After a season-long battle that has spanned from coast to coast, it has all come down to the DESDER Indianapolis 8 Hour. Only eight hours of racing remain in the fight for the title, and the points margin in the class standings could not be any slimmer. In the Pro class, only a total of 7 points separate the top three teams, with the Pro-Am showdown being even tighter at only 6 points between the top two.
Hear from the championship contenders as they head into their final challenge of the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season.
Pro Class
Michai Stephens – No. 34 Mercedes-AMG Team JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
“In the true spirit of motorsports, you have to fight hard for what you feel you have either earned or deserve. For ourselves as an organization, we're just thrilled to be in a position to be able to have a fight at the end of the year, give or take all that transpired throughout the season. It's a privilege to be here and everybody on the team is excited for the eight hours that are to come. We’re looking forward to fighting to the very end.”
Mikael Grenier – No. 34 Mercedes-AMG Team JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
“We feel good. It’s been a nice season for us so far. We unfortunately lost points in two races, so it's a bit tight in the standings heading into this weekend, and it will likely be a case of whoever finishes in front of the other will be crowned champion. But it’s a long race, and a lot can happen. We haven’t quite been where we want to be in the practice sessions, but I’m confident we will find a way, and then we'll see what happens after eight hours.”
Matias Perez Companc – No. 12 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO
“Heading to the Indy 8 Hour, I think we are in good shape. The rounds at Road Atlanta and Barber were quite good for us, and now we know what we need to do on Saturday. The Mercedes seems quite fast, but we’ll be doing everything we can to beat them and finish the season with the championship title.”
Frederik Schandorff – No. 12 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO
“We feel great. Obviously, it feels awesome to be coming into Indy fresh off a win from Barber. It has put us into a really good position for the fight, but we're still on the back foot. We're still the underdogs in this championship fight because we need to beat the Mercedes. For us, the options are to either win outright, or finish at least two spots ahead of them during the race. It won’t be an easy job, but we’re looking forward to giving it a go.”
Justin Rothberg – No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO
“We’re really happy to be at Indy in a position where we're still in contention for the championship. We're on the back foot in the sense that it's ours to win, not ours to lose, which in the past has been a good situation for us. We're just going to go in, do our best, hope for the best result, and see what we can do out there. We’ve had some good testing and practice sessions, and we feel we’ve made some good progress on the car. We’re feeling good out there, now we’re just hoping we can go out there and convert.”
Robby Foley – No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO
“ We’re in a privileged position to be able to fight for the championship in our first year in the Pro class. Obviously, Indy has been great to us the past two seasons, with back-to-back Pro-Am championships, so we're going to do our best to make it a third title in a row. So far this weekend, we've just been ticking off some testing items and trying to put the car in a good window for a long eight-hour race. We’ll see what comes of it and how we end up, but we’ll be giving it our best shot.”
Pro-Am
Kyle Washington – No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) EVO
“ My mindset going into the Indy 8 Hour is to be lazer focused for my stint and give my two bad boy co-drivers a perfect car in the lead lap. Riccardo and Ayhancan are amazing. We got to hang out a couple of years ago, so we already knew each other well. Riccardo is just a sweetheart, and we’ve all had nothing but laughs so far. But now with the race start approaching, it’s time to get down to business and be ready for the eight hours ahead.”
Dave Musial Jr. – No. 31 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) EVO
“It’s a really cool feeling to not just be competing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but to also be fighting for a championship in my first year in the series. I’ve learned a lot this season and I feel like Ryan and I have really grown as competitors. We have Laurin with us this weekend, I consider him to be one of the best drivers in the world, so we feel pretty good about our chances. Let’s see what we can do!”
Ryan Yardley – No. 31 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) EVO
“I’m super excited for the Indianapolis 8 Hour. It’s awesome to be in contention for a championship coming into this last race of the season. My teammate Dave has done an incredible job all season, and to have Laurin joining us for this last race is amazing. It’s going to be a long but very exciting eight hours of racing ahead.”
The Final Battle
The championship contenders will take on the feature headlining DESDER Indianapolis 8 Hour season finale race Saturday afternoon, October 10th at 12:30 PM ET.
If you can’t make it to Indy, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on SRO RaceControl, YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #Indy8H.