INDIANAPOLIS – An expanded entry of four Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams across two IMSA Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes competes on the 2.439-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) this weekend in Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race. The penultimate event of the IMSA 2023 season, the two-hour and 40-minute race is scheduled to go green at 1:10 p.m. EDT this Sunday, September 17, with live coverage on the flagship NBC Network beginning at 1 p.m. EDT. The Battle on the Bricks follows Saturday’s four-hour Indianapolis Motor Speedway 240 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race that will see four Mercedes-AMG GT4 teams compete in a twilight race critical to the outcome of the 2023 Grand Sport (GS) team, driver and manufacturer championships.
The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3 and co-drivers Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella compete in the GTD Pro division while a trio of GTD-class competitors complete the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing lineup at Indy. The four Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams at Indianapolis are an IMSA season-high for 2023, matching the four Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing GT3 entries that competed in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona last January.
The WeatherTech team, two-time GTD Pro race winners this season at the Rolex 24 and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, look to build some momentum at Indy to take with them to next month’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans 10-hour race. Gounon, Juncadella and the No. 79 team have a three-point lead in the GTD Pro division standings in the Michelin Endurance Cup, a battle within the overall WeatherTech Championship to be decided at Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta that awards the year’s top performers in the season’s four endurance races.
WeatherTech drivers have been successful on the 14-turn IMS road course in recent years. Juncadella co-drove a Mercedes-AMG GT3 to the overall victory in last October’s Indianapolis 8 Hour while Gounon was on the pole for that race in a Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Winward competes this weekend in the GTD class in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with co-drivers Russell Ward and Philip Ellis. The Winward team and drivers bring the momentum of a season-best third-place finish one race ago at Virginia to the Brickyard.
Winward has combined with Korthoff Preston Motorsports – the new name for Team Korthoff Motorsports – to secure three Mercedes-AMG GT3 podium finishes in the last four IMSA WeatherTech Championship races ahead of Indy.
Mike Skeen and Mikael Grenier co-drove the newly renamed No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 to season-best third-place showings this summer at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) and Road America.
Similar to WeatherTech, the Korthoff Preston team and drivers hope a strong showing this weekend paves the way for Michelin Endurance Cup success at Road Atlanta. Skeen, Grenier and the No. 32 team are second in the Endurance Cup GTD championship standings, just one point out of first place.
The fourth Mercedes-AMG GT3 entry at the Brickyard is the debuting No. 15 Lone Star Racing/Bluff City Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Pilot Challenge regulars Anton Dias Perera and Scott Andrews. They also continue their full-season GS campaign in Saturday’s four-hour race in the No. 27 Lone Star Racing/Bluff City Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The No. 15/No. 27 team and drivers are set for the double in both series this weekend as Lone Star returns to an IMS road course on which they have had recent and winning Mercedes-AMG GT3 success.
Lone Star is joined on the double-duty front at Indy by Winward that fields for the full season both its No. 57 GTD entry and a sister No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 for co-drivers Bryce Ward and Daniel Morad. The GS team was victorious at the Detroit Grand Prix in June and Morad was among Juncadella’s co-drivers last year for the Indy 8 Hour Mercedes-AMG GT3 victory.
Saturday’s four hour is crucial for the GS championship-leading No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak. The No. 72 team and drivers have led the GS championship standings since securing their first IMSA win together last May at Laguna Seca and bring a 10-point lead over the nearest competitors, 1,980 – 1,970, to Indy with only the Road Atlanta finale following Saturday’s twilight race.
Mercedes-AMG also leads the GS manufacturer championship standings coming to Indianapolis by 10 points over the nearest competitor, 2,420 – 2,410.
The No. 72 team and drivers compete alongside longtime teammates Eric Foss and Justin Piscitell who co-drive the No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4. For the second straight race, Piscitell fills in for the No. 56 team’s primary driver Jeff Mosing who is recovering from a back injury from an incident in a single-make series race in late July at Road America.
A full three-day weekend, the Battle on the Bricks schedule at IMS begins with practice sessions for both the WeatherTech Championship and Pilot Challenge this Friday, September 15.
The WeatherTech Championship runs final practice Saturday morning before GTD Pro/GTD qualifying that afternoon at 1 p.m. EDT. Pilot Challenge GS qualifying takes place Saturday morning at 11:20 a.m. EDT to set the starting field for that afternoon’s four-hour Indianapolis Motor Speedway 240 that races into the early-evening darkness after a 4:30 p.m. EDT start.
Battle on the Bricks race-day begins Sunday with a 20-minute warmup session at 8 a.m. EDT prior to that afternoon’s race-start time at 1:10 p.m. EDT.
Jules Gounon, Driver – No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Last year I took pole position for the eight-hour race and Dani won. My favorite sector is the small esses and running by the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course section. We got help with some of the weight off of the WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG GT3 this weekend, which will help getting off the turns. Let’s see what we can do with just two more races left in the season.”
Daniel Juncadella, Driver – No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I like Indy. I have good memories from the eight-hour last year, when we won. The track is pretty flat, and simple to drive. It has a lot of history and is such a big facility that it is fun to race there. Going across the start/finish line with the bricks is cool. We received a pretty good weight reduction on the Mercedes-AMG GT3 for this weekend. I feel good going into the race with the WeatherTech Racing/Proton team and Jules.”
Mike Skeen, Driver – No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Indianapolis is such a special place because of all the history. It will be a pleasure to race there again. I had the chance to drive there in GRAND-AM Street Touring (ST) and in IMSA GT right after the merger, then most recently in a NASCAR Xfinity series car, but have not raced there in quite a while. We did have a successful test there a few weeks ago, so hopefully we can start off strong. It’s also exciting that the team name is changing to Korthoff Preston Motorsports to highlight the efforts of Walt Preston to grow this program to the level that it is.”
Anton Dias Perera, Driver – No. 15 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3; No. 27 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “I think it will be an amazing experience to be at Indy. We have been strong all season, and despite not winning races, I think the team has made great progress. We are ready to step up. Lone Star Racing also has a long pedigree in GT3 racing. So, this is a great opportunity for the team and also for Scott Andrews to showcase his talent. Of course, for me, it will be a baptism of fire. It will be a busy schedule. It is always a challenge to jump between platforms, but we have been testing both cars for a while now and I think I am ready. Mercedes-AMGs have broad similarities in terms of cockpits ergonomics between the GT4 and GT3 platforms, which helps a lot. I just have to learn to switch back and forth between the downforce levels between the cars.”
Scott Andrews, Driver – No. 15 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3; No. 27 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “I have raced with Anton and some others in dual-series races before, but this will be my first time competing in Mercedes-AMG GT3 and GT4 cars on the same weekend. I am really excited, and we are just going to focus on checking all the boxes and trying to do all the right things. Obviously, it is a big step for everybody to move to GTD, but everybody is ready and AJ Petersen and Lone Star Racing always prepare an amazing car. We should have really good cars, and the team has been working really, really hard. It’s going to be very exhausting, as a smaller team, to run both programs efficiently, but everybody has been training. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I am really looking forward to the challenge of competing in both classes. We definitely have a shot at winning in the Pilot Challenge GS race. We’ve been unlucky this year to not secure at least one win and podiums, but hopefully the luck turns around this weekend. In GTD we want to just have a good, clean race in our debut with Bluff City Racing. We would like to come home with the car in one piece and keep everyone motivated and moving in what direction for what is in the future.”
Daniel Morad, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “On paper, the Indy road course doesn’t look that interesting, but when you drive it, it actually has some really good rhythm. You have three distinct sectors of the track, rhythm sections, with Turns 1 through basically 6, the chicane. Then you have the next complex of corners, Turns 7 through 11, and then it is Turns 12, 13 and 14 in the last section, all looped together. It’s interesting and nice to drive but pretty physical actually. There is not much ‘brake’ at Indy.”
