Inside the Petit Le Mans Points Possibilities

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

With championships still to be decided in all four categories, Sportscar365 breaks down the points possibilities ahead of today’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Petit Le Mans.

Prototype:

***With the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Eric Curran and Dane Cameron at a one-point lead over teammates Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, whichever car finishes higher will likely be crowned champion.

***The only exception comes if the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing  Corvette DP of Jordan and Ricky Taylor wins the race and both Action Express entries finish fourth or lower. A second or third place finish for the Taylor’s could also have them clinch the title, should the AXR cars finish below sixth or eighth, respectively.

***In the Manufacturers Championship, only one Corvette DP will need to start the race in order to clinch the title. Chevrolet currently holds a 17-point lead over Honda, which is an insurmountable margin, as long as points are scored in the race.

Prototype Challenge:

***Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow will need to score a sixth place finish or higher to win the championship for Starworks Motorsport. The PC class features a seven-car field this weekend, with three entries from Starworks alone.

***Only the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports duo of Tom Kimber-Smith and Robert Alon hold a chance of denying van der Zande and Popow the title and will need to win the race to do so, unless the No. 8 Starworks car fails to reach the minimum drive time of three hours (for a Bronze/Silver driver) to score points.

***Performance Tech Motorsports holds a mathematical chance of winning the Teams Championship, should they win the race and both the No. 8 Starworks and No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen entries fail to score points.

GT Le Mans:

***The No. 4 Corvette C7.R pairing of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner will need to score a seventh place finish or higher to be crowned champions. They hold a 11-point led over Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe in the No. 67 Ford GT.

***A total of four driver pairings still hold a mathematical chance of the championship, but the chances for either Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen (No. 3 Corvette) and Earl Bamber/Fred Makowiecki (No. 912 Porsche) are extremely slim.

***The Manufacturers Championship will be locked up once Corvette takes the start of the race. Chevrolet currently holds a 29-point lead over Ford.

GT Daytona:

***The No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan will be champions once Nielsen hits the minimum three-hour drive time. The duo holds a 32-point lead over Riley Motorsports’ Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

***Two other driver pairings: Andrew Davis/Robin Liddell (Stevenson Motorsports) and Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow (Paul Miller Racing) hold a mathematical shot of the Drivers’ Championship but only if both the Nos. 63 and 33 cars fail to score points and one wins the race.

***Audi holds a 11-point lead in the Manufacturers Championship over Porsche, meaning it just needs at least one of its three R8 LMS cars to get to the points-scoring mark to win the title.

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