Conquest Racing Quickest in Free Practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wright Motorsports Tops the Pro-Am Charts

Conquest Racing Quickest in Free Practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wright Motorsports Tops the Pro-Am Charts
  • Conquest Racing Ferrari, fastest in a tight Pro field
  • Wright Motorsports Porsche sets the pace in Pro-Am
  • ST Racing BMW and DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG quickest in Silver Cup and Am classes
  • Provisional Results

Indianapolis, Indiana - The Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS had their first official practice session on Thursday evening as the sun was setting over Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

The famed Brickyard is the host to the Fanatec GT World Challenge, but also the Intercontinental GT Challenge, with both series competing in the Indianapolis 8-Hour presented by AWS. The free practice session went off without a hitch, as the full hour and a half remained uninterrupted. Twenty-five cars were on the track, and only 1.741 separated the 17th-place finisher from the fastest car. This is a sign for great racing to come on Saturday. 

Pro

The #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 (Daniel Mancinelli, Allesandro Balzan, Cedric Sbirrazzuoli) set the pace early in the session with a flying lap time of 1:22.865. Fourth overall and second in the Pro class was the #1 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Marco Mapelli, Andrea Caldarelli, Michele Beretta). Andrea Caldarelli was able to clinch the Championship earlier at Sebring thanks to a near-perfect season that saw him win eight times. 

The #6 US RaceTronics Mercedes-AMG (Steven Aghakhani, Loris Spinelli, Tristan Vautier) rounded off the Top 3 in the Pro class but finished the practice session in sixth place, just 0.013 away from fifth place overall. Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) guest, the #71 AF Corse-Francorchamps Ferrari 488 GT3, went fourth quickest in the Pro class, followed by the #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Daniel Juncadella, Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Morad) who completed the Top 5 in the Pro class.

Pro-Am 

The Pro-Am class is very close with a championship still wide open among three teams.  During this first session the points leading #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.ii) (Charlie Luck, Jan Heylen, Elia Erhart) set the second fastest overall time, just 0.107 away from first place. 

Fifth overall, second in class, was the #23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 (Onofrio Triarsi, Charlie Scardina, Alessio Rovero), who graduated to the Pro-Am class after securing the 2022 Am title following a weekend sweep at Sebring. 

Third place went to the #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 (George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Ben Keating), only 0.081 away from the 9th best overall time.  The CrowdStrike team is second in Pro-Am points, just 14 behind the Wright Motorsports team. 

Am and Silver Cup 

Although the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 (Samantha Tan, Nick Wittmer, Harry Gottsacker) is the only car entered in the Silver Cup class, the outfit will be looking to secure a top spot in the overall standings as they had the third-best overall lap time, only a mere 0.236 from first place. 

The #08 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (David Askew, Scott Smithson, Valentin Pierburg) was the fastest Am car on the track, with the #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini HuracanGT3 (Jason Harward, Seth Lucas, Jason Daskalos) followed behind in second. 

Pre-Qualifying starts at 10:35 AM ET on Friday, followed by Qualifying 1 at 1:55 PM ET, Qualifying 2 at 2:17 PM ET and Qualifying 3 at 2:40 PM ET.  

Can’t join us at the track? Be sure to watch the live stream action on the GT World YouTube Channel, visit the The Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS website, and follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for live results throughout the race weekend.