INDIANAPOLIS — When he finally had the opportunity to seize a first win in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Ryan Norman made sure to leave no doubt about it.
Norman jumped into the lead on the opening lap and held strong throughout Saturday’s 50-minute race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, rolling to the overall and Pro class victory by a lopsided 17.606 seconds in the No. 84 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, Lamborghini Palm Beach Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2.
It marked the maiden win for the series rookie and 2020 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge champion. It also ended the unbeaten run for WTRAndretti teammates Danny Formal and Kyle Marcelli in the No. 1 Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán, whose 2023 winning streak was snapped at eight races.
“It’s such a relief. We’ve been on the brink all year long and we had a couple chances (earlier this season) and it just didn’t work out,” Norman said.
Norman started second alongside polesitter Formal but took advantage of the higher grip on the outside racing line heading into turn one of the 2.439-mile, 14-turn IMS road course. As Formal bobbled through the opening corners after the green flag, Norman jumped ahead and never looked back.
“I was just pressuring him and luckily he was on the inside and didn’t have the grip and kind of went wide,” Norman said. “I was willing to risk some of the tire life to get out front because it’s so hard to pass unless you have a significant pace difference. I knew track position was going to be huge. Towards the end there, it definitely felt the use that I gave it. I was nursing it home at the end.”
Norman fronted a strong day for WTRAndretti, which claimed victory in three of the four Super Trofeo classes as the series debuted at Indianapolis. Nate Stacy and Nick Persing took ProAm honors in the team’s No. 8 Lamborghini Nashville Huracán, with Graham Doyle winning in LB Cup in the No. 10 Lamborghini Nashville Huracán.
It was the second win this season for the Stacy/Persing duo and for Doyle, as both dominated in their classes as well.
“The car was just on rails today, everything about it,” Stacy said. “It was settled in the rear, settled in the front. It just wanted to go fast this weekend.”
With a conflicting race schedule that’s forced him to miss two rounds this season, Persing admitted he struggled to adjust to driving the Huracán once again this weekend. Taking over the car from Stacy with a comfortable lead allowed him to relax for his stint.
“It’s easy to drive perfectly normal when you come out of the pits and you’ve got a 20-second gap already,” Persing said with a laugh. “I just did my job, fixed my driving, drove it how it was supposed to be driven. It was already such a big gap; it was just Sunday driving really.”
Doyle, the 17-year-old LB Cup driver, was elated to add his name to the list of winners at the historic Indianapolis track.
“I’m kind of hoarse right now because I was screaming because I just won at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” he said. “My first time ever here, this is incredible! I knew I had the pace based on qualifying this morning, so we knew once I got into the lead, I wasn’t going to lose it. I was able to make a move at the beginning of the race and held onto it the whole time.”
The Am class victory went to Glenn McGee and Anthony McIntosh, who guided the No. 69 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán to their fourth win in as many races despite mechanical issues that severely impacted their practice time.
“The first time we drove the car was really in qualifying really,” McIntosh said. “We took care of the car at the start. We got shuffled back at the start and had a massive amount of oversteer. The car was very difficult to drive so I tried to scrub the front tires some more and try to bring the balance back to the car.
“That started to help, and I think at the end we were one of the fastest cars in the race.”