UPDATE: How The Championships Can Be Won Tomorrow
After qualifying for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship picture has only shifted slightly in GTP.
The odds have gotten a little better for GTP championship leaders Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell in their #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. Going into the weekend, they knew that a seventh-place finish at Petit Le Mans would win them the title.
With today’s qualifying results, that magic position now improves to eighth place as the minimum that Jaminet and Campbell (accompanied by Julien Andlauer) would need to take the GTP Drivers’ Championship.
If they fail to do so, the #7 Penske Porsche of Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy (with Laurens Vanthoor) could take the GTP title back with a win. If they finish second, they’d need Jaminet and Campbell to be 12th and last.
For the #24 BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor (with Kevin Magnussen) to score a huge upset, they must win the race with Jaminet and Campbell in 11th or 12th.
In GTD, the objective is simple: Russell Ward and Philip Ellis (#57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO) can clinch the championship as long as they finish 18th in their 19-car class.
Ellis had the chance to clinch the title early in Qualifying, if he could qualify high enough to score six more points than Casper Stevenson in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
But Ellis and Stevenson were only separated by one position at the end of GTD Qualifying, keeping Stevenson’s very faint title hopes alive into tomorrow (Stevenson would have to win the race to have any chance.)
There’s been no change in the LMP2 and GTD PRO title pictures.
In LMP2, PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron in the #99 AO Racing ORECA 07-Gibson can clinch the championship – and the Jim Trueman Award for Hyett – with a fourth-place finish or better.
Fourth or better is what Daniel Goldburg (#22 United Autosports USA ORECA) needs to have any chance.
In GTD PRO, it’s still a close fight between Corvette Racing’s Antonio García and Alexander Sims (#3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R) and DragonSpeed’s Albert Costa.
A win for either the Corvette or Ferrari would be enough to win the championship, as the gap has now come down to 13 points. If the Ferrari finishes second, third, or fourth, the Ferrari wins the title if it finishes one place ahead of the Corvette.
The gap between Porsche and Acura in the GTP Manufacturers’ Championship has come down to just two points; whichever manufacturer has the highest-finishing car in the race will take the championship.
First or second among manufacturers in GTD PRO would be enough for Chevrolet to take the Manufacturers’ Championship. In GTD, Mercedes-AMG needs to be the sixth-highest finishing manufacturer in the race.
Blomqvist: ‘I Feel Like I Couldn’t Go Any Faster’
After losing it in Indianapolis, Tom Blomqvist will get to keep his first IMSA pole position of 2025. That pole position broke the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta GTP course record, and also broke a tie with BMW (specifically Dries Vanthoor) for the most GTP poles by a manufacturer this year.
“I love qualifying, especially around here,” said Blomqvist. “It’s a small track, and obviously, throughout practice, we probably never, ever get a clear lap. I think we were two seconds faster than we’ve been all weekend. So it’s just such a thrill.
“It’s one of those laps where it rewards a little bit of commitment and bravery, and I just really enjoy driving it. Thankfully, the guys gave me a good enough car to kind of get the job done. It’s only one small portion of the job we need to do this weekend.
Blomqvist called off his time attack with four minutes left in GTP Qualifying, saying: “I didn’t feel like I could go any faster! To be honest, I probably should have stopped even a lap earlier. Your tyres are not good for many laps around here. So when you see that delta starting to not go in a friendly direction, and you kind of feel it underneath you, there’s no point driving around.”
Will Heightened Discipline For Driving Standards Continue?
Earlier today I’d written a feature for RACER.com gauging the reaction of the recent clampdown on dangerous driving from IMSA Race Director Beaux Barfield and the Stewards.
In brief, the very ill-mannered driving that plagued the Road America round has led to harsh penalties, and lots of them, for avoidable contact and blocking, in particular, handed down at the following races at VIR and Indianapolis.
Blomqvist expects more of the same in tomorrow’s race, around a challenging Road Atlanta circuit with dense traffic.
“I guess we’ll go into the race expecting kind of the same as Indianapolis,” he said. “I think everyone’s still adapting to it, because it is, let’s say, a different way we have to go racing now. In some forms, a little less instinctive as well.
“As drivers, we have to just be a bit smarter, in a way. You saw there was a number of people getting called out in Indy. I’m sure a lot of them learned their lessons. So I’ll find out soon if they’ve got a little more lenient, or it’ll stay the same. But we just have to adapt and not get caught up in it.”
Era Motorsport Announces Open LMP2 Bronze Seat For 2026
Era Motorsport has announced today that it has an open seat for its LMP2 Bronze driver in 2026.
From today’s press release: “The programme is a turnkey, season-long campaign including testing and race support, presenting a rare opportunity for a funded Bronze-rated driver seeking a fully supported LMP2 season in IMSA and potentially other LMP2 events. Era Motorsport will provide a full-time Indianapolis-based crew, on-track engineering support, professional coaching, hospitality, and media services as part of the package.”
If you are a Bronze-rated racing driver with the ambition and aptitude to go LMP2 racing in IMSA next year, inquire directly to Team Owner Kyle Tilley via email HERE.
Stay tuned to DSC for an interview with Tilley about what’s next…
Winward Racing to enter two Mercedes-AMGs at Daytona, Sebring
During Practice 2 on Thursday, Russell Ward of Winward Racing confirmed plans to run two cars in select IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events.
“We might – well, not might, we will field two cars at Daytona and Sebring in 2026,” Ward told Arjuna Kankipati (pit reporter for IMSA Radio). “So, you know, (I’m) really excited about that opportunity for the programme to expand and grow.”
A second entry from Winward would be the first “one-off” or, in this instance, “two-off” entry confirmed for 2026.
“It’s always busy there, but you know, (we’re) looking forward to adding another one under the tent.”
DSC has been informed that Winward Racing had applied for a return entry to the 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series but were rejected, despite its top car finishing third in the GT standings and coming within a race of an automatic invite to Le Mans.
Dickinson wins Race 2, takes points lead going into COTA finale
Tyler Maxson (#77 Topp Racing) and Riley Dickinson (#91 Kellymoss) each won a Porsche Carrera Cup North America race this weekend, but Dickinson’s Race 2 win gave him the Pro class points lead going into the final race meeting at Circuit of the Americas next week.
Maxson overhauled polesitter Aaron Jeansonne (#24 Kellymoss) with less than 10 minutes left in Race 1 to win; Jeansonne and Cole Kleck (#76 Topp Racing) completed the podium.
Dickinson finished ahead of Jeansonne and Ryan Yardley (#78 Topp Racing) in Race 2 after leading all the way from pole. Yardley entered the weekend as the points leader, but a time penalty and a sixth-place finish in Race 1 proved costly as the Kiwi dropped to two points behind the 2023 PCCNA Champion.
Alan Metni (#99 Kellymoss) swept the Pro-Am class in both races and closed to within 19 points of JP Martinez (#4 ACI Motorsports); Masters class champion Scott Blind (#45 Ruckus Racing) added to his tally with two wins of his own.
Fletcher takes MX-5 Cup title, Delong wins finale
A win in Race 1 and the misfortunes of his rivals were enough for Jeremy Fletcher to win the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup title, which he secured despite a post-race time penalty in Race 2.
Fletcher, in his #22 McCumbee McAleer Racing car, took the Race 1 win after Tyler Gonzalez (#57 BSI Racing) was hit from behind by Nathan Nicholson (#56 Advanced Autosports) heading into turn 10, as the top three in the race – and the championship – were running first through third.
Nicholson was given a whopping 99-second post-race time penalty (converted from a 60-second penalty stop) for causing the collision with Gonzalez, elevating rookie Ethan Jacobs (#99 Advanced Autosports) and outgoing champion Gresham Wagner (#5 McCumbee McAleer Racing) to second and third.
That put Fletcher 340 points ahead of Nicholson going into Friday’s finale, and when Nicholson broke down during the race with a battery failure, it sealed the title and a $250,000 cash prize for the 18-year-old Florida native.
Parker Delong, in his #42 car, won Race 2, his first career MX-5 Cup win, ahead of rookies Noah Harmon (#7 BSI Racing), Justin Adakonis (#23 MMR), and Helio Meza (#27 BSI Racing). Fletcher crossed the line in fifth but was given a ten-second post-race time penalty for incident responsibility earlier in the race, and it dropped him all the way to 21st.
Meza’s fourth place gave him the Rookie of the Year prize over Harmon.
Images © Brandon Badraoui / IMSA, Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com, Mazda, and Porsche
