SPEEDWAY, Ind. — BMW M Team RLL’s Philipp Eng passed his teammate Connor de Phillippi with 30 minutes to go Sunday (Sept. 22) to take the lead. From there, Eng held on to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with teammate Jesse Krohn.
It is the first victory for the No. 24 team since the GTP formula launched last year and the BMW M Hybrid V8’s first win on the track. The No. 25 team won last year at Watkins Glen, but only got the win a couple of hours after the race after the No. 6 Porsche was penalized.
For BMW M Team RLL, the win comes after a wild week. Back on Wednesday, the team’s shop was raided by the FBI as part of an investigation that doesn’t involve the IMSA team.
“I have to tell you, given all the craziness of this week, this may rank as our greatest victory as a team,” team owner Bobby Rahal said during the post-race press conference. “This may be, outside of my Indy 500 win [in 1986]… the most important win we’ve had because it’s just so timely and it just represents all the effort that all of us have put in, these guys, RLL and of course BMW Motorsport. Great day for us.”
Eng and Krohn’s margin of victory was 1.647 seconds over de Phillippi and Nick Yelloly. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Kevin Estre and Mathieu Jaminet were third, then JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Phil Hanson, Tijmen van der Helm and Richard Westbrook. Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor were fifth.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais started on pole under threatening skies. Sure enough, raindrops started falling in the first couple of laps of the race.
Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr was able to take the overall lead from Bourdais on the second lap, but Bourdais was able to keep pace. Meanwhile, Deletraz spun and dropped back.
An early caution for Richard Mille AF Corse’s Luis Perez Companc spinning into the gravel in turn 4 bunched the pack up. Perez Companc was able to continue, but lost a couple of laps.
The rain started to fall in earnest towards the end of the first hour, leading to a mixed pit strategy. Some pitted early, while others stayed out on slicks.
When Sheena Monk stalled due to a wire issue to bring out the second yellow, teams pitted. Some took a second set of slicks, while others changed to…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …