Verhagan aiming to mute the distractions as IMSA GTD Pro title chase heats up at IMS

IMSA’s penultimate round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway comes just weeks after the sports car racing world was rocked by a frightening crash on September 5th at Shanghai International Circuit in China, which left Inception Racing driver Ollie Millroy hospitalized with significant injuries.

Millroy’s accident in Race 1 of the China GT Championship’s penultimate meeting in Shanghai left him with a broken collarbone, broken ribs, bruised lung, a broken hand and broken finger. But had it not been for the intervention of fellow driver Loek Hartog, Millroy may not have survived the incident, after he found himself trapped inside his burning Ferrari for several seconds until Hartog arrived on the scene.

For Paul Miller Racing driver Neil Verhagen, this weekend’s race at Indianapolis will be about putting the incident from two weeks ago behind him, trying to stay ahead in a perilously close GTD Pro championship chase alongside co-driver Connor De Phillippi, all while there are question marks surrounding the future of the team for which he currently drives.

Verhagen, who was involved in the incident with Millroy and David Chen, said earlier this week, “Obviously, from my side of the situation, you know, I'm okay, for sure. I was definitely sore, and it was not pleasant. But yeah, fortunately was able to walk away from that one.

“Loek, who, in the end, made a heroic move to make sure that Ollie was able to step out of that car and get back to his family, was great to see. I think without him, the outcome would have been extremely different.”

The immediate reactions after the crashed ranged from unilateral praise of Hartog’s heroics, to scathing criticism towards the Shanghai Circuit, towards the China GT Championship and to its promoter Top Speed Sports Events, for how it handled the incident. 

Verhagen stressed that the sport should continue to ensure the safety of everyone trackside.

"At the end of the day, I think that should be the number one motivation is to make sure that everyone feels safe and that the response is going be treated appropriately," he said.

“While racing in IMSA, it's never even a question mark. You know if there's an incident that's going to happen, you know it’s going to be handled appropriately. I think the AMR Safety Team is one of the best in the world, and I think them traveling to every race event is super beneficial. Maybe some other series can learn from that as well. 

“It’s important to have the same people week in and week out, who really understand not only how to attend to the driver, but also how to handle a situation when the worst case happens.”

It’s something that Inception Racing driver Frederik Schandorff echoed in his comments to the press, saying, “I just hope that the whole motorsport community can use this to do something good and use this for all of us drivers to probably be more aware of everything, and also to be aware in this situation, but also, of course, probably more for other championships."

The Danish driver echoed Verhagen’s praise for IMSA’s dedicated team of first responders.

"After this, you really appreciate the whole AMR Safety Team," he said. "You know how good and how quick their response is; it’s something that probably personally I haven't really thought about myself that much, but for sure after what happened, you really appreciate the whole crew behind that, and also that they're so professional about what they're doing, and they are there so quickly. That definitely makes me more relaxed going into another race weekend, seeing what happened with Ollie.

“It was just super scary for everyone, but especially for me, it was personally the first time a really bad incident happened to one of my super close friends as well as a teammate.”

Schandorff and co-driver Brendon Iribe have a lot at stake in the final two races. Iribe narrowly leads the race for the IMSA Bob Akin Award, given to the top Bronze driver in the GTD class, which comes with a coveted automatic invitation to the 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Inception Racing and its operating firm Optimum Motorsport will announce Millroy’s replacement for the 29th Motul Petit Le Mans later this week.

“I really hope that Ollie is going to recover super well,” Schandorff said. “He's making good progress, but it's going to take some time. He's not able to fly for the next three weeks, probably because of his lung still. So, I wish him a speedy recovery.”

Iribe, Schandorff, and Millroy won last year’s six-hour endurance race at Indianapolis, giving Inception Racing its first IMSA GTD victory.