The 2025 season gets underway March 28-30 at Sonoma Raceway in California.
GT World Challenge America Indy 8 Hour Saturday Race Results
4th (2nd in class) - #93 Luca Mars, Zach Veach & Gabby Chaves, Racers Edge Motorsports, NSX GT3