It was a beautiful, sunny first day at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the site of the 27th annual Motul Petit Le Mans.
It promises to be another thrilling ten-hour conclusion to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, and there will be a lot to catch up on over the coming days.
But first, DSC would like to extend our best wishes of health and safety to any of our readers and followers in the path of Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall in the Florida peninsula overnight.
Road Atlanta, VP Racing Fuels partnering for hurricane relief efforts
Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and VP Racing Fuels are each organising relief efforts during Petit Le Mans weekend.
The circuit will be accepting a variety of relief donations at the information tents throughout the track grounds for immediate distribution to those in the impacted areas across the southeastern United States.
(1/3) In an effort to support those communities affected by Hurricane Helene, Michelin Raceway will be collecting donations during Motul Petit Le Mans race week to transport to some of the hardest hit areas.
If you’re planning on joining us at Michelin Raceway for the pic.twitter.com/IMqOJNcmDs
— Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (@RoadAtlanta) October 8, 2024
In addition, VP Racing will accept donations at its display in the Fan Zone. Those who donate will receive a free drink holder from VP featuring its Mad Scientist mascot.
“Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta is heartbroken by the devastation of Hurricane Helene in our region, including right here in Georgia,” said Rick Humphrey, President and General Manager of Michelin Raceway. “We want to do our part to relieve the human burden this storm has had on our community.”
Helene has killed over 200 people throughout the southeastern United States, with North Carolina and Georgia suffering the most loss of life and damage.
Vesti replaces Eastwood at Tower Motorsport
Tower Motorsport has made a last-minute driver change before the weekend: Frederik Vesti, the Mercedes-AMG Formula One Team reserve driver, will make his IMSA WeatherTech series debut in the #8 ORECA 07-Gibson. He’s the second new driver in the car after Sebastian Alvarez replaced Michael Dinan for the weekend.
Vesti has raced full-time in this year’s European Le Mans Series with COOL Racing, with a best finish of second at Le Castellet. He also made his first 24 Hours of Le Mans start and finished tenth in class (fifth in LMP2 Pro-Am).
Charlie Eastwood, the regular driver of the #8 car alongside John Farano, has stepped away from the team due to a family emergency.
“Unfortunately my dad is very unwell and I want to prioritise my family and be closer to home at this time,” Eastwood wrote on social media. “I want to thank John, Rick (Capone), & everyone at Tower for their understanding. I wish this amazing team & my super sub Fred Vesti the best luck, they all deserve a great result to close out a challenging year!”
DSC would like to extend our very best wishes to the Eastwood family.
Multimatic Mustangs glow in the dark at Petit
Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ two Mustang GT3s don’t look any different under daylight, but their side ponies will glow in the dark when the cars run at night.
Both the #64 and #65 Ford Multimatic cars will come with their special glow-in-the-dark looks as they pursue a long-awaited first victory for the Mustang GT3, which is so far winless across IMSA GTD Pro and GTD, WEC LMGT3, and GT World Challenge Europe.
Andretti Motorsports Porsche scratched
The entry list for Petit Le Mans will drop by one car, with the absence of the #43 Andretti Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R that was due to be driven by Jarett Andretti, Gabby Chaves, and Scott Hargrove.
This leaves a still-healthy field of 53 cars including the 19 remaining GTD class cars.
Chaves, meanwhile, will focus his full attention on a new opportunity in the Michelin Pilot Challenge series, driving the #50 Hattori Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 alongside his fellow IndyCar Series alumni Zach Veach.
Veach and Chaves are just days removed from driving to a fourth-place finish in the SRO Indianapolis 8 Hour Race – and Veach, who raced full-time for Vasser Sullivan in 2021, told DSC that he’s evaluating several offers to continue on in sports car racing including opportunities in IMSA GTD.
Sean Creech Motorsports intent on returning in 2025
Sean Creech Motorsport has missed the last two races of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after Dr. Lance Willsey stepped away from racing, and hasn’t officially declared an entry for 2025 as many teams have done in recent weeks.
But the only Ligier LMP2 team in the field this year is hard at work securing a package that will ensure its return to the grid in 2025.
“In fact, I heard one of our crew members in the shop asking, ‘Are we shutting down after the year?’ And I told him, absolutely not,” said Race Engineer Jim Malicki, who was at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. “We have every intention of racing next year. We’re hard at work trying to find something for 2025.”
SCM would like to continue running with its Ligier JS P217 – however, Malicki also indicated that the team is open to running other platforms.
“We’d like to continue using the Ligier next season,” he said. “But if someone came to us with a good enough proposal and said that they only want to run the ORECA or some other car, then we’d definitely consider running it.”
Sean Creech himself is not at Road Atlanta this week, however. Like many people in the state of Florida, Creech and his Jupiter-based crew are taking all necessary safety measures with Milton on the way.
Jones, Mars win pole for VP Racing Challenge Race 1
Jagger Jones and Luca Mars won the pole positions in their respective classes for Race 1 of the VP Racing Challenge Series, which starts tomorrow at 1:10 PM EDT.
Jones in the #87 FastMD Racing with Remstar Duquiene D08 won the pole by a quarter-second over Steven Aghakhani (#6 MLT Motorsports Ligier JS P3).
But when Aghakhani starts Race 1, he’ll mathematically clinch the 2024 LMP3 class title.
The same goes for Mars in the #59 KOHR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4, who won the GSX class pole by over a second – he will clinch the title when he starts the race, capping off a year which began with the fleet teenager from Pittsburgh taking the new Mustang GT4’s first win on its competitive debut at Daytona.
Miguel Villagomez and two-time Prototype Cup Germany champion Markus Pommer qualified third and fourth in LMP3, Patrick Wilmot and Scott Blind were second and third in GSX.
VP Racing Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup North America, and Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup will each run races tomorrow afternoon, in between three official Practice sessions for Petit Le Mans – running from 10:40 AM~12:10 PM EDT, 3:20~4:50 PM EDT, and night practice from 7:30~9:00 PM EDT.
Feature image © RJ O’Connell / Dailysportscar.com
