Evocative Brands to Battle on Bricks at IMSA as Sports Car Title Races Rage

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From IMS:

  INDIANAPOLIS (Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026) – Sports car racing takes center stage as autumn approaches at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the evocative automobile brands and top drivers and teams of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship competing Sept. 18-20 in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.

Forty-four cars among four classes will compete simultaneously on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course during the feature race, which starts at 3:10 p.m. ET Sunday. The race is considered a sprint event and lasts two hours, 40 minutes, a change from the six-hour endurance format of 2024 and 2025.The premier Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class will be joined by the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), GT Daytona PRO (GTD PRO) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes on track for the race.

GTP and LMP2 cars are exotic prototype race cars, while GTD PRO and GTD are based on production models and feature brands and models such as Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, McLaren and Porsche.

All teams field just two drivers, who rotate stints in the car, for this event. That’s a change from the three-driver lineups many teams employed for the endurance races of the past two years. A victory at Indianapolis will carry more than just prestige, as championship races in all four classes are raging with this event being the penultimate race of the WeatherTech Championship this season. The last race of 2026 is Petit Le Mans on Sept. 30-Oct. 3 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Jack Aitken, who drove the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac team to victory last year at IMS, leads the GTP standings with the team by 118 points over Laurin Heinrich. Porsche is strategically moving Heinrich back to the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport alongside Kevin Estre from JDC-Miller Motorsports to try and gain ground on Aitken.The GTP title race took an unexpected turn at the last race, Aug. 2 at Road America, when Aitken and Estre collided late while dueling for second place. That incident eliminated Aitken from the race, and he lost crucial points. Heinrich was part of the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche team that finished second in the race behind winners Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.LMP2 has an even closer title race entering The Racing Capital of the World.

The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR shared by George Kurtz and Alex Quinn leads the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition car of Tom Dillmann and Jeremy Clarke by 36 points in what appears to be a two-car battle for the crown. Dillman and Clarke have won the class in the last two races this season to pull within title contention.

There will be a bit of NTT INDYCAR SERIES flavor in the LMP2 class, as ECR driver Christian Rasmussen was a late addition to the race roster. The Dane will share the No. 18 Era Motorsport car with Nick Boulle

.GTD PRO has a raging title race, as just 67 points separate the top five teams, each of which represent a different manufacturer (BMW, Chevrolet, Lamborghini, Porsche and Ford).Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen, sharing the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, lead the class by 23 points over the No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R shared by Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner.The rising threat in GTD PRO is the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 shared by Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell. That team has won the class honors at the last two events this season to climb into third in the standings, 56 points behind leaders De Phillippi and Verhagen.Newly crowned INDY NXT by Firestone champion Nikita Johnson isn’t laying low in the offseason, as he will share the No. 59 RLL Team McLaren McLaren 720S GT3 EVO in GTD PRO.

Former INDYCAR SERIES driver Jack Hawksworth also is racing in the class in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 fielded by former INDYCAR SERIES team Vasser Sullivan Racing.In GTD, Philip Ellis and Russell Ward have won the class in three straight races entering Indy in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, elevating it to the class lead. They lead Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 by 36 points.The last time a WeatherTech Championship team won four consecutive races in any class was in 2023, when Riley took four straight in the former LMP3 class.

INDYCAR SERIES fans will note three former series drivers in the GTD field: Robert Wickens, Benjamin Pedersen and Callum Ilott.

WeatherTech Championship practice takes place at 3:25 p.m. ET Friday, with pre-qualifying practice at 10:45 a.m. Saturday. Qualifying is set for 5:05 p.m. Saturday.Saturday’s feature race will be the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 for the Michelin Pilot Challenge, a two-hour race that starts at 2:30 p.m. That series also features a “race within a race,” but with just two classes of production-based sports cars and touring cars from brands such as Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Cupra, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Porsche, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.2002

Indianapolis 500 pole winner Bruno Junqueira will return to IMS to share the No. 56 Baker Racing Audi RS3 LS in the Touring Car (TCR) class.

Support series racing also will take place in Porsche Carrera Cup, Lamborghini Trofeo and Mazda MX-5 this weekend.

Tickets and information for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks are available at IMS.com. 
 

Swedish Hometown To Honor Indy 500 Winner Rosenqvist with Public Celebration

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FromIMS:

  INDIANAPOLIS (Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026) – 2026 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Felix Rosenqvist will be honored Saturday, Dec. 5 by his hometown, Värnamo, during a public celebration in the Swedish city.
Local residents, motorsports fans and visitors from near and far are invited to join the city in celebrating his historic victory May 24 in the Indianapolis 500. The free, family-friendly event will take place in central Värnamo with Rosenqvist as the guest of honor.
“Celebrating an Indy 500 victory in my hometown will be an unforgettable way to conclude the best year of my life,” Rosenqvist said.
“Sharing an occasion like this with everyone in Värnamo, where the dream began, will feel completely surreal. It will truly be one of those pinch-me moments.
“It is truly amazing to think that we will all be able to experience and share this together. I am really looking forward to seeing friends, family and everyone else in Värnamo in December.”T
he program will include tributes from the stage, interviews, live music and motorsports-themed activities. Representatives from INDYCAR will take part in the celebration. Additional news and highlights will be announced closer to the event
.Rosenqvist earned his first victory in ”The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian. He beat David Malukas of Team Penske by .0233 of a second in the closest finish in the century-plus history of the race.
“Felix Rosenqvist’s success is an outstanding achievement that has inspired tremendous pride and joy throughout Värnamo,” said Staffan Svensson, project manager and destination development officer at Värnamo Municipality.
”We want to give the people of Värnamo and the motorsports community an opportunity to celebrate him together, while also showcasing the strong sense of community and local pride that exists here.”
The event is being jointly organized by Värnamo Näringsliv, Värnamo City and Värnamo Municipality.
“This partnership reflects the strong sense of community that makes Värnamo what it is,” said Anki Hansson of Värnamo Näringsliv. ”Together, we want to create a public celebration that honors Felix while also welcoming visitors to Värnamo.” 
 

IMSA Battle on the Bricks Entry List has Some IndyCar Flavor

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IMSA gets its turn on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course this weekend. 44 entries across four classes will compete in a 2-hour, 40-minute sprint race Sunday afternoon. The race is the penultimate event on IMSA’s calendar.

The season ends at Road Atlanta next month.

The3 entry list can be found here:

2026_IWSC_Indianapolis_PreEvent_EntryList.pdf

Two drivers with IndyCar connections should have the most followers from the IndyCar fans. 2026 IndyNXT champion Nikita Johnson in the number 59 McLaren in the GTD Pr4o class, and Robert Wickens will co-drive the number 36 Corvette in the GT Daytona class.

Robert Wickens will drive the Corvette in the GT Daytona class

Other drivers with IndyCar connections”

LMP2

Tristan Vautier car 8

GTD Pro

Jack Hawksworth Lexus car 14

GT Daytona

Aaron Telitz and Ben Pedersen Lexus car 12

Callum Ilott Porsche car 120

The race begins at 3:10 pm Eastern on Sunday with broadcast on ABC and Peacock.

I will have more about the event later this week, plus an IndyCar post on Thursday.

Palou had ‘Fun;’ Found Some Speed

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Alex Palou had his turn in the IR-28 on the IMS oval Thursday. despite a stoppage for rain, the entire run plan for today got completed.

Today was cooler than Wednesday, and the new Indy race car responded. Some media members clocked speeds in the 217 mph range and a best lap pf 218.1 mph.

“Very fun,” the five-time series champion said. “At the beginning, it was super fun because it’s a new car and you’re back at the Speedway. Then you’re like, ‘Can we go faster?’ “

Palou said he had not talked with Alexander Rossi, who tested the car Wednesday, in detail.

 “I think he did a lot of basic stuff. Even us, we did a lot of basic stuff and trying to get a lot of data for Dallara itself to try and see what the car is doing when we get like crazy ride heights up, down, like just trying to get like basic numbers.”

“We got a lot more laps than I expected with the weather, and the car felt good,” Palou said. “We actually got quite a lot of speed. We improved over 2 miles an hour throughout the day, and we didn’t really work too much to get it.”

Palou noted that the test machine does not have the hybrid component installed. He expects the car to be faster when the final package is complete next year. Palou corroborated Rossi’s assessment of the similarity between the new car and the current one.

The schedule for future testing has not been announced, but there will be a test at Sebring this fall. Palou believes he will be one of the drivers at the Florida track.

Notes

Some observations from this non gear head:

The IR-28 has a leaner and seemingly lower profile than the current racer.

The trash basket look of the current aeroscreen in a head on view is gone, giving the car a sleeker look.

That rear wing will take some getting used to. It looks like an F1 car deploying DRS. I have no idea how it is supposed to work.

I love the livery IndyCar is using for the test. I remarked to a fellow media member today that IndyCar should mandate the use of this design each race weekend in 2028.

Thanks for following along these two days. It was fun watching this machine run on the oval..

Below are a few photos from today.

Rossi: IR-28 “Pretty Standard”

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Alexander Rossi evaluated his test in the Dallara IR-28 on its first oval run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today.

“It does everything that INDYCAR SERIES machinery should do around here,” Rossi said. “We got through some basic mechanical and aero changes to kind of understand the offsets that they’re going to present to us in a couple of years, and there was no surprise. It was really pretty standard.”

Alewxander Rossi talks about his test day.

The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner and Mike O’Gara, INDYCAR’s vice president of Competition and Race Engineering, both emphasized that Wednesday’s objective was to gather information, not to look for speed or performance.

Rossi ran sets of five laps or fewer as engineers collected data. I’m not sure Rossi turned a lap much above 210 mph.

Today’s test was cut about an hour short by a brief rain just after 4 pm.

Tomorrow IndyCar series champion Alex Palou will have turn in the new machine with the same goals in mind as today’s session.

tomorrow’s test is scheduled to run from 9 am until 5 pm Eastern time. Turn 2 viewing mounds are open.

Some more photos of the new car:

IR-28 Takes to the Oval

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Good afternoon from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where the IR-28 is taking its first laps min speedway configuration. Since the lunch break Alexander Rossi has been on track twice. The first run lasted for about five laps, and he just completed two more circuits before returning to the pits.

The car has a leaner profile than the current racer used by IndyCar. Speed is not the objective today and tomorrow when Alex Palou takes the wheel. This is a est to make sure everything on te ca works.

Here are a few photos from earlier.

Rossi just returned to the track for the third run of the afternoon. I’ll be back after the end of the day with hopefully some quotes from Rossi.

2026 IndyCar Season Review

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Two words sum up the 2026 IndyCar season- Alex Palou. Palou cruised to his fourth straight series title and his fifth title in six years. Fans may get tired of his winning all the time, but they need to appreciate incredible talent we are witnessing. Sebastien Bourdais won four titles in a row from2004-2008. It may be another 20, years before we see such a feat again.

In 2025 Palou won four of the first five races; in 2026 the Spaniard too three of the first five events. Palou took the lead in the standings for good after winning at Long Beach. Josef Newgarden and Kyle Kirkwood each led the standings for brief periods.

Palou won the title by 86 points over Kirkwood. In 2025 he beat Pato O’Ward by 196 points. I don’t think he is getting nervous about how close the competition is getting.

While Palou piled up points, Kirkwood was in a three-way battle most of the season with David Malukas and Christiam Lundgaard for second place. The three swapped second place after every race, it seemed. None of the three could string together a series of good results, allowing the defending champion to pull further ahead each week.

The Racing Slips a Bit

Overall, the races in 2026 were not as good as they were in 2025. There were a few exceptions. like the Indianapolis 500, but the road and street courses seemed mainly uncompetitive.

I’m not sure if there were changes to downforce settings or if the hybrid unit is affecting the races, but I hope a solution can be found for 2027 so that we can enjoy the final year of the DW12 era.

Ovals and Rain

With the exception of Phoenix, rain impacted every oval race. The 500 went t5o caution then red for rain, Gateway was halted just past halfway, Nashville was postponed until the following day and the race distance change to an unsatisfying length, and the first Milwaukee race turned out to be the second Milwaukee race. The Saturday event stopped after 90 laps and finished Sunday late afternoon.

I have never seen a season with as many rain issues as we saw in 2026. I expect a completely dry oval season in 2027.

Steeping Up Their Game

The team and driver I was most impressed with in 2026 was Juncos Hollinger Racing and Rinus VeeKay. JHR had a lower tier team. In 2025 Conor Daly finished 18th in the standings in the number 76.

VeeKay, a driver who many thought had potential but had not displayed it consistently, had lingered in the middle of the pack with ECR and in 2025 with Dale Coyne.

VeeKay rose to 10th in the standings. He achieved the team’s second podium in history, with four results in the top five and four more in the top 10. VeeKay made three appearances in the Fast Six qualifying in the second half of the season.

Why a larger team didn’t sign him for 2027 defies logic. If VeeKay and the team have more consistency next season, I can see the driver from the Netherlands moving to one of the Big Four teams.

Things that Ended and Things that Somehow Didn’t Start

2026 saw two long term streaks end which involved two future Hall of Fame drivers. Scott Dixon did not win a race this year. he had won at least one race every season for 21 straight years. Will, Power also failed to add to his winning streak run of 12 consecutive seasons. I think Power will get to victory circle in 2027, but I am not so sure that Dixon will with his new team at McLaren.

Dixon also ended a 25-year run with Chip Ganassi racing. The New Zealander still sits second in career wins with 59. I would love to see him get number 60 before he retires.

Scott McLaughlin also ended a streak of 35 races without a win on Sunday at laguna Seca.

One thing that almost everyone was sure would happen in 2026 was David Malukas getting his first IndyCar victory. He moved from A. J. Foyt Racing to Team Penske. Malukas came close, losing the Indianapolis 500 in the closest finish in history. Malukas had three other second place results. He faded to fifth in the fin al standings.

Notes and Top Races

Palou won six times in 2026. He has won 14 of the 35 races over the last two years.

Eight different drivers won this season, which is about average for an IndyCar year. Seven drivers won races in 2025.

Best races: Indianapolis 500, Road America, Markham. This is the first time in the history of the coveted Pit Window Best Races Awards that a street course has made the list.

Thanks to you all for following along this season. Your support has been overwhelming. I am on track to have record readership for this humble little spot in Cyberspace.

There is more to come, soplease check back often during the offseason.

Laguna Seca Wrap Up

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The weekend belonged to Scott McLaughlin, who dominated from the pole position to win the Mission Foods Grand Prix, leading 87 of the 95 laps at Laguna Seca. It was another dull race at the California road course, which featured a few decent battles for position.

Mclaughlin won for the first time since August 2024 at Milwaukee, a span of 35 races. The Team Penske driver had a very strong second half of the season. He was arguably the fastest car at several August events, notably in Washington, D. C., where he edged ahead of winner Kyle Kirkwood only to hit the wall in the next corner.

Meanwhile, Kirkwood had his best career road course finish in second place. Staring sixth, it took Kirkwood just 20 laps to move into second place, where he stayed the rest of the day. His final stint on the alternate tire lasted too long to afford him the opportunity to challenge McLaughlin, but the Andretti driver secured second place in the standings by finishing second.

Five-time champion Alex Palou tried an alternative tire strategy, but it appeared he really wasn’t interested in challenging for the lead. With the title secured last week in Milwaukee, there was really no incentive to go after the win.

The best racing was a battle between David Malukas and Felix Rosenqvist, who swapped positions for a couple of laps with a series of up and over moves. It was beautiful to watch them dice, but that was the highlight of the racing. Rosenqvist finished fourth and Malukas took fifth place.

A Great Day for ECR– Alexander Rossi started fourth and stayed at the front all day to grab his first podium for ECR since joining the team last year. The starting spot was the second time this season Rossi had made the Fast Six, buas the first time he maintained his spot. It was great to see the team finally put an entire race together.

Last IndyCar Race? Sunday may have been the final race in the series for Sting Ray Robb and Nolan Siegel, who finished 23rd and 24th respectively. Robb re3ceived a 10 second stop and hold penalty for punting Dennis Hauger on the first lap, and Siegel had a huge off-track adventure which put him at the tail end of the field.

Siegel has been let go by McLaren, and I have not heard of interest in picking him up by any other team. Juncos Hollinger Racing has been silent on their plans for Robb for 2027, and it is assumed he will not return.

Hauger Hangs On– Dennis Hauger won the Rookie of the Year title and held on to the final Leaders’ Circle spot despite being knocked out of the race on lap 1. Hauger’s future is uncertain at this time, but maybe getting into the Leaders’ Circle will help him keep his spot at Dale Coyne Racing.

Notes

Laguna Seca is gorgeous racetrack with many cool features in a beautiful setting, but the racing there is lackluster. It is not a good track for the season finale. IndyCar should end its season on oval. The racing will be better, and if we have ever again have a year with the title in doubt going into the final race, there is a better opportunity for some drama.

Make Laguna Seca an early August race, and have the final be a Saturday night race at Nashville in mid-September. Teams can still entertain sponsors in California, just a few weeks before the final.

FOX The broadcast was decent. Pit stop coverage with timers was the best all season. When McLauglin and Kirkwood pitted at the same time, we saw times for both leaders, and their exits off pit road were covered well. As usual, the booth did a great job explaining the different strategies.

I did not like the way the post race was handled. The winner got a laurel and hearty handshake, then it was “get out of the way- we have a champion to honor. We didn’t get to see the race podium.

I’m glad David Malukas didn’t get his first win yesterday. The significance and his celebration would have been severely muted.

Why FOX insists on putting Chris Myers on t6heir IndyCar broadcasts is defies my ability to comprehend. He is dismissive of the sport, he can’t get names correct, and acts like he would rather be anywhere else. What shame to honor a generational talent like Alex Palou with such a poor choice for emcee.

A Sad End to Winning Streaks– As expected, Scott Dion’s run of 21 straight seasons with at least one win, and Will Power’s 12-year streak both came to an end yesterday. Power had some opportunities for victory throughout the season, but Dixon never came close. The six-time champion earned just three top 10 results for the year.

Power had improved results the second half of his first year with Andretti, and I expect 2027 will bring better finishes. I hope Dixon’s move to McLaren will bring him back into contention.

Thanks for following along this season. I will have a season wrap up tomorrow, and on Wednesday I will cover the oval debut of the IR-28.