Was Porsche Penske Motorsport the big loser of the penultimate round of the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship season at Indianapolis? Without question.
Ahead of the Petit Le Mans finale, the fight for the manufacturers' championship has been completely blown wide open.
But how did the momentum shift so dramatically? And what other major lessons can be drawn from the 2025 edition of The Battle on The Bricks? Let's take a closer look.
The Battle of The Bricks result
1. #31 Cadillac V-Series.R (Aitken/Bamber/Vesti) 243 laps
2. #10 Cadillac V-Series.R (Albuquerque / R. Taylor) + 0.988s
3. #60 Acura ARX-06 (Blomqvist / Braun) +0.964s
4. #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 (D. Vanthoor / Eng) + 2.684s
5. #93 Acura ARX-06 (Van der Zande / Ohta / Yelloly) + 3.888s
6. #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 (Wittmann / S. van der Linde) + 4.157s
7. #6 Porsche 963 (Campbell / Jaminet) + 4.671s
8. #85 Porsche 963 (N. Müller / Van der Helm) + 6.046s
9. #40 Cadillac V-Series.R (Delétraz / J. Taylor) + 6.943s
10. #63 Lamborghini SC63 (Grosjean / Mortara) + 7.260s
11. #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie (Gunn / De Angelis) + 7.847s
12. #7 Porsche 963 (Nasr / Tandy) + 1 lap
Acura believes in its title chances
Calling Acura Meyer Shank Racing's weekend perfect would be misleading. In fact, it was almost frustrating: given the potential of the ARX-06, Acura could have left Indianapolis on top of the manufacturers' standings.
After dominating both free practice sessions, the #60 lost its pole position in post-qualifying technical checks. On race day, Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun managed only third place, finishing two spots ahead of the #93 of Renger van der Zande, 'Kaku' Ohta and Nick Yelloly.
"Obviously a solid result for the guys, especially after starting last," Blomqvist admitted. "It’s a shame we couldn't win the race. We had a bit of luck fall our way. In the end our luck wasn't going to keep going.
"There was a yellow at the end that saved the two cars ahead - it added a bit of an energy buffer. I had to settle for third. It's still a great result and good for the manufacturers' championship."
And with good reason: after the Long Beach Grand Prix in April, Acura trailed Porsche by 148 points in the manufacturers' championship. Going into the finale, the gap is down to just seven…
Mixed fortunes for Porsche
After sweeping the first four races of the season, the Porsche 963s have since been held back by the Balance of Performance. At Indianapolis, they carried 30kg more than the Acuras and had less power. On pure performance, victory was never realistic. Where is the meritocracy in all this?
"We knew before the race that it would be a tough challenge," said Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh.
Attention then shifted to the internal duel for the drivers' championship between the two crews. The #7 started the season strong with three wins, but Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy have since failed to finish ahead of their team-mates in the #6.
After contacts, spins and penalties, the #7 could do no better than 12th and last in GTP, its worst result of the season. That played into the hands of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell who, despite finishing only seventh, extended their championship lead.
"If someone had told me before the weekend that we would extend our lead in the drivers' championship, I probably wouldn't have believed it," Jaminet added.
"Obviously, we're thrilled about that, but the race itself was frustrating. There were plenty of intense on-track battles. At times, a top-five result seemed within reach, but in the end, others benefitted from a yellow phase."
The IMSA points system is complex, but if our calculations are correct and if Proton Competition's Porsche 963 does not return for Petit Le Mans, a seventh-place finish will be enough for Campbell and Jaminet to clinch the drivers' title at Road Atlanta next month.
But with the manufacturers' championship also on the line, it will be interesting to see how Porsche Penske Motorsport approaches the finale.
Cadillac saves face
Of the four manufacturers expected to fight for the title this year, Cadillac was the only one still winless a week ago. That changed at Indianapolis thanks to the #31 Action Express Racing V-Series.R, which inherited pole after the disqualification of the #60 Acura.
But without the final one of seven yellow flags nine minutes before the end, the outcome might have been very different.
"With about an hour to go, we looked like we weren't going to be able to make it on fuel," Jack Aitken explained. "And I just went on a real big save to see what I could do. And we managed to hold the lead and actually start saving what we needed, which was massive. The yellow at the end, it saved us as well from any further troubles."
Aitken, Earl Bamber, and Frederik Vesti combined to lead 210 of 243 laps, dominating the penultimate round of the 2025 IMSA season. They took victory by 0.988s over Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Cadillac from Wayne Taylor Racing.
It was Action Express Racing's first IMSA win since the 2023 Sebring 12 Hours, and the first career IMSA victory for 2023 Formula 2 runner-up Vesti.
Lamborghini bounces back
For its penultimate race - before a possible return in 2027 - the Lamborghini SC63 arrived at Indianapolis equipped with its first Evo Joker.
"When we debuted the car last year, our first experience, we already saw some fields of action," explained Lamborghini chief technical officer Rouven Mohr.
"One was the tyre degradation. We always suffered a lot to warm up the new tyres and also we had quite strong degradation. The second thing was the mechanical balance of the car."
"This was for us clear already from the third race, that the rear suspension had some weaknesses, from the kinematical point of view, and the stiffness itself," he added.
"Therefore for us, it was already basically decided within the last year that sooner or later we'd have to adjust it."
The true benefits of those upgrades will be seen more clearly at Petit Le Mans on Road Atlanta's bumpy circuit. Still, while one could argue that the BoP helped, the SC63 showed strong pace during The Battle on The Bricks.
"We made a lot of progress this weekend," Romain Grosjean said. "This was the first time that we've really been in the mix, in the top five all day so I think we can take this as a positive."
Unfortunately for the #63, a clash with a lapped Porsche at the start of the final hour resulted in slight contact that sent Grosjean onto the grass. The team then opted for a short energy-only pitstop to try to recover ground, but an ill-timed full-course yellow left the Lamborghini only 10th at the finish.
