Hunter McElrea and TDS Racing teammates Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen were victorious in the LMP2 class of this weekend’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The No. 11 crew battled an intense period of rain and a pass-through penalty to bring the car home with a commanding 26.049 seconds over the pole-winning No. 52 ORECA shared by Nick Boulle, Tom Dillmann and Jakub Smiechowski.
The No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA featuring drivers Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and rising teen star Connor Zilisch, who notably won NASCAR’s Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen on debut last weekend, claimed third in class.
Thomas started the 6-hour race for TDS Racing from second on the grid and ran a tidy opening stint before the rain began to fall as the end of the first hour approached.
Roughly an hour was run under caution early in the event due to excessive standing water.
McElrea took over for the second stint and was put on the back foot early following confusion in the LMP2 class regarding the reorder under caution. This led to seven competitors being assessed drive-through penalties.
McElrea, who was in the car then, commenced a remarkable comeback stint that took the No. 11 back to the front.
Jensen took over for the final two hours, and once he got past the No. 22 United Autosports entry on older tyres driven by Paul di Resta, he was dominant and pulled away with ease to take the team’s second victory on the Indianapolis road course in as many years.
“The TDS car is quick here, and we know our lineup is strong,” noted Jensen. “That’s why we won last year, and we were straight away fast again this year. It was quite a crazy race, but Hunter did an amazing job bringing it up to first, and that made my life easier.”
Both McElrea and Jensen praised Bronze-rated driver Thomas, who was in the car when it rained early and during the difficult transition from wet-weather tyres to dry-condition slicks.
“The emotion of being able to kiss the bricks again here is one of the highlights of my career,” Thomas said.
“It was a lot of fun for me. I love the rain, so it was a great experience today for me, and I think we’re now tied for the class lead in the Michelin Endurance Cup. So, we really have something to shoot for at Petit Le Mans at one of my favourite tracks.”
BMW M Team RLL stormed to a one-two sweep in the GTP (Hypercars) class, with Jesse Krohn and Philipp Eng leading home teammates Nick Yelloly and Connor De Phillippi for overall honours.
Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy finished third in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, moving the duo to within 14 points of the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class-leading No. 7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron, who finished ninth in class at IMS.
There was disappointment for Whelen Cadillac Racing’s No. 11 V-Series.R crew of Tom Blomqvist, Pipo Derani, and Jack Aitken, was forced out early in the third hour due to mechanical issues.
Brendon Leitch finished 12th in the GTD class on his IMSA debut, where he joined MDK Motorsports in the No.86 Porsche 911 GT3 R 992 alongside Anders Fjordbach and Kerong Li.
The trio placed 39th overall, one lap off the pace of class winners Elliott Skeer, Adam Adelson, and Jan Heylen in the No.120 Wright Motorsports Porsche.
The IMSA season wraps up with Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on October 9-12.
Header Image: IMSA
