This weekend, champions will be crowned in IMSA’s top-three series at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Teams will have a big challenge in the undulating 2.54-mile road course.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans
There are 54 teams entered for this year’s Motul Petit Le Mans. This is equal to last year and amounts to a capacity grid (there are only 54 pit stalls available).
The GTP class has 11 teams entered. The big change here is that Laurin Heinrich is back in the No. 7 Porsche after having raced the No. 6 in Indianapolis alongside Kevin Estre. Laurens Vanthoor returns to the No. 6 in his place.
All teams will have three-driver lineups. As a result, drivers that have not competed in the class since Sebring will be back. Alex Palou will be with Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian in their No. 93 Acura. Colton Herta will be in Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 40 Cadillac.
Points-wise, the points race is not over, but it’s not particularly close. Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken has a 147-point lead over Heinrich. It is possible for Aitken to clinch the championship with a good qualifying effort on Friday. If not, the No. 7 Porsche would need to win Saturday and get help. Action Express has a 271-point lead in the teams championship and will clinch by starting the race Saturday.
In LMP2, there are 11 teams entered, the same as in Indianapolis. At Era Motorsport, Ferdinand Habsburg is back in the car alongside Naveen Rao. Both drivers sat out Indianapolis in favor of Nick Boulle and Christian Rasmussen, who claimed the class victory.
The LMP2 points are nearly a dead heat. Inter Europol Competition’s Jeremy Clarke and Tom Dillmann have a four-point lead over CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s George Kurtz and Alex Quinn. United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg is 101 points behind.
There are 14 entries in GTD Pro, up from 10 at Indianapolis. Part-time entries from Manthey Racing, Risi Competizione and Triarsi Competizione are back for the final Michelin Endurance Cup race of the year.
They’ll be joined by DragonSpeed, which has made the switch to GTD Pro for the final race of the year. Regular GTD drivers Giacomo Altoe and Casper Stevenson will be joined by Sebastien Bourdais in the re-numbered No. 74 Corvette.
At YRB Racing, Mattia Drudi, fresh off of a second-place finish in LMGT3 at Fuji Speedway last weekend, will join Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sorensen.
At RLL Team McLaren, Benji Goethe will be the team’s third driver this weekend, replacing Dean MacDonald from Daytona and Sebring. He comes to the team after racing for Garage 59 in GT World Challenge Europe (both the Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup) for the past couple of years. He will be making his IMSA debut.
In the points, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner have a 47-point lead over Paul Miller Racing’s Connor de Phillippi and Neil Verhagen. Pfaff Motorsports’ Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell are six points further back.
There are 18 teams entered in GTD, up from 13 at Indianapolis. DragonSpeed will not be one of them since as noted above, they have switched to GTD Pro.
At Inception Racing, Fran Rueda was announced last week to fill the third driver role in the No. 70 Ferrari. He replaces Ollie Millroy, who is still on the mend in Dubai after his horrible crash in Shanghai earlier this morning.
In the last endurance race at Road America, Rueda was the third driver at Conquest Racing. With Rueda driving for Inception Racing, Alec Udell joins up for the weekend.
Rennsport One once again has two TBDs on their entry list as teammates to Jan Heylen. At Road America, the TBDs ended up being Devlin DeFrancesco and Ryan Yardley. We’ll see who ultimately ends up in the No. 28.
Luca Stolz has joined Lone Star Racing in their No. 80 alongside Lin Hodenius and James Roe. Stolz will also drive for the team in next weekend’s Indianapolis 8 Hour.
GTD points are also very tight. Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis and Russell Ward have a six-point lead over Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher. Foley and Gallagher do have the momentum after winning last time out at Indianapolis.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul Petit Le Mans Entry List
The Motul Petit Le Mans is scheduled to go green at 12:10 p.m. ET Saturday. Coverage will begin at Noon ET on NBC and Peacock. Coverage beyond 3 p.m. ET will be exclusive to Peacock.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge FOX Factory 120
There are 45 teams entered in Friday’s season finale for IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. This is up one team from Indianapolis.
In Grand Sport, there are 31 teams entered. Teams that are not entered include the YRB Racing-run No. 10 Aston Martin, now under the banner of RaceWife Racing. Andretti Performance is also not entered.
McCumbee-McAleer Racing will have two cars entered. The regular No. 13 will be joined by the No. 61 Mustang with sponsorship from Coca-Cola and QuikTrip. Jenson Altzman and Erik Evans will be in the car.
At Circle H Racing, Martin Sarukhanyan will drive in place of regular driver David Hampton. Sarukhanyan is the team’s third driver for the two four-hour races (Daytona and Mid-Ohio).
There are 14 teams entered in TCR. The extra team this week is HART, which is back with their Honda Civic Type-R TCR.
Points-wise, Grand Sport is a complete toss-up. AutoTechnic Racing’s Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer currently have a 30-point lead over Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars. That is the difference between winning and finishing second.
McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Robert Noaker is another 10 points back in third by himself. Ibiza Farm Motorsports’ Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky, along with Winward Racing’s Bryce Ward are still within striking distance.
In TCR, Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris have a 200-point lead over teammates Preston Brown and Denis Dupont. Filippi and Morris will clinch the title just by starting the race Friday.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge FOX Factory 120 Entry List
Coverage of the FOX Factory 120 will begin at 11:35 a.m. ET Friday morning on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock. The green flag will fly at 11:40 a.m. ET.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
In this weekend’s season-ending VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races, there are 18 teams entered. This is is up one entry from the last race weekend with both classes, which was at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July.
The LMP3 class has nine entries, up from seven at CTMP. Riley Technologies is back with Slade Stewart driving the No. 29 Ligier JS P320-Nissan. This will be his first appearance since Mid-Ohio in June. The “Sparklefarts” pink livery with a unicorn did not appear at Mid-Ohio, so it is unclear whether it will be on the car this weekend.
Jon Hirshberg is back in Forte Racing’s second car after missing the previous round.
Both Toney Driver Development entries have different drivers this weekend. Ari Balogh and Lincoln Day will get the call in place of Bijoy Garg and Wyatt Brichacek.
In GSX, there are nine entries, up one from the most recent round at VIRginia International Raceway in August. The only changes here is that KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering is back with Angus Rogers in his Porsche, while Cecelia Rabelo will drive the Panam Motorsport No. 98 in place of Guilherme Salas.
In the points, there is no championship chase. GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ Oscar Tunjo has already clinched the LMP3 title with six victories (five sprint races, plus the endurance race at Sebring). RAFA Racing Team’s Westin Workman has clinched the GSX title with nine victories in 10 races.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge: Road Atlanta Entry List
Race No. 1 for IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will be at 1:05 p.m. ET Thursday, while Race No. 2 is bright and early at 8:25 a.m. ET Friday. Both races will be streamed live on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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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