Bamber Captures Lead in Opening Hour at Road Atlanta

Earl Bamber leads Motul Petit Le Mans with one hour of racing completed, having passed pole sitter Tom Blomqvist in the opening minutes.

Bamber’s No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. started the race from second place, but completed a pass on Blomqvist’s No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 into Turn 10 after less than ten minutes of racing.

Blomqvist currently sits in third overall, having dropped behind the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani.

Derani came in for a scheduled stop relatively early in the hour and was able to cycle to second when the rest of the DPi pack made stops under caution.

That caution was caused by Robert Megennis’ No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, which ground to a halt at Turn 2 after 30 minutes.

Kamui Kobayashi holds fourth overall, followed by the second CGR Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Tristan Vautier.

Ricky Taylor rounds out the class for championship leaders Wayne Taylor Racing, having pitted the No. 10 Acura by the end of the opening lap to replace the tires that Taylor damaged during his spin in qualifying on Friday.

LMP2 is led by the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Ben Keating, while Malthe Jakobsen leads proceedings in LMP3 aboard the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Maximilian Buhk has leaped up to the lead of GTD Pro, having taken advantage from pitstop mishaps from some of the competitors ahead.

Vasser Sullivan’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 led the field to green in the hands of Jack Hawksworth, but the Briton accidentally headed for pit lane just as it closed due to the caution caused by Megennis.

It forced him to cruise through the pits and then pit again, dropping the Lexus to fifth in class.

While Hawksworth recognized his error and withheld from pitting, the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 of Jesse Krohn did come in for service, resulting in a 60-second stop and hold for working in a closed pitlane while in the lead of the class.

As a result, Buhk now leads in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, closely followed by the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Antonio Garcia. Felipe Nasr sits third in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Nasr’s co-drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell clinched the GTD Pro title by the car starting the race.

Richard Heistand leads GTD in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, having leaped ahead of the pole-sitting No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Madison Snow in the pits.