Indianapolis, IN
IMSA SportsCar Championship at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: How to watch on NBC, start times, entry list
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the first time in nearly a decade with many in the 48-car field feeling back home again.
IMSA’s premier prototype division raced on the IMS road course from 2012-14 in conjunction with NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 weekend, and there are at least four winners from that stretch in the field for Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks: Sebastien Bourdais (who also is a nine-time Indy 500 starter), Joao Barbosa, Ryan Dalziel and Jack Hawksworth, who made his IMSA debut at IMS in 2014.
During his rookie IndyCar season in 2014, Hawksworth was offered a Prototype Challenge ride a few months after qualifying second, leading 31 laps and finishing seventh in the first IndyCar race on the IMS road course.
Behind the wheel of a prototype for the first time on the same track, the Englishman charged to a victory in the Prototype Challenge, taking the lead with a few minutes left for Paul Gentilozzi’s team.
“I remember it being a bit mad, to be honest,” Hawksworth told the IMSA Wire Service this week. “This thing had come up so last minute, and then I’ve not done a sports car race before … then winning and I’m like, ‘Wow, that was quite the weekend!’ It was an amazing weekend and really good memories from it, and the way it worked out long run has kind of been amazing as well.”
After his full-time IndyCar run ended in 2016, Hawksworth joined Gentilozzi’s team in the brand-new Lexus program in the GT Daytona class. Hawksworth has become a Lexus mainstay since, moving to the Vasser Sullivan team in 2019 and racking up 10 GTD and GTD Pro victories. He and co-driver Ben Barnicoat lead GTD Pro by 144 points in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 as IMSA returns to the track where a sports car career all started for Hawksworth.
“I always look back and think it’s amazing where one race and one moment can lead you,” he said. “It’s like the butterfly effect, like one thing happens, and then that can lead you to a completely different destination to maybe the one you thought you were on at the time but an equally good one. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the start of my kind of journey with Lexus as well.”
Barbosa won in 2014 with Christian Fittipaldi on the way to the prototype championship. This weekend at IMS, Barbosa will race the No. 33 SCM Focal One Ligier JS P320 with co-driver Lance Willsey in LMP3 for Sean Creech Motorsport, whose team owner also has a connection to Indy. After starting his career as a driver and mechanic in IndyCar feeder series, Creech was on a path to race Formula Atlantic in 1994 when his transporter was stolen (with the race car inside). That turned Creech toward sports cars, though he still keeps in touch with many in the open-wheel industry such as Dominic Cape, whose Cape Motorsports is the winningest team in USF2000 series history (and now races Indy NXT).
“We were good friends back in the day, racing against each other and cooking out together in the evenings,” said Creech. “He had a Formula Ford, I had a FF2000 and we hung out, working on the cars. I got to know his brother Nicholas and father Reggie as well … We’ve enjoyed seeing their success over the years. It will be great to have them out to the speedway this weekend and compare notes.”
Here are the start times, schedule and TV info for the IMSA Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (all times are ET):
IMSA Indianapolis Motor Speedway start times, schedule, TV info
WHEN: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
RACE DISTANCE: Two hours, 40 minutes on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course
FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 70 degrees with a 17 percent chance of rain at the green flag.
QUALIFYING: Saturday, 12:55 p.m. ET (Peacock, IMSA.com/TVLive)
ENTRY LIST: Click here for the 48 cars entered over five divisions (GTP, LMP2, LMP3, GTD Pro, GTD) for the IMSA Battle on the Bricks
RACE BROADCAST
TV: NBC will have coverage of the event from 1-4 p.m., and the race also is streaming on Peacock, the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com. Leigh Diffey will be the announcer with analyst Calvin Fish. Kevin Lee, Matt Yocum and Hannah Newhouse will be the pit reporters.
Peacock also will be the streaming broadcast for qualifying. Click here for more information about how to access Peacock.
IMSA RADIO: Select sessions are live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; SiriusXM live race coverage will begin Sunday at noon (XM 207, Sirius XM Web/App 992).
DAILY SCHEDULE IMSA INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Friday, Sept. 15
10-10:30 a.m.: Porsche Carrera Cup practice
10:45-11:30 a.m.: Lamborghini Trofeo practice
11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge practice
2-2:40 p.m.: Porsche Carrera Cup practice
2:55-3:40 p.m.: Lamborghini Trofeo practice
3:55-4:40 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge practice
4:55-6:25 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice
6:45-7 p.m.: Porsche Carrera Cup qualifying
8-8:30 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge practice
Saturday, Sept. 16
8-8:35 a.m.: Lamborghini Trofeo qualifying
8:55-10:40 a.m.: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice
11-11:35 a.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge quafliying
11:50 a.m.-12:40 p.m.: Lamborghini Trofeo Race 1
1-2:10 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying
2:30-3:10 p.m.: Porsche Carrera Cup Race 1
4:30-8:30 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge race
Sunday, Sept. 17
9:40-10:20 a.m.: Porsche Carrera Cup Race 2
10:40-11:30 a.m.: Lamborghini Trofeo Race 2
1-3:40 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Battle on the Bricks (NBC, Peacock)
2023 SEASON RECAPS
ROUND 1: Meyer Shank wins second consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona to open GTP era
ROUND 2: No. 31 Cadillac wins Twelve Hours of Sebring after rebounding from mishap
ROUND 3: Porsche Penske Motorsport earns first victory at Long Beach
ROUND 4: Emotional victory for the No. 01 Cadillac at Laguna Seca
ROUND 5: BMW earns first GTP victory after Porsche fails postrace inspection
ROUND 6: Mike Shank dedicates victory to team’s critics
ROUND 7: No. 7 Porsche captures first victory of season
Indianapolis, IN
BLQ+ Pride Summer Fest returns
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — After a five-year hiatus, the BLQ+ Pride Summer Fest event was held on Monument Circle on Saturday.
The event featured several shopping, entertainment, and eating opportunities.
“They are doing testing, we have food vendors, we have alcohol for the adults, we have folks who are selling merchandise,” said Belinda Drake, president of Indiana Pride of Color. “We have the ice cone shop for the kiddos, too.”
The day is created to honor and celebrate Black, Queer joy in the city and state overall.
One of the vendors who came out to sell items and celebrate alongside the community is Nakeya Harris, the owner of Meraki Mobile Boutique. Her shop carries women’s clothing items, with a specific focus on statement items with bright colors. She also carries jewelry and additional staples.
“I enjoy people expressing themselves and being free, so I wanted to be a part of that,” Harris said.
Local LifeJourney Church was also in attendance at the event. They aim to extend a safe space for worship to anyone interested.
“Today we are trying to reach out to communities of color and just say we have a welcoming space where people can come and be themselves
Though it is the first event of its kind since 2019, the Summer Fest is set to return to Monument Circle next year, and for many years to come.
Indianapolis, IN
Todd’s Take: Home Cooking? Indiana Needs To Clean Its Big Ten Tournament Plate In Indy
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – On Wednesday, white smoke finally hovered over Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Ill., as the conference revealed its future plans for the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments.
If you’re a Big Ten-mad basketball fan who resides in Indiana, you’re happy. Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis will host both the men’s and women’s tournaments twice each between 2025 and 2028. The Fieldhouse will host both tournaments in 2025.
In theory, you’d think having the Big Ten Tournament right in the heart of Hoosier country would create a home-court advantage for the cream-and-crimson. You’d think that Fieldhouse moments would be part of the collective memories of candy-striped fans statewide.
But let’s partake in a short exercise. What is Indiana’s greatest Big Ten Tournament moment in the Circle City in men’s basketball? I’ll give you a moment to think about it.
That’s right, dig deep. Keep mining the recesses of your mind. Why do I hear crickets?
As I clear the cobwebs in my own head, in terms of good things that happened to Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament in Indy, I can only think of the 2022 run when the Hoosiers saved their NCAA Tournament bacon with a 2-1 performance.
Included were two of the three games Indiana has won by five points or less in Big Ten Tournament games played in Indianapolis – a five-point victory over Michigan and a two-point thriller against top-seeded Illinois. (The other was a 2006 five-point victory over Wisconsin.)
Past that? The cupboard is bare. There are infamous moments that jump to mind, such as former Hoosier Luke Recker’s heart-shattering buzzer-beater for Iowa in a 2002 semifinal in the first Big Ten Tournament played in Indy. Soon-to-be-outgoing coach Archie Miller was lustily booed in the tournament’s lone appearance at Lucas Oil Stadium in 2021.
There is infamy that had nothing to do with Indiana, such as the bizarre 2020 Big Ten Tournament game against Nebraska, where it seemed the entire nation seemingly coalesced during that game to the grim reality that COVID-19 was about to alter all of our lives.
Only in Indiana’s checkered Big Ten Tournament history could the Hoosiers win and not advance.
Past that, Indiana has largely entered and exited anonymously in the Circle City. The Hoosiers’ all-time Big Ten Tournament record in Indy is 7-11. Indiana has beaten a grand total of one ranked foe (No. 16 Illinois, 2022) among those seven victories.
The Hoosiers have had six one-and-done appearances at the Fieldhouse. Even if you exclude the 2008-10 post-probation period when the Hoosiers were mired in losing, that still leaves three other instances where cream-and-crimson tails were firmly planted between legs in front of the home folks.
The women don’t escape scrutiny, either. Indiana’s women have been better than the men – Heather Cassady and Jill Chapman led the Hoosiers to their lone Big Ten Tournament championship at the Fieldhouse in 2002. Teri Moren coached the 2022 team to the championship game at the Fieldhouse. But apart from that? Not much considering the women’s tournament has been played in Indianapolis far more often than the men’s tournament.
Indiana’s women are 19-24 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis and have 12 one-and-done appearances.
None of this is for lack of enthusiasm at the gate. Every Indiana Big Ten Tournament game I’ve been to in Indianapolis has been a Hoosier Nation takeover. Indiana fans always show up, it’s what they do, but in Indy, it’s almost never reciprocated with on-court success.
So why does Indiana struggle in the Big Ten Tournament in Indy? Part of it is Indiana’s uneven seasons in general since the tournaments began in 1995 (women) and 1998 (men), but even good Hoosiers teams have stumbled in Indy.
The 2016 Big Ten regular season men’s champions are one example as they went one-and-out. Indiana’s 2021 Elite Eight women’s team didn’t win in Indy, either.
Where the men are concerned, perhaps part of it is historical indifference. Bob Knight was famously opposed to the tournament’s very existence and that attitude has possibly settled in among fans who recall his stance.
Truth be told, I don’t think I’ve heard many (any?) Indiana fans put an emphasis on the Big Ten Tournament, apart from seasons where the Hoosiers had to win to get a NCAA Tournament berth. The vibe is that this is a program that has bigger fish to fry, in particular, the elusive sixth banner.
Well, sometimes reality slaps you in the face with the truth that you have to walk before you can run. Indiana’s .395 winning percentage in the Big Ten Tournament is only ahead of Northwestern’s among schools that have been in the conference since the inception of the tournament. Let that wash over you.
That dubious distinction alone should spur Indiana fans into giving this tournament a bit more emotional emphasis, but there’s something to be said for the enthusiasm a tournament run generates, too.
I was there for the Purdue men’s win in 2023 in Chicago as well as the Iowa women’s and Illinois men’s wins in 2024 in Minneapolis. The Big Ten Tournament championship didn’t define any of their seasons, but it undoubtedly added some spice.
For the 2024-2025 season, Indiana’s men’s and women’s teams will both be capable of making noise at the Fieldhouse. The in-arena support will be there. Home cooking for the Hoosiers will be served up piping hot.
It’s long past time for the Hoosiers to clean their Big Ten Tournament plate in their home state.
Indianapolis, IN
Indiana Grown: 8th Day Distillery
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Each and every Saturday, WISH-TV highlights a local company together with our partners at Indiana Grown.
This week, Jaime and Matt Lamping with 8th Day Distillery in Indianapolis joined News 8 at Daybreak.
The Lampings share with News 8 what started their passion for the distillery, and elaborate on how Indiana’s state laws at the time impacted their plans.
They also share more about their Bottle Shop & Cocktail Bar, which recently celebrated its sixth anniversary. They discuss their various workshops and show off new releases ready to hit your shelves this year.
Watch the full interview above to learn more.
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