Three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou will make a return to GT3 racing when he joins works Mercedes outfit Lone Star Racing for the Indianapolis 8 Hour race subsequent month.
The Spaniard will be part of manufacturing unit drivers Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz for the Intercontinental GT Problem finale on 3-5 October, marking his first GT3 outing since 2019.
That 12 months, Palou contested seven of the eight Tremendous GT rounds in a McLaren 720S GT3 entered within the GT300 class, and peaked with second at Autopolis alongside 2004 Le Mans 24 Hour winner Seiji Ara.
“I went to cheer Dani Juncadella two years in the past when he raced in Indianapolis, and I wished to do the race if there was an opportunity,” defined Palou, who clinched his third US open-wheel title by seeing off Will Energy at Nashville SuperSpeedway earlier this month.
“I acquired this wonderful alternative by means of AMG with an opportunity to win the race.
“Whereas I must be taught the traits of the automotive, Indianapolis is a monitor that I do know very properly, and I even have some earlier expertise racing within the GT3 vehicles.
“The general grip will probably be lower than what I’m usually used to however on the identical time, it’s very powerful to be on the restrict due to the GT3 vehicles’ weight.
“I’m actually trying ahead to having enjoyable and preventing for the win on the Indy 8h. It might be wonderful to shut out the season on a excessive with one other trophy.”
#80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: Salih Yoluc, Rui Pinto de Andrade, Scott Andrews
Photograph by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Photographs
Lone Star’s entry will probably be joined within the Professional class on the Brickyard by a GruppeM Racing entry for Maro Engel, Jules Gounon and Mikael Grenier, whereas the GT World Problem America championship will kind a mixed grid for its last spherical.
BMW squad WRT will search to defend the victory it secured final 12 months with Dries Vanthoor, Philipp Eng and Sheldon van der Linde, though has but to appoint drivers.
Palou has made sporadic sportscar appearances alongside his IndyCar commitments with Chip Ganassi Racing over the previous three years.
He raced a Ganassi-run Cadillac DPi-V.R on the 2022 Daytona 24 Hours, and this 12 months sampled its hybrid-powered V-Sequence.R LMDh at Daytona earlier than ending seventh on his Le Mans debut.
Ganassi will stop to run Cadillac’s manufacturing unit IMSA SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship efforts in 2025, with Wayne Taylor Racing and Jota taking on the respective programmes.
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