BRASELTON, Geo. — Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Laurens Vanthoor won the race off of pit road with 70 minutes to go Saturday night (Oct. 3). From there, he was able to conserve fuel in his Porsche 963 and hold on to win the Motul Petit Le Mans with teammates Matt Campbell and Kevin Estre. The race featured a red flag due to lightning and a record 17 cautions.
The margin of victory was 1.205 seconds over BMW M Team WRT’s Robin Frijns, Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jordan Taylor were third in their Cadillac, followed by teammates Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens and Ricky Taylor. The Heart of Racing’s Roman De Angelis, Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas were fifth.
Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist started from pole in his Acura. Heavy rains a couple of hours before the race meant that everyone started on wet tires. However, the Michelin tires removed enough water from the track surface that teams began pitting to switch to slicks as early as 10 minutes into the race.
Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken didn’t have to worry about the championship Saturday. By virtue of qualifying fourth to Laurin Heinrich‘s seventh on Friday, he came into the race with a 151-point lead. As a result, he clinched the championship when he rolled onto the track for the pace laps.
The first teams to press their luck on slicks were in the GTD Pro class. It was another three laps before the first GTP driver, BMW M Team WRT’s Marco Wittmann, stopped to switch.
Blomqvist stopped to switch to slicks a lap after Wittmann. He ultimately waited a little too long as when the cycle completed, BMW M Team WRT’s Sheldon van der Linde ended up in the overall lead, while Blomqvist slipped to third.
The first caution came out 52 minutes in when Tower Motorsport’s John Farano went off-course and slid into the tires in turn 2. He was able to get out of the barrier and continue following repairs in the pits.
The wet stuff returned early in the fourth hour. That led to teams have to make the decision as to when to pit to switch back to wet tires.
Despite the sudden onslaught, a number of teams stayed out on slicks for quite a while, even with spray in play. Despite this, the trouble during this period was minimal.
After changing to wet tires, Intersport Racing’s Max van der Snel went wide at turn 7 and clouted a couple of trackside banners. He stopped to get them off of his ORECA 07-Gibson and dropped them on the track to trigger a caution.
At the time, BMW M Team WRT’s Kevin Magnussen had not stopped and assumed the lead. He did not stop during the caution and ended up being a rolling chicane on the restart as Colin Braun blasted past.
Further back, United Autosport teammates Hunter McAlrea and Rasmus Lindh both spun on the restart trying to get into the pits to switch to wet tires to bring out another yellow.
During that caution, lightning was detected within eight miles of the track. That resulted in a red flag that halted the festivities for 30 minutes.
Shank teammates Renger van der Zande and Braun fought hard for the lead after the restart. Then, the worst possible thing between teammates occurred when they collided at the chicane and went through the gravel. This drew a drive-through penalty for van der Zande.
A couple of laps later, a mess broke out in turn 3. Paul Miller Racing’s Dan Harper and RLL Team McLaren’s Nikita Johnson collided and spun into the tires. Behind them, Magnussen ran into the back of Alex Palou and popped a wheelie before going into the tires on the other side of the track.
Harper and Palou were able to continue with minor repairs. Johnson was able to continue, but lost eight laps. Magnussen was out on the spot.
The scariest moment of the night occurred with 90 minutes to go when Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr was lapping Rennsport One’s Jan Heylen while trying to get position on Laurens Vanthoor. Contact was made with Heylen and the car took off before hitting the wall.
With 78 minutes to go, two different championships were swung. First, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Nicky Catsburg was hit by Ford Racing’s Dennis Olsen and spun into the gravel in the chicane.
Shortly afterwards, AO Racing’s Dane Cameron and Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ Harry Tincknell collided entering turn 1 and both spun into the tires. The crashes brought out the 16th caution. All three drivers were able to continue, but all lost laps to the leaders.
This brought everyone in for their final stops despite there being more than an hour to go. It would take some fuel saving to get to the end.
Laurens Vanthoor won the race off of pit road. Once the green came out, Vanthoor was able to pull away from van der Linde briefly before van der Linde reeled him back in.
With 19 minutes to go, Action Express Racing’s Earl Bamber spun into the barriers in turn 1 after slight contact from De Angelis. This allowed the leaders to conserve fuel. Bamber was done for the night here, while De Angelis was penalized.
The race restarted with 10 minutes to go. Laurens ran hard in the final laps. He was able to get through lapped traffic better than van der Linde, which locked up the win.
In LMP2, AO Racing’s PJ Hyett started up front, but immediately pitted for a replacement steering wheel after reporting on the pace lap that it felt weird. That gave the lead to Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ Misha Goikhberg.
Following the swap to slick tires, United Autosports’ Dan Goldburg ended up in the lead, but Goikhberg was able to regain the advantage shortly afterwards. The No. 52 team dominated the early portions of the race.
When the rain came during the fourth hour, it resulted in varied strategies. Some teams pitted for wets as soon as they could. Others pitted under the yellow.
Then, there’s CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s Toby Sowery. He chose to never put wets on here. He drew on his experience racing in England in the wet to save the team a pit stop.
The strategy was ultimately the difference as it put the CrowdStrike No. 04 in the class lead for most of the rest of the race. In the closing laps, Inter Europol Competition’s Tom Dillmann was charging hard, but Alex Quinn was able to hold him off for the victory with Sowery and George Kurtz. The victory also gave Kurtz and Quinn the LMP2 title.
The margin of victory was .666 seconds over Dillmann, Jeremy Clarke and Bijoy Garg. Era Motorsport’s Jacob Abel, Ferdinand Habsburg and Naveen Rao were third, followed by Farano, Sebastian Alvarez and Tristan Vautier. Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Chris Cumming, Manuel Espirito Santo and Pietro Fittipaldi were fifth.
In GTD Pro, the race ended up being a duel for the class title between Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 4, Pfaff Motorsports and Paul Miller Racing. The Corvette squad was eliminated in the incident with Olsen noted above.
Penalties and fuel ultimately decided the race. Olsen getting penalized for spinning out Catsburg ended Ford’s chances. Manthey Racing’s Thomas Preining got penalized while leading as well.
That left Vasser Sullivan’s Ben Barnicoat in the lead, but tight on fuel. That allowed YRB Racing’s Mattia Drudi to run him down and take the lead with 32 minutes to go. From there, Drudi held on to win with Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sorensen.
The margin of victory was 1.507 seconds over AO Racing’s Harry King, Alessio Picariello and Nick Tandy. Paul Miller Racing’s Connor de Phillippi, Dan Harper and Neil Verhagen were third, good enough to win the GTD Pro title for de Phillippi and Verhagen.
Pfaff Motorsports’ Andrea Caldarelli, Sandy Mitchell and Franck Perera were fourth. Risi Competizione’s Ferrari for Alessandro Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra were fifth.
GTD points leader Philip Ellis of Winward Racing started on pole in his Mercedes. What was looking like a fierce duel for the championship was effectively over in less than an hour.
The Heart of Racing’s No. 27 for Zacharie Robichon failed to take the start with an electrical issue, ending any chance at the championship for Eduardo Barrichello. They did get out eventually, but retired quickly.
Turner Motorsport entered the race second in GTD points, 15 points back. Less than 30 minutes in, Francis Selldorff pulled into the pits with water pressure and overheating issues and went back to the paddock, ending their day. At that point, Ellis and Russell Ward no longer had any real competition for their third straight GTD championship.
In the eighth hour, there was a three-way battle for the lead involving AF Corse’s Antonio Fuoco, Conquest Racing’s Lorenzo Patrese and 13 Autosport’s Lars Kern. Patrese went to the inside of Fuoco for second and Fuoco blocked in reaction.
The result was that Patrese ended up in the wet grass and spun across the track and into the unprotected concrete wall. He was ok afterwards, but not happy. Fuoco was given a stop-and-60-second hold for his role in the incident and fell out of the hunt.
Ellis was able to work his way back to the lead late. From there, he held on to take the class win with Ward and Indy Dontje.
Winward Racing’s margin of victory was .733 seconds over Manthey Racing’s Ryan Hardwick, in his final race as a regular driver, Riccardo Pera and Morris Schuring. DXDT Racing’s Charlie Eastwood, Mason Filippi and Salih Yoluc were third, then Lone Star Racing’s Lin Hodenius, James Roe and Luca Stolz. Magnus Racing’s Mario Farnbacher, John Potter and Spencer Pumpelly came from the rear of the grid to finish 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 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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