...And then, there was one. This is the finale, of a long IMSA season, on a fall afternoon in the hills of northern Georgia, just outside Atlanta at Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Georgia. It is the silver anniversary of one of the great endurance races, the Petit Le Mans, which has thrilled fans every year since 1998. A field of 43 cars in five classes is set to do battle. This motor race is the swansong, too, for the five-year magnificent run of the Daytona Prototype International class, as we look ahead to next year and a revival of sorts, with the Grand Touring Prototype coming back to IMSA in the form of the new LMDh specification cars. Manufacturer involvement and car design are massive elements in the new class.
But that is the future, and this is now. An hour north of Atlanta, Georgia, is Road Atlanta, home of Petit Le Mans, a race a quarter century old. This star studded driver lineup knows the challenge. This is the final day of competition and championships are on the line. This is indeed a sports car spectacle. Nothing diminutive about this grand event. Dr. Don Panoz, he decided to bring the flavor and fanfare of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, to the United States. We welcome Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, and Townsend Bell, in the broadcast booth. This is the perfect stage for the final DPi race. Acura will be scrapping for title honors. Wayne Taylor Racing vs. Meyer Shank Racing.
Tom Blomqvist uncorked three perfect laps while Ricky Taylor went off the road and skittered through the gravel trap. Free Practice 1 on Thursday on this natural terrain circuit, they had tough times, the drivers did. This place tempts bad decisions as much as New Year's Eve in Las Vegas. Stay with us all day today because the action will be nonstop from now until we get to the waning moments of racing later tonight in the evening fall twilight. The cars roll off on their formation laps. Time to boogie. It is a gorgeous day in Georgia. This is a classic racing circuit. Seven DPI, six, LMP2, eight LMP3, seven GTD Pro and 15 GTD. WTR and MSR have matched each other on the chess board all season but today they are going to be flying.
Whoever finishes ahead of the other, takes the trophy. Three LMP2 teams can win. #8, #18, and #52. Tower Motorsports, Era Motorsports, and PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. LMP3 sees the top three 120 points apart. Riley Motorsports need to capitalize on points and Kay van Berlo scored the pole in Friday qualifying. In GTD Pro, Pfaff Motorsports and Porsche will win their second title while four cars are pushing and fighting for the title. The Heart of Racing #27 Aston Martin is a contender and they are not even worried about their competition until the eight hour mark.
The keys to victory, survive the traffic, be a night owl in the darkness. Identify the night driver and be committed all race long. Protect your car. Survive any car to car contact. These exotic sports cars must be kept intact. Bless You Dr. Don Panoz. Your vision has come true. Green flag. Go! MSR int the lead of the motor race as Tristan Vautier and Sebastien Bourdais are pushing and so are the two Action Express cars who just want the overall win. GTD Pro and GTD starting now. Pole man Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 leads. GTD = green side numbers and red for GTD Pro. Ricky Taylor may pit to change tires.
He trashed his tires in the spin in qualifying and he is straight to the lane. Three of those tires went down to the cords. Wow. Qualifying means a bunch in endurance racing. Are you kidding me? #10 are going to have to play catch up. Ricky Taylor sharing with Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley. The GTD field has gone by. Taylor will have to play catch up but play it smart. Watch your step on cold tires. He cannot afford to have an incident as he is passing Nick Boulle, John Potter, and others. Porsche's, Aston Martin's and more. #60 is coming in a real hurry. You do not want to go a lap down early doors. Be smart. Be wise.
Do not flat spot the tires. 32 seconds is the pit lane delta. Wow. Taylor is bobbing and darting through the GTD field. Up and over the hill, this is where it gets wild. Taylor has to hustle, now. #60 is also getting a wriggle on through traffic. The tail enders in GT Daytona may think the leader is coming through. Information from the timing stand is crucial. Some teams have spotters on both ends of the track at turn one and turn ten. Turn ten is two steep hills before you fall off the cliff to turn 12. This is like I-285 in Atlanta in rush hour. 140 miles an hour for the DPi cars. Wow.
It is fast and frantic. You are spinning five plates at once. Earl Bamber is chipping away. Bamber is chasing Blomqvist. #60 vs. #02 right now. Bamber is right on his six. That is the second Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. He is pushing into turn 12 and look at the dust! A car drops a wheel, the Risi Competizione #62 Ferrari. More traffic ahead. This is a mad scramble! It is totally off the charts! This is like a sprint race and now, Bamber is going to go after Blomqvist, and he has a massive head of steam! Bamber dives inside! Settle down and think of the big picture. #60 only needs to beat the #10. MSR wants to win the race just the same. #02 has had the pace over everyone else.
Wondering how well Action Express is doing know. Pipo Derani and Kamui Kobayashi are moving ahead. It is the first time in almost a decade AXR have not won yet. You know they want it. The Cadillac has the muscle over the turbocharged Acura. This sends a signal to everyone else in DPi they are going ten tenths. Pfaff Motorsports and the plaid and silver #9 Porsche are champions in GT Daytona Pro. Felipe Nasr driving the first stint. They've ticked the box and now they are going to charge. Matthieu Jaminet and Matty Campbell will move to Porsche and Penske Motorsports GTP team with the new Porsche 963 next year.
Good scrap in GTD Pro between Corvette, Aston Martin, and Ferrari. Right now we see the battle on track between The Heart of Racing and Risi Competizione. The #3 factory Corvette is slightly ahead. Antonio "The King of Spain" Garcia, sharing with Jordan Taylor and Nicky "The Cat" Catsburg. #62 has Brazilian Daniel Serra, Brit James Calado, and Italian Davide Rigon. What a blinder of a start! Earl Bamber, the Kiwi, leading the motor race. They won the 12 Hours of Sebring back in March. Ricky Taylor continues tiptoeing through the field. 1:10.43 for Bamber and 1:10.96 for Ricky Taylor. Bamber sharing with Alex Lynn and Ryan Hunter-Reay. "Captain America", the Indianapolis 500 winner, will race later today.
In fighting through traffic, coasting into the turns, you get massive fuel save. Coasting is a good idea to extend the fuel mileage in DPi. Information on who is driving the car ahead is a major help to the DPi blokes. Jack Hawksworth leads GTD Pro while Madison Snow leads GTD. A penalty for the #20 entry for changing the start column at the green flag. That is the High Class Racing Oreca of Dennis Andersen, Anders Fjordbach, and Fabio Scherer. Pole man in GTD, Madison Snow leads the class in the #1 BMW M4 GT3. Madison Snow sharing with Bryan Sellers and Sweden's Erik Johansson. Snow is putting daylight between himself and the second place car which right now is the #42 NTE Sport Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
Jaden Conwright, Marco Holzer, and Don Yount are the trio in that car. Stevan McAleer, the Scottish driver, he worked really hard and raced against a lot of the drivers we have seen in the race today. Robby Foley in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. The engine had a camshaft lockout and would not run. But today they are doing alright. Bill Auberlen sharing with Robby Foley and Michael Dinan. We are also watching the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R of Zach Robichon, Ryan Hardwick, and Jan Heylen. Robichon has raced in the European Le Mans Series too. Hoping to have more of those races for you, during the offseason.
Good to see Risi Competizione and his drivers back in the Ferrari 488 GT3 with all three factory drivers in the driver lineup. They last raced Petit Le Mans and won, in 2019. They only run the four endurance races in IMSA. Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and here at Road Atlanta at Petit Le Mans. Wayne Taylor, team boss of Wayne Taylor Racing was the first winner of Petit Le Mans for Doyle Risi Racing in a Ferrari 333 SP with Eric van de Poele and Emmanuel Collard. The pressure is on indeed. Ricky Taylor's co-drivers, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley are still stressed after yesterday's troubles.
Now, Action Express hits the pit lane for their first pit stop, the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac for Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla, and Mike Conway under the direction of team owner Bob Johnson, and managers Tim Keane and Gary Nelson. They are playing catch up, last year's champions, who want a win today. They have gone winless all year and would love to turn that around. It has been a bugaboo of a season so far. The sister #48 Ally Cadillac is up there too, run in conjunction with Hendrick Motorsports. The #48 is third in the hands of Kamui Kobayashi sharing with Jimmie Johnson and and Mike Rockenfeller.
So much history in this race and we have seen some amazing races and different cars too. We will see a winner-by-winner reflection later on. We cannot be remiss to mention the people who are dealing with such difficulties in Florida and South Carolina, during Hurricane Ian. It has been unbelievable. We are thinking of you, praying for you. Now then, Simon Mann went wide when Bamber nudged him off the road. That is the #21 Ferrari 488 GT3 for AF Corse. Simon Mann sharing with Toni Vilander and Luis Perez Companc. Ricky Taylor has to check up. Three wide, look! Wow. Bamber on the chase. That was a close shave with the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports LMP2 car of Ben Keating sharing with Mikkel Jensen and Scott Huffaker.
Mikkel Jensen of course, is the Peugeot factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Ricky Taylor, threading the needle and almost crashing! Oh! I thought I was having a Charlie horse! That was close! Through turn six trying to rad the move, going to the right and that was a teally close shave! Action Express, the #48 is top of the shop on that team with Kamui Kobayashi in third place. #39 in trouble. Robert Megennis has spun at the top of the hill at turn one exit. This could bring out a Full Course Yellow. Did the car stall? It has power. To the lane, the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura. Meyer Shank Racing has had a solid run so far. The #39 of Megennis, he is sharing with Corey Lewis and Jeff Westphal. The car is on high idle and stalls.
To the pit lane now, Earl Bamber. Full Course Yellow. Full Course Yellow. Nothing safe at all about a car stopped at the exit of turn one. The Ganassi team has been up and down, and they have had understeer. They want to work it out when it is money time. The marshals are rescuing the #39 Lamborghini and we will be back to green soon. #39 getting a flat tow to the garage. Everyone is lined up in single file behind the safety car right now. Right now, the margin is 46 points between the #60 and #10 as Ricky Taylor is in the pit lane for a tire change again now. These endurance races, you have to listen to advice. Do not get all consumed with going Harry Flatters the whole race. Again, Harry Flatters = flat out.
#10 is seventh overall and we are not even an hour in yet. Pit stop time now for GTD Pro and GTD. Madison Snow has been pressing the factory BMW of Jesse Krohn for BMW Team RLL. That is the #25 entry. Krohn sharing with Connor De Philippi and John Edwards The Corvette's do not like the heat. They are trying to lock in second in GTD Pro. The Heart of Racing entry is in the lane in GTD. Ian James will get his drive time in after Roman De Angelis' stint and then Maxime Martin will take his stint. Martin in his final race for Aston Martin as a factory driver before I believe he is returning to BMW next year, where he started his GT racing career. Watch this space.
Action Exoress, under yellow, have moved to second and fourth. Can they maintain top five position throughout the race to upset the apple cart and score a win? They want, they expect to win races. That is the team motto. Maybe today will be the day. It is never over until it is over. In GT Daytona, the margin between Roman De Angelis and Stevan McAleer are only 18 points apart. For all classes bar DPi they must do two hours minimum drive time as it is 45 minutes for DPi. Jimmie Johnson says the team is falling into a groove. Ally, Cadillac, Action Express, and so on, have done very well driving with Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi, and Mike Rockenfeller.
My friend Bob Johnson who owns the team, he has mentioned we might just have one car for GTP next year but bring back the two-car team in 2024. We shall find out. That is the future. This is now. On the #10 side, they were close to going a lap down and both WTR and the #02 CGR Cadillac were moving to the back because of tire degradation but think they have a way to get going. Pipo Derani is now charging after Earl Bamber and Kamui Kobayashi charging after Tom Blomqvist. Road Atlanta is like a cheese grater on the Michelin tires. After the yellow flag, Ricky Taylor will have his eyes on Tom Blomqvist defending from the #01 Ganassi Cadillac.
The speed these cars carry is amazing, the DPi cars, arresting the speed through the corner. Punch it down the back straight. Brake again, set up the turn. Taylor at the end of the DPi crocodile right now. Road Atlanta has more negative and positive weight transfer on the car through the corners than anywhere else as far as North American racetracks. Maximum spring load, hit the throttle and go for it. Trouble for the #25 BMW M4 GT3 with a stop and hold for servicing the car in a closed pit lane. They had to be light on petrol. Full rich is a 56 second fuel fill on the stops. No Cooper MacNeil in the #79 Mercedes AMG GT3. He is focusing on family and business.
So, professional Mercedes factory aces in the car today with Maximilian Buhk, Maximilian Goetz, and Mikael Grenier. Pit stop time for BMW #25. These three in the #79 Mercedes are normally rivals in GT3 for Mercedes but they are the three musketeers this weekend, all for one and one for all. Big trouble for the #25 BMW idling in the lane because of their penalty. They will be on the back foot for a good while. Jesse Krohn must be steaming inside his helmet. In the future, of course, we are going to see the new LMDh/GTP cars next year. Oh man. Yours truly is really looking forward to it. BMW will be one of the manufacturers in the game.
The new GTP cars are stunningly beautiful with hybrid power and combustion engines. Looking ahead to Daytona next year. 91 people for the test with Wayne Taylor Racing and the new Acura. Richard Heistand in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 leads Madison Snow, Stevan McAleer, Michael Dinan, and Russell Ward. Heistand sharing the Lexus with Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo this afternoon. The GTD Pro battle is fierce as the DPi cars make their way through.
No comments:
Post a Comment