Porsche Carrera Cup North America driver Australian Tom Sargent will make his GT debut at Round 13 of the Fanatec GT World Challenge at Indianapolis on Saturday, October 7.
Sargent races with McElrea Racing and is second in his rookie year of the Porsche series. The 21-year-old from Young in New South Wales has been signed up by the North Carolina-based DXDT Racing Team and will drive the Qelo Capital #8 Mercedes-AMG GT3. His team-mates in the three-driver line-up are Bryan Sellers and Scott Smithson.
“Even though I’ve only done a few laps in the Mercedes, I was fortunate enough to gain some track experience on the Indianapolis Road course during the recent running of the Porsche Carrera Cup Series and I’ve had a little bit of driver change and pit stop experience in the Bathurst 6 Hour,” he said.
Seven Mercedes-AMG GT3s will take part in the eight-hour enduro which will be the longest night race in the 114-year history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sargent will against some of the world’s best GT endurance drivers such as Jules Gounon and Maro Engel as well as fellow Australian Kenny Habul.
The Indy 8 Hour is the fourth round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge which will use the 2.439 mile (3.9km) 14 turn Indianapolis Road Course. This year’s series started with the Bathurst 12 Hour before the Kyalami 9 Hour in South Africa, and the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium. The fifth and final round will be at the Gulf 12 Hour in the United Arab Emirates.
Sargent recently made his debut at the Indianapolis Road Course at Rounds 11 and 12 of the Porsche series. He qualified on the front row on the same day he turned his first laps before he set a new lap record in his first race. After the GT event, Sargent will head to Texas for Rounds 15 and 16, the final rounds of Porsches which will support the F1 GP at the Circuit of the Americas.