Car Blanche Wins GTD Pro; Paul Miller Racing Secures Title

Car Blanche scored a maiden IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory in GTD Pro in Saturday’s 29th Motul Petit Le Mans, while Paul Miller Racing claimed the class title after late-race drama for the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Mattia Drudi drove the final stint to hold off the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Harry King by 1.507 seconds, marking the first triumph for the No. 68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that the Italian driver shared with Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sorensen.

It came after the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Ben Barnicoat, who was leading into the final hour, slowed with less than 25 minutes to go after receiving a warning for failure to adhere to the controlled powertrain parameters.

Barnicoat, Jack Hawksworth and Kyle Kirkwood, who ran without air conditioning through the heat of the day, finished tenth after having to make a stop for energy on the second-to-last lap, in the car’s final scheduled WeatherTech Championship outing.

Class pole-sitter Neil Verhagen’s third place class result locked up the title for the No. 1 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Verhagen shared the title with co-driver Connor De Phillippi with third driver Dan Harper on board for Petit.

The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 ended its final race in IMSA competition in fourth with Andrea Caldarelli, Sandy Mitchell and Franck Perera, with the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo completing the top five in class.

Caldarelli and Mitchell finished runner-up in the GTD Pro championship after the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Dennis Olsen had contact with the No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg with just over one hour to go.

Olsen was handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility and finished ninth in class, with the No. 4 Corvette ending up one lap down in 12th.

Chevrolet, however, still earned the GTD Pro manufacturers’ title.

The No. 911 Manthey Porsche, which was en route to finish second in class with Thomas Preining, was forced into the pits on the final lap for fuel after overcoming a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility with three hours to go.

Two GTD Pro cars failed to finish the race.

Nikita Johnson was forced to retire the No. 59 Team RLL McLaren 720S GT3 Evo from damage sustained after contact with Harper, while the No. 033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari lost power during a caution with under three hours to go.

Winward Takes GTD Win, Third Class Championship in a Row

Philip Ellis and Russell Ward claimed third historic third consecutive GTD class championship with class victory alongside Indy Dontje in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Ellis finished 0.733 seconds ahead of the No. 912 Manthey Porsche of Riccardo Pera after bouncing back from a puncture with five hours to go.

The No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette completed the podium, despite a post-race energy-related investigation by IMSA that led to no further action.

It came after Salih Yoluc was forced to serve a five-minute stop-and-hold penalty in the opening hour for hitting the RFID reader at pit exit.

Ellis’s final challenge came with 40 minutes to go from the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Lilou Wadoux. The car, however, was off-sequence following co-driver Antonio Fuoco’s stop-plus 60-second penalty.

Fuoco made contact with the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari of Lorenzo Patrese on the front straight and collided with the outside wall with two-and-a-half hours to go.

Despite entering the race in a three-way battle for the title, Winward essentially locked up the championship when the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW was forced to retire in the opening hour after a loss of water pressure.

The No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Eduardo Barrichello, which had an outside chance of the title, failed to start the race due to an electrical loom issue following an overnight engine change.

Zach Robichon did eventually get the car on track in the second hour but it was ultimately retired after completing only 37 laps.

Orey Fidani, meanwhile, secured his third consecutive Bob Akin Award and automatic invite to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMGT3.

It came despite the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari of fellow FIA Bronze-rated driver Brendan Iribe finishing two positions ahead in eighth.

RESULTS: Motul Petit Le Mans