Pascal Wehrlein has urged the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team to “cancel” their poor qualifying performances in season 10, with him recognising that he needs to be starting in the “top six or top seven” to fight for victories and the title.

Season nine was by far Wehrlein’s and Porsche’s best campaign in Formula E to-date, to the extent that the German driver led the Drivers’ Championship for the majority of the season. After he finished second in Mexico City and then won both races in Diriyah, some wondered if he’d win the crown comfortably.

Wehrlein ended up finishing in fourth despite claiming three wins and a further rostrum, with his title pursuit having collapsed in the second half of the year due to the Stuttgart-based team’s one-lap pace woes. It wasn’t just Wehrlein’s title challenge which suffered as a result of their qualifying struggles, with the team having slipped to fourth in the Teams’ Championship.

The ex-F1 driver admits that himself and the team “expected more than fourth” in both standings, considering how well they started the Gen3 era. He recognises that there are a “couple of things” which need to be worked on ahead of the sport’s centurion campaign, in order to be victorious come the end of 2024.

“I think it was a positive season,” Wehrlein told Formula E when reflecting on season nine.

“It was our best season so far in Formula E. I think after the good start we expected more than fourth in the Drivers’ and Teams’ championship. But nevertheless, it was a strong season. We have to improve a couple of things, and then we should be able to fight for the championship.”

Race pace wasn’t an issue for Porsche last season, it was just their one-lap pace. This weakness was amplified by the fact that the Jaguars were so good when it came to qualifying, as proven by the fact that a Jaguar-powered car started on pole six times in season nine.

On the flip side, a Porsche-powered car only featured on pole twice, both courtesy of the German manufacturer’s customer side Andretti Formula E.

Too often last season, Wehrlein and António Félix da Costa qualified so far down the grid that it was impossible to recover and score big points, which ultimately hurt their title chances. Wehrlein himself recognises that the team’s performance in qualifying last season wasn’t good enough and simply can’t be repeated in season 10.

The big positive for Wehrlein is that it does appear that Porsche have worked on their one-lap pace and have possibly discovered an improvement in the software. The team’s one-lap pace in pre-season testing was very strong, to the point that Da Costa was the second-quickest driver.

If Porsche’s one-lap pace has improved, then this will be a massive boost to the team’s and Wehrlein’s title hopes. All will be discovered in Mexico City in January, where Wehrlein wants to instantly start the new season with a strong qualifying performance and hopefully make a duel appearance.

“I think Mexico will be a good track for us generally, and has always been a good track. It’s clear that we are quite strong in the races, we just need to fix qualifying,” Wehrlein admitted.

“I think our average starting position last season was nine-point-something, whereas the top guys were six-point-something. Already those positions will make your life and your races a lot easier.

“We had some races where we struggled, especially in qualifying and only started from 15th and 17th. Those qualifyings we need to cancel. So somewhere around the top six or top seven, that should be our target. We’ve been working really hard to understand what it means and what it takes to qualify well, and obviously then with our great race pace we should have a good weekend.”

Porsche Motorsport have instructed António Félix da Costa to “concentrate” entirely on Formula E for 2024, explaining why he’s departing Hertz Team JOTA in the FIA World Endurance Championship after this weekend.

Da Costa will hit the pause button on his WEC career after this weekend’s 8 Hours of Bahrain, which will be his last for the Porsche customer team in the Hypercar class. It’s as a result of the German manufacturer wanting him to prioritise his Formula E duties for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, in their pursuit of the season 10 crown.

The Portuguese driver has always competed in multiple categories each season, something which has been possible over the years due to Formula E’s and WEC’s calendars often not clashing. That’s unfortunately not the case for 2024, as multiple clashes are scheduled.

Porsche FE are keen to avoid losing a driver for any round, given the impact it could have on the championship. This wouldn’t have been an issue during the Gen2 era when Porsche were very much a sleeping giant; however, they’ve awoken with intent since Gen3 was introduced.

The Stuttgart-based squad have one of the leading powertrains on the grid and one of the best overall packages, as proven last season. Porsche led the Teams’ Championship for the bulk of season nine, only to lose it towards the closing stages.

This was mostly due to their disappointing one-lap pace, which cost them in qualifying and left Da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein with too much work to do. Da Costa isn’t likely to be the only driver forced to drop out of the 2024 WEC to focus on Formula E, something he’s a “little bit sad” about.

Whilst the season six Formula E Champion is disappointed to have been told he won’t be racing in the WEC next year, he completely understands why the Porsche bosses have made the tough call.

“I am a little bit sad, but I understand why people higher up than me have decided this,” Da Costa said, as reported by Autosport.

“Porsche has given me the opportunity to race its car in FE, so if I have to make this compromise, I will. But the name of my profession is racing driver, so in my eyes I should be racing every weekend.”

Based on last week’s pre-season test, Porsche are looking very good ahead of the January season-opener in Mexico City. Da Costa ended the test in Valencia second on the timesheets, suggesting that the team’s one-lap pace woes might have been solved. If this is the case, then this will massively increase the side’s chances.

Porsche deciding to pull Da Costa out of their WEC customer team shows just how seriously the German manufacturer are taking Formula E’s centurion campaign. According to Sportscar365, neither Da Costa or Wehrlein can compete elsewhere during next season.

This would rule Da Costa out of a one-off appearance in the WEC next year at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

With Porsche’s Formula E customer team Andretti having walked away with the Drivers’ Championship last season, courtesy of Jake Dennis, the Germans know exactly what their powertrain is capable of.

Porsche are hungry for the 2024 Formula E crown and are doing everything in their power to give themselves as good a chance as possible, with Head of Porsche Motorsport Thomas Laudenbach noting that they want Da Costa and Wehrlein “to focus 100 percent” on the all-electric series.

“I think we made it very clear,'” Laudenbach told Sportscar365, when asked if Da Costa could make a one-off 2024 WEC appearance at Le Mans.

“Throughout the Formula E season, we want him to concentrate on one thing. If the Formula E season stops before Le Mans, we can talk about it,” he added. “Again, to explain it, Antonio is a great racing driver and a great guy. I love this man.

“But again, this is professional racing and the only thing that counts is results, in the end. At least, for the upcoming season, we want to go down the route that gives both drivers the possibility to focus 100 percent on the main job. That’s it.

“That’s a decision for next year, and then we’ll see.”

Pascal Wehrlein has admitted that it’s “difficult to gauge” just how relevant the official Formula E pre-season test is, due to the unique nature of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.

Testing has taken place in Valencia now for several years, although why the test is held there has been questioned by some drivers multiple times. As pointed out by Wehrlein, Valencia “is not a typical Formula E track”, with it effectively having not a single comparison to a street circuit.

It’s not uncommon for teams to perform well in the Spanish city but then struggle when the season gets underway, as was the case for Maserati MSG Racing in season nine. Maximilian Günther topped testing ahead of the first season of the Gen3 era, only for the Italian manufacturer to struggle in the opening few rounds.

However, with an increasing number of purpose-built circuits starting to join the calendar, Wehrlein has recognised that showing good pace in Valencia is actually quite important. Season 10 alone will feature three actual race tracks, in the form of Mexico City, Portland and Shanghai. The Italian double-header is also expected to take place at a traditional circuit rather than in the capital city.

It means that at least six races next season will be held at an actual venue – Shanghai and Italy are both hosting a double-header – making up for effectively a third of the calendar.

With this in mind, Wehrlein was pleased with how strong the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team were during the test last week. Almost every driver in testing lapped quicker than Günther’s leading time from almost 12 months ago, highlighting just how much has been learnt about the Gen3 machinery.

Wehrlein completed 231 laps throughout the test and set the eighth-quickest time, whilst his team-mate set the second fastest lap. This suggests that Porsche have possibly solved their one-lap performance woes, which in many ways were one of the leading reasons as to why Wehrlein and the Stuttgart-based squad didn’t walk away with the titles last season.

If they have found something in the software to become stronger in qualifying, then this is a massive deal ahead of the sport’s centurion campaign.

The German driver was pleased with his performance during testing and admitted that there was some uncertainty as to whether on-track action would even take place, following the battery fire after the opening session last Tuesday.

“That was a very helpful week that ended well,” Wehrlein said. “After the incident on Tuesday, we didn’t know whether we’d still be able to drive. We learned a lot from last year and our pace was good. Valencia is not a typical Formula E track, so it’s always difficult to gauge how relevant this test ultimately is.

“However, given that there are more and more circuits like this on the calendar, we needed to be competitive here. We completed our schedule and the test race also went well for us. Still, we have a lot to do before the start of the season.”

Despite last Tuesday’s fire having severely disrupted Formula E’s official pre-season test, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team still decided to use rookie Gabriela Jílková, who became the first woman to drive a Gen3 car.

Following the battery fire in the WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering) garage, it was decided by Formula E that each team no longer had to use a rookie driver for three hours. For many who travelled to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, it meant they didn’t complete a single lap; however, Jílková was still given her opportunity to drive the Porsche 99X Electric.

The 28-year-old from the Czech Republic is an ADAC Prototype Cup LMP3 race winner but has competed in various GT4 championships throughout her career. She’s also been supporting Porsche’s Formula E efforts in the simulator.

She’s completed a significant amount of work in the simulator for the Stuttgart-based team, who were eager to reward her with an opportunity to test the actual car for her efforts. Giving Jílková the chance to drive the actual car will also support her simulator work, now that she knows “how the car feels” in real-life.

Porsche fielded Jílková in António Félix da Costa’s car last Thursday afternoon, where she completed 43 laps of the Spanish circuit on what was her debut in the all-electric series.

Reflecting on the laps she completed during the test, Jílková hailed Porsche’s car as “very special”, whilst she revealed that she got to a point where it was possible to “push to the limit”.

“I’m very happy that I got the chance at this test to drive the Formula E car on the racetrack for the first time,” Jílková said. “The Porsche 99X Electric is truly a very special car. It was an incredibly fascinating experience for me to get a better understanding of the car lap by lap and to push to the limit.”

Porsche received a lot of praise for not letting the fire disrupt their plan to give Jílková time behind the wheel of their Gen3 challenger. The German manufacturer were one of only a few teams to still use a rookie driver, as several other sides decided against using a rookie when it was confirmed that it was no longer a mandatory requirement.

Team Principal Florian Modlinger spoke highly of Jílková after the test and explained how beneficial it is that she now knows how the car feels both in the simulator and in real-life. This will only strengthen her future work for the outfit.

“Despite the reduced time in Valencia, we decided to go ahead with a rookie session and give Gabriela the opportunity to drive the Porsche 99X Electric on the racetrack for the first time,” Modlinger said. “She got a good idea of how the car feels compared to the simulator where she’d supported us.”

Manthey EMA Porsche’s Thomas Preining became the first Austrian DTM Drivers’ Champion by securing pole position for Race 2 in Hockenheim.

After Preining’s victory in Race 1 on Saturday, championship-contender Mirko Bortolotti needed a mighty qualifying to see the championship go on to be decided later today in Race 2.

Preining entered the session with a 27-point advantage, meaning Bortolotti needed Preining to finish outside the top three positions in qualifying and the bonus points available, whilst landing a top two qualifying spot himself to reduce the advantage to at least 25 points.

In cool conditions, serious lap times weren’t put on the board until the closing moments.

Bortolotti laid down the gauntlet with two provisional pole times, breaking into the 1:36s barrier on his final attempt in the #92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan EVO 2

However, Preining had the last laugh, snatching pole and with it the 2023 DTM Drivers’ Championship by sixth-thousandths of a second in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

After a teary radio exchange with colourful language, Preining pulled into pit lane, with Bortolotto the first to congratulate the new champion and last year’s champion Sheldon van der Linde quick to congratulate the Austrian shortly thereafter.

Preining’s time of 1:36.800s will go down in DTM history as a championship-winning time, with Bortolotti set to join him on the front row for the final race of the year, with a time just 0.006s back.

Luca Stolz secured third place in the #4 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3, 0.201s back from Preining’s time, with 2022 champion S. van der Linde in fourth for Schubert Motorsport, with the #1 BMW M4 GT3 driver 0.228s off of pole.

Laurin Heinrich rounded out the top-five for Team 75 Motorsport in the #75 Porsche with a time of 1:37.048s.

Thierry Vermeleun led the line for the Ferrari 296 GT3 drivers, landing sixth spot in his #69 Emil Frey Racing machine with a time of 1:37.069s.

Seventh went to Kelvin van der Linde, the South African lapped the Hockenheimring in a time of 1:37.075s in the #3 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, making him the fastest Audi driver of the session.

Eighth went to Christian Engelhart in the #19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini, with a time of 1:37.110s.

Ayhancan Güven in the #24 Team75 Motorsport Porsche and Maro Engel in the #48 Team Mann-Filter Mercedes rounded out the top 10.

“I’m just extremely happy, I can’t even, I don’t even know what I feel, to be honest,” Preining said in pit lane after securing the title.

“A dream became a dream come true.”

Preining and the rest of the DTM field will sign off for the 2023 season with Race 2 later today, which commences at 13:30 local time (12:30 BST).

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team have finally confirmed that Pascal Wehrlein and António Félix da Costa have been retained for the new season, with the side targeting to fight for the title once again.

Whilst it was unofficially known, Porsche confirming their 2023/24 driver pairing has completed the grid for the upcoming campaign, meaning the full class of season 10 is now known. Season 10 will mark Wehrlein’s fourth year with the German manufacturer, whilst it’ll be Da Costa’s second.

Wehrlein ended season nine in a somewhat disappointing fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, despite having led the standings for three months. He was the strongest driver for the first half of the year, before falling off massively in the second half of season nine.

This ended his title hopes, whilst it also had a huge impact on Porsche’s dreams of winning the Constructors’ Championship, which they also led for the bulk of the season. Qualifying was Wehrlein’s downfall, with him having also driven too leniently at times. When he went on the attack at places like Diriyah and Jakarta, the German was on another level.

If he can show some aggression on a more consistent basis to get to the front of the field, then he’ll certainly be a contender for the season 10 championship, although the initial target is to enjoy a solid week of testing in Valencia.

“The test in Valencia marks the start of the new season,” said Wehrlein. “We’ve been busy with preparations for weeks, and we’ve already done stints in the simulator. I’m certain we’ve made further progress.

“Last season we learned a lot, which we can build on now. For Valencia, it’s important to be well prepared to be able to roll out our test programme without any issues and gain further insights. There are some minor changes for the new season. Valencia will certainly help us to fully understand them. Then, we can get stuck in.”

There is no doubting Da Costa’s talents, given that he won the Formula E title back in season six; however, he seemed to struggle settling into Porsche last year, something which impacted his title chances.

Da Costa showed great speed at times in the likes of Cape Town, where he secured a famous victory following a last-lap overtake on Jean-Éric Vergne. However, qualifying was also a huge issue for the Portuguese driver, who often had too much work to do.

With a year at Porsche under his belt though, the hope will be that he can push on in season 10. Even he recognises that “everything is easier” this season as he now knows the team and their Gen3 package, which he’s hoping to improve during pre-season testing next week.

“I’m looking forward to Valencia,” Da Costa noted. “The test is always cool because all of the teams and drivers are there. This gives us a chance to show where we stand against the competition, to see where we’re already strong and where we might need to make some improvements.

“The preparation for season 10 is going much better for me than last season’s preparation. I was new to the team last year and getting used to the car. This time everything is easier. I used the Formula E break to contest endurance races in the Porsche 963, spend time with my family and friends and prepare myself mentally and physically for the new season.”

Laurin Heinrich of the #75 Team75 Motorsport Porsche grasped his first DTM pole position in wet conditions, ahead of the first race of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

A thrilling qualifying session took place at the Red Bull Ring, in Austria, where drivers qualified for their Race 1 grid positions in wet, tricky conditions.

During the dry free practice sessions, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2 cars seemed to struggle, with none finishing in the top-20 in FP1, and Luca Engstler being the highest-finishing Audi in FP2 at P18.

The championship fight played a part during the 20-minute session, with overtaking expected to be a worthy challenge around the medium-fast turns of the Spielberg circuit, and thus the protagonists of Mirko Bortolotti and Thomas Preining needed to match or outqualify one another.

The former driver leads the standings on 173 points, as the latter trailed on 164, and prior to the usual allocated qualifying points to the top-three finishers (P1/pole position – three points, P2 – two points, P3 – one point).

During the early stages of the session, Toksport WRT’s Tim Heinemann set the outright fastest pace in his #9 Porsche 911 GT3.R, from a 1:38.133 lap time.

A red flag was called with under 12 minutes remaining, after David Schumacher crashed sideways into a tyre wall after slipping up on the wet track surface at Turn 2, ruling himself out of the session in his #27 Team Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO2.

Bortolotti topped the order before the session was disrupted, indicating that conditions changed as lap times got quicker, after being the first to enter the 1:37 margin.

Wet tyres were still favoured as the session continued once the #27 was recovered.

During the closing stages of the session, many drivers entered the 1:37 bracket when they returned their GT3 cars to optimum running as those who experimented with the slick tyre decided to switch back to wets.

Kelvin van der Linde shot to the top of the order with a 1:36.843 lap time in his #3 ABT Sportsline Audi, showing pace in the rain-soaked conditions.

At the chequered flag, Laurin Heinrich narrowly beat van der Linde to the top spot with a 1:36.778 in his #75 Porsche.

Van der Linde finished second 0.065 seconds behind, as third was claimed by the other Team75 Motorsport Porsche of Ayhancan Güven after a 1:36.859.

Fourth place was claimed by Preining from a 1:36.594, followed by his Manthey EMA teammate of Dennis Olsen, who set a 1:36.978.

In sixth position, Maro Engel was the highest-placed Mercedes after he set a 1:36.985, followed by seventh-placed Rene Rast in his BMW M4 GT3.

His time of 1:37.010 surpassed Marco Wittmann’s #11 Project 1 BMW, which completed a lap of 1:37.016.

Luca Stolz’s #4 Team HRT Mercedes finished in ninth place from a 1:37.027 time.

Championship-leader Bortolotti rounded off the top-10, and occupied six positions behind his title rival, after his best time of 1:37.123 in the #92 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Ricardo Feller attempted to qualify on slicks, and so finished in P26 out of 28 cars, setting a tall order to narrow the gap from P3 in the championship on 142 points.

Race 1 takes place later today from 12:30 pm UK time.

Motorsport Week looks back on the eventful IMSA WeatherTech round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for who ‘won’ or ‘lost’ out of the final sprint race on the 2023 schedule.

One observation many can draw from the Battle on the Bricks, is that there was nothing short of drama and action, especially during the opening stages of the race.

It had to be mentioned that driving standards were sub-par expectations, at least with the GTP and GTD cars engaging with a chaotic start, and LMP3 cars spinning out periodically.

Yet despite this underlying theme, there were thrills amongst the spills, and certain teams made the most out of this weekend.

As ever with a 48-car field across five categories, it is unsurprisingly difficult to narrow down who ‘won’ and ‘lost’ at the Brickyard, since so many cars could arguably fall into either label.

Nevertheless, we selected our ‘Winners and Losers’ from the penultimate round on the 2023 schedule.

Loser – #9 Pfaff Motorsports (GTD Pro): Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet

The Pfaff Motorsports’ #9 Porsche 911 GT3.R qualified on GTD Pro pole in the hands of Klaus Bachler, demonstrating promising one-lap pace even if Paul Miller Racing’s Madison Snow started ahead.

Unfortunately, things were not upbeat from the moment the green flag dropped, as Bachler changed lanes drastically and was not only out of position for the start, but defended his spot before passing the start line.

An professional driver should have demonstrated better civility, and was penalised for not doing so shortly after the start with a drive-through penalty.

This openly gave the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO2 a guaranteed early lead, without the need to fight for it.

Pfaff Motorsports had thrown away their winning chances, and more importantly, a chance to see them fight eagerly with the #79 crew.

In IMSA fashion, two caution periods still kept the GTD Pro lead fight alive and the #9 Porsche found its way back into the lead owing to Pilet’s strong pace, supposedly reviving the lost lead fight.

Towards the end, it emerged that they were not able to save enough fuel to make it to the end and so they conducted an extra pit stop for fuel, losing their GTD Pro lead.

They finished fourth out of five GTD Pros, and 10th in the combined field of GTDs.

At the end of it all, it was clear they put themselves on the back foot before the race even began.

Winner – #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport (GTP): Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet

The overall race winners rightfully earned their second GTP race victory this season, made special on home territory with a 1-2 team finish.

From Friday to Saturday, #7 Porsche 963 driver Matt Campbell had been the fastest driver and kept his form most crucially for a pole position, though the sibling GTP qualified just behind.

The race start for GTP was tricky and challenging, although Campbell’s major brake lock-up into Turn 1 gave the perfect chance for Mathieu Jaminet to take the lead. It was almost a repeat of Laguna Seca earlier this year, although the 1-2 was not lost by Porsche Penske on this occasion.

Despite the first two caution periods, the pair of Porsche LMDh cars swapped back and forth on the fastest outright lap, and made calculated moves when they first dealt with traffic par a few close calls.

Both Penske Porsches had not obeyed an instruction from race control during the second caution, thus Pipo Derani in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V Series.R took the lead.

Fortunately, due to the confident, arguably unrivaled pace from both Porsches, it was not too long before they were opportunistic as Derani locked-up into T1, and was passed by Felipe Nasr followed by Tandy.

In a close and heated manner, the two Porsches fought for the lead though maintaining position.

The lead change occurred when they individually pitted with approximately 46 minutes remaining, and the #6 took over the lead as they exited the pit lane.

As the #7 locked-up on cold brakes, Tandy had the advantage of track position over the sibling Porsche from Lap 80, eventually taking the chequered flag on Lap 113.

Most importantly, this has boosted the #6’s title chances, as they jumped to third in the standings on 2455 points, as the leading #31 sits closely ahead on 2460.

Loser – #70 Inception Racing (GTD): Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe

At the previous round, the GT Challenge at VIR, the #70 faced misfortune from a pit stop infringement; this time, misfortune came in the form of rear-right contact from the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo, which triggered a puncture.

As this took place from T13 into T14, Schandorff limped from that final corner which leads onto the start-finish straight, too far to enter the pit lane which was at T13.

He limped back round into the pits for their crew to repair, an unexpected turn in their race narrative after they were en route for a GTD podium finish.

With an hour remaining, the team persevered to make it to the end, though finishing 16th was not on the cards after their initial climb from eighth (grid) position.

Their McLaren 720S GT3 EVO has demonstrated solid pace throughout the past few races, even though it has not been able to appear through their finishing results.

Paul Miller Racing already wrapped up the GTD title, so the target for the #70 will be a podium finish at Petit Le Mans next month, without any drama.

Winner – #57 Winward Racing (GTD): Russell Ward and Philip Ellis

The team has encountered a challenging 2023 season, where they seem uncompetitive and unable to fight for the GTD championship.

This was their first IMSA GTD race win since the GT Challenge at VIR last year, which features GT cars only round.

Fifth at Long Beach marked their highest finishing position prior to the Battle on the Bricks, and so their win after a dramatic sprint race was a refreshing sight.

As team principal and driver at Winward, Ward qualified the Mercedes-AMG GT3 fifth on the grid after setting a 1:23.878, eight-hundredths away from Snow’s pole time.

He started the race 10th in the combined classification of the GTD Pro and GTD classes, thus making it a tall order to make up places during the opening laps.

After running a solid opening stint, Ellis jumped into the #57 and remained until the end. All was feisty in the midfield of GTD, including an unintentional knock into an LMP3 which was sent into a half spin.

Ellis’ main rival was Loris Spinelli in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, who demonstrated strong form with an eager, if not aggressive determination to take back the lead when he momentarily lost it in their scrap.

The pair fought it out, until when they approached Turn 11 and Spinelli positioned himself with a defensive line, which compromised his trajectory around the sharp left-hander, and ran wide to the grass, which gave Ellis a perfect chance to slide by and hold the lead until the chequered flag.

Loser – #24 BMW M Team RLL (GTP): Philipp Eng and Augusto Farfus

It was a tale of two halves for BMW M Team RLL, and the #24 M Hybrid V8 continued its rough form of results at Indianapolis.

Whilst the sibling #25 is fighting for a championship title, the same cannot be said about the #24.

At the first corner, Eng made contact with Sebastien Boardais, a spur of unfortunate luck once again for the yellow #01 Cadillac.

Only minor damage was incurred given the low-speed circumstances, however starting in P6 meant that the opening laps were intended to make up places that limited them as the best qualifying BMW GTP.

After just nine racing laps, Eng pitted due to electrical reliability issues, and continued to nurse them until two later pit stops when it was resolved.

By this point, they were far behind their competition and the two drivers simply continued their way to the chequered flag, 10 laps down from the leader and in 40th position overall.

Given the test at Indianapolis earlier in the year in which a BMW LMDh topped the day, this race result was lesser than the team expected, and put them behind their competitors on the grounds of reliability issues which are still prevalent towards the end of this maiden GTP season.

Petit Le Mans next month will be their one and only chance to claim their first podium spot in their debut season, with the 10-hour season finale expected to be demanding for all teams and drivers.

Winner – #11 TDS Racing (LMP2): Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen

The #11 Oreca 07-Gibson duo find themselves as winners both on the basis that they had triumphed in the LMP2 category, and more importantly surpassed the #52 for the championship lead from a highly stimulating race at the Brickyard.

Seven Orecas took to the fight in LMP2, although the #18 Era Motorsport’s Dwight Merriman and the #20 High Class Racing fell back in their own dramas.

The #52 PR1 Mathiasen drivers of Ben Keating and Paul Loup Chatin are a strong combination claiming a podium and a win so far, undoubtedly setting the benchmark in the category as the team to beat from qualifying.

Realistically speaking, three other rivals could challenge them: the #8 Tower Motorsports, the #11, and #35 TDS Racing.

Unsurprisingly, in a category where ‘amateur’ drivers (with the other driver a professional – like Mikkel Jensen, Peugeot Sport Hypercar driver) took qualifying duties, Ben Keating claimed pole position for the third time in this season.

Thomas qualified the #11 third behind the #04, setting a time almost seven-tenths behind Keating, yet ahead of the other #35 TDS Racing entry.

The standings in LMP2 were relatively close, as the #52 led on 1345 points before the Brickyard weekend.

The #11 was just 45 points behind, and so they fell into third place post-qualifying, because of the #04’s grid spot in P2.

Whilst the #11 were not necessarily hindered by this, it demonstrated the competition is fierce in LMP2, and all four of those LMP2 top-qualifiers were hungry for a win which would result in the championship lead prior to Petit Le Mans.

The category’s lead fight ran quiet with GTP as the main talking point, but it emerged that the #11 maintained proximity to the leading #52, admittedly assisted by the caution periods.

One major talking point was Jensen and his race pace, which was simply unrivaled by any other LMP2.

His fastest race lap of 1:16.619 (compared to Keating’s 1:17.950 pole lap) was an indicator of how he managed to assert consistent, strong lap times during his stint (during the second half of the race), whilst dealing with surrounding lapped traffic (and being lapped by GTPs).

In the final hour, fuel saving was a key factor as the LMP2s played their risk over how early they could pit, and how long a final stint to the finish they could do, with over 55 minutes remaining.

Louis Deletraz of the #8 brought the heat against the pace of the #11, and pitted the earliest and held the lead.

It soon emerged he was significantly fuel-saving, which overridden the objective of quicker average pace. The #11 and the #8 juggled the lead beforehand in the race, but it was now the #11 who pitted slightly later which indicated TDS Racing timed the final pit stop to perfection.

Jensen’s average pace and mistake-free outing had got the #11 easily passed Deletraz, and finished in first position; both in the race and LMP2 championship classification.

After the Battle on the Bricks, the points stand on 1680 for the #11 and 1640 for the #52.

This relentless championship fight will continue at Petit Le Mans, from qualifying to the race, by the end of which will crown an LMP2 champion.

Porsche have locked out the front row for tomorrow’s IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Matt Campbell ahead of Mathieu Jaminet.

Campbell set a 1:13.672 to claim pole in the #7 Porsche 963, with Jaminet a tenth and half behind in the sister #6 Porsche.

The two red and white were quick all session, but it was Gianmaria Bruni in the customer #99 Proton Porsche 963 who set the initial pace. However, Campbell soon beat him, and was the first driver into the 1:13s.

Jaminet soon followed through to go second, but the Frenchman couldn’t quite beat his Kiwi teammate all session. Tom Blomqvist did briefly take second with a few minutes to go, but Jaminet responded and also got into the 1:13s, following his Porsche teammate through.

Blomqvist, in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06, had to settle for third, just under two tenths adrift of Campbell and only 0.040 slower than Jaminet.

Fourth was Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, making it three manufacturers in the top 4. The veteran Frenchman took his time to set his lap, only grabbing fourth on his penultimate lap but failing to improve by the necessary amount — under a tenth of a second — to take third away from Blomqvist.

Ricky Taylor claimed fifth, onboard the #60 Wayne Taylor Acura ARX-06, while the two BMWs, with Philip Eng and Nick Yelloly at the wheel, could only manage sixth and seventh. Eng was the faster of the two, 0.498 slower than Campbell in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with his teammate just 0.003 slower in the sister #25 BMW.

Ben Keating claimed pole in LMP2, with the American car dealer setting a 1:17.950, the only driver to make it into the 1:17s.

The #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson driver was quickest all through the session, with Keating at one point just 0.002 faster than George Kurtz in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca 07-Gibson, with Keating’s initial lap being a 1:18.388.

In LMP3, Bjorn Garg was quickest, at the wheel of the #29 Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320. The American-Indian driver set a 1:20.513, just 11 thousandths of a second faster than his teammate, Nolan Siegel, in the sister #30 Jr III car.

However, midway into the LMP2/LMP3 session, Gar Robinson, driving the #74 Riley Ligier JS P320, crashed heavily into the tyres on the road course section of the speedway. While the driver was okay and got out of the car under his own steam, this caused a halt in proceedings and a red flag while the Ligier was extracted from the tyre barriers and placed onto a flatbed truck.

When the session resumed there were 2 minutes and 20 seconds added to the clock — enough to do an outlap and a single flying lap.

Keating subsequently improved from his initial lap before the red flag to set his pole lap time, while Kurtz couldn’t improve further. This put Keating 0.440 ahead of the tech entrepreneur, with Steven Thomas third in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, a further 0.233 down.

With Jr III taking the top two spots in LMP3, third fell to Orey Fidani in the #13 AWA Duqueine D08, over 1.1 seconds away from Siegel in second.

In the two GTD classes, GTD Pro and GTD, Madison Snow took the overall pole for Paul Miller Racing, with the #1 BMW M4 GT3 driver setting a 1:23.075. 

The American set the time early on in the session, before halfway, and no one in either of the two GT3 classes could beat him. This means he not only has the most poles of anyone in the GT classes, but the most pole of anyone in the series this year.

Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth initially held GTD Pro pole, setting a 1:23.354 by the halfway mark in the session, but Klaus Bachler pipped him in the #9 Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R, with the German lapping the Indianapolis road course in 1:23.140 to take class pole — although it’s only a front row start as Snow was fractionally quicker. 

Jules Gounon also went faster than Hawksworth, with the Frenchman, in the #79 WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG GT3 second in GTD Pro and third amongst both classes. He was 0.150 off Bachler at the line. Hawksworth rounded out the top 3 in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, 0.055 off Gounon.

Second in GTD but sixth overall in the combined GT classes was Mikael Grenier in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3, while Patrick Gallagher, in the #96 Turner Motorsportr BMW M4 GT3, was third and seventh in the combined class.

André Lotterer has officially confirmed that his career in both Formula E and single-seater racing in general is over, with the German set to prioritise his Porsche commitments in the World Endurance Championship.

After spending the past 26 years in single-seater racing, Lotterer feels that the time is now right to embark on a new adventure, meaning that, as expected, Andretti Formula E have a new driver to find for season 10.

Lotterer’s departure from Formula E was known for a little while, with reigning Formula 2 Champion Felipe Drugovich having been the favourite for the seat. However, Nissan departee Norman Nato is now reportedly leading the chase for one of the best cockpits on the grid.

Whilst season nine was bitterly disappointing for Lotterer, he’s enjoyed a glittering single-seater career, which started by claiming the Formula BMW Junior Championship in 1998. He was victorious again in 1999, this time in the Formula BMW ADAC series. His next title came in Japan in 2006, when he claimed his first of two Super GT titles, the other coming in 2009.

The 41-year-old spent a significant amount of time racing in Japan, both in Super GT and in the Formula Nippon series, which became known as Super Formula in 2013. He narrowly missed out on the championship several times, but was victorious in 2011.

Prior to his move to Porsche, Lotterer was a key part of Audi’s WEC programme, to the extent that he won the Le Mans 24 Hours twice with the German manufacturer. Lotterer won at Le Mans with Audi in back-to-back years, in 2011 and 2012. He was also part of the winning team of the WEC in 2012, Lotterer’s most recent title triumph.

In 2014, Lotterer made his one and only Formula 1 start for Caterham at the Belgian Grand Prix, although it ended in retirement on the opening lap due to an electrical problem.

The Duisburg-born driver made the switch to Formula E in season four (2017/18) with Techeetah and claimed two podiums in his rookie campaign. He remained with the side for season five, with the addition of DS. Lotterer claimed a further two podiums and his first pole position, which came in Rome.

Season six saw him switch to the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, where he stayed for three seasons. In that time, the German achieved four podiums and one pole position, before moving to Andretti for the start of the Gen3 era. 2023 was miserable for Lotterer, who salvaged just five top-10 finishes.

He was nevertheless a terrific competitor who was often one of the hardest drivers to overtake, something Formula E will remember him for. Lotterer took to social media to reveal that his single-seater career is over, whilst he also shared how “extremely grateful” he is to have competed in the all-electric series.

“Got some news to share with you. It’s time for me to close a 26 year chapter of single seater racing!” Lotterer revealed on Instagram.

“I have decided not to race anymore in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship to fully focus on my challenge with @porschepenskemotorsport team to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans (for the 4th time) and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

“It has been a great ride racing in Formula BMW & Formula Renault to Formula 3, Champ Car, Formula Nippon, Super Formula, Formula 1 and finally the Formula E family which I joined at the start of Season 4 back in 2017.

“I would like to thank the people that helped me join this innovative and exciting Championship; Leo Thomas, Julian & Alexander Jakobi, JEV & the Techeetah team! The adventures together were great! A big thanks to TAG Heuer Porsche FE too who gave me the opportunity to lead the team into their Formula E debut in Season 6!

“Last but not least, my engineer Fabrice Roussel who has shown amazing support since the beginning and all the way through the three Formula E teams, and the Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team for trusting me during Season 9.

“I would like to personally thank Alejandro Agag, his team & the FIA for creating Formula E, it has been a fantastic journey and you have changed many of our lives. Formula E has been the most challenging and fun Championship I have competed in!

“I am extremely grateful & proud to have raced in Formula E, promoting all the sustainable technologies and for meeting the amazing people in this paddock, a few of which have become my best friends today.

“Thank you all for the amazing support all those years.”