Late Contact Costs Lexus a Podium at Indy in the RC F GT3's Farewell Season
The No. 14 recovered to fifth in GTD PRO after being spun by the No. 68 Aston Martin, while the No. 12 led 11 laps in GTD before a badly timed caution dropped it to eighth.
Vasser Sullivan's Lexus squad left Indianapolis Motor Speedway convinced it had a trophy taken away from it. Contact from the No. 68 Aston Martin spun Jack Hawksworth's No. 14 RC F GT3 out of podium contention with about 20 minutes left in Sunday's Battle on the Bricks, leaving the 2023 GTD PRO champions fifth in class with just one race remaining in what is expected to be the car's final season.
Ben Barnicoat qualified the No. 14 sixth for the two-hour, 40-minute sprint and ran inside the top six before pitting from fourth on lap 46. Hawksworth took over in 10th, worked his way back into the top five, then got tipped into a spin in Turn 10 and rejoined seventh. He recovered two spots in the closing 20 minutes.
"We got tipped into a spin by the 68 car with about 20 minutes remaining in the race and that ultimately probably cost us a podium finish," Hawksworth said, admitting the team lacked outright pace all weekend and calling fifth a fair salvage job.
For a while, the No. 12 looked like the stronger Lexus. In GTD, Benjamin Pedersen ran long on strategy and led 11 laps before the pit cycle shuffled the car back to 10th. A spin during Aaron Telitz's stint and a caution that fell right after the team's pit stop dropped it to 11th; Telitz climbed back to finish eighth.
The frustration is easy to understand given the bigger picture. The GTD PRO win went to the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3, while the No. 4 Corvette pair of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner left Indiana on top of the class standings. Lexus has one victory this year, scored by the No. 14 at Watkins Glen in June, and chances to add another are running out.
They are running out for the car, too. The RC F GT3 has soldiered on since 2017, and 2026 is widely expected to be its farewell campaign — which goes a long way toward explaining the pace deficit both drivers acknowledged against a field full of newer machinery.
That leaves one last shot: the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on October 3, the season finale and, most likely, the RC F GT3's final IMSA start.
