The 2023 IMSA Battle on the Bricks was a sports car race that was sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on September 17, 2023. The event was the tenth round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the seventh round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The No. 7 Porsche of Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr qualified in pole position and initially held their advantage until Campbell was overtaken by Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche on the race's first lap. Jaminet held the lead until pitting during the second full course caution period. Porsche Penske Motorsport's No. 6 and No. 7 cars failed to overtake the GTD field during the field split. Whelen Engineering Racing's No. 31 Cadillac of Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims inherited the lead which they maintained until Derani was overtaken by Nasr and Tandy. Tandy overtook Nasr in the final final pit stop cycle to secure the victory. Porsche Penske Motorsport's No. 7 car of Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr finished second and the No. 25 BMW of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly came in third.
The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category was won by the No. 11 TDS Racing car of Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas. Jensen took the lead in the closing stages of the race after passing No. 8 Tower Motorsports driver Louis Delétraz which earned Jensen and Thomas their second victory of the season. Wayne Boyd and Anthony Mantella took victory in LMP3. Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella's No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes took victory in the GTD Pro class with Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Aston Martin in second. Gounon and Juncadella went unchallenged throughout the race after inheriting the lead from The No. 9 Porsche of Klaus Bachler who received a drive-through penalty for changing lanes before crossing the start finish line at the start. The GTD class was won by Philip Ellis and Russell Ward ahead of The No. 78 Lamborghini of Misha Goikhberg and Loris Spinelli
The result meant Derani and Sims became the leaders of the Drivers' Championship with 2460 points, 3 ahead of fifth-placed finishers Albuquerque and Taylor, and a further 2 in front of Mathieu Jaminet, and Nick Tandy. De Phillippi and Yelolly dropped to fourth place and Matt Campbell, and Felipe Nasr advanced to fifth. Porsche took the lead of the Manufactures' Championship by eight points ahead of Cadillac and Acura dropped to third. BMW remained in fourth. Jensen and Thomas took the lead of the LMP2 Drivers' Championship. Boyd and Mantella moved to second in the LMP3 Drivers' Championship. In The GTD Pro Drivers' Championship, Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth extended their advantage over Antonio García and Jordan Taylor. Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers clinched the GTD Drivers' Championship with one race left in the season.
Background
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2022. The event marked IMSA's return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since 2014 as the track replaced Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after the 2022 season. The 2023 IMSA Battle on the Bricks was the tenth of eleven scheduled sports car races of 2023 by IMSA, and it was the seventh round held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the fourteen-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on August 27, 2023.
On September 7, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the GTP, GTD Pro, and GTD classes. In GTP, the Acura ARX-06 received a 3 kilogram weight increase while the Porsche 963 received a 1 kilogram weight increase. The BMW M Hybrid V8 and Cadillac V-Series.R received no weight changes. All four GTP cars received power increases. In GTD Pro and GTD, the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo received a 30 kilogram weight increase. The Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) received a 10 kilogram weight increase and received a larger air restrictor. The BMW M4 GT3, Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD, and Lexus RC F GT3 received smaller air restrictors while most of the cars received fuel capacity adjustments.