The sun has set over Road Atlanta ahead of the finish of the 29th running of Motul Petit Le Mans, and with two hours to go, the #31 Whelen Cadillac with Jack Aitken strapped in leads the way. But it’s been a tough race to call in GTP, as all five manufacturers have led laps and shown pace.
With the end of the daylight hours in sight, Porsche Penske Motorsport looked to be in control. The #7 led the #6 for a big chunk of the race after Laurin Heinrich emerged from the pit lane after a pit stop cycle in the lead, and Kévin Estre moved into second with a move at Turn 1 on Aitken.
The #31 retook the lead at its 11th pit stop, though, when the order was shuffled once more. Aitken leads Robin Frijns (#24 WRT BMW) and Estre, with Heinrich now fourth and the #10 WTR Cadillac of Ricky Taylor fifth at the start of the penultimate hour.
Further back, Acura MSR’s final GTP race with the ARX-06 has truly unravelled since the halfway mark, with the #60 down in seventh, struggling for speed, and the #93 now out after a big off at the start of the eighth hour.
The #93, which was previously involved in the shunt that ended the #25 BMW’s race, had two incidents after the five-hour mark during a messy stint for Nick Yelloly, with the second proving terminal.
In the seventh hour, he lost the rear of the car through Turn 5 and spun side-on into the barriers. Thankfully, he rejoined after the Safety Car period was called and limped back to the pits for bodywork changes.
The good news was that the car returned to the race; the bad news was that he dropped down to ninth, off the lead lap, and was further penalised with a stop plus 10-second hold for breaking the emergency service rules after the incident.
But things then went from bad to worse early in the eighth hour, when Yelloly suffered a similar moment, this time at the final turn, when the rear stepped out, sending him flying into the tyres on the driver’s left. The car was an on-the-spot retirement, bringing out an 11th FCY.
The JDC-Miller Porsche was also in the wars and retired just as the eighth hour ended, with Tijmen van der Helm having a big off at Turn 10 while pushing to get through traffic, causing the 13th and most recent FCY.
In LMP2, CrowdStrike Racing by APR looks poised to win the race and the title. So much can change, but with the light fading, Toby Sowery has kept the #04 ORECA firmly in control of the category. The #43 Inter Europol example is second, with Jonny Edgar third in the #99 AO Racing car.
GTD Pro, meanwhile, is headed by the #3 Corvette of Antonio García, who is just ahead of the AO Racing Porsche currently driven by Nick Tandy. The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW rounds out the top three, with Dan Harper working to keep Pfaff Motorsports’ Sandy Mitchell behind him.
Elsewhere in the class, Team RLL’s McLaren has retired after the team pushed the car behind the wall with just over four hours to go, and the #033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari, with Miguel Molina at the controls, lost power with two hours, 35 minutes on the clock.
Plenty of drama unfolded in the GTD ranks before sunset.
Early in the sixth hour, both customer Ford Mustang GT3s involved in the clash that caused the FCY at the halfway mark were retired. It marked a solemn end to the season for both Myers Riley and Gradient Racing after 159 laps.
Then a major incident brought out a 12th caution with two and a half hours to go, when Lorenzo Patrese in the Conquest Racing Ferrari suffered a huge off at Turn 1 while trying to pass the #21 AF Corse 296. Antonio Fuoco, defending second place hard, moved over on him, sending the tribute-liveried 296 onto the grass and veering back across the track into the wall.
Patrese, understandably, was furious after climbing out of the wreckage, gesturing at Fuoco on his next pass. Fuoco, who had taken the lead moments after the incident, was then handed a heavy stop plus 60 penalty for responsibility, dropping the No. 21 out of the top five.
Fuoco’s penalty saw Callum Ilott inherit the lead in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Winward Racing’s Mercedes-AMG continues to look like a strong package in second. The 13 Autosport Corvette, in the running for the Akin Award, sits third.
Images © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com
