Credit: LAT Images / Copyright: © 2023 Michael L. Levitt
The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura team claimed the overall victory and Wehrlen Engineering Cadillac were crowned IMSA 2023 GTP champions after an eventful 26th edition of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
The final two hours of racing encapsulated an exciting and incident-filled thriller for the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale.
Filipe Albuquerque asserted promising pace in his #10 Acura ARX-06, who made an eager pass on Jack Aitken’s #31 Wehrlen Engineering Cadillac V Series.R.
In the LMP2 lead, the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07 was spun around by Alex Quinn at the chicane after making contact at the chicane with the #10 Acura, and thus Aitken returned the favour after leaving the chicane underneath the bridge, almost beaching it within the gravel trap but managed to continue.
Harry Tincknell in the #59 Proton Competition Porsche spun after leaving the pit on cold tyres, making brief contact with the wall.
Driver changes were galore into the most crucial period of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans event.
In the #01 Cadillac, Renger van der Zande replaced Sebastien Bourdais in the driver’s seat, as Pipo Derani got into the #31 Cadillac from Aitken.
A 10th caution was deployed after the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3, which won in GTD last year, stopped at the side of the track with Katherine Legge at the wheel.
A tense GTD Pro fight developed, featuring the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG of Daniel Juncadella fending off Kevin Estre in the #9 Pfaff Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3.R.
The same could be said for LMP2, as the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR of Ben Hanley made a charge past Josh Pierson on the restart for second and commenced a chase on Indy NXT Christian Rasmussen in the leading #52.
In GTP, things became dramatic and the brief duel for the title ended in anticlimactic scenes.
Albuquerque chased Derani for second place in the dark, as the #31 found himself held up by traffic for second place between the two GTPs.
Their fight was short-lived after the Portuguese driver closed up on Derani into Turn 1, attempted a move on the outside line, and the #10 Acura was edged off the circuit and into the barrier.
As the caution was deployed, it was certain that the #10 Wayne Taylor-run Acura which had not secured any race wins this year, was not going to become champions after Louis Deletraz got the GTP on pole with a championship-lead after qualifying. No further action was taken on their incident.
Having not pitted, first to fourth in GTP did not pit during the caution, as van der Zande led over the #60 of Colin Braun, whose Acura was ahead of Tincknell’s #59 Porsche.
Despite this abrupt drama, the GTP and LMP2 title were still up for grabs in the final 30 minutes of green flag racing as the #01 found their closest title contenders out.
At the restart, Colin Braun had a great restart in his #60 Acura and took the lead from van der Zande on the inside line at Turn 1.
The GTP title fight narrative still ran tightly-contested now on the #25 BMW Team RLL, and the #7 Penske Porsche Motorsport cars.
Although this changed simply with Derani’s comeback pursuit, passing both BMWs as the title fight became on the #7 Porsche and two Cadillacs – one run by Chip Ganassi and the other Whelen Engineering.
The GTD Pro battle from earlier continued as the #9 chased down the tail of the #79 Mercedes-AMG.
Matt Campbell in the #7 asserted pace setting the best laps of the race in the car, although van der Zande’s lap times were into the 1:10s.
A spin for the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca with Rasmussen took place having ran second in LMP2, with rear damage, as the 12th Full Course Yellow was deployed.
This set up an exciting and crucial five minute sprint to the finish, as van der Zande had a strong restart although the #60 Acura managed to retain the lead with its pace.
The #16 Wright Motorsport caught on fire immediately after with contact at the rear-right with the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, subsequently deploying a joint-IMSA record 13th caution.
The race finished under caution with the Action Express (Wehrlen Engineering) Cadillac #31’s sixth position enough for the GTP Championship win and the Endurance Cup title for Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken.
At the front, Meyer Shank Racing‘s #60 crew of Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist and Helio Castroneves took the win with 397 laps completed for their Acura ARX-06.
Second place went to the #01 Cadillac crew of Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon.
Third went to the #59 Proton Competition Porsche crew of Harry Tincknell, Neel Jani and Gianmaria Bruni, having scored their first IMSA podium in their first endurance round.
Meanwhile in LMP2, the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR crew of George Kurtz, Ben Hanley and Nolan Siegel took the class-win and the Endurance Cup title, ahead of John Falb, Guido van der Garde, and Josh Pierson in the #35 TDS Racing entry.
The #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport crew took their fifth LMP2 Team Championship after finishing third.
The #30 Jr Three Racing took LMP3 victory ahead of the #13 AWA crew, and the final WeatherTech LMP3 championship-winning #74 Riley Ligier JS P320.
GTD Pro (and the Endurance Cup title) was won by the #79 WeatherTech Racing crew of Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Maro Engel, who finished ahead of the #9 Pfaff Motorsports drivers of Klaus Bachler, Patrick Pilet and Kevin Estre.
Third place was taken by the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, by Alessandro Pier Guidi, Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon.
After having started the race, the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 took the GTD Pro title at the race start.
Finally in GTD, the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini took the win in the hands of Misha Goikhberg, Loris Spinelli, and Patrick Liddy.
In second place was the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Patrick Gallagher, Robby Foley and Michael Dinan, as third was claimed by the #77 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Alan Brynjolfsson, Trent Hindman, and Max Root.
The GTD Endurance Cup champions were the #32 Team Korthoff Mercedes-AMG crew.
With that, the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech season has come to a conclusion.
Keyword: Whelen Engineering crowned champion as Meyer Shank wins eventful Petit Le Mans