STR38 MOTORSPORTS ENDS 2023 SEASON WITH PODIUM FINISH AT INDIANAPOLIS

Indianapolis, Indiana – STR38 Motorsports made their appearance at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the thrilling final round of the Pirelli GT4 America Championship, Round 7. The team put on another impressive display all weekend, earning a spot on the final step of the podium in race one and securing the second and fourth positions in the Am and Silver class championships, respectively.

In the qualifying sessions, the #88 car secured sixth on the grid with Chandler behind the wheel – Harry earning himself a fifth-place spot for race two. In the #438 car, Robert secured a strong third on the starting grid, with Chris set to start the final race of the season from seventh.

Race one was full of action, with Harry and Chandler narrowly missing out on the Silver-class podium after crossing the line in fourth. In the Am class, Robert and Chris managed to bring it home in third and were rewarded with another serving of champagne in the penultimate race of the season. Race two was less fortunate for both the #88 and the #438 BMW M4 GT4s; Harry getting caught up in the chaos of turn 1 while Chris and Robert brought the car home fifth in the Am class.

Following an outstanding 2023 Pirelli GT4 America season for STR38 Motorsports, these results at Indianapolis secure second place in the Am championship with Robert and Chris in the #438 car and fourth in the Silver championship with Harry and Chandler in the #88 car. The team’s performance throughout the season, the results achieved on track and Robert Mau’s Rookie of the Year award at the SRO year-end gala continue to prove STR’s winning pedigree year over year.

Chris Allen, driver #438: “We ended up p2 in points and I couldn't be happier with how the team worked all year long. From the mechanics to the engineers and everybody else involved, everybody was so spot on all year. To finish it all off at a track like Indy really made it feel special and I hope to be back soon!”

Robert Mau, driver #438: “Indy is a magical place and a fitting end to a magical season. When STR and Jon made the offer a year ago I could not have imagined 6 podiums, 2nd in the championship, and Rookie of the Year. It’s so much fun to be a part of a world class team and to have the best codriver in the series, Chris Allen.”

Harry Gottsacker, driver #88: “This weekend was a bit of an uphill battle due to the lack of practice and the rain impacting our run time. We just didn’t have quite the pace of previous weekends, and got ourselves in a bad spot in both qualifying sessions. P4 in class was all we could grab on Saturday. I was the recipient of some contact today by an out of class competitor and that was the end of our day.”

Chandler Hull, driver #88: “The weekend didn’t start off the way we would’ve hoped when both practice sessions ended up being rained out. This caused us to go into qualifying the next morning with no dry laps under our belts. Unfortunately, qualifying did not go as planned since we could have used the practice time to dial in the car’s setup. Race 1 was very chaotic for me at the start having to dodge an accident at seemingly every corner. However, the biggest disappointment of the weekend was when Harry was taken out by an out of class competitor in Turn 1 on the opening lap on Race 2. Overall, it was a frustrating season to say the least since we always seemed to have great pace but could never convert it to a result we knew we should have. It was a great pleasure driving with Harry this season and thank you to the entire STR38 crew!”

Jon Miller, team manager: “We didn’t have too much luck at Indy, with much of the pre-race running rained out and one practice session cancelled completely due to poor track conditions with standing water. Still, we were confident in our drivers and setups, but once qualifying came around it was clear that the BoP for the BMW GT4 was out of the competitive window, with the fastest BMW only managing 9th on the grid overall, over a second off of the ultimate pace set by the others. Rob and Chris put in strong performances - Rob relying on his experience from 2022 and Chris learning the track as quickly as possible during qualifying. Rob snagged a fantastic P3 starting spot, which they converted into a P2 finishing position which sealed P2 in the AM championship which was the goal coming into the weekend. The 88 boys were a little less lucky in qualifying and on Sunday’s race getting taken out in turn 1 - however they had a strong performance on Saturday, matching the pace of the fastest BMW and making their way up the grid to a P4 finish.

A huge thank you to the crew, drivers and engineers to maximize in what was a difficult weekend for all of the competitors. We’ve learned a great deal about this new BMW GT4 platform this season and can’t wait to put that knowledge to use in 2024.”

STR38 Motorsports extends its gratitude to their valued partners, including Cannonball Storage, OVN, Simseats, Ozium, Caza de Oro, MOTUL, HRX, and BMW Motorsport, for their unwavering support.

For more information about STR38 Motorsports and their upcoming events, visit their official website at www.st-racing.org/str38motorsports. Follow the team on Instagram @str38motorsports for updates and behind-the-scenes glimpses leading up to the race.