IMSA’s 26th annual Petit Le Mans decided all of this year’s championships: drivers, teams, manufacturers across five different categories. Wrapping the first season of GTP prototype hybrid competition, continuing the growing LMP2 prototype class, saying farewell (maybe not permanently) to LMP3 prototypes, closing out both GTD PRO and GTD sports car classes for the season that began at the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway in late January, it was a busy meeting stretching from Thursday through to Saturday night.
The 10-hour Petit Le Mans race wasn’t a terribly pretty competition, held under clearing skies, albeit without a glimpse of Saturday’s annular eclipse, as partial clouds were evident during that morning stretch. With 94 laps, including the final ones, run under 13 full course caution, there was evidence of plentiful action among the 52 entries on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta undulating road course. And that action occurred from start to finish of the final of four Michelin Endurance Championship contests.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Acura ARX-06 GTP prototype held the pole position, but it was Meyer Shank Racing’s similar car that took victory in this race, bookending its season with a third win after starting the year with a consecutive victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and earning victory on the Canadian Tire motorsports Park road course. Meyer Shank Racing is departing IMSA competition and focusing on its two-car NTT INDYCAR SERIES entries for 2024; its massive penalty at Daytona for manipulation of tire pressure data disappointed partners at Acura and pretty much determined that departure.
“I don’t even know what to say right now,” Michael Shank said as his team took the checkered flags. “The crap this team’s been through this year… I have to thank Acura and all the crew and drivers. It’s too much. It’s just too much. I’m so happy. So happy,” he revealed. “We delivered once again, for HPD and Acura,” added Blomqvist. “The boys and girls at MSR, they never give up. With a few hours to go, it looked like our race was done, but no, we made the right strategy calls and Colin (Braun) absolutely killed it on that restart. I couldn’t be more proud of this entire team.”
Up until the final hour of competition on Saturday night, the 10-hour’s victor was without determination; both Cadillac teams, the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing and No. 31 Whelen Engineeering traded the lead, as did Wayne Taylor Racing’s Acura prototype. The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport, too, held the lead from time to time, making the race winner’s determination a big question mark. That is, until Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque tried a massive move in his Acura on Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, attempting to pass driver’s left as the duo swept into the uphill first turn with little more than an hour remaining in the 10-hour classic.
It didn’t work. The Acura rammed the barrier and the Cadillac continued. Albuquerque was taken to hospital for observation and was quickly released, with a terse, one-sentence comment from the team announcing he’d been cleared. The No. 31 continued to earn the GTP driver’s championship. With less than an hour remaining after this long caution, the GTP champ was crowned while the race title was still up for grabs, with the No. 31 battling the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) Acura and the No. 01 Cadillac from Ganassi’s stable. Cadillac cornered the manufacturer’s title as well as having Whelen Engineering take the team title.
(It is notable that the MSR Acura was, two hours into the race, a good two laps off the lead, but drivers Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun and Helio Castroneves methodically clawed their way back to the lead lap and eventually to this victory.)
Derani understood the ramifications of Albuquerque’s move: “I think he was a little bit too optimistic when there was still an hour to go. We’ve seen that going through the outside at turn 1 never really works. It happened last year with two Cadillacs… you just lose grip” on a track covered in Michelin marbles that had to be swept on all late-race cautions.
While many pitted during the Albuquerque caution as the wall was repaired, both the No. 31 Cadillac and the No. 60 did not. With a pair of added cautions – including one that ended the race – those two cars were able to save sufficient fuel and battle to the close.
In other classes, the LMP2 race win went to the No. 04 Crowdstrike ORECA of Ben Hanley, George Kurtz and Nolan Siegel, while No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ squad of Ben Keating, Paul-Loup Chatin and Alex Quinn recovered from difficulties to claim the championship; Jr III Racing’s No. 30 took the last LMP3 victory with drivers Dakota Dickerson, Bijoy Garg and Garrett Grist in their Ligier JS P320 while Gar Robinson in Riley Motorsports’ No. 74 Ligier entry earned LMP3 honors for the season.
By taking the green flags, GTD PRO’s Vasser Sullivan Racing’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 earned their first championship despite finishing only 153 laps – the wining teams completed 397 – but the No. 79 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of WeatherTech Racing (Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon, MaroEngel) came back from in-race penalties to secure the day’s honors.
While Paul Miller Racing’s trio of Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Corey Lewis secured their title driving a BMW M4 GT3 in similar fashion to Vasser Sullivan with their five race wins this season, the team was unable to capitalize on three in-race penalties, handing the race win to Forte Racing Powered by USRT’s No. 78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, piloted by Misha Goikhberg, Loris Spinelli and Patrick Liddy.
The Rolex 24 at Daytona opens the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship the weekend of January 25-28.
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