The final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge at Indianapolis 8 Hour proved a challenging affair for the competitors with local links.
Brendon Leitch returns for the final two events of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS season with silverware following second place in the Independent Cup.
Teaming up with Adrian D’Silva and Bastian Buus in an Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-R (Type 992), Leitch was running fifth in the closing stages until contact forced the entry into retirement.
Leitch and his team still held 16th outright to be seventh in the Pro-Am Class.
A rear-axle failure for the SunEnergy1 Racing squad robbed it of a strong result as Jayden Ojeda joined Australian ex-pat and two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winning driver Kenny Habul, with Mercedes-AMG factory pilot Lucas Auer completing the line-up.
Triple Eight Race Engineering were represented by Prince Jefri Ibrahim, Jordan Love and Arjun Maini in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, but a fuel failure early in the race ending any chance of a front running result. It did return to the track only for a wheel bearing to break forcing it out for good.
Young Australian Tom Sargent also failed to greet the chequered flag after steering problems forced the GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R (Type 992) into retirement. This dashed the IGTC title hopes for Ayhancan Guven, who teamed with Sargent and Kyle Washington.
Overall, Team WRT took victory giving Charles Weerts the IGTC Drivers’ Championship and Porsche won the Manufacturers’ title.
The 2025 Intercontinental GT Challenge will start at the Bathurst 12 Hour on January 30-February 2, while the next event for Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS is at Sydney Motorsport Park on October 18-20 as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries.