This October, the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS series will conclude the 2022 race season with the biggest race of the year: The Indianapolis 8 Hour. Mercedes AMG customer racing team DXDT Racing will be armed with stout lineups, adding Valentin Pierburg and Patrick Assenheimer to the No. 63 Mercedes AMG GT3 and No. 08 Mercedes AMG GT3, respectively. Aiming for the overall win in the Pro class and the win in the Am class, the team will shake up the lineups in both cars, moving David Askew and Scott Smithson to the same car while Dirk Muller and Bryan Sellers race alongside in the sister car.
“This year we made a decision to mix things up for Indy,” said Team Owner David Askew. “Neither squad is in contention for the season podium, so we are going for the overall win in the Pro and AM classes. We have three drivers in the Pro car that have all won Pro GT races and championships. Running a Pro car is a first for DXDT and we are throwing everything at it.”
All four SRO America-sanctioned series will descend on Indianapolis Motor Speedway October 6-8 for their final races of the season. Instead of running a traditional doubleheader weekend, the Fanatec GT World Challenge America series will race the Indianapolis 8 Hour with the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli, a four-round endurance-only GT3 Racing series, featuring some of the world’s top sports car racing teams and drivers.
Unconcerned with the final points battle in the GT World Challenge America Pro/Am class, DXDT Racing will reorganize the driver lineups for the pair of blue and green Mercedes, pairing amateur drivers David Askew and Scott Smithson in the No. 08 with Pierburg, and professional drivers Dirk Muller and Bryan Sellers to the No. 63 with Assenheimer.
With three podium finishes and eight top-five results across the two entries, DXDT Racing has proven to be persistently competitive in the GT World Challenge America Pro/Am class. The shift in driver lineups will allow for the team’s pro car to compete for the overall win, challenging for top honors against teams all over the world from both GT World Challenge America and the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli.
Champion in the Asian Le Mans Series 2022 GT Am class, Valentin Pierburg will complete the am lineup in the No. 63 AMG GT3. The 35-year-old German finished second in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS sprint cup in 2021, showing his endurance racing strength in the SRO-sanctioned series.
“I am very much looking forward to racing in the United States and with DXDT,” said Pierburg. “This will be my first time but definitely not the last. I can’t wait to get my foot on to the accelerator and experience this amazing circuit.”
At 30 years old, Patrick Assenheimer joins DXDT Racing’s pro-rated car, bringing recent experience in Fanatec GT World Challenge America Europe Powered by AWS, the 24H series, Intercontinental GT Challenge, and additional 24-hour endurance events at Nürburgring and Daytona International Speedway. In 2019, he earned top honors at Nürburgring in the NLS GT3 class with Black Falcon Team AutoArena Motorsport.
“I’m very happy to join the DXDT Team for ICGT Indianapolis 8 Hour,” said Assenheimer. “It’s a new team and new track for me but I know the Mercedes AMG GT3 very well and I hope that my performance and experience in endurance races will help the team for a good result.”
The historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host the eight-hour endurance race, an event that is vastly different than the track’s staple and longest-running event, the Indianapolis 500. The 8 Hour will compete on the track’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course, racing clockwise—the opposite direction of the track’s infamous oval race in May.
The event will mark the first time competing at the circuit for Pierburg and Assenheimier, who will have two days of unofficial testing and official practice days to get familiar with the track and the team before the big race on Saturday, October 8 at 12:00 PM ET.
Source. KBru Communications
Comments
