Foley edges Güven for GTWCA Indy 8 Hour pole

Just 0.002s separated the top two contenders as the 10 fastest teams battled for GT World Challenge America pole position at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The battle for pole ahead of Saturday’s DESDER Indianapolis 8 Hour came down to the finest of margins, as Robby Foley delivered a stunning lap aboard the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO to secure the top spot in a fiercely competitive Superpole session.

With the 10 fastest cars from qualifying advancing to Superpole, the stage was set for an intense showdown at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with five Pro and five Pro-Am entries fighting for the top positions on the grid.

Ayhancan Güven was first to make his mark in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) EVO, setting the early benchmark ahead of Jan Heylen in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) EVO and Alessio Picariello in the No. 8 McCann Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) EVO.

However, the order quickly began to shuffle as Picariello found additional pace to move to the top of the timing sheets, relegating Güven and Heylen down the order. With eight minutes remaining, Christopher Mies in the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 and Alex Palou in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO rounded out the top five.

Mies then mounted a charge, initially climbing into second place before producing an even quicker lap to take provisional pole. His time at the top was short-lived, however, as Foley delivered a flying lap to move into first place, while Aaron Telitz briefly climbed into the top three aboard the No. 69 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 EVO.

With five minutes remaining, Güven improved once again to reclaim second place ahead of Mies, with Picariello and Telitz completing the top five. Despite the late charge, Foley's blistering lap of 1m22.805s held to secure pole position by an incredibly narrow margin of just 0.002s over Güven.

Mies claimed third place with his Ford Mustang GT3, followed by Picariello in fourth and Telitz in fifth.

Frederik Schandorff completed the session in sixth aboard the No. 12 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, ahead of Palou in seventh and Mikaël Grenier in eighth in the No. 34 Mercedes-AMG Team JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. Philip Ellis followed in ninth in the sister No. 27 Mercedes-AMG Team JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, with Heylen rounding out the top ten.

The extraordinary competitiveness of the session was evident throughout the field, with all 10 cars separated by just 0.895s at the conclusion of the Superpole session.

“The guys and girls at Turner gave me a great car,” said Foley. “We made a couple of small changes between Q3 and Superpole, and the track evolved a little as the sun went down. The Laticrete BMW was on fire today, so it’s a great place to start. Hopefully, we can have a clean eight hours tomorrow.” 

“To be successful here, you need good execution and a little bit of luck. Luck never hurts! We’ve had both on our side the last two seasons with Justin, so hopefully we can make it three in a row. It’s always special to race at such a historic venue, and Indianapolis is a great track for our BMW. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and seeing what we can accomplish.”

The GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge grid will return to the track for the feature headlining DESDER Indianapolis 8 Hour season finale race Saturday afternoon at 12:30pm ET. SRO’s free live streams of the event are available on SRO RaceControl, YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports)