MSR Wins Petit Le Mans; Action Express Claims GTP Title

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims have claimed the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title following a wild season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans that saw Meyer Shank Racing win in its final race with Acura.

Braun took the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 to the checkered flag while under a full course caution following a fire for the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen shortly after a restart with five minutes to go.

The action-packed conclusion saw the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Renger van der Zande finish second, giving Cadillac the manufacturers’ championship, despite going more than 90 minutes on a single stint of energy.

Braun shared top race honors with Tom Blomqvist and Helio Castroneves, marking the Ohio-based squad its third victory of the season.

The trio fought back from a two-lap deficit after sustaining toe-link damage due to contact with the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Corey Lewis in the second hour.

Derani, meanwhile, crossed the line in sixth in the championship-winning Whelen Engineering-sponsored Cadillac, provisionally winning the title by 21 points over Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport’s Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.

It came after an incident between Derani and the No. 10 WTR Andretti Acura of Albuquerque with 1 hour and 2 minutes to go that resulted in the Portuguese driver in Turn 1 barriers while battling for second, and the championship lead, at the time.

Albuquerque was transported to a hospital for further evaluation while IMSA declared no further action on the incident, which resulted in a lengthy caution for barrier repairs.

The No. 59 Proton Competition Porsche of Harry Tincknell, Gianmaria Bruni and Neel Jani scored a surprise overall podium in third, having been one of four GTP cars to stay out during the race’s 11th caution to jump the majority of the field.

Matt Campbell’s No. 7 Penske Porsche was the highest-placed car to have pitted at the time, finishing fourth alongside co-drivers Felipe Nasr and Josef Newgarden despite battling vibrations late in the race.

The No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Mike Rockenfeller, Tijmen van der Helm and Jenson Button, which also stayed out under that yellow, completed the top-five after a largely trouble-free run.

The two Team RLL-run BMW M Hybrid V8s were seventh and eighth, behind the No. 31 Cadillac, which had Jack Aitken as its third driver alongside his two championship-winning co-pilots.

It marked Derani’s second WeatherTech Championship title in the last three years, while Sims, who will move to Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ GTD Pro effort next year, picked up his maiden IMSA championship.

A title contender was eliminated early on when the No. 6 Penske Porsche of Nick Tandy was collected in a multi-car accident in the second hour that was triggered by the No. 20 High Class Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Dennis Andersen, who was handed a two-minute stop-and-hold penalty for incident responsibility.

The car then later crashed in the hands of Laurens Vanthoor in the Esses with three hours and 25 minutes to go after extensive repair work to get it back on track.

PR1/Mathiasen, Riley Win LMP2, LMP3 Championships

The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin have been crowned LMP2 champions with a third place class finish alongside Alex Quinn.

CrowdStrike by APR’s Ben Hanley, Nolan Siegel and George Kurtz, meanwhile, took the category win.

Keating and Chatin’s closest championship rivals, the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca pairing of Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas, crashed out with three hours and 20 minutes to go in the hands of the Dane.

It resulted in the Bobby Oergel-led PR1/Mathiasen team needing to finish in the top-five to take the title, no matter where the CrowdStrike by APR crew finished.

Hanley took over the class lead in the final hour when the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca dropped down the running order and ultimately spun and stopped on track in the hands of Christian Rasmussen, bringing out the second-to-last yellow.

The No. 35 TDS Racing Oreca of Giedo van der Garde, Josh Pierson and John Falb came home second in the race in class.

LMP3 race honors went to the No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier of Garett Grist, Dakota Dickerson and Bijoy Garg, meanwhile.

It came after a late-race incident between Grist and the class title-winning No. 74 Riley Ligier of Felipe Fraga, which forced the Brazilian into the pits with 20 minutes to go for new Michelin tires.

While dropping the Riley entry to third in class finish, driver Gar Robinson clinched the class title with the car just starting Saturday’s race.

RESULTS: Motul Petit Le Mans

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