MSR Captures DPi Title with Drama-Filled PLM Victory

Meyer Shank Racing secured the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi title at Motul Petit Le Mans during a dramatic race that saw both Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs take each other out and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 sustain race-ending damage in the final hour.

Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Helio Castroneves took victory over Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla and Mike Conway in the ten-hour contest at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta that ended under a full course caution.

The No. 60 Acura ARX-05 started the race from pole position, but Blomqvist lost the lead to the No. 02 CGR Cadillac DPi-V.R. of Earl Bamber in the opening laps.

As the race progressed, MSR’s main title rivals, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and Brendon Hartley, captured the lead due to a well-timed pitstop mere moments before a caution triggered by a heavy crash by the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac and the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

At nightfall, the two Acuras at the head of the field began to fall behind the rival Cadillacs, with Earl Bamber and Renger van der Zande assuming a 1-2 position as the final hour of the race commenced.

The race then took a turn when the two Ganassi teammates collided into Turn 1, leaving both cars in the gravel.

This promoted Albuquerque to the lead, with Blomqvist closely behind in second position.

When the two drivers then pitted under the subsequent position, MSR executed a quicker pitstop and Blomqvist beat the No. 10 car off pit road to assume the lead.

Blomqvist held off the Portuguese ace until Albuquerque, who came in for a second late-race stop under the yellow, clipped the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo while battling for the lead.

This resulted in suspension damage to the No. 10 Acura, allowing MSR to secure its second overall Petit Le Mans victory and clinch its first DPi title in the process.

The No. 31 Action Express Cadillac of Derani, Pla and Conway finished second ahead of its No. 48 sister car driven by Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Rockenfeller.

The No. 01 Cadillac of Van der Zande, Scott Dixon and Sebastien Bourdais finished fourth, with the sister car of Bamber, Alex Lynn and Ryan Hunter-Reay completing the top five, with both cars having been repaired following their clash.

Farano Secures LMP2 Title with Class Win

Tower Motorsport’s John Farano captured the LMP2 title by beating the father-and-son pairing of Juan Pablo and Sebastian Montoya to the class victory.

The No. 8 Oreca 07 Gibson of Farano, Louis Deletraz and Rui Andrade came out ahead of the No. 81 DragonSpeed Oreca driven by the Montoyas and Henrik Hedman.

Both Tower and DragonSpeed ran behind the pair of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports cars for the opening phase of the race, but momentum swung their way when Ben Keating heavily crashed the No. 52 car in the third hour.

When both the second PR1/Mathiasen Oreca and the No. 20 High Class Racing Oreca fell behind, the battle for the class victory fell to Tower and DragonSpeed.

Deletraz sealed the victory and the title in the process by passing the elder Montoya with less than 30 minutes left on the clock.

The No. 11 Oreca of Tristan Nunez, Josh Pierson and Steven Thomas completed the podium while the fourth-placed High Class entry of Fabio Scherer, Dennis Andersen and Anders Fjordbachwas the only other LMP2 still running at the flag.

In LMP3, class victory went to the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Gabby Chaves, Josh Burdon and Jarett Andretti.

The trio fended off pressure from the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier of Garett Grist, Nolan Siegel and Ari Balogh to take the win with a controlling performance in the second half of the race.

CORE autosport’s Colin Braun and Jon Bennett claimed the season-long title with a fifth place finish.

RESULTS: Motul Petit Le Mans