The 2019 Petit Le Mans (formally known as the 2019 MOTUL Petit Le Mans for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd running of the Petit Le Mans, and was held on October 12, 2019. It was the last race in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the last race of the 2019 Michelin Endurance Cup, and was run at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The race was won overall by the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R after its sister car fell out with brake failure with less than 30 minutes remaining. The distance covered was a race record.[1]
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International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018.[2] It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2019 Petit Le Mans was the last of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the last of four rounds held as part of the Michelin Endurance Cup.[3] The race took place at the 12-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km) Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 12, 2019.[4]
As the final race for the 2019 season, the race concluded IMSA's 50th anniversary season.
Scott Atherton would retire from his position as President of the International Motor Sports Association following the event.[5] In his final race as president, Scott Atherton served as the events grand marshal.[6] John Doonan would replace Scott Atherton as president of the International Motor Sports Association beginning in 2020.[7]
This would be the final race for the Ford GT as Ford was ending their factory involvement following the 2019 season.[8] The Nissan Onroak DPi made its final appearance as Jon Bennett would retire from full time driving.[9][10]
The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R and Porsche 911 RSR also entered their final IMSA events, ahead of the switch to new-generation GTE machinery for both manufacturers in 2020.[11][12][13] Chevrolet would transition to the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R,[14] while Porsche introduced the Porsche 911 RSR-19.[15]
Heading into the final race of the season, Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 274 points; the duo held a twelve-point advantage over Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr in second.[16] With 235 points, Matt McMurry led the LMP2 Drivers' Championship, ahead of Cameron Cassels.[16] In GTLM, Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor led the Drivers' Championship with 304 points, 12 points ahead of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy.[16] The GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman with 264 points, 32 points clear of Zacharie Robichon in second.[16] Acura, Porsche, and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Acura Team Penske, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and Meyer Shank Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.[16]
A total of 34 cars took part in the event split across 4 classes. 11 cars were entered in DPi, 2 in LMP2, 9 in GTLM, and 12 in GTD.[17] In DPi, Juncos Racing made its first appearance since the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park round.[18] Graham Rahal substituted for Alexander Rossi in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske entry due to a clash with the Bathurst 1000.[19] In GTLM, Risi Competizione returned for the first time since the season opening round at Daytona.[20][21] In GTD, Park Place Motorsports were absent due to not having a spare chassis.[22] Montaplast by Land-Motorsport and Precision Performance Motorsports made their first appearances since the Watkins Glen round. Compass Racing skipped the event. Marco Seefried joined Bryan Sellers and Corey Lewis in the Paul Miller Racing entry.[23] Parker Chase joined Jack Hawksworth and Richard Heistand in the No. 14 AIM Vasser-Sullivan entry.[24]
There were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two sessions on Thursday morning and afternoon were 60 minutes and 75 minutes in length, while the third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes, and the fourth on Friday morning lasted one hour.[25]
In the first practice session, Felipe Nasr set the fastest lap in the No. 31 Cadillac at 1 minute, 09.093 seconds, 0.642 seconds faster than Ricky Taylor's No. 7 Acura.[26] Dane Cameron in the No. 6 Acura was third, and Colin Braun was fourth in the No. 54 Nissan.[27] Matthieu Vaxiviere was fifth fastest for Konica Minolta Cadillac while Timo Bernhard in the No. 77 Mazda was sixth.[27][28] Gabriel Aubry led LMP2 in the No. 52 PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07.[28] The GTLM class was topped by Richard Westbrook's No. 67 Ford GT with a lap of 1 minute, 16.810 seconds, 0.092 seconds faster than James Calado's No. 62 Ferrari 488.[27] Dirk Müller was third in the No. 66 Ford GT and Nick Tandy was fourth fastest in the No. 911 Porsche.[29] In GTD, Bill Auberlen in Turner Motorsport's No. 96 BMW M6 lapped fastest with a time of 1 minute, 19.306 seconds, with Jack Hawksworth second in the No. 14 Lexus.[28] The session was red flagged two times. 6 minutes into the session, Hawksworth stopped on track with a puncture.[29] The final stoppage came when Marco Seefried crashed the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini into the tire barrier at turn three.[28]
In the second practice session, Cameron was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 09.095 seconds, ahead of the No. 85 Cadillac of Tristan Vautier and Albuquerque's No. 5 Mustang Sampling car.[30][31] van der Zande placed the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac entry fourth and Ricky Taylor's No. 7 Acura rounded out the top five. Aubry led LMP2 in the No. 52 PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07.[31] Daniel Serra led GTLM in the No. 62 Ferrari with a 1-minute, 16.708 seconds lap. Antonio García's No. 3 Corvette was second. Dixon in the No. 66 CGR Ford GT was third.[32] Felipe Fraga No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 was fastest in GTD, while Morad was 0.409 seconds slower in the No. 29 Land-Motorsport Audi.[28] Chris Miller caused the first caused the session's first stoppage when he spun his No. 84 JDC-Miller Cadillac at turn 10a and got beached in the gravel trap. Later, Nunez, Marks, and Piedrahita spun and got their cars beached at turns 6 and 10a, respectively.[31]
The third practice session ran at night and saw Derani's No. 31 Cadillac set the fastest time overall at 1 minute, 09.455 seconds. Albuquerque was almost two-tenths of a second behind in second, with the No. 7 Team Penske Acura of Ricky Taylor was third.[33] Vautier in the No. 85 Cadillac was fourth and Jarvis' No. 77 Mazda was fifth.[33] René Binder necessitated the showing of a red flag when he spun and beached the No. 50 Juncos Racing in the gravel trap at turn 10a halfway through the session.[34] Aubry was the fastest LMP2 driver in the PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports entry.[34] In GTLM, Müller was fastest in class with a lap of 1 minute, 16.552 seconds. Blomqvist was second-fastest in the No. 25 BMW M8 and Briscoe took third in the No. 67 Ford GT.[28][34] In GTD, Auberlen was again fastest in the class, followed by Jeroen Bleekemolen's No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.[35]
Nasr led the final session in the No. 31 WER car with a lap of 1 minute, 08.419 seconds. Ricky Taylor's No. 7 Acura was second-fastest. The No. 5 Cadillac of Albuquerque set the third-quickest lap. van der Zande's No. 10 Cadillac, along with Bernhard's No. 77 Mazda car were fourth and fifth. [36] Misha Goikhberg necessitated the showing of a red flag when he spun and beached the No. 85 JDC-Miller Cadillac in the gravel trap at turn 10 with 17 minutes remaining in the session.[37][27] Aubry was fastest again in LMP2.[37] Calado's No. 62 Ferrari was fastest in GTlM while, Robby Foley, driving the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6, was the fastest driver in GTD.[27]
Friday's afternoon qualifying session was broken into three sessions that were scheduled for 15 minutes each.[25] Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM and DPi/LMP2 had two separate identically timed sessions. All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap.[25] IMSA then arranged the grid so that the DPi, LMP2, and GTLM cars started in front of the GTD field.
Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Cadillac set a new track record to clinch pole position with a time of 1 minute and 08.457 seconds.[38][39] He was joined on the grid's front row by Ricky Taylor's No. 7 Acura who was 0.141 seconds slower.[39] Filipe Albuquerque qualified the No. 5 Cadillac in third, ahead of Dane Cameron's fourth-placed No. 6 Acura.[40] The two Mazdas were fourth and fifth (the No. 77 car driven by Bernhard in front of the No. 55 vehicle of Tincknell).[40] Trummer's No. 84 Cadillac took sixth and van der Zande's No. 10 Cadillac qualified seventh.[41] Pigot's No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac took eighth, ahead of Goikhberg in the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac and the No. 54 CORE Autosport Nissan driven by Jon Bennett rounded out the DPi qualifiers.[40] In LMP2, Masson set the fastest time in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry, with his fastest lap being 0.131 seconds faster than McMurry in the No. 52 PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca.[39]
In GTLM, James Calado in the No. 62 Ferrari set a new category track record to take pole position with a time of 1 minute and 15.639 seconds.[42] García in the No. 3 Corvette set the second fastest time, but would start at the back of the GTLM field after his car failed the post-qualifying technical inspection where it was discovered that the Corvette was found to not have complied with mandated ride height. As a result, Philipp Eng would start in second position followed Vanthoor's No. 912 Porsche in third.[41]
In GTD, Corey Lewis took his second consecutive pole position of the season with a lap of 1 minute and 19.530 seconds. He was joined by Ben Keating's No. 33 Mercedes-AMG on the grid's front row with his best lap being 0.135 second slower, and Jeff Westphal drove the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari to third place.[39][40] Justin Marks qualified the No. 86 Acura fourth, ahead of Christina Nielsen's fifth placed No. 57 Acura.[41] The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW failed to record a time due to Robby Foley spinning at turn 10a and beaching the car at the gravel trap on his outlap.[42][41] The No. 29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport and No. 47 Precision Performance Motorsports entries lost all their lap times due to both teams crew touching their respective cars.[42]
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
Cameron and Montoya took the DPi Drivers' Championship with 302 points. They were five points clear of Derani and Nasr.[48] With 270 points, McMurry won the LMP2 Drivers' Championship, 11 points clear of Cassels.[48] Bamber and Vanthoor took the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 330 points. They were 17 points clear of Pilet and Tandy in second. García and Magnussen were third with 317 points.[48] Farnbacher and Hindman won the GTD Drivers' Championship with 283 points, 21 points ahead of Auberlen and Foley. Robichon was third with 262 points.[48] Acura, Porsche, and Lamborghini won their respective Manufactures' Championships, while Acura Team Penske, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and Meyer Shank Racing won their respective Teams' Championships.[48]
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.