The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship held its annual Motul Petit Le Mans for the 23rd year Saturday afternoon at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Usually, this race would conclude the season; however, due to the pandemic, that title will be handed out at Sebring next month.
There was plenty of action from passes to crashes in the ten-hour event. The pole winners from Friday’s qualifying were Dane Cameron (DPi), Patrick Kelly (LMP2), Antonio Garcia (GTLM), and Mario Farnbacher (GTD).
Gabriel Aubry was the first driver to bring out the caution 22 minutes into the race when he went off course at turn one and into the tire barrier. His car was taken to the garage for extensive repairs. Dane Cameron and Filipe Albuquerque were in a fierce battle for the lead in the DPi class.
In the GTLM class, the No. 24 BMW of Jesse Krohn took the lead two hours into the race. Meanwhile, in the GTD class, Mario Farnbacher in the No. 86 Acura led the race at the fourth-hour mark.
At the halfway point of the race, there were two different separate accidents. Dane Cameron, in Team Penske Acura, was dominating the race in the DPi class. He made contact with the No. 8 GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser ORECA LMP2 of Jobvan Uitert.
Cameron was able to get his car going again to stay on the lead lap. The other accident involved the No. 77 Mazda Motorsports of Olivier Pla, who made contact with the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Alessandro Balzan. The Mazda Motorsports car was in the garage and lost 20 laps.
In the GTD class, there were problems for the championship leader the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing. The Curb-Agajanian Acura by Shinya Michimi suffered suspension damage after colliding with the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Darren Turner. The Meyer Shank Racing team was in the garage for 20 minutes.
With eleven minutes left in the race, Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac was now the leader. Right behind him was Ricky Taylor in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura. Taylor made a move on the inside of turn six, attempting to take the lead when they both hit one another and went off the track, leaving the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Renger Vander Zande the new leader as the race went into a full course caution.
Once the track crews pulled out Derani, the race resumed with five minutes left. The race did not last long as the No. 912 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor made contact with the No. 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Townsend Bell, crashing in between turns four and five to end the race. The winners of the race were Renger Vander Zande (DPi), John Farano (LMP2), Nick Tandy (GTLM), and Jeff Westphal (GTD).
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will return in two weeks at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, November 1st, at 4 pm on NBC Sports Gold Track Pass.
