The Indianapolis 8 Hour brings the Intercontinental GT Challenge to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 9 to 11, 2026, at 4790 West 16th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46222. The venue publishes a separate schedule for each of the three days, and each day runs on its own clock. Sunday fits inside half a day, and the gap it leaves is what a day-use hotel room covers.
Gates open at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday and close at 2:00 p.m. The last race of the weekend ends 25 minutes past that closing hour. A visitor who wants the full race card has no room to sit, work or change between the morning sessions and the afternoon ones.
The Sunday Grid
Indianapolis Motor Speedway lists all times as eastern. Sunday, October 11 runs as follows.
Outside parking lots open at 8:00 a.m. Gates run 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. On the road course: GR Cup Toyota Gazoo Racing North America qualifying 9:05 to 9:20 a.m., TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School race 9:35 to 10:10 a.m., Pirelli GT4 America race 10:25 to 11:25 a.m., GT America powered by AWS race 11:40 a.m. to 12:20 p.m., McLaren Trophy America race 12:35 to 1:25 p.m., and the GR Cup race 1:40 to 2:25 p.m. The venue marks every session subject to change.
Friday and Saturday Gate Hours
Friday, October 9 opens the weekend with practice and qualifying. Outside parking lots open at 7:00 a.m. and gates run 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The first session on track is GR Cup practice, 8:00 to 8:35 a.m. The last is Car Collective Laps, 7:05 to 7:35 p.m. In between sit Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour pre-qualifying 9:50 to 11:20 a.m., three separate qualifying runs for the 8 Hour from 3:35 to 4:35 p.m., the Pole Shootout 5:35 to 5:50 p.m., a McLaren Trophy America race and a TC America race.
Saturday, October 10 is race day. Gates run 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour race runs 12:30 to 8:30 p.m. Earlier in the day: GT America race 8:05 to 8:45 a.m., GR Cup race 9:00 to 9:45 a.m., an 8 Hour autograph session at 9:30 a.m., Pirelli GT4 America race 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., and 8 Hour pre-race 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
What Sunday Admission Covers
Sunday admission costs $30. General admission seating is first-come, first-served in the open grandstands, and it includes garage access for every series. Children 15 and under enter free with a paying adult in general admission locations.
A Sunday Paddock Plus Pass costs $45 and reaches the space between the garages and the track on the west side of the garages. Gate admission is a separate purchase. Everyone regardless of age needs a pass to enter the paddock, and passes must be collected on site during the event weekend. Sunday parking in Lot 2, a grass lot outside the gates, costs $10.
Cashless Gates and Digital Tickets
The venue plan-ahead page states that Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a cashless facility, and asks guests to complete ticket, credential, parking, concession and merchandise purchases by debit or credit card. Bring one.
Tickets are digital or print-at-home only on the Sunday admission page, and no gate admission tickets go out by mail. Instructions arrive by email within 10 days of the event date, and entry runs through the IMS mobile app or IMS.com.
The two pages disagree on one point. The Sunday admission page names print-at-home as an accepted format. The IMS Digital Ticket Guide states that a printed ticket will not be accepted at the gates. Keep the ticket on the phone and follow the emailed instructions.
Where a Day Room Fits the Gap
hotelSlots sells day-use rooms in four slots: morning 6 a.m. to 12 p.m., afternoon 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., evening 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., and overnight 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. A guest books one slot or combines several. The platform lists 103,857+ hotels across 46 states and charges no booking fee. Its home page states that day rates run 30 to 75 percent below the nightly rate at the same property, and its day-use page states 40 to 60 percent.
On Sunday the morning slot covers the drive in and the first four races. The afternoon slot covers the final three. For a guest already in the city, either slot turns a five-hour gate window into a full day: a desk for work, a shower and a change of clothes after the track.
The platform day-use page states that pool, gym, Wi-Fi and shower access are included. Treat that as the listing description, and confirm what a given hotel includes when the rate comes back.
What a Day Room Costs
Engine publishes an Indianapolis average of $128 per night across 1.2 million public rate observations collected between May 2024 and April 2026. October reads $134, five percent above the city average. Monthly averages range from $107 in February to $158 in May. Engine labels those figures par rates, meaning the cheapest public price at the time of each search.
Dayuse publishes an average of $87.43 for a day room in Indianapolis. Both figures are platform claims.
The Indianapolis page in the hotelSlots directory counts 273 hotels in its heading, and its body copy reads 123. Both numbers belong to the platform, and availability changes by date.
The platform's own help page lists Florida, Hawaii, Iowa and Washington as the four states that restrict day-use bookings under state travel law. Indiana carries no such restriction, so the booking path is open here.
Before Sunday
The Sunday window closes at 2:00 p.m. Decide before the weekend whether the room serves the morning races or the afternoon ones, and reserve the slot that matches. Recheck the session times on the venue schedule during race week, because Indianapolis Motor Speedway marks all three days subject to change.
