IMSA today released a 41-car entry list, with 37 expected entries, for next weekend’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, featuring a number of additional and returning drivers for the ten-hour enduro.
The event also will crown the winners of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.
ENTRY LIST: Petit Le Mans
Recently crowned IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud joins Action Express Racing’s points-leading No. 31 Corvette DP with drivers Dane Cameron and Eric Curran. They hold a one-point lead over Action Express teammates Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, who will be joined by Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 5 entry.
Third, seven-points back, are brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor, joining Max Angelelli in the No. 10 Corvette DP.
Past IndyCar Series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay joins Marc Goossens and Ryan Dalziel on the fourth-place No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP.
Other Prototypes include the Daytona and Sebring-winning No. 2 Ligier JS P2 Honda of Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek and Pipo Derani; Michael Shank Racing’s No. 60 Ligier Honda, with Olivier Pla rejoining John Pew and Ozz Negri.
Spencer Pigot is entered in both the No. 55 Mazda Prototype with Tristan Nunez and Jonathan Bomarito along with the No. 70, joining Tom Long and Joel Miller, while Andy Meyrick will team up with Katherine Legge and Sean Rayhall in the DeltaWing for its final race in the WeatherTech Championship.
GT Le Mans features a two entries apiece from Corvette, Ford, BMW, Porsche and Ferrari.
Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – four-time winners this season – enter the finale with an 11-point lead in the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R that will be co-driven by Marcel Fassler.
Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen will co-drive with Mike Rockenfeller in the team’s No. 3 Corvette.
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing has added a pair of IndyCar stars to its two-car lineup. Four-time champion Scott Dixon joins three-time winners Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe, who are second in the standings in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT.
Le Mans 24-Hour GTE-Pro class winners Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller will co-drive with four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 66 Ford GT.
Porsche North America’s Earl Bamber and Frederic Makowiecki won in the recent race at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR. They will be joined by the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR for Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy, who will co-drive with Richard Lietz.
BMW Team RLL returns with a two-car lineup, with Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner teaming with Augusto Farfus in the No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM, while the No. 100 BMW has Kuno Wittmer joining John Edwards and Lucas Luhr.
Leading Ferrari is the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE for Giancarlo Fisichella, Toni Vilander and James Calado, while Scuderia Corsa returns to the class with the No. 68 Ferrari 488 GTE for Daniel Serra, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Andrea Bertolini.
Christina Nielsen is seton the verge of history in the GT Daytona ranks.
She and Scuderia Corsa co-driver Alessandro Balzan hold a healthy 32-point lead in the standings, and Nielsen can become IMSA’s first female champion by achieving the minimum three-hours driving time in the No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3. Returning to the lineup is Jeff Segal, who joined the team in victories at Sebring and Watkins Glen.
Second in the standings is the two-time winning No. 33 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen, who will be joined by Marc Miller.
Audi’s three car lineup includes Stevenson Motorsports’ two-car entry, the No. 6 Stevenson Automotive Group Audi of Robin Liddell, Andrew Davis and Mike Skeen, along with the No. 9 Audi of Lawson Aschenbach, Matt Bell and Dion von Moltke.
Magnus Racing’s two-time winning No. 44 Audi R8 LMS GT3 has Marco Seefried teaming with John Potter and Andy Lally.
Lamborghini makes its first Road Atlanta appearance in the WeatherTech Championship with Paul Miller Racing’s No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers and Bryce Miller.
Richard Antinucci joins Spencer Pumpelly and Corey Lewis in the No. 16 Change Racing Lamborghini; and Dream Racing will be present with its No. 27 entry for Paolo Ruberti, Lawrence DeGeorge and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.
Porsche’s competitors feature the Alex Job Racing No. 23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Mario Farnbacher, Alex Riberas and Ian James, joined by the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche of Patrick Lindsey, Joerg Bergmeister and Matt McMurry.
Fresh from a class victory in Austin, Turner Motorsport returns with a pair of BMW M6 GT3s for drivers Bret Curtis, Jens Klingmann, Ashley Freiberg, Michael Marsal and Markus Palttala.
Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande pulled out a late-race PC class victory at COTA in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Oreca FLM09, opening a 10-point lead in the standings. They will be joined by David Heinemeier Hansson in the finale.
Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith placed second at Austin to keep their hopes alive. They will co-drive the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports with Jose Gutierrez.
Other PC challengers include James French and Kyle Marcelli in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca; the No. 88 Starworks entry of Mark Kvamme, Richard Bradley and Maxwell Hanratty; John Falb, Tomy Drissi and Don Yount in the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports machine; and Misha Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson and Chris Miller in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports car.
A total of 41 cars are listed, but with recent withdrawals from full-season entries CORE autosport (PC), No. 22 Alex Job Racing (GTD), No. 11 Change Racing (GTD) and Black Swan Racing (GTD), the grid is expected to be reduced to 37 cars for the event.
The entire event will be streamed live on from 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. on FOX Sports GO with FS1 authentication.
Live television coverage of Petit Le Mans begins from 11 a.m.- noon ET on FS1, resuming from 2:30-6 p.m. on FS2. There will be a three-hour highlights program on FS1 on Sunday, Oct. 2, from 5-8 p.m. ET.