No. 01 Cadillac Leads Soggy Battle on the Bricks at Halfway Mark - Speedway Digest

As conditions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway began drying following earlier rain, Renger van der Zande led the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R halfway through the six-hour IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race today.

Watch the exciting conclusion to the race live on NBC and Peacock in the U.S. and on YouTube.com/IMSAOfficial outside the U.S.

The opening three hours on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course featured dramatically changing conditions throughout. The race started with a light rain falling at the drop of the green flag that turned into a heavier downpour, which forced a full-course caution of nearly an hour while track crews worked to remove standing water in several locations around the circuit as well as on pit lane. Racing resumed with just over four hours to go and the chase was on.

The No. 01 Cadillac was one of seven Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) cars to take turns leading the race overall in the opening half. Van der Zande was ahead of Nick Yelloly in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 as the field followed the safety car under the fourth full-course caution of the race at the three-hour mark. Sebastien Bourdais, van der Zande’s co-driver in the No. 01 and winner of the Motul Pole Award in GTP qualifying on Saturday, led the bulk of the laps, including the entire caution period under the wettest conditions.

Skies remained overcast when racing resumed but the rain eventually stopped, with teams returning to dry-condition slick Michelin tires as the track dried out. Other class leaders at the three-hour mark were: the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07 in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R in Grand Touring Daytona.

The Battle on the Bricks was extended to six hours in length this year, making it an added round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. With points added at the three-hour mark of today’s race, the Michelin Endurance Cup season leaders were: the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 in GTP, No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 in LMP2, No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in GTD PRO and No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in GTD.

IMSA Wire Service PR