Ending a 23-race winless streak in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the No. 31 Whelen Action Express Racing Cadillac won the Battle on the Bricks from the pole position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
It’s only the second victory in the Grand Touring Prototype category for the venerable team, which has won multiple championships in the premier prototype classes. It’s most recent win was at the 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, and Frederik Vesti combined to lead 210 of 243 laps on the 14-turn, 2.39-mile road course during the six-hour event, beating Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R 0.988 seconds. Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun finished third in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06, which started 12th for failing inspection after turning the fastest lap in qualifying.
IMSA INDIANAPOLIS RESULTS: Click here for overall l By class
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: Click here for the points after Indianapolis
“It’s a bit of a relief to get the first one under the belt for the year,” said Aitken, who took the checkered flag. “I think we had a really awesome car today that was working well also in qualifying, and we were a little bit fortunate that the 60 had trouble to take the pole.
“But I think with the number of laps that we led today, it shows how well we were working as a team, and it was nice having the flexibility of three drivers. It was quite a hard day out, I think, with some extended runs of green. It was a really fun race at the end, really tough, but had a lot of fun trying to hit the number and hold the track position at the same time.”
It’s the second win on the IMS road course for Action Express, which won with the No. 5 entry in 2014.
Bamber earned his first victory since Sebring in 2022, ending a winless drought of 18 starts. It’s the first class win for Vesti, who was making his sixth IMSA start.
“It’s awesome to get back in victory lane, but I think it’s also really great for Cadillac,” Bamber said after his ninth career class victory. “We had really high hopes at the start of the season. We’ve had a lot of quick cars but just hasn’t really rolled our way. We’ve been working day in, day out to try and get this win. It’s really nice to be back on the top step of the podium. I think it’s great for the team, and yeah, just have to thank everyone for the hard work in the background. There’s been a massive amount of stuff from Cadillac, through updates, through winter, throughout the season.”
In the GTP championship battle, the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport combination of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell finished seventh and have a 131-point lead over No. 7 teammates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, who finished 12th. No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 drivers Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor trail by 145 points heading into the season finale.
The Indianapolis winners in other categories:
LMP2: No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07 with co-drivers Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea. It’s the fifth IMSA class win for the team and its first since last season’s finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. TDS Racing has three consecutive LMP2 wins at Indianapolis, the most of any IMSA team at the Brickyard.
GTD Pro: No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 with co-drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx. It’s the team’s third GTD Pro victory this season after also winning at Daytona nd Detroit. With three wins, Ford has its highest victory total in IMSA since 2019 and its first sports car win at Indy since 2012. Rockenfeller, 42, has multiple wins in an IMSA season for the first time since 2006.
GTD: No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 with co-drivers Brendan Iribe, Ollie Millroy and Frederik Schandorff. It’s the first IMSA class victory for the team, which previously finished second six times (most recnetly at Watkins Glen). Ferrari earned multiple wins in GTD for the first time since 2016. Iribe had been winless in his previous 37 IMSA starts.
IMSA INDIANAPOLIS RESULTS
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Results by class
Fastest laps by driver
Fastest laps by driver after race (over the weekend)
Fastest laps by driver and class after race
Lap chart
Best sector times
Leader sequence
Race distance and average speed
Fastest lap sequence
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Time cards
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Weather report
NEXT RACE
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will conclude its 2025 season with the Petit Le Mans on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (noon ET, Peacock, NBC noon-3 p.m.).