The final hour and a half hours of the Petit Le Mans, are starting now. We will first take a look at the highlights while we were away over the last oh, two and a half hours. We are back at Road Atlanta. Earlier in the race, the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Oreca went off the road and we've seen the trouble for the #10 Cadillac who is out. Transmission issues for the #63 Scuderia Corsa car and a lot of argy bargy in Prototype. Mark Wilkins had a huge wreck with the #93 Acura, slamming into the tires, while we were away. Game over for that crew. Brendon Hartley, Ryan Dalziel, and Scott Sharp, lead in the overall at this stage. We will take you all the way to the checkers in this third blog entry.
Sage Karam in the GTD class leading Lexus leads the field down. Giancarlo Fisichella is leading GTLM in the #62 Ferrari. Misha Goikhberg is being challenged for the race lead by Eric Curran. Brendon Hartley is leading overall. Giancarlo Fisichella is being penalized for speeding in pit lane. Take your medicine, get back on the road, and don't worry about going down a lap, because you don't. No action on the Mark Wilkins and Colin Braun incident. There's a great flow to this race track and it is one of those fantastic speed palaces we see worldwide.
Scott Dixon is at the wheel of the #67 Ford GT, trying to get back into contention. There's been a lot of contact today. The GT Le Mans manufacturers championship is tightly fought. IMSA is very competitive. Three wide in GT Le Mans, trying to pass Niclas Jonsson in the #54 CORE Autosport GT Daytona Porsche. The #911 Porsche 911 RSR changed brake rotors on their most recent pit stop. Freshen the brakes if you have an opportunity before the end. It's possible a team can put themselves in the catbird seat if they change the brakes.
The #66 Ford GT passes one of the Corvette's. Keep the balance in the front of the car. In recent years, GT cars might not ned a pad change and can make the brakes last the whole race. There's a chunk of debris in the grille opening on the #25 BMW M6 GT. There's a piece of bodywork there which could create an overheating problem. Keep an eye on that. Bill Auberlen at the controls. Mike Rockenfeller is in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-. Chevrolet will take the manufacturer's cup in GT Le Mans if they finish second in class, even, and even if the Ford GT squad wins.
Misha Goikhberg spins and gets absolutly clouted by the #57 Stevenson Motorsport Audi R8! Ouch! Matt Bell at the wheel of the Audi. Goikhberg has damage as the rear wing is torn off the yellow bird. Goikhberg made contact with the #22 and then, bang! Bell had no place to go and he absolutely clouted the #85. The #86 Acura NSX GT3 had to take evaisve action. Game over for the #57. Goikhberg runs into the back of Senna, Senna turns in, and spins him, and Bell has no place to go and... boom! There was nothing he could do. Stevenson is working on the car and there was a repair to the #85 at the rear. But, he will now have to have the front end fixed and was stopped at the red light at the end of pit lane.
So, we are under full course yellow. 15 years of racing, as Stevenson Motortsports, comes to an end on a very sour note. Thank you, Johnny Stevenson. Your team will be a part of the annals of sports car racing history. He is a class act. Christian Fittipaldi gets barged out wide by Simon Pagenaud. To finish first, first you must finish. Niclas Jonsson runs wide and almost spins the car. Then, we see a replay of Goikhberg's spin. He went to the hole to the right and that hole was filled. Settle down, and get back into the rhythm as we go back to green, now.
Time your acceleration well. You cannot pass the safety car until it goes to pit lane. Don't go three wide in the uphill. This is fierce action lads. Really fierce. Jonathan Bomarito is now at the wheel of the #90 car. Bomarito ran with Mazda at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park back in July, and though he's done testing, he has not raced until today. Traffic everywhere. Bomarito wanted to pass. But he has to be wise and keep the car clean for Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens. Take a chance, get away with it. But if you take too many risks, you will run out of luck.
Don't risk the car. Risi Competizione boss Dave "Beeky" Sims, says that there's not been a real rhythm to this race. Maybe we're not gelling after a season that has had a true cadence to it. Today, everyone is going for broke. Oh man! We need a full course yellow and have the stewards tell everyone to calm down and cool their jets a little bit. Mike Rockenfeller is being chased by Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen. Sheldon van der Linde is fourth in GTD. Yellows breed yellows. There's no question about it. Michael Christensen in the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche is applying the blowtorch to the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 with Sage Karam at the wheel of it.
This is intense racing. But, settle down, lads. It's not done yet. After every yellow, everyone is on the limit. Three and a half hours to go now. It's been wacky races today, there's no question. The manufacturer's cups are still in the balance. Corvette engineer Kyle Millay is credited with bringing the 2017 championship to Corvette Racing. The Porsche and BMW are dorr to door. They are seven laps apart, but racing like it's a championship kerfuffle. The BMW is seven laps behind due to a power steering problem.
Lexus #14 has surely been in the wars today. Lexus is evaluating a DPi program. Could they do it? The budgets for LMP1 are just not sustainable, compared to what IMSA does. Michelin will be the tire supplier in 2019, and we could see DPi cars at Le Mans in the not too distant future. The LMP2 based cars are competitive with the DPi machines. ESM runs 1-2 with Brendon Hartley still running in P1. Prototypes in the lane. Helio Castroneves is getting into the car. Castroneves is rady. Eric Curran stays in the #31 Cadillac. The #5 Cadillac also makes a stop.
When Eric Curran left the lane, Tim Keene told him to turn good laps, and make good decisions. The #22 ESM Nissan is in the lane. Oh dear. The #24 BMW will have a stop and hold penalty for the overly aggressive scrapping from a little earlier. ESM is in the lane, and back out again. Simon Pagenaud is coming back to sports cars after being in IndyCar for some years. There is a nuance to this. Martin Tomczyk serves his penalty in the lane. There's some steam coming out of the radiator. Marc Goossens and Helio Castroneves were battling before. Castroneves is extending his gap. But it is Nissan who are extending their lead here at Petit Le Mans.
Marcel Fassler has nrun off the road and has slammed into the ZF/Continental sign. Ugh! There's a load of grass and red clay in that radiator. This is the #4 Corvette and Oliver Gavin is getting into the car. Corvette #4 has just had no luck this year. They have only won at Long Beach. That happened through luck, back in April of course. The GM vs. Ford scrum continues. Tommy Milner spun the #4 Corvette earlier. Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fassler have also been on the whirlygig today. The #66 Ford GT won the 24 Hours of Daytona, but since then, they had some bad luck until winning at Road America in August.
Ford #67 is in the pit lane. Scott Dixon brings the car in. The championship for manufacturers in GT Le Mans will go to the wire this evening. Ferrari #62 is in the lane. Alessandro Pier Guidi will take over from Giancarlo Fisichella. Audi #29 and Ford GT #66 are pitting now. Joey Hand comes in from the GTLM lead. Three hours to go. Now it is time to back time this race. Porsche #73 is in the lane, coming into the lead for GT Daytona. Mercedes and Ferrari are also pitting. Lay the cards on the table. Three hours to the checkers. Three hours, to the end of the 2017 IMSA season. A pass for GTLM leadership as Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen, pass Antonio Garcia.
If it finishes this way, Ford wins the manufacturer's championship. In the top five finishers order in GTLM at Laguna Seca last time out, all manufacturers were represented. Ford, Chevrolet, BMW, Porsche, and Ferrari. Colin Braun runs ahead of Austin Cindric in GT Daytona. We've watched Colin Braun race sports cars since he was 16. Jeff Braun, and Tim Cindric, their fathers, have both been in motorsports for years. Austin Cindric can drive several types of race cars. Jeroen Bleekemolen is back at the wheel of the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3. Bleekemolen is told to switch to the primary fuel pump. No pressure. Change to the reserve. Get to hour eight for the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup points.
Start playing your strategy. Eric Curran is in the #31 Cadillac. Mike Conway will take over. Conway is back on track. The BMW M6 GT makes great downforce. The BMW has more aero drag than does the Ford or the Corvette. But, BMW has turned drag into downforce to keep the car stuck to the road. Use air for cooling. Use air for downforce. The BMW M8 will be another amazing car when it debuts next year. The #6 is in the lane. Penske pits their Oreca. Just under the time of a standard IMSA event remains.
Helio Castroneves will end his IndyCar career, except for the month of May at Indianapolis. The 2018 season will be amazingly exciting. The Prototype category next year will be amazing. Christian Fittipaldi out, Joao Barbosa in, as the #5 Cadillac pits. Barbosa is back on track. The winning car is the one that stay in pit lane for the least amount of time. That's why the racing has been so wonderful today. This is an all out chase for the race win, instead of the championship. Scott Sharp and company are running extremely well today. The #90 car pits. There's time left, and they could chase down to the 3.8 liter GT-R V6 powered ESM machine. That's the same motor installed in the GT3 spec Nissan GT-Rs that we've seen racing in the likes of Blancpain GT and Pirelli World Challenge.
Two and a half hours to go. Save fuel to get to the end, if you can. The pit crews are crunching the numbers. More yellows could happen. Headlights are on. The sun is beginning to set, and we'll see darkness soon. Going through traffic is a definite art and is a huge factor in endurance sports car racing, unlike most other forms of racing. Land Motorsports Audi is running extremely well. The Audi R8 has been fast right off the truck. Connor de Philippi will take the car home. Sheldon van der Linde is driving the car at the moment. Every class has it's own machinations, and it's going to be intense to the finish of this one.
Again, Sheldon van der Linde has been amazing. He is from South Africa. Meanwhile, Townsend Bell spins the #23 Alex Job Racing Audi he shares with Bill Sweedler and Frankie Montecalvo. We have not heard of Sheldon van der Linde. However, he is making a lot of skeptics eat their hats right now. Patrick Lindsey is racing the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 now sponsored by Dyson vacuums. Dyson hopes to make an electridc car. Now, Robert Alon has cut down a tire in one of the Lexus RC F GT3's. While Acura has been winning, poor old Lexus has been knocking at the door for a long, long time this year.
Some bodywork is askew on the back of the #67 Ford GT. Lexus has had potential, but a lot of their races have gone pear shaped. Richard Westbrook tries Gianmaria Bruni in the #912 Porsche. How much curb can a Prototype use, not much, except for setting ride height and trying to be fast. Helio Castroneves is eating up Bruno Senna right now. Art St. Cyr from Honda, is very excited about Acura and their prospects for next year with the new Prototype and the NSX GT3. Helio Castroneves continues to press Bruno Senna.
The #90 Visit Florida Ligier has probably cracked a header. They have dropped down the order. That was a car that could be a threat in the rain. The #31 Cadillac is falling down the order as well. Mike Conway ran wide through turns six and seven. Yikes. He's lost a lap and was losing positions hand over fist. Bruno Senna spins! Was the from contact? Did he spin on his own. Oh. Issues for the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini as well, bringing out a full course yellow with just two hours left in the race, two hours left in the season.
BMW and Corvette pit. There may have been a touch between bruno Senna and a Porsche GT car. Wow. With issues for the Lamborghini, it is the 11th caution we have seen in this race. Pit stop time for ESM and for Penske. Juan Pablo Montoya will take the car to the finish. Simon Pagenaud and Juan Pablo Montoya have said the car has been very loose. The #5 Cadillac is in the lane as well. The #16 Change Racing Lamborghini goes to the garage. Now, we are going back to green. Check that. No. Still under yellow. Penske has not been incident free today. But, they have been penalty free for this whole event.
Roll the dice. Track position vs. fuel strategy. We will have yet another lap under yellow. Two Prototype Challenge cars will be at the front of the pack as the #33 Mercedes and the #86 Acura come into the pit lane. Oh deary me. Acura #86 goes behind the wall. These boys had an outside chance at the North American Endurance Championship. Now, the #90 car is in pit lane. They still have that cracked header issue. The #31 Cadillac pits and is back out. Mike Conway stays in the car. We are heaed back to green now.
Pippo Derani leads the field to green. We're back to green flag action. Three wide! The two Nissan's are split bu Joao Barbosa goes to second in the #5 Cadillac. Barbosa wants the lead! Oh my! He's done it. Barbosa is P1! Wow! Cold tires, and risking it. It should be that Action Express has now clinched their fourth straight Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup! Oh my! Juan Pablo Montoya has passed Ryan Dalziel for third in the overall! Ooh. The #33 AMG Mercedes is off the road with Mario Farnbacher now at the wheel of it. Track conditions are coolling down. Pippo Derani is in the ESM racer.
Derani is in the #22. Ooh! A big crash for the #14 Lexus RC F GT3. He's crashed, and the car is on fire. He looks OK and escaping the car. nWow. He's clobbered the tire wall. Oh man. This is a scary one. A massive wreck. There is no runoff at that corner. Turn 12 is downhill and there's no place to go if you go off the road. Alon understeers wide, and just spears right off the road. The car didn't turn. Crunch! Drivers are transitioning from daylight to darkness. More wild racing is yet to come.
The overhead camera view at dusk at Road Atlanta is an amazing sight. The camera and audio people, and the production staff do a stellar job. The Ferris wheel and the vendor midway are lit up. The headlights shine, the brake discs glow cherry red, and flames lap out of the exhaust pipes. If a Prototype pits soon, those cars could finish on one more stop. Sharpen your pencils, now. We are green! Pippo Derani is going for it and is right on Joao Barbosa's six right now. #5 makes a move on Chris Miller. Ford and Porsche side by side in GTLM! Wow!
Side by side through turn ten. John Edwards had a huge head of steam in the BMW M6 GT and had to back out of it, as he's laps down. There's serious racing going on right now. Dirk Mueller gets slammed by Dirk Werner. 2:45 stop and hold for the #15 Lexus in the lane. The sister car had the humongous wreck in turn 12. So, Lexus' race has gone pear shaped. Robert Alon is OK. Something broke on the car. The cars are bulletproof. But something had to be weakened after the car was hit. Joao Barbosa is running well and so is Pippo Derani. Derani ran very well earlier. Does the Nissan have a setup for the cooler nighttime conditions?
Mario Farnbacher is third in GT Daytona, behind Connor De Philippi. De Philippi could be racing here in the states next year. Daniel Morad in the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, is ahead. Morad was one of the winners with the team at the Rolex 24 back in January. That has put him on the map. Nic Jonsson is down a lap in the #54 CORE Autosport Porsche he shares with Colin Braun and John Bennett. Pippo Derani is really putting the welly down. He has a 3.5 second lead. Turn 12 is still calamity corner! Juan Pablo Montoya is on a mission.
Mike Conway is still going for it in the #31 Whelen Cadillac DPi-V.R. The strategist on the pit box is just as important as the driver. It's all about instinct except for tracking fuel mileage. Trust your gut. Audi's legendary engineers like Brad Kettler and Lena Gade know to go with their gut. Tim Keene, Peter Baron, and others know the same thing. Don't always trust a laptop computer crunching sdata. Ooh! Montoya forces the issue on Barbosa! Yikes! Barbosa had a piece of race track that Montoya wanted! Ugh! That was really close. Pippo Derani has now set sail and taken off away from some of these other blokes.
Where did Montoya go? Did he have a puncture? Yes. He's headed for the pit lane. It's a cut tire on the #6. Adjust on the fly. Be flexible with your strategy. This is their penultimate stop of the race. The #15 Lexus could have ogne behind the wall, but no. Yes. The Lexus may have moved a bit. Juan Pablo Montoya thought he'd cleared the Lexus. Does the Lexus move right? Ah. Maybe that was so. Penske is slightly off sequence but still in the same window. Derani extends his gap over Barbosa.
Joao Barbosa is giving it everything as the Corvette's were nearly forced into the weeds in the esses. Yikes! At night, your reference points change and flashing headlights in your mirror are incredibly bright. There was nothing wrong with the #15 Lexus RC F GT3, with Jack Hawksworth at the wheel of it. Hawksworth got "blasted" by Montoya, according to John Gentilozzi, part of the brain trust at Lexus. Alessandro Pier Guidi applies the blowtorch to the Corvette. Alexander Sims is leading in GT Le Mans. Alexander Sims is ahead in GTLM over Ryan Briscoe by 4.2 seconds. BMW over Ford.
Lots still to play for. Antonio Garcia is third in class in GTLM right now. Alessandro Pier Guidi, Laurens Vanthoor, and Dirk Mueller are really going for it as well. Cadillac #31 in. Dane Cameron will race his final stint for Action Express before becoming a Penske driver. This is emotional for him and also for Sonny Whelen. Antonio Garcia pulls out a second and a half on Alessandro Pier Guidi. Close action as the #85 car gets in the way of the Porsche and the Ford. Stephen Simpson at the wheel of the Hi Tide Boat Lifts entry.
The #3 Corvette has won the driver's and teams championship. But, they still could win the manufacturer's championship when this race ends. Less than an hour to go and Juan Pablo Montoya is now past Renger van der Zande. Montoya is reeling off consistent 1:13 laps. Pippo Derani still leads as Brendon Hartley is moving in on Filipe Albuquerque. The #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche pits for the final time. Michael de Quesada will take the car to the end. But, Connor De Philippi in the Audi has been class of the field in GT Daytona for the whole race. Wins are great, but championships are won based on points, not race wins.
The #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche pits. Patrick Lindsey, Jorg Bergmeister, and Matthew McMurry have run very well all day. The #911 Porsche of Nick Tandy and the #66 Ford GT also pitted. There was some wheel spin on the air jacks for the Ford. That's a no no. Will Ganassi get pinged by the stewards for that one? We are into the final 50 minutes of the 2017 WeatherTech Championship season. Dirk Mueller is scrapping with Laurens Vanthoor. How long have these two blokes been at it? Quite a while this evening. Brendon Hartley nearly goes off the road! Wowzers!
Toni Vilander has replaced Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #62 Ferrari. Alexander Sims is taking the #25 BMW M6 GT to the checkers. Jorg Bergmeister leads GT Daytona. When will you make your final pit stop if you are Derani with 47 minutes left? Mueller is falling behind Vanthoor. The #33 Mercedes, if they get up to second, with the #63 Ferrari ninth in class, it could tilt the manufacturer's championship in Mercedes' favor. Pippo Derani is racing extremely well right now, putting in mega stints.
The race is definitely on in GTLM. We have yet another full course yellow. Oh no! The #38 Performance Tech Oreca Prototype Challenge car is in the gravel. They were on track for a perfect season. Not now. However, Penske might still have a chance for the overall victory here as they pitted right before this most recent yellow. Filipe Albuquerque thought another car was in turn seven, wanting to defend. Not true. So, Brendon Hartley made na brilliant pass. The #38 was touched by another car, and the Porsche almost got collected in that kerfuffle. The #38 car actually hit one of the GTD cars. Poor old James French has damage to the car, after thinking he was OK.
A substantial amount of gravel was sprayed onto thje road when French was trying to turn back onto the track. Now, the #29 Monoplast by Land Audi has lost it's lead. The Alegra Motorsports Porsche #28 may be able to come to them. Shades of the Rolex 24 back in January. All of the leaders are in the lane for their final stops of the race. Final stops of the 2017 season. #2 and #22 are in the lane. Both cars have great stops. The #6 Penske car was in right before this yellow. So, they have the track position. Once everything cycles through, this race is going to be on it's ear, and we are going to be in for a cracking finish.
29 minutes now remain in the Motul Petit Le Mans. The yellow is extended to clean the track. Fuel is being topped up on the Pneske car, and there's a brief stall. Now, it will be a run to the finish. Stephen Simpson brought the JDC-Miller car into the pit lane. We have just 26 minutes to go now. Everyone is ready to go. It's showtime at Petit Le Mans. People are going for it hammer and tongs. The overall leader is swamped in this pack of cars. Montoya and the other Prototype leaders are behind, but will catch up. Albuquerque and Derani are scrapping for the top spot. It is Nissan vs. Cadillac.
Alessandro Balzan in the #63 Ferrari knows the leaders are attacking, and he has to stay clear. Did Dane Cameron make a move on Brendon Hartley. Oh. What a shame. The #90 Visit Florida Ligier is going behiind the wall. Dane Cameron is trying to muscle his way through. It is ESM vs. Action Express for the top four places. Time is of the essence. The championships are settled. Montoya is five seconds behind Cameron at the moment. Oh! One ofn the Corvette's gets slammed by another car. Ooh. No. It is the #67 Ford GT and he's got damage. Oh my gosh. This is getting serious. The #5 Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque may have been involved, and there are going to be calls to the sin bin to some drivers, by the stewards.
Oh man. Derani and Albuquerque are going to be penalized. Albuquerque tagged Dane Cameron. Damage to the Ford as it enters the lane. The team is ready with a rear clip with a new rear wing. The bodywork has to be peeled away. Ryan Briscoe drove the car back. The rear suspension will have to bw checked. There will be a penalty for #5, and there will be one for the #22 as well. Drive through penalty for the #22. That's anh area in the downhill where you have to respect your rival drivers.
The complexion of this race has changed in a massive way! Wow! First and second are both penalized. Brendon Hartley has eked out three seconds over Dane Cameron. The #6 Penske car could be on the podium here. The #25 BMW and the #29 Audi are leading the GT classes. We are now into the final 15 minutes of the season. Ooh! Derani forces the issue, and then, has to serve a drive through penalty. Filipe Albuquerque will have a minute stop and hold penalty. Derani ran a 1:12.645. Derani will have to run qualifying laps to stay on the podium. Juan Pablo Montoya is closing in on the ailing Cadillac of Dane Cameron. Derani could stop being scored.
If Pippo Derani keeps going, will there be a points penalty? Now, the #5 is in the lane. The tewam did not see the incident. Bring the car to the lane, stop, and then, turn the engine off. Shut the motor off. Albuquerque is really frustrated about this. Tequila Patron ESM has a wing man in Brendon Hartley. If Dane Cameron hangs on, he and Eric Curran will secure second in the championship standings. Corvette will secure the GTLM manufacturer's championship. Filipe Albuquerque will get another penalty for not serving the original one he was assigned within four laps. Antonio Garcia wants to win. He has not won yet this year, and would love to win Petit Le Mans.
Michael Christensen and Jorg Bergmeister are going to finish third and fourth in GT Daytona. Bergmeister was stung by a wasp within the index finger on his right hand. He is driving through the pain of that wasp sting. Connor De Philippi is running very, very well, and could pull off a win. Garcia is closing up for GTLM, as Alexander Sims still leads. Could Sims and Bill Auberlen win in Auberlen's 400th start as a BMW driver? Cameron is cutting into the margin of Montoya. Those two will be team mates at Penske next year. These two will probably be shaking hands on the podium.
The team mate for Helio Castroneves will be announced this week as well, and we'll know the entirety of the Penske Acura squad for next year. White flag next time by as GTLM rivals are separated by just 3/10ths of a second. Wow. One lap to go for Brendon Hartley. Hartley could be an IndyCar driver next year. Final lap of the season. The Nissan DPi is going to win the Petit Le Mans. Cameron and Montoya are close. Antonio Garcia is close but not close enough. We run to the checkered flag. Alexander Sims will win GTLM. But, Nissan wins the 20th Motul Petit Le Mans! BMW hangs on in GT Le Mans! Dane Cameron is second overall hanging non over Juan Pablo Montoya.
Nissan, Cadillac, Oreca Gibson. The #26 BAR1 Motorsports car wins the final Prototype Challenge race with Garrett Grist, John Falb, and Tomy Drissi. The #29 Audi wins GT Daytona! They were the class of the field, all day. GT Le Mans honors go to BMW and the M6 GT of Bill Auberlen, Alexander Sims, and Kuno Wittmer. In GT Daytona, Audi bring it home with Land Motorsports, for Connor De Philippi, Sheldon van der Linde, and Christopher Mies.
Overall/Prototype: #2 Sharp/Dalziel/Derani Nissan DPi
Prototype
Challenge: #26 Falb/Drissi/Grist Oreca FLM Chevrolet
GT Le Mans: #25 Auberlen/Sims/Wittmer BMW M6 GT
GT Daytona: #29 De Philippi/van der Linde/Mies Audi R8
Brendon Hartley wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Petit Le Mans in the same season. Sheldon van der Linde is the driver revelation of this race. There will be more coverage of your champions, tomorrow, in a mini salute. But, we congratulate Scuderia Corsa in GT Daytona, winning two championships in a row for Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan. James French and Pat O'Ward are your final champions in the Prototype Challenge category despite coming up one short in the perfect season. Pat O'Ward got the fastest lap in every race.
Bill Auberlen has won his 400th race for BMW, ending the GTLM M6 program with a win. What a fascinating race, and what a fascinating season. 2018 will be great. BMW scores their first PLM win since 2001. 17 years and the dry spell is over. Next year's championship will be amazing with Penske and Joest coming with Acura and Mazda respectively. Thanks for coming along for the ride in 2017. 2018 will set a new standard in 113 days. We'll see you, for the 56th renewal of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
So long, for now, and take care, everyone.
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