On Tuesday, the nearby town of Suwanee, Georgia hosted the official Petit Le Mans kickoff party for prospective fans to see the cars and drivers before race week begins in earnest.
Today was the last time that Meyer Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian unloaded its Acura ARX-06es, as the team and manufacturer will pause their IMSA participation after Saturday.
The special livery on the #93, commemorating Acura’s accomplishments in the current IMSA era, has been only slightly tweaked to reflect the updated total of pole positions – 44, its most recent coming at Indianapolis.
It’s also the last time that Pfaff Motorsports will arrive for an IMSA race weekend, with its red and black buffalo plaid-liveried Lamborghini Temerario GT3.
Vasser Sullivan Racing’s Lexus RC F GT3 also bows out after this weekend after 10 seasons of IMSA racing for the RC F GT3 – 12 total, if you include the RC F GT3’s pre-homologation activities in SUPER GT and NLS.
Ford Racing’s two cars are here in their “Sweepstakes” liveries, in addition, a replica of Henry Ford’s 1901 racer will be exhibited at Road Atlanta.
As Ford correctly pointed out, the 1901 “Sweepstakes” car and thus the origin story of Ford Racing predates the inception of Ford Motor Company by two years. That detail is highlighted for the 125th anniversary of Ford Racing, along with the use of vintage Ford Motor Company emblems on the two cars.
“Skeleton Rexy” with its glow-in-the-dark claws and teeth is here in person, but the #77 AO Racing Porsche’s real party tricks won’t be seen until Night Practice on Thursday!
Meanwhile on the LMP2 side of the AO garage, Rockie the Pegasus takes the place of Spike this weekend; it’s Rockie’s first IMSA appearance after the Mobil 1-backed character made her debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
And over at Conquest Racing, as promised, the team has brought back its initial 2024 livery to commemorate both its Petit Le Mans win two years ago, and honour the memory of driver Cédric Sbirrazzuoli.
His name will be alongside those of his former co-driver Albert Costa, new Conquest Racing Endurance specialist Lorenzo Patrese, and Alec Udell, who joins the team this weekend.
Expanded Road Atlanta facilities to greet race fans this weekend
Not long after last year’s Motul Petit Le Mans sold out on race day for the first time in the event’s history, accompanied by several traffic headaches along the way, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta got to work improving its facilities in time for this year’s edition.
Road Atlanta has added over 1,000 parking spaces on the west side of the property near the Turn 10 complex, along with a connecting road off State Highway 53 at Howington Road, and a second entry/exit gate operating at the same time as the main gate. This includes additional paved ADA-accessible parking spaces.
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New spectator viewing areas at turns three and eight have also been added, and with the Michelin Man serving as the grand marshal of the race, a Bibendum statue has now been erected near the Michelin Tower building.
Wet weather looming for Saturday?
Since the biblical downpour in 2015, the last ten Petit Le Mans have been run under completely dry conditions from green to chequered.
That trend could change Saturday: Initial forecasts call for wet weather during the race, though not at the level which stopped the race at just 80 per cent of its scheduled run time 11 years ago. Due to changes in tyre and race procedure regulations, an underclass car winning overall is also less likely than it was in 2015.
Five-way GT4 championship battle headlines Pilot Challenge finale
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge faces its final round this weekend at Road Atlanta, with the GS class championship far from wrapped up after the penultimate round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Just 130 points separate the top five cars in the GS class championship, with the #27 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO pairing of Austin Krainz and Stevan McAleer leading despite entering the final round winless for the season with one podium.
30 points down the line are Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars in the #85 Turner Motorsport BMW with 2160 total points, taking a key victory at Laguna Seca with three other podiums at Sebring, Mid-Ohio, and VIR.
After leading the championship coming out of CTMP, Robert Noaker represents the #13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 in third position after a mid-season teammate swap to Finn Wiebelhaus and two tricky results at Road America and VIR, just 40 points off the lead and 10 points behind the Turner BMW.
Also mathematically in the fight are Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky in the #44 Ibiza Farm Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4, reigning victors at Indianapolis, and Bryce Ward in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG in fifth.
McAleer and Krainz finished 10th in last year’s race around the Georgian circuit, finishing third in the championship. This year, the AutoTechnic Racing pair must finish ahead of their competition at the very least in order to lock in the championship, but require a breakthrough race win to clinch outright.
In TCR, the class championship trophy lies in wait to bear the names of Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris in the #33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR, with the #33 only needing to start the race to clinch the 2026 title, the team and manufacturer’s sixth TCR title in seven seasons.
This would mark the first championship for drivers Filippi and Morris; however, with a 200-point deficit, Denis Dupont and Preston Brown in the #76 Bryan Herta car are long shots for the championship, but have shown great consistency this season with two wins, three silver-medal finishes, and zero retirements. 100 points behind the #76 sits the #93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR driven by the all-Canadian lineup of Karl Wittmer and LP Montour.
45 GS and TCR cars hit the track, beginning with a practice this afternoon and taking the final green flag of their 2026 season on Friday, October 2, at 11:35 am ET.
Tunjo, Workman due for championship coronation in VP Challenge
The IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge arrives at Road America with the potential to wrap up both class championships with the waving of the green flag of Race 1 after standout, dominant performances from Oscar Tunjo in LMP3 and Westin Workman in GSX.
In LMP3, Colombian driver Oscar Tunjo in the #1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine D09 finished nearly every single race on the podium, racking up six race victories in 12 opportunities, with the only extra-podium finish being a retirement last time out at Road America, where Tunjo started from pole.
This DNF kept Tunjo from leading all three championships in the VP Challenge series in an otherwise near-perfect season, dropping him to third in the LMP3 Endurance Championship while leading the Sprint and overall championships.
Leading by 470 points over Gebhardt teammate Danny Soufi in the #11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine, Tunjo hopes to cruise to a straightforward championship weekend, his first in the series in his sophomore season.
A battle to watch in LMP3 is the Bronze Drivers’ Championship, with Travis Hill and Brian Thienes currently tied with 3750 points apiece in the #2 Shopify Racing Ligier and the #77 Forte Racing Ligier, respectively.
In GSX, Westin Workman aboard the #8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 has put together a stellar 2026 title bid with nine race wins of ten rounds and a 480-point advantage over second-place Courtney Crone in the #35 CarBahn Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 EVO.
His only non-win came in Race 2 at Mosport, where the Charlotte native retired due to a mechanical failure. Workman has been virtually perfect, looking to lock in his first championship in his rookie season in GSX, coming off a Toyota GR Cup North America championship in 2025.
In the GSX Bronze Drivers’ Championship, just 110 points separate leading Jon Brel in the #81 Kingpin Racing Supra and Rafael “Rafa” Martinez in the #68 RAFA Racing machine. Brel enters Road Atlanta with a three-race Bronze win streak, looking to carry momentum and best Martinez through two sprint races this weekend.
Race 1 will start Thursday at 1:10 pm ET, followed by the season finale on Friday, bright and early, at 8:30 am ET.
Images © Jack Webster, RJ O’Connell, Martin Spetz / dailysportscar.com
