The penultimate round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) took place this past weekend of Sept. 20-21, 2025, with a six-hour race at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race was also the penultimate round of the Michelin Endurance Cup, a “championship within a championship” that only considers points from the five longer races on the calendar.
BMW M Team RLL had high hopes coming into Indy. They scored their first win of the year in the previous race at Road America with a one-two finish for the M Hybrid V8 GTP cars and finished one-two at Indy a year ago. That became an uphill battle after qualifying, when the two cars were only seventh (Sheldon van der Linde in #25) and eighth (Philipp Eng in #24) fastest, but they were just over a half-second off the pole time of the #60 Acura.
Dan Harper celebrates his GTD Pro class pole.
BMW had more success in qualifying in GTD Pro, with Dan Harper putting the #48 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO on the pole, setting a new lap record in the process. “The car’s been mega,” said Harper. “Obviously it’s time to finally get a pole position. I’ve been close a couple of times, so it’s nice to get one today and I hope it’s the first of many.” Madison Snow qualified the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW in ninth in GTD Pro, and Jake Walker qualified fourteenth in the GTD class in the #96 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3 EVO.
Once the race got underway, it became clear that IMSA stewards were going to be very strict about the way the race was run and they started doling out penalties right from the beginning, with both the #24 and the #96 BMWs getting penalties early in the race. There were also several caution periods, which helped the teams use strategy to stay in the fight.
The #48 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO leads a very crowded GTD Pro and GTD class field into turn one.
The BMWs in both the GTP and GTD Pro classes proved to be competitive throughout the race, with the #24 and #25 M Hybrid V8s moving their way up toward the front of the GTP class and even running in the top three at times. In GTD Pro, the Paul Miller Racing BMWs were both running in the top three consistently and even ran one-two for many laps. In GTD, the Turner Motorsport BMW raced better than it qualified, moving steadily up through the GTD field. With one hour left in the race, the #25 car of Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann was in second in GTP, and the #48 M4 GT3 EVO of Dan Harper and Max Hesse was leading GTD Pro.
A final caution with just nine minutes left in the race stacked things up and made for a final mad dash to the finish, as some cars, including the #25, were forced to conserve fuel to make it to the end. Sheldon van der Linde had to back off and dropped to sixth, while Dries Vanthoor finished fourth in the #24 car with Philipp Eng. The GTP win went to the #31 Cadillac.
The #25 M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann had to settle for sixth after running in second late in the race.
In GTD Pro, Max Hesse dropped to third in the #48 M4 GT3 EVO that he shared with Dan Harper to get a podium finish, with the class win going to the #64 Ford Mustang GT3. “I’m really happy to be back on the podium after a few tough races,” said Harper. “In the Endurance Cup we are right back in the title fight. At the three-hour mark we scored maximum points with both cars – and then added more with third place at the end. That puts us in a strong position for the finale at Petit Le Mans.” The #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO of Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi finished eighth in class.
The #96 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3 EVO finished fourth in GTD, despite a really dirty windshield.
In GTD, the Turner Motorsport M4 GT3 EVO driven by Robby Foley, Patrick Gallagher, and Jake Walker finished a solid fourth, with Foley gaining six positions in the last stint in the car. It was the team’s third consecutive fourth-place finish, with the class win going to the #70 Ferrari. “It was a good recovery from P14 back to the front,” said Foley. “We ended P4 after a tough restart at the end, with a lap-down car playing a bit of a factor. Still, it was still a good result, and we’ll try to tune up our hot rod for Road Atlanta and finish the year strong.”
The Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta is the final race of the 2025 IMSA season and will take place on the weekend of October 8th-11th.
The #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO finished eighth in GTD Pro.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy LAT Images]
