Indianapolis, Indiana – In a race marked by lightning, torrential downpours, and long stretches behind the safety car, Team WRT managed to secure its third consecutive win at the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, extending its dominance on one of endurance racing’s grandest stages.
The Belgian-based outfit, fielding the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3, clinched victory under caution Saturday night at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The trio of Kelvin van der Linde, Charles Weerts, and Valentino Rossi weathered the chaotic conditions to take the checkered flag in a race that tested patience more than speed.
What should have been a battle to the finish became a contest of endurance against nature. Lightning strikes and heavy rain rolled through central Indiana during the second half of the eight-hour event, forcing lengthy red-flag periods and leaving only two green-flag laps in the final four hours.
Despite the anticlimactic finish, the victory carried historic weight. It was the fourth win in five races this season for van der Linde in the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC), a feat that also secured him the 2025 series championship. BMW, too, celebrated its first-ever IGTC manufacturers’ title after a dominant year with Team WRT.
“It’s a bit of an anticlimax, to be honest,” van der Linde admitted after climbing from the drenched BMW. “It’s such a cool race, and to spend two hours behind the Safety Car is a bit of a tricky one. The 777 (Team WRT sister car) deserved the win today, so I feel a bit of mixed emotions for the team. Nonetheless, four out of five for BMW Motorsport has made me very proud. There are some years where you have luck on your side, and things work out. That’s one of those years.”
While van der Linde secured another title, the night also marked a special milestone for Valentino Rossi. The seven-time MotoGP world champion earned his first Intercontinental GT Challenge victory, becoming one of the rare drivers to win at Indianapolis both on two and four wheels. Rossi’s previous victory came in 2008, when he triumphed in the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP amid similar stormy conditions.
“I’m very happy because it was a great race, and at the end we were very lucky,” Rossi said. “Winning here for me is very special because I won here in 2008 with MotoGP, so it’s something fantastic. I’m very happy to help Kelvin win the championship.”
Behind the No. 46 BMW, Mercedes-AMG Team GMR’s No. 888 car, driven by Maro Engel, Tom Kalender, and Luca Stolz, finished second. Completing the podium was Team WRT’s No. 777 BMW, piloted by Raffaele Marciello, Augusto Farfus, and Al Faisal Al Zubair, ensuring a double podium for the team that has become synonymous with precision and consistency.
The race began under ideal autumn skies, and for four hours, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course delivered high-intensity, caution-free racing. Drivers traded positions with millimeter precision, battling through traffic and executing flawless pit stops. The Team WRT cars looked dominant early, often running one-two as strategy and pace aligned perfectly.
But everything changed just after the halfway mark. Four hours and three minutes into the race, lightning in the area forced officials to throw the red flag, parking all 25 cars on pit lane. What followed was a frustrating, stop-and-go stretch of weather interruptions.
When the race resumed under yellow with one hour and 32 minutes left, teams scrambled to recalculate strategies. Under IGTC rules, drivers are limited to maximum 65-minute stints, forcing team managers to pit their cars at precisely timed intervals. Team WRT’s pit wall made a bold call, bringing van der Linde in for service a lap earlier than the rest of the leaders to reset his stint time. That move proved decisive.
On the next lap, Marciello and several others followed, but van der Linde’s earlier pit stop gave him track position. When the race briefly went green again with 40 minutes remaining, the South African driver was ahead — and that’s where he stayed.
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Just two laps into the green-flag stretch, the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG of Jules Gounon came to a halt near pit entry with an apparent gearbox failure, triggering another caution. As officials worked to clear the stranded car, the skies opened once more. Sheets of rain hammered the Speedway, quickly flooding several corners and making any hope of resuming racing impossible. Despite the best efforts of track crews and sweeper trucks, large pools of standing water forced race control to end the event under yellow at its scheduled conclusion time of 8:20 p.m. ET.
While fans and teams alike were left yearning for a more dramatic finish, the chaotic weather and tense strategy battles delivered another unforgettable chapter in the Indianapolis 8 Hour’s short but storied history.
Among the notable participants, several familiar faces from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES added to the intrigue. Local favorite Conor Daly shared driving duties in the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4, which finished fourth — a strong result against factory-backed teams. Two-time IndyCar champion and 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power also made his sports car return after more than two decades, finishing sixth in the No. 75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG.
For many drivers, the biggest challenge wasn’t tire wear or traffic — it was visibility. Torrential rain created treacherous conditions, with rooster tails of water limiting sightlines to mere feet. Several cars skidded off course earlier in the evening, though all managed to rejoin without major damage.
The victory extends Team WRT’s dominance not just in Indianapolis but across the endurance racing landscape. Having switched from Audi to BMW machinery in 2023, the team quickly adapted to the M4 GT3 platform, turning it into a championship-winning weapon. Their preparation, execution, and adaptability under pressure once again proved decisive in a race where weather dictated the storyline.
Behind the scenes, BMW engineers and strategists monitored every radar update, fuel calculation, and tire temperature as conditions changed minute by minute. Though the race ended in a haze of headlights and rain, the sense of satisfaction in the Team WRT garage was unmistakable.
For van der Linde, the win capped off a career-defining season — one that tested his skill and composure in equal measure. For Rossi, it was a personal triumph that connected two eras of his racing life — from MotoGP champion to endurance racing winner. And for BMW, it marked a turning point in its global GT3 campaign, solidifying its place among the elite in international sports car competition.
When the final laps ticked away behind the safety car, the grandstands glistened under the rain-soaked lights of the Speedway. The race may have ended quietly, but the story it told — of persistence, precision, and adaptability — echoed far beyond the puddles on pit lane.
Team WRT, once again, stood at the top of the podium. The rain might have washed away the roar of engines, but it couldn’t dampen the glow of victory that now defines the team’s legacy at Indianapolis.
