The team started on the front row, and while the finishing order flipped from qualifying, the Penske Porsches finished first and second un the inaugural TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks. Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet were the winning drivers in the number 6. The pole car took the lead on the wild start, and the team cars stayed together virtually the entire race.

Pipo Derani took the lead during a caution when he was the only car to follow IMSA’s direction to pass the GTD cars. With the Porsches closing in, Derani locked the wheels entering turn 1 and the 31 battled for a while before fading to fourth at the end.

The race had just 13 laps of the 113 circuits run, all in the first hour. Sebastien Bourdais spun between turns 1 and 2, causing front end damage and leaving a large piece of debris on the track.

After the first 75 minutes the race settled down. The track was very busy with 48 cars on a track less than three miles long.. Leaders continually fought through traffic.

The Winners

Class winners:

GTP

Nick Tandy/Mathieu Jaminet Penske Porsche

LMP2

Steven Thomas/ Mikkel Jensen Oreca

LMP3

Anthony Mantella/Wayne Boyd Duqueine

GTD Pro

Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon Mercedes AMG

GTD

Russell Ward/Phillip Ellis Mercedes AMG

Thoughts

The race was fun to watch. Traffic was continuous. Drivers have to be very precise to deal with slower cars.

This was my first IMSA sprint race. It had a lot more energy and sense of urgency than an endurance race. The tension was palpable.

I liked that the scoring pylon had the class color underneath the number. It made it easy to find a particular car’s overall standing and its class position.

This morning’s autograph session had drivers signing outside their individual garages. It made for shorter lines and fans could get the drivers they wanted. Indycar used to do this. I wish they would go back to this system.

One thing I noticed was a lack of local television stations at the track this weekend. I looked on a couple of station’s websites and found just one story on each site. I guess it’s more important to cover Indianapolis’ mediocre football team than an historic race at IMS.

Attendance was decent. I’m guessing it was around 30,000, which is good for an IMSA stand alone event.

Thanks for following along this weekend. This was my first time covering an IMSA event. It is quite different from an Indy race weekend.

I will have some more photos up this week.