AMG tops Indianapolis 8 Hour Free Practice session as darkness falls

Beginning as the sun burned orange behind the front-straight grandstands and running mostly in the dark, the Free Practice session for the Indianapolis 8 Hour, the final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, featured Mercedes AMG at the top of the time sheet. However, Jules Gounon and the No. 80 Mercedes AMG Team Lone Star Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO had a pack of BMWs nipping at his heels.

Gounon's 1m23.215s (105.51mph) was just a tick slower than teammate Lin Hodenius's best of the event so far, set in the test session earlier in the day; but it was enough to keep three BMW M4 GT3 EVOs from claiming the top time, led by the No. 46 Team WRT entry posting a 1m23.289s time courtesy of Kelvin Van Der Linde. The No. 51 Random Vandals entry posted the third-best time (Varun Choksey), followed by the No. 777 Team WRT BMW (Al Faisal Al Zubair). 

Pro-Am featured a far greater variety of manufacturers at the top, led by the No. 21 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of Dennis Marschall at 1m23.593s. Robby Foley was next for Turner Motorsport in the No. 29 BMW M4 GT3 Evo as Foley and Justin Rothberg seek to back up their GT World Challenge America Pro-Am title. Third in Pro-Am was Allam Khodair in the No. 16 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3. 

Dollahite Racing continued to lead the two-car Am class, Eric Powell posting the best time of 1m24.269s in the No. 6 Ford Mustang GT3. 

Earlier in the day, Hodenius posted the top time for Mercedes AMG Team Lone Star Racing in the No. 80 Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO in the test session with a 1m 23.156s lap to lead the Pro category and overall. Hodenius's lap was good for a 105.59 mph average around the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

To make it a Mercedes AMG sweep for the final test session, Lone Star was followed by JMF Motorsports, courtesy of Lucas Auer, and 75 Express, with Will Power posting the fastest time for the team ahead of his GT3 endurance racing debut.

Philip Eng posted the best time in yesterday's session, a 1m 23.636 in the No. 51 Random Vandals BMW M4 GT3 EVO, and Kelvin Van Der Linde made it a BMW one-two in the No. 46 Team WRT entry.

A Mercedes AMG entry also led the Pro-Am category, with Daan Arrow topping the time sheet for Regulator Racing with a 1m 23.411s lap in the No. 91. Ellis headed Colin Braun in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes AMG.

Stefano Gattuso posted the fastest time in the Am category, his 1m 23.973s lap in the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 good enough to best Ozz Negri in the other Am entry, the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.

Saturday's Indianapolis 8 Hour is the final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, as well as the final round of the GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS.

The next session for the Indianapolis 8 Hour contestants is the Pre-Qualifying practice, set to begin at 9:50 a.m. ET on Friday.