Bourdais in Front With Two Hours Left; AXR Seals Endurance Cup

Sebastien Bourdais led for Cadillac with two hours to go at Motul Petit Le Mans as Jack Aitken, Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani secured the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup title.

Bourdais, driving the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, surged into a 12-second lead during the eighth hour but his work was undone by the ninth full course caution of the day.

The interruption was caused by the Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Andy Lally being turned into the gravel at Turn 10 by AF Corse driver Miguel Molina.

Most GTP contenders pitted in anticipation of the caution and Chip Ganassi Racing kept its driver Bourdais ahead, while the No. 31 AXR Cadillac of Aitken jumped ahead of Filipe Albuquerque’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06.

Albuquerque ran off the road at Turn 3 on his out-lap but regained his composure as the safety car came out. At the restart, Bourdais stretched the lead out to four seconds over Aitken, but second gave AXR enough points to wrap up the Endurance Cup title.

Points are handed out at the four, eight and ten-hour marks. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title remains up for grabs between multiple GTP crews.

The No. 01 Cadillac led the sixth hour with Scott Dixon at the helm but lost the place to WTR Andretti during a round of GTP pit stops under caution with four hours to go.

That interruption was caused by the Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan being turned around by the Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 at the esses.

Dixon put the pressure on Louis Deletraz during the seventh hour, with Aitken observing the action in third, before WTR Andretti pitted a few laps earlier than its rivals.

That strategy ended up playing in favor of the Cadillacs, which cycled to the head of the field with Bourdais stepping in for Dixon and Aitken staying in the No. 31.

In LMP2, the title-contending No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson retired after Mikkel Jensen crashed into the barriers at the bottom of the esses.

Points leader PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports led with two hours to go, with Alex Quinn only one second ahead of Christian Rasmussen.

In GTD Pro, Jordan Pepper moved the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO into the lead after that car recovered from an early drive-through penalty.

Pepper overtook the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Pilet midway through the seventh hour to claim the position.

There was drama for the leading Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the sixth hour when Tommy Milner pulled the car to one side with an engine issue.

The highest-placed GTD car with two hours to go was the Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mike Skeen, with Turner Motorsport’s No. 97 BMW M4 GT3 close behind.