On Monday, IMSA held the WeatherTech Night of Champions at the Georgia Aquarium, where the champions were crowned. However, before trophies could be award, champions feted and even before Vanessa Carlton could perform, IMSA released revised results for Saturday’s Petit Le Mans presented by Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. Normally, this is just a formality, but that was not the case on this occasion.
The revised results move the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R shared by Matt McMurry, Jörg Bergmeister and team owner Patrick Lindsey to the rear of the GT Daytona (GTD) class. The reasoning given was a violation of Section 12.3.3 of the IMSA Sporting Regulations. As you may remember from the race recap we posted, this section of the Sporting Regulations refers to drive-time, specifically drive-time of amateur racers. Amateur racer drive-time is crucial in GTD, which is considered to be a Pro-Am class.
According to SportsCar365.com, Lindsey failed to reach the mandatory three-hour minimum by about 30 minutes. Despite three drivers being in play for the race, Lindsey is considered to be the full-time amateur driver in the No. 73 Porsche, much like John Potter is considered the full-time amateur driver in Magnus Racing‘s No. 44 Audi.
As a result of the revision, Scuderia Corsa‘s No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3 for Alessandro Balzan, Christina Nielsen and Jeff Segal moved up to second-place. While Balzan and Nielsen had already claimed the season-long title when Nielsen finished her mandatory three hours of drive time, the revision gives them the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup for GTD as well.
Turner Motorsport’s No. 97 BMW M6 GT3 shared by Markus Palttala, Michael Marsal and Cameron Lawrence has been elevated to third to class, followed by Paul Miller Racing‘s No. 48 Lamborghini of Bryce Miller, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. Stevenson Motorsports‘ No. 9 Audi for Lawson Aschenbach, Matt Bell and Dion von Moltke is now fifth.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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