Sheldon van der Linde pulled off a late dramatic pass on Earl Bamber to win the Battle on the Bricks.
Driving the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, van der Linde made the winning move on Bamber’s #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R into Turn 12 as the pair navigated traffic with 5m30s to go in the final sprint round - and penultimate race - of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The South African, who shares the car with Dries Vanthoor, went on to win by 2.926s over Bamber on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course layout. It marked BMW M Team WRT’s first IMSA victory since WRT joined BMW’s programme.
“Honestly, I was really frustrated after the restart because every time I was close to him, we went in Turn 5 and 6 and he always got a run on me with the GTs,” van der Linde said. “But yeah, as soon as I got into the lead, I got goosebumps for three laps to go, which is ideal. Obviously, try and stay composed for this, but we waited so freaking long for this, man. I even hurt my ribs trying to celebrate on the way out of the car.
“I’m so proud of Dries. He did an incredible job. We’ve been fighting for this one for so long, we’ve been so close so many times. It’s incredible.”
Bamber, who co-drives with championship leader Jack Aitken, settled for second. The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre and Laurin Heinrich, drafted into the entry in replacement of Laurens Vanthoor, finished third.
Aitken leaves Indianapolis with a 147-point lead over Heinrich in the fight for the championship.
In LMP2, IndyCar star Christian Rasmussen did a massive fuel-save to give himself, co-driver Nick Boulle and Era Motorsport the victory. While in GTD Pro, Ford Racing’s duo of Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen took victory despite a last-lap push from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner. In GTD, Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher took the class win for Turner Motorsports.
The Indianapolis IMSA race, as it happened
Green Flag for the 2026TireRack .com Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis!
— IMSA (@IMSA) September 20, 2026
Trouble into turn 1!
🟢: Sunday, September 20 | 3:00PM ET
📺: NBC, Peacock
🌍: IMSA YouTube Live, IMSA .tv
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Ahead of the race, Winward Racing’s #57 Mercedes AMG-GT3 that was originally set to start on pole in the GTD class was moved to the rear of the GTD grid for running its engine during the pre-race ceremonies (violation of Article 42.1).
When Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist led the field to the green flag, it was trouble immediately in Turn 1 as several cars came together, including the #7 Porsche 963 (Porsche Penske Motorsport) of Julien Andlauer and AO Racing’s #99 LMP2 machine of PJ Hyett. Upon review, the incident started with the #24 BMW M Team WRT entry of Dries Vanthoor getting underneath the #6 Porsche 963 (Porsche Penske Motorsport) of Kevin Estre, who then got into Andlauer and ignited the crash. Andlauer was left needing significant repairs, with Hyett’s machine towed back to the garage for extensive repairs.
Blomqvist, in the #60 Acura ARX-06, led the field to the restart with 2h25m to go. The #31 Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken (Whelen Cadillac), made a run on Blomqvist for the lead into Turn 7 with 2h12m to go, but was unsuccessful and dropped right-side wheels to kick up a plume of dust.
The two remained close together until Aitken was able to pounce in Turn 7 with 2h to go as Blomqvist was slightly held up by backmarker traffic.
Leaders in the other classes with two hours remaining were Chris Cumming (Pratt Miller Motorsports) in LMP2, Neil Verhagen (Paul Miller Motorsports) in GTD Pro, and Tom Gamble (Heart of Racing) in GTD.
With 1h54m to go, the #9 Lamborghini Temerario GT3 (Pfaff Motorsports) of Andrea Caldarelli was the first to pit in the GTD Pro class, with a driver change happening as Sandy Mitchell took over.
Aitken’s lead widened to over 5s with 1h40m remaining, with Blomqvist still in second and Dries Vanthoor in third.
Following a run of pit stops, the #31 was back to the lead, but with Earl Bamber taking over from Aitken. Additionally, the #6 Porsche 963 had a new pilot as Laurin Heinrich took over from Estre and was up to second with 1h23m to go. Sheldon van der Linde was in for Dries Vanthoor as the #24 BMW remained third, while Colin Braun, in for Blomqvist, dropped to fourth.
Bamber’s lead stood at 1.9s over Heinrich with 1h7m remaining, with van der Linde 4.7s behind in third. Paul Di Resta had the #22 ORECA 07 for United Autosports USA out front in LMP2, holding more than a 10s lead over Harry Tincknell (Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1 Mathiasen). GTD Pro was led by Frederc Vervisch (Ford Racing) in the #65 Ford Mustang GT3, while Dude Barrichello, who took over from Gamble, kept Heart of Racing out front in GTD.
However, the caution came out with 58m to go after Connor De Phillippi’s #1 BMW M4 GT3 Evo (Paul Miller Racing) suffered damage to the rear bumper after contact from the #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg.
The caution set up a run of pit stops, with Bamber coming out ahead of van der Linde, with Heinrich falling to third.
Intense racing in Indy! 30 Minutes of racing to go!
— IMSA (@IMSA) September 20, 2026
TireRack .com Battle On The Bricks
🟢: Sunday, September 20 | 3:00PM ET
📺: NBC, Peacock
🌍: IMSA YouTube Live, IMSA .tv
📻: IMSA Radio pic.twitter.com/Hs1p6Y7ND2
Bamber led the field to the restart with just under 50m to go. Moments later entering Turn 7, the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie (Aston Martin Thor Team) of Roman De Angelis and #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 (BMW M Team WRT) of Marco Wittmann both ended up off course.
Despite the incident, the race remained under green flag conditions. Di Resta continued to lead in LMP2, but there were changes in both GTD categories as Nikita Johnson, the recently crowned Indy NXT champion, had the #59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo for RLL Team McLaren out front in GTD Pro, while Robby Foley had Turner Motorsports’ #96 BMW M4 GT3 Evo on top in GTD.
The biggest fight on track with 30m to go was in GTD Pro, with De Phillippi and Catsburg fighting for third as Dennis Olsen, in the #64 Ford Mustang GT3 (Ford Racing) pushed into second. Johnson, who short-filled on his pit stop, remained in first but was unlikely to make it to the end without the assistance of a caution.
Meanwhile, Bamber held a 1.6s lead over van der Linde, with Heinrich a distant third at 9.3s behind.
However, the gap dramatically closed as Bamber hit traffic, which allowed van der Linde to close to his rear bumper with 24m remaining. The pressure was short-lived, though, as Bamber managed to pull off a gap of 1.667s over van der Linde with 17m remaining.
There were problems seconds later in GTD Pro as Di Phillippi, running second, was sent spinning off course in Turn 10 after contact from the #65 Ford Mustang GT3, which was handed a drive-through penalty as a result.
With 8m to go, Bamber’s lead stood at 0.6s over van der Linde as the two hit heavy traffic. Entering Turn 7, van der Linde attempted an outside pass as the two went door-to-door but was unable to complete the pass.
And with 5m30s to go, van der Linde delivered a surging inside pass on Bamber to take the lead in Turn 12. Bamber settled in the runner-up spot, fading back to 2.3s behind van der Linde with under two minutes to go.
In LMP2, Rasmussen was pulling a clutch-and-coast method, slowing the laps of the #18 Era Motorsport machine in an attempt to pull the upset class victory. He held a 27s advantage over Tincknell coming to the white flag. With that going on, the GTD Pro battle was coming down to the last lap as Olsen and Catsburg battled for the win on the last lap.
In the end, van der Linde took the overall win, while Rasmussen coasted to the LMP2 class win, with Olsen out-lasting Catsburg in GTD Pro, and Foley taking the top spot in GTD.
