That, my friends, is how you settle a feud. The TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks boiled down to an absolute street fight between American heavyweights on the final tour of the 2.439-mile, 14-turn circuit at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Neither Detroit icon was willing to yield an inch in this IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship thriller. Dennis Olsen, piloting the No. 64 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3, ultimately fended off Nicky Catsburg's No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R. It all blew wide open after Nikita Johnson, the newly crowned Indy NXT champion, finally pitted after trying to stretch a fuel and energy run aboard RLL Team McLaren’s No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO. That released the hounds for the final door-banging showdown between Olsen and Catsburg.
Olsen had barely caught his breath after getting sandwiched by the two leading Grand Touring Prototype machines inside the final six minutes before the last-lap chaos erupted. Catsburg launched an outside move for the lead into Turn 7, right as another GTP car charged up the inside of both GTD PRO contenders. The squeeze pushed Olsen wide, sending his Mustang into contact with Catsburg’s Corvette and shoving the Chevrolet into the grass. Both machines kept going, but Olsen crossed the line 0.993 of a second ahead of Catsburg and co-driver Tommy Milner to claim the first win of 2026 for himself and co-driver Ben Barker. Sandy Mitchell and Andrea Caldarelli rounded out the podium in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3, snapping their two-race win streak.
This marks Olsen's third IMSA victory, a first for Barker, and the second consecutive Indy triumph for the Ford Racing GTD PRO program. Catsburg admitted he held no grudges over the aggressive defense, noting the charging GTP car left Olsen nowhere else to go on the normal inside line. Barker also pointed to the team's sharp strategy to pit right before a full-course caution with 65 minutes left in the two-hour, 40-minute race as the turning point that shuffled them to the front. Meanwhile, Catsburg and Milner head to the October 3 season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with an unofficial 47-point advantage in the GTD PRO standings over the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO crew of Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi, who finished sixth.
Over in the GTD class, Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley dedicated an emotional win to the late Matt Dalton, a longtime IMSA competitor and Gallagher supporter. Driving the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO, the duo inherited the lead to the green flag after the pole-sitting and championship-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 was sent to the rear for missing the grid time. Foley capitalized on a brilliant final pit stop just before the yellow flag waved with just over an hour remaining, inheriting the lead when the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO picked up a penalty.
Foley had to weather a late charge from Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes, ultimately holding him off by 0.501 of a second. The runner-up finish allowed Ellis and co-driver Russell Ward to cling to a razor-thin six-point lead over Foley and Gallagher in the GTD championship battle. Matt Bell and Orey Fidani finished third in the No. 13 13 Autosport Corvette Z06 GT3.R, a result that unofficially pushed Fidani to the top of the Bob Akin Award standings. All four classes return for the 2026 finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
