- Five Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams Compete this Weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course across Three SRO Motorsports Group Racing Series
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana - Three Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams pull double duty this weekend on the road course at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), competing in the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli inaugural Indianapolis 8 Hour and the season-ending weekend of competition for the SRO GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS. A race within a race, Sunday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour is a round of the worldwide Intercontinental GT Challenge, while the first three hours also serve as the season finale for GT World Challenge America.
Season-long GT World Challenge America competitors DXDT Racing contest both races with their No. 63 and No. 04 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries. The No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 joins the DXDT duo at Indy. The SunEnergy1 Racing car is set for its first North American appearance since team principal and driver Kenny Habul clinched the Intercontinental GT Challenge bronze driver championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca two years ago.
All three Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries compete in the Pro-Am class and plan to challenge for the overall 8 Hour victory, as Mercedes-AMG comes to Indianapolis currently leading the Intercontinental GT manufacturer championship standings.
The DXDT Racing teams have expanded to three-driver entries with an eye on podium success in both the GT World Challenge finale and the Indianapolis 8 Hour.
Richard Heistand will join full-season teammates David Askew and Ryan Dalziel in the No. 63 DXDT Racing entry, while experienced Mercedes-AMG GT3 driver Ben Keating joins GT World Challenge championship contenders George Kurtz and Colin Braun in the No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Keating is a three-time and reigning IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup co-champion competing in Mercedes-AMG GT3s, winning three-straight titles from 2017 through 2019.
Habul co-drives at Indy with familiar teammate Mikael Grenier and Martin Konrad in the No. 75 SunEnergy1 entry.
The Indianapolis 8 Hour is only the second round of the global Intercontinental GT Challenge, following February’s Bathurst 12 Hour in Australia. Intercontinental GT joined the worldwide motorsports community’s pause for the majority of this year in support of the fight against COVID-19, but Indianapolis kicks-off a three-race stretch run of endurance races to complete the season.
The inaugural Indianapolis 8 Hour is scheduled to start this Sunday, October 4, at 10:00 EDT with the opening two hours airing live on the CBS Sports Network (CBSSN). Flag-to-flag race coverage, as well as Saturday’s pre-qualifying, qualifying and pole shootout, streams live on SRO’s www.YouTube.com/GTWorld channel in addition to the Intercontinental GT Challenge Facebook page and website.
The Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing line-up at IMS this weekend also includes a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries competing in the Am class in the season-ending Pirelli GT4 America sprint series doubleheader.
The first of the weekend’s two 50-minute sprints was held Thursday afternoon where Jeff Courtney secured a sixth-place finish following an early contact incident in his No. 99 RecStuff Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.
First-year Pirelli GT4 driver Chris Gumprecht finished eighth Thursday after a competitive run early in his No. 79 CG Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The weekend’s second and season-ending Pirelli GT4 America sprint race is scheduled to start Friday at 12:35 p.m. EDT and can be viewed live at https://www.gt4-america.com/live.
David Askew, Driver – No. 63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I’m looking forward to the season-ender at Indy! It’s been a strange season, lots of ups and downs, but overall, our performance has been excellent. DXDT is a work in progress and we made a lot of improvement this year. We are only as good as our people, and I feel like we’ve made some really good additions and developed deeper relationships with our partners. I’ve got a strong squad with Ryan Dalziel and Richard Heistand, and of course, it’s Indy! Can’t believe I’m racing here, and I applaud SRO for putting this event on the schedule.”
Ryan Dalziel, Driver – No. 63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I'm so glad that SRO made a stop at IMS. It rivals those 'greatest' racetracks in the world. Combining IMS, an eight-hour race, and our GT World Challenge season finale for 2020 into one race will make it extra special. DXDT has really come into its own this year. Between our two Mercedes-AMG GT3s and three TCR entries, I think we have put the brand on the map when you see drivers like Richard Heistand and Ben Keating wanting to be involved for the eight-hour race. Our line-up is fantastic in the No. 63, and David is coming off perhaps his best weekend of the season in COTA. So, I’m really excited to go to Indy and show the global ICGT audience what we can do. It will be a bittersweet race, nobody wants the season to end normally, but I think many of us are glad we had a 2020 season. I know I speak for everyone at DXDT Racing when I say thank you to David Askew and George Kurtz for keeping us all employed during a difficult year. Ready for the weekend 100%.”
Richard Heistand, Driver – No. 63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I'm very excited to be joining DXDT for the Indy 8 hour and I am grateful to David Askew and Ryan Dalziel for the opportunity. When I met the team, it was clear they run fast, well prepared cars and race to win. I can't wait to be out there with these boys giving maximum effort this week!”
Ben Keating, Driver – No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I am so excited to be joining DXDT Racing with George and Colin for this race. It is going to be a lot of fun. George and Colin are racing for a World Challenge Championship first, and the after that we get to go after an Intercontinental GT win in the eight-hour race. This will be a bunch of firsts for me: my first time with DXDT, George and Colin, first time in SRO GT World Challenge and my first time in an Intercontinental GT race. All of these things are very exciting for me, I am looking forward to it, and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 should be right at home on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.”