Sim City Racing won Saturday’s GT PRO battle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the #71 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) of Peter Spijkman and Carson Allen holding off the debuting #99 Paul Botting Motorsport Acura NSX GT3 EVO 22 by 1.171 seconds in the Battle at the Brickyard.
The margin was the sixth-closest finish in GT PRO class history, and it came at the end of a bruising Sprint Cup finale that featured three full-course yellows totaling 48 minutes, seven class lead changes and several post-race stewarding decisions that reshaped the lower half of the order.
Marco Silva Sets the Early Standard for Fischer Motorsport
The afternoon began under a dry, partly cloudy Indianapolis sky, with the forecast calling for 26°C and a southeast breeze across the 2.44-mile, 14-turn road course. Marco Silva put the #44 Fischer Motorsport Porsche on pole with a 1:24.130, his fifth career pole and Fischer Motorsport’s fifth in GT PRO competition.
Silva controlled the opening phase from the front, while Spijkman in the #71 Porsche quickly became his main reference point. The two Porsches stretched away from the rest of the GT PRO field, giving the crowd a proper head-to-head before cautions and strategy pulled the race in different directions.
“That was quite something, wasn’t it?” Silva said afterward. “Peter and I really seemed to enjoy that early stint. I felt our traction in the first sector was strong and being in front with clean air helped massively. I caught the best track conditions, so that must have played a big part.”
Silva said the #44 had “a massive scare on the first restart” when the rear of the car felt loose, but praised the team for getting the setup right. The pace was real: the #44 led a race-high 53 laps. The result, eighth, was not.
Opening-Lap Trouble Brings Another Early Caution
The race continued a trend that series officials had stressed in the drivers’ meeting: an early full-course yellow. The first caution came just over a minute after the green flag, following opening-lap chaos on the back stretch between the chicane and Turn 7, with the #112 Rusty Spatulas Racing McLaren, #77 Virtual Power Sim Racing Porsche and #911 FR13DA Sport Porsche among those caught up.
Moments later, another multi-car incident into Turn 7 involved the #24 Grow Racing Team Porsche, #65 Vulture Motorsports Porsche, #57 Double Stint Racing BMW, #77 Porsche and #911 Porsche. After review, the Stewards issued the #24 a 95-second post-race penalty for incident responsibility, with Ruben Pinho listed as the driver involved.
The first restart came inside the opening quarter-hour, but the GT PRO field barely had time to settle. The #183 Blocco Motore Simsport Aston Martin and #88 Ric Team Racing BMW were involved in contact soon after, with the #183 falling from fourth to 11th in class. The #18 Gowin Racing Ferrari also had contact with the #68 TwoLemmaTree Racing McLaren at Turn 7, spinning the McLaren and costing the Ferrari a drive-through shortly afterward.
Gowin Racing recovered strongly to finish fourth with Jack Hedgcoxe and Josh Gowin, a result that also moved the #18 Ferrari to second in the final Sprint Cup standings. Team management and drivers from Gowin Racing were unavailable for comment after the race.
Paul Botting Motorsport Turns Pit-Lane Start Into a Victory Threat
The drive of the day nearly belonged to Paul Botting Motorsport. The #99 Acura was making its series debut and, as a late entry declared after the deadline, was required to start from pit lane. Ryan G McIntosh and Benjamin G Massey turned that handicap into a 14-position gain, finishing second in the first GT PRO start for both drivers.
Massey climbed through the early disorder and led during the second caution cycle around the one-hour mark, before McIntosh took over and later led again during the final pit sequence. McIntosh said the team came in with modest expectations after a late call-up to the GT3 field.
“It’s crazy, right?” McIntosh said. “We did not really expect much from the race other than aiming for a top ten. For me, both the car and the track were new, so it was a quick learning curve.”
The key, he said, was staying clean while the race came back toward them. “Ben just tried to run clean, and as we avoided the mess on the back stretch, we helped ourselves massively. The safety car gave us the opportunity to get back near the GT PRO pack. We focused on saving fuel and using our heads to get some kind of advantage from anything that could happen later.”
McIntosh emerged near the front in the final hour, and after the last round of stops the Acura rejoined right behind the eventual winners. “There were a variety of moments where we could have tried a lunge for first,” he said, “but with traffic, we could not do anything without making a mess for both of us.”
Final Stint Belongs to Sim City Racing
The second full-course yellow came shortly before the one-hour mark and stretched the race’s strategic middle phase, with the restart coming a little after the first hour. A third caution arrived after roughly 90 minutes of racing and restarted with just under an hour remaining.
Those interruptions split strategies across the class. The #71 Porsche led on lap 57, then lost the lead during the final pit cycle as the #99 Acura, #57 BMW and #77 Porsche each took turns at the front. When Tomás Silva brought the #77 Virtual Power Sim Racing Porsche in from the lead late, Allen cycled the #71 Porsche back to first on lap 87.
From there, Sim City Racing had to defend, not dominate. McIntosh closed in the Acura and spent the closing minutes within striking distance, but Allen kept the Porsche clear through traffic and across the bricks by just over one second.
The victory was Spijkman’s fifth in GT PRO, making him the winningest driver in class history ahead of Bruno Carreira and Joao Pedro Teixeira, who each have four. It also moved Sim City Racing into a tie for second on the all-time GT PRO team wins list with PULSAR eSports Team, both on five victories.
Sim City Racing’s drivers, staff and team management were unavailable for comment after the race.
World Of SimRacing Team Scores Season-Best Podium
World Of SimRacing Team completed the podium with the #151 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Andres Quintana and 16-year-old debutant Javi Sandoval, turning a ninth-place start into the team’s best result of the season.
It was the #151 team’s third top-five finish of the year, an important result in a season that has also included seven finishes outside the top ten in a deep and unforgiving GT PRO field.
Sandoval said the result changed the mood around the program. “The momentum and the atmosphere within the GT3 team have completely changed,” he said. “We trained hard and prepared for the event as best as we could, and this result at Indianapolis was the kind of reward I was expecting. I think I speak for everyone when I say we are very happy about it.”
The Spanish teenager said the race felt far busier from inside the Corvette than the final podium position suggested, especially after the team had to overcome penalties and traffic. “When the race finished, I felt like I could not have done any better,” he said. “The on-track action was worthy of a Fast and Furious movie. In my stint I had to overtake about 10 cars, so it was full of switchbacks, late moves and high pressure.”
Sandoval singled out his battle with the #18 Ferrari as one of the day’s highlights. “I have to congratulate Jack Hedgcoxe,” he said. “A good battle only happens if both drivers are willing, and we both showed excellent car control and clean racing.”
Penalties Shape the Top Ten Behind the Podium
The final classified top ten showed how much survival mattered. Behind the winning #71 Porsche, #99 Acura and #151 Corvette, the #18 Gowin Racing Ferrari finished fourth, followed by the #157 Aston Martin of Timothy Johnston and Chad Dalton in fifth.
The #77 Virtual Power Sim Racing Porsche of Tomás Silva and Luis Cunha finished sixth after briefly leading late in the race, with the #57 Double Stint Racing BMW of brothers Kurtis and Kris Tryber seventh. That was Double Stint Racing’s best result since finishing seventh at VIR in April, an encouraging turn after a difficult run that included a non-classification at Homestead-Miami and 14th-place finishes at Watkins Glen and Road America.
The pole-sitting #44 Fischer Motorsport Porsche finished eighth after its incident-limit drive-through in the closing phase. Silva said the result did not reflect the car’s pace. “Every race is very tough, and the competition is relentless,” he said. “We had a couple of minor touches with competitors, and although they were inconsequential, they forced us to do the drive-through. We knew any shot at the podium was gone.”
The #183 Blocco Motore Simsport Aston Martin finished ninth, while the #68 TwoLemmaTree Racing McLaren completed the top ten. The #68 was issued a 35-second post-race penalty for contact with the #157 Aston Martin at Turn 1 with roughly 20 minutes remaining. TwoLemmaTree argued in its appeal that the McLaren had significant overlap before turn-in and that racing room was available on corner exit, but the appeal stewards upheld the original decision.
Fischer Motorsport Shows Pace but Loses Results
Fischer Motorsport left Indianapolis with speed in both cars and frustration in both garages. The #44 led the most laps but finished eighth, while the #84 Fischer Motorsport Porsche started fifth and ran third and fourth early before being classified 16th after exceeding the maximum drive time limit.
Benjamin Fischer said the #84’s pace was the most encouraging sign in some time. “It does sting,” he said. “I was surprised by my pace in qualifying, to be honest. We had a fantastic setup thanks to Marco and Yannick Wonnenberg, and practice was great. That gave me confidence in qualifying.”
The strategic turning point, Fischer said, was missing the chance to pit under the second full-course yellow. “We should have pitted under that second caution. We did not, and that was part of why we ran into the drive-time issue later. That is on us.”
Stephen Nobes was just as direct. “Ben did a fantastic job in qualifying,” he said. “Strategically, we messed up. We should have pitted and changed drivers during the full-course yellow. We did not, and that meant we had to change drivers and fuel under green, which put us further down the order.”
Blocco Motore Wins the Sprint Cup Despite Difficult Day
The #183 Blocco Motore Simsport Aston Martin arrived at Indianapolis with a commanding Sprint Cup lead of 210 points over the #68 McLaren and 220 over the #18 Ferrari. Its ninth-place finish was not the race the team wanted, but it was enough to clinch the 2026 GT PRO Sprint Cup by 195 points over Gowin Racing.
Ian Laurence Brown said the early contact with the #88 was made worse by a braking-system issue. “We were really glad that ninth was enough to take home the Sprint Cup,” he said. “The crash with the #88 was really unfortunate because our ABS system had a malfunction and switched off for some reason.”
Tyler Redden said the title brought relief after a scruffy final stretch. “It felt great,” he said. “We definitely were not putting our best foot forward toward the end. We started making more mistakes, so it is definitely a weight off our shoulders.”
The #18 Ferrari’s runner-up Sprint Cup finish was built on a strong second half of the sprint season, but its title bid was likely damaged early by 12th and 14th-place finishes at Long Beach and Laguna Seca. TwoLemmaTree Racing, meanwhile, dropped to third in the Sprint Cup standings despite a highly consistent campaign: no wins, but three top-five finishes in five Sprint Cup starts and a top-ten finish in all six rounds.
Defending Sprint Cup champion Sim City Racing won twice in the sprint schedule, at Laguna Seca and Indianapolis, but its title defense fell short by 245 points after finishing 11th at Long Beach, 11th at VIR and 13th at Homestead-Miami.
Post-Race Reactions
Travis Linscome-Hatfield, #68 TwoLemmaTree Racing McLaren: “The Turn 7 one was a little too spicy to start the race, but we talked it out and it is all good.”
On the team’s Sprint Cup campaign, Linscome-Hatfield added: “We could still do a bit better at not getting tangled up in things, but honestly, we did better than last year, and we will always take that as a win.”
Ian Laurence Brown, #183 Blocco Motore Simsport Aston Martin: “For us at Blocco Motore, the most important part is staying positive. No matter how a race goes, left or right, we always try to make the best of it. I do think that helped a lot with the consistency.”
Looking toward Road Atlanta, Brown said: “Road Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks, so hopefully our pace as a team will be strong and we can fight for the win. That is always the goal, and we will not be afraid to defend.”
Tyler Redden, #183 Blocco Motore Simsport Aston Martin: “We have approached this season with absolute ferocity in how we prepare. Last season did not go the way we wanted, but this season we have been all-in since the drop of the green flag at Daytona.”
Redden added that Road Atlanta carries its own risks. “It is one of my favorite tracks and one of the few races on this calendar I have been to in real life. The only scary part is how chaotic the race can be. Track space becomes a premium when the prototypes are coming through the field. Knock on wood that we have a clean race.”
Marco Silva, #44 Fischer Motorsport Porsche: “It is certainly nice to know I can fight for pole positions, but the lack of results highlights areas where I can do better. I look at it this way: better to make these mistakes when we are not on a championship run, to learn, adapt and be better when the chances do come our way.”
Benjamin Fischer, #84 Unitronic Fischer Motorsport Porsche: “The car felt extremely well balanced, even in hot track temperatures, and that was the key difference. We have struggled with that all year. I have to give Yannick and Marco a lot of credit.”
Fischer added: “Once we stop shooting ourselves in the foot with mistakes and strategy errors, we will put ourselves in a spot to succeed. That is the positive: we have the people and equipment to run near or at the front.”
Road Atlanta Decider Comes Next
The GT PRO title fight now heads toward Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Before the championship finale, the official VSCA Road Atlanta Test is scheduled for September 12. One week later on September 19th the 2026 SportsCar Championship and GT PRO title fight will find its conclusion with the fifth annual Petit Le Mans, broadcast live from 14:00 GMT on GreenFlag TV.
The season finale will decide the overall SportsCar Championship. Blocco Motore Simsport leads with 3885 points, 185 ahead of the #18 Gowin Racing Ferrari and 215 ahead of the #71 Sim City Racing Porsche, which moved up to third with its Indianapolis win.
With Sim City Racing carrying fresh momentum following their win, Gowin Racing still within range and Blocco Motore now carrying a Sprint Cup trophy into the season finale, Road Atlanta has a clean championship shape: the #183 Aston Martin has the advantage, but the two closest challengers have both shown race-winning pace when the season has mattered most.
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