Day one at the Brickyard was a game of musical chairs — six different Porsche Carrera Cup North America drivers, three classes, and two sessions of nonstop leaderboard shake-ups.
However, Ryan Yardley topped the times in the morning session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a time of one minute, 26.384 seconds around the Brickyard – a lap which turned out to be the fastest of the day.
In fact, the top Pro four drivers in Practice 1 ran faster than the fastest time in Practice 2, set by Riley Dickinson at 1:26.876.
Ahead of the two races at Indianapolis, Dickinson leads Yardley in the championship by a mere two points.
“It’s always cool to be here at Indy, it’s obviously a special track with so much history,” said Yardley after the morning session.
“It’s nice to get out there in Practice 1. The track was super dirty, being the first session of the weekend. It’s nice to be P1, but it’s the first practice, so I’m not getting ahead of myself just yet. I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend and excited to see how we go.
“The last few rounds have been really good. It’s been nice even for the whole team, Tyler (Maxson, Topp Racing teammate) has been super quick, and obviously, myself as well. It’s exciting times, but there’s a long way to go between now and the end of the year at (Circuit of the Americas). But I’m looking forward to the two races this weekend.”
Other drivers taking turns in the Pro class’ top three on Thursday were Maxson, Jimmy Llibre, and Zachary Vanier.
Further exemplifying the tight competition was the difference between lap times in the Pro-Am class. Alan Metni’s fastest time in the morning at 1:27.786 narrowly edged the afternoon’s leader, Patrick Mulcahy, by .006 seconds.
“This place is a lot of fun,” said Metni, who drives with the Kellymoss team.
“The interior section, the infield section, is super technical and has a nice rhythm to it. It feels awesome when you hit it just right, and I love this place.
“I think things are coming together nicely for me, and I’ve got a lot of frequency in the car in this part of the season, this late in the season, and that helps. I’m having a blast.”
In the Masters class, Chris Bellomo also ran quickest in the morning at 1:28.172. Indianapolis marks the first Carrera Cup event of the year for Bellomo.
“It’s fantastic (being back), I didn’t realize how much I’d miss it until I was gone for that extended period of time,” said Bellomo, the 2024 Carrera Cup Masters class champion.
“I’m very happy to be back in the car with Kellymoss.”
Meanwhile, coming off a triple championship-winning weekend at Road Atlanta in Porsche Sprint and Endurance Challenge by Yokohama – and with a large lead in the current Carrera Cup Masters championship battle – Scott Blind was at the top of Practice 2 on Thursday afternoon.
“I had a great race with (Blind) at Laguna in Porsche Sprint Challenge,” Bellomo added. “He’s fair, he’s fast, and great competition.”
Friday’s activity at Indianapolis Motor Speedway starts early for Porsche Carrera Cup North America, as qualifying is scheduled for 9:35 a.m. ET. Race 1 follows in the afternoon at 3 p.m., followed by Race 2 on Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
All Carrera Cup races, including replays from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will be shown live on IMSA and Porsche Motorsport North America YouTube Channels, IMSA TV, Peacock, and the Porsche Motorsport North America social channels on Facebook, Linkedin, Threads and X.
PRACTICE 1
Pro:
- #78 Ryan Yardley
- #77 Tyler Maxson
- #9 Zachary Vanier
Pro-Am:
- #99 Alan Metni
- #4 JP Martinez
- #54 Patrick Mulcahy
Masters:
- #68 Chris Bellomo
- #45 Scott Blind
- #18 Richard Edge
PRACTICE 2
Pro:
- #91 Riley Dickinson
- #2 Jimmy Llibre
- #9 Zachary Vanier
Pro-Am:
- #54 Patrick Mulcahy
- #99 Alan Metni
- #14 James Sofronas
Masters:
- #45 Scott Blind
- #68 Chris Bellomo
- #18 Richard Edge
