Road Atlanta Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Porsche

***It was a banner day for Porsche in Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans, with the German manufacturer, Porsche Penske Motorsport and AO Racing combining for nine titles, sweeping both the GTP and GTD Pro drivers, teams and manufacturers’ class titles, as well as picking up Michelin Endurance Cup championship honors.

***Detlev von Platen, member of Porsche’s executive board, sales and marketing said: “It’s fantastic to see how happy the whole team is about the titles. We brought home everything we’d hoped for.It’s obvious from everyone involved that it was incredibly hard work: everyone is shedding tears of joy – what a wonderful sight.”

***The No. 7 Porsche 963 of newly crowned champions Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron plus Matt Campbell lost the lead of the race in the late stages due to an extended stop to replace a fuel flow sensor, which Cameron said came as a disappointment due to already having theoretically clinched the title and having been let loose to go for the win.

***Cameron said: “For me I haven’t actually won this race before because you typically come here with the championship in mind, and sometimes you make some different decision to manage that rather than the race. We were both looking forward to hopefully having that done with the margin that we had and just being able to try to go after the race.”

***The now four-time WeatherTech series champion revealed they also had to contend with brake issues at the end of the race. “We were really wearing the left-front rotor at an incredible rate and weren’t sure we were going to have to change it,” Cameron added.

***Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy, who teamed with Kevin Estre for a second place result in the race, also finished runner-up in the GTP drivers’ championship, finishing 113 points behind Nasr and Cameron. The No. 6 Porsche co-drivers were just five points ahead of Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais, who along with Scott Dixon, triumphed in the race for Chip Ganassi Racing and Cadilalc.

***CGR, which does not have a confirmed 2025 WeatherTech Championship program, earned its 67th win in IMSA competition.

***Chip Ganassi told Sportscar365: “It’s a big race and we’ve never won this race before, so it’s one of the few big races we haven’t won, so it made me pretty happy. It just shows you what the team and car is capable of.”

***It came after the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R of van der Zande, Bourdais and Dixon dropped off the lead lap in the opening hour due to a mechanical black flag for scrutineering system requirements, which resulted in the team swapping out various sensors in a trial-and-error fashion.

***Bourdais said: “We just kept digging. I think with the torque sensor issue, we couldn’t run a really good ECU control, so we were missing quite a bit of top speed. Our only chance was to maximize and use the car handling that we had all day long. That got us back in the fight, but we were missing quite a bit of top speed, so it was making things very difficult.”

***The ten-hour race featured only five full course cautions and saw a green flag run for more than four-and-a-half hours prior to the final yellow for Corey Lewis’ accident in the No. 55 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 that collected the then-second placed No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor.

***Ricky Taylor said: “I’m super proud of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 team. For the fourth year straight, they put us in a position to fight for the win. I think we were so much looking forward to ending the relationship with Acura and HRC on a high note. For me, since 2018, and for the team since 2021, we have so many good memories. It was a great partnership to work with, to combine such talented groups. I think this just proves how hard the sport is and how ruthless it can be.”

***PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports scored its seventh IMSA championship, with this year’s LMP2 class title under the Inter Eurpol by PR1/Mathiasen banner. It was the Bobby Oergel’s second consecutive title after Paul-Loup Chatin and Ben Keating’s championship last year.

***Nick Boulle, who along with Tom Dillmann took title honors, indicated to Sportscar365 that he’ll take his automatic invite to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans to Inter Europol Competition, which will also have its own standalone WeatherTech Championship entry in 2025.

***TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas claimed his first Petit Le Mans class victory in LMP2 despite the car having an early race spin and drive-through penalty. “I think the traffic here for a Bronze [-rated driver] is brutal, and it’s like a big puzzle. To me it’s the most fun race of the year because of the traffic. I love it.”

***Laurin Heinrich became the only the third driver to win a WeatherTech Championship title in his rookie season, joining Pato O’Ward (2017, PC) and Mikkel Jensen (2022, LMP2), while the 23-year-old German is the youngest driver to win a pro class title in the series.

***It came in a rollercoaster day for the No. 77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3 R, which tumbled down the order with a gearshift issue but won the title by a mere four points over Heart of Racing Team’s Ross Gunn, who finished the race third in class.

***AO team principal Gunnar Jeannette said: “Everything was running perfectly initially but then we suffered a steering wheel problem. Our drivers had their work cut out for them because the car only shifted up every third or fourth attempt. The team managed to quickly identify and solve the issue. After that, the race remained a nail-biter to the very end – and it was enough. To be honest, today’s 11th place was the best of my life.”

***Heinrich, meanwhile, revealed his close affection to the team’s mascot: “Everyone knows Rexy, and everyone loves Rexy. To drive that car, it’s incredible, really. My phone is full of Rexy, and I open Instagram, and I only see Rexy. I think my whole life is around Rexy. I sleep in the bed with this (plush toy), so yeah. I also have Roxy too!”

***Iron Lynx’s triumph in GTD Pro marked the first win for Lamborghini in WeatherTech Championship in a year following Forte Racing’s GTD class win at the race last year. It resulted in all 18 IMSA automotive partners scoring at least one victory across sanctioned competition.

***Jordan Pepper claimed his first career WeatherTech Championship win after “having a win for three hours” at Mid-Ohio in 2022 prior to his Inception Racing McLaren 720S getting moved to the back of the results due to the car being underweight.

***The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, which was an early race contender, dropped out of the race with engine failure in the third hour. It was one of nine total retirements in the race that also included the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (half shaft), both United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibsons (accidents), No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche (power steering), No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 (fuel system), No. 55 Proton Ford, No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche and No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura (accidents).

***Conquest Racing joined Vasser Sullivan and Heart of Racing Team in becoming the only teams to have won in both GTD Pro and GTD this season, following the Eric Bachelart-led team’s triumph at Road America in the Pro class and Saturday’s win with its season-long GTD entry of Manny Franco, Albert Costs and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, who all claimed their first series wins.

***Winward Racing drives Philip Ellis and Russell Ward locked up the GTD class title early in the running of the ten-hour race, while Mercedes-AMG previously clinched the class manufacturers’ championship last time out at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

***The initial fourth-place finishing No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mikael Grenier, Kenton Koch and Mike Skeen was moved to the back of the finishing order due to a camber infraction found in post-race technical inspection.

***At least seven cars received mechanical black flags for tire operational requirements during the race, including several entries for multiple infractions. There were also several warnings for cars not adhering to powertrain parameters.

***IMSA President John Doonan reported a record attendance for the event, confirming the numbers surpassed last year’s then-attendance record by more than 10 percent. Doonan revealed on IMSA Radio that Georgia State Police asked the circuit to halt sales of infield parking passes due to the facility being at capacity.

***Doonan also revealed on IMSA Radio that the sanctioning body currently has a reserve list for both 2025 full-season entries, as well as at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, where there have nearly been 90 entry requests.

***While the season has wrapped up, WeatherTech Championship teams will reconvene at Daytona International Speedway on Nov. 15-17 for the annual IMSA-sanctioned test. The Roar Before the Rolex 24 is set for Jan. 17-19, with the Rolex 24 scheduled for Jan. 23-26.

Davey Euwema & Jonathan Grace contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John