BRASELTON, Ga. — Action Express Racing’s Earl Bamber was able to overcome a challenge from Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Matt Campbell Saturday night (Oct. 11) and a late pit stop for fuel to win the Motul Petit Le Mans with teammates Jack Aitken and Frederik Vesti. It is the trio’s second straight win after a triumph last month at Indianapolis.
“We knew that everyone was going to have to splash [for fuel] there,” Bamber said after the race. “We’ve had our moments on fuel this year. That was another one, it was a true IMSA race. The guys did a great job. They just kept getting me updated and we timed it perfectly there with the Lamborghini. Our teammates helped
out there as well. Just a phenomenal job all around by Cadillac to get the victory here.”
The margin of victory was 5.182 seconds over The Heart of Racing’s Roman De Angelis, Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas. It is the best finish worldwide for the V12-powered Aston Martin Valkyrie.
Campbell and Jaminet’s third-place finish was enough for them to win the GTP championship by 128 points over teammates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, who got stuck a lap down Saturday. They would ultimately finish 10th.
Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and last-minute replacement Laurens Vanthoor were third in their Porsche, followed by Lamborghini Automobili Squadra Corse’s Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kyvat and Edoardo Mortara. It is the best finish for the Lamborghini SC63 to this point. Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun and Scott Dixon were fifth.
Blomqvist started from the overall pole in his Acura, but it didn’t take long before heck broke loose.
On the first lap, Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco spun in the Esses and was struck head-on by Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe. Magnus Racing’s John Potter, Wayne Taylor Racing’s Trent Hindman and Gradient Racing’s Joey Hand were all involved.
Franco, Hand, Iribe and Potter were out on the spot. Hindman went to the paddock for repairs. He ultimately was able to continue, but ended up 42 laps down.
Most of the drivers involved were ok afterwards. However, Franco was sent to a local hospital.
A second caution for debris right after the restart from the big wreck resulted in much of the first hour of the race being spent behind the safety car.
The first quarter of the race saw Blomqvist and Aitken do battle at the front of the field. They were both roughly a half-second per lap faster than anyone else, so they could battle amongst themselves.
Eventually, Aitken was able to get past the Acura right before the one-quarter mark of the race. Once out front, he was able to pull away.
In the middle sections of the race, Porsche Penske Motorsport was able to take advantage of fortunate cautions to get themselves in the lead with Vanthoor, who was in the No. 6 due to Julien Andlauer having back issues Saturday morning.
Once out front, the older of the Vanthoor brothers opened up a six-second lead and was able to maintain that advantage. Everyone else was 20 or more seconds back.
As darkness descended upon Road Atlanta, Bamber ended up in the overall lead with Campbell giving chase. While he was still in position to win the championship, he wanted the race lead as well.
During night practice Thursday, Gunn was fastest overall in the Valkyrie. That pace came back when it counted. Gunn was able to drive himself up to third and was gaining on the battle between Bamber and Campbell in the ninth hour.
The race came down to pit stops. Gunn had less energy onboard, so he pitted first and handed over to De Angelis. A second stop to top off with 51 minutes to go left them good to go to the finish.
Bamber was able to pit from the lead and extend his advantage to three seconds over Campbell. As the run continued, that lead increased a little more.
Fuel did become an issue in the closing laps. Bamber and Campbell were both really close on fuel. As the run continued on, it became more and more clear that they couldn’t make it.
With 13 minutes to go, both leaders pitted for a few seconds of fuel. Bamber had a large enough lead at that point that he was able to make his stop and keep the lead. Grosjean moved up to second, while De Angelis was third.
Grosjean was low on fuel in his Lamborghini and was forced to pit for a splash in the closing five minutes, which moved the Valkyrie up to second. However, De Angelis couldn’t quite get to the Cadillac to battle for the victory.
TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas qualified on pole in LMP2, but was moved to the back of the class after failing post-qualifying inspection. Inter Europol Competition’s Jeremy Clarke inherited the pole and led early. Meanwhile, Thomas was charging from the rear in order to make up for the penalty.
Towards the end of his 2.5-hour stint in the car, Thomas was able to run down Clarke and take over the lead. There was some contact made that dropped the Inter Europol No. 43 down the order, but no penalty was assessed.
For the next five hours and change, the race was between TDS Racing and United Autosports’ No. 22. However, trouble struck late in the eighth hour. Rasmus Lindh was running very well until he was hit by one of the GTP prototypes. The contact broke a part in the right front suspension, forcing Lindh to be pushed on dollies to the paddock for repairs.
Hunter McAlrea ended up in the class lead as a result in the TDS entry. He was able to open up the lead to over 30 seconds before stopping to exit the car in favor of Mikkel Jensen.
The lead Jensen was spotted was plenty. From there, he was able to keep pouring it on en route to the class win with Thomas and McAlrea.
The margin of victory was 48.903 seconds over Clarke, Tom Dillmann and Bijoy Garg. Era Motorsport’s David Heinemeier Hansson, Oliver Jarvis and Tobias Lutke were third, then PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ Benjamin Pedersen, Naveen Rao and Logan Sargeant. AO Racing’s Dane Cameron, Jonny Edgar and PJ Hyett were fifth.
Cameron and Hyett’s fifth-place finish was enough to give them the LMP2 championship by 87 points over United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg. The paddock stay for Goldburg’s No. 22 resulted in an 11th-place finish in class.
In addition, Hyett won the Jim Trueman Award for the best bronze-rated LMP2 driver. That gives him an automatic invite to Le Mans.
In GTD Pro, Paul Miller Racing’s Dan Harper led the field to green in his BMW. During the early cautions, he chose to pit in order to get off-sequence. That gave the lead to Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg.
Much of the race was dominated by Paul Miller Racing. The No. 1 was towards the front early on, but power issues brought them to the pits multiple times. They would continue, but ended up four laps down.
The battle in the middle third of the race was between Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg and Harper. The two drivers went back and forth in traffic until Harper was able to finally clear him.
After another round of pit stops, Max Hesse was able to pull out to a 16-second lead over the Corvette. That was more than enough for the trio of Harper, Hesse and Connor de Phillippi to keep en route to victory.
Paul Miller Racing’s margin of victory was a full lap over Catsburg, Tommy Milner and Nico Varrone due to the positioning of the overall leaders. Antonio Garcia, Daniel Juncadella and Alexander Sims were third in the No. 3 Corvette, followed by Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Ben Barker, Sebastian Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller. The No. 65 Mustang of Christopher Mies, Dennis Olsen and Frederic Vervisch was fifth.
Cetilar Racing’s Lorenzo Patrese started on pole in GTD. The big crash in the Esses decided two championships on the spot as Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis and Russell Ward were ahead of the incident. One retirement would give them the title. Potter dropping out gave it to the Winward duo. In addition, Iribe dropping out gave the Bob Akin Award to Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s Orey Fidani, which gives him an automatic entry to Le Mans.
Patrese had contact with van der Steur Racing’s Anthony McIntosh early on, resulting in Patrese having to make a stop during the second yellow. That gave the class lead to Triarsi Competizione’s Riccardo Agostini. McIntosh was given a drive-through for the contact.
Triarsi Competizione had two strong cars Saturday. Agostini’s No. 021 was knocked out of the race early when AJ Muss spun in turn 5, then was hit by by the prototype of Tower Motorsports’ Sebastian Alvarez. Both drivers were ok, but out on the spot.
As the race continued on, AF Corse’s Ferrari came to the front. The trio of Simon Mann, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Lilou Wadoux controlled much of the race. Triarsi’s No. 023 kept themselves in the mix most of the day.
The race ultimately came down to a duel between Pier Guidi and Triarsi Competizione’s James Calado. Pier Guidi was able to open up a small lead and hold on to take the win.
AF Corse’s margin of victory was 4.158 seconds over Calado, Kenton Koch and Onofrio Triarsi. Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth, Frankie Montecalvo and Parker Thompson were third in their Lexus, then The Heart of Racing’s Tom Gamble, Zacharie Robichon and Casper Stevenson. Ellis, Ward and Indy Dontje were fifth.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul Petit Le Mans Unofficial Results
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.