Road Atlanta Thursday Notebook

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

***Meyer Shank Racing and Acura are hopeful the electrical issue the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 battled in Thursday’s second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice session at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta has been corrected ahead of tonight’s night practice session for Motul Petit Le Mans.

***The GTP contender completed only nine laps in the afternoon’s 90-minute session after it spent a significant amount of time behind the wall before Nick Yelloly returned to action in the closing minutes.

***Two drivers are nursing injuries this weekend. Kenton Koch sustained a sprained left ankle on Wednesday while climbing down a flight of stairs, which has forced the Triarsi Competizione driver to utilize right-foot braking in his No. 023 Ferrari this weekend for the first time since his Mazda MX-5 Cup days.

***Cetilar Racing’s Miguel Molina, it has been revealed, has been racing with a broken thumb since an accident in August’s 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps European Le Mans Series race. The Spaniard has since taken part in two FIA World Endurance Championship races in AF Corse’s Ferrari 499P Hypercar, as well as the 4 Hours of Silverstone ELMS race.

***In addition to taking part in Saturday’s ten-hour enduro, Koch is scheduled to be fighting for two SRO America championship titles next week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro class and Pirelli GT4 America Silver class competition, both in Random Vandals Racing BMWs.

***Five cars, so far, will have their best qualifying times deleted due to either bringing out red flags or causing incidents that led to red flags in the opening two practice sessions.

***The No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 of GTD Pro championship contender Albert Costa stopped on track at the start of second practice with a fuel pressure issue, while a spin by LMP2 points leader PJ Hyett that collected the No. 65 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 resulted in the penalty going to Hyett. Additionally, Wyatt Brichacek spun his No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo into the gravel late in the session.

***Both the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson will lose their best qualifying times for red flag-causing incidents in Practice 1, which saw John Potter spin into the gravel and James Roe hit the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari of Robert Megennis.

***A total of 50 drivers, mostly Bronze or Silver-rated pilots, will be required to take part in night practice to be eligible to drive during periods of darkness in the race. Click Here for the full list.

***Team owners, manufacturers representatives and other leaders of the industry assembled Thursday afternoon for IMSA’s annual ‘State of the Sport’ address, hosted by NBC Sports’ Leigh Diffey and featuring IMSA President John Doonan, who unveiled the 2026 WeatherTech Championship entry list, a landmark contract extension with tire partner Michelin, along with Nicky Hays being awarded with the 2026-27 IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship.

***Also announced was a renewal and expansion of a multi-year agreement with BDO USA, one of the nation’s leading accounting and advisory firms. BDO will continue to welcome VIP clients and guests at IMSA events through an enhanced IMSA VIP Experiences program, which will now be available to more professionals and clients nationwide. In addition, the ‘BDO Knows Strategy Award’ will remain a feature on IMSA Radio broadcasts.

***IMSA and Radio Show Limited have also inked a contract extension that will continue to see the co-production of IMSA Radio next year, with John Hindhaugh set to again lead the commentary team alongside Ryan Myrehn and Arjuna Kankipati, along with additional RSL talent for key races in 2026.

***RSL managing director Eve Hewitt said: “We are delighted to have extended the co-production partnership with IMSA for global radio and international TV broadcasts. IMSA’s great addition of live YouTube coverage to the portfolio has demonstrated the desire for sports car enthusiasts worldwide to follow IMSA and underlines RSL’s core belief that removing barriers to consumption rapidly grows the audience.”

***IMSA’s popular ‘Win the Weekend’ presented by Michelin docuseries, meanwhile, will return for a fourth season. The series has averaged 2.5 million views per episode on YouTube according to Doonan.

***The IMSA Esports Global Championship on iRacing will kick off its first of four races on Nov. 2, at virtual Road Atlanta. Subsequent races are at Sebring International Raceway on Nov. 16, a GTP-only contest at Long Beach and GTD-only at Virginia International Raceway doubleheader on Nov. 23 and the finale at Daytona International Speedway on Dec. 7. Signups for the open qualifiers are now live online, with Time Attack Pre-Qualifying giving iRacing members their chance to secure a spot on the grid.

***Doonan confirmed to Sportscar365 that there’s room for “a couple” more full season entries in the WeatherTech Championship next year, following the initial 45-car season-long entry list that was confirmed. “Only because folks are finishing up putting their programs together,” he said. “But everybody you saw on the screen today or in the news release is fully committed to the season and we couldn’t be prouder.”

***Sportscar365 understands that two of the teams working to confirm GTD Pro programs are Random Vandals Racing and Team RLL, while Paul Miller Racing, which will scale back to a single entry next year that was confirmed on Thursday, is also wrapped up in the manufacturer puzzle, which involves BMW, Lamborghini and McLaren as potential OEM partners. At least one other GTD Pro/GTD team is set for a manufacturer switch as well for next year.

***Team RLL co-owner Bobby Rahal is not present this weekend for his team’s final race operating a BMW factory program after a 17-year run due to an event in Monaco involving the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, where he serves on the board of directors. RLL team president Jay Frye, meanwhile, is also absent as he tends to Mick Schumacher’s upcoming IndyCar test at the IMS road course on Monday.

***IMSA has packed the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta facility to the brim this weekend, with Doonan confirming there are 241 transporters between the WeatherTech Championship and support paddocks, along with 39 trailers off-site. Infield parking, meanwhile, has already sold-out. “This element of our sport continues to be in this historic moment,” he said. “On behalf of all of us at IMSA, we’re going to continue taking really good care of it and try to continue to grow it.”

***Doonan also revealed that Sebring International Raceway will construct a walk-over bridge on the Ulmann Straight in time for next year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, which will open a new spectator and camping area for fans, as well more efficient parking opportunities for competitors.

***A partnership between IMSA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), meanwhile, is in the works that will be announced at next year’s Rolex 24 according to Doonan.

***He said: “We have signed an agreement with NASA. It’s called the ‘Space Act Agreement.’ They have identified the ‘IMSA laboratory’ as a place they want to study thermal properties, lightweight materials, sensors, all the kind of things we do here on Earth, such that they can learn and maybe get themselves to Mars. More to come on that but we’re very excited.”

***Doonan also provided an update on a recent FIA/ACO/IMSA manufacturers’ working group meeting in Paris which saw involvement from 13 OEMs, all working towards the goal of creating a single top-class prototype platform earmarked for 2030. “We left there very excited and confident that convergence will continue with the hope of one set of regulations down the road, perhaps in the 2030 timeframe,” he said. “There’s a lot to be decided. We’ll have a lot of technical meetings about that but that’s huge.”

***Momentum on the concept, first proposed by Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach nearly two years ago that would merge the LMDh and LMH platforms into a single set of technical regulations, is understood to be moving forward, with the goal of finalizing a draft set of regulations by the end of this year.

***Doonan told Sportscar365: “It’s our job as IMSA, the ACO and the FIA to be good stewards of that and make sure we’re not making these major, dramatic swings for them. We want to be sensitive to those that are here and have an existing platform car and those who are coming. I think of the Ford’s, the Genesis’ and the McLaren’s and make sure that whatever we do, doesn’t land at a particular point in time that disrupts their development plan or their ICE engine plan or whatever.”

***A retirement party was held for Cadillac Racing PR representative Dave Lewandowski on Thursday. Lewandowski, a previous ACO-UJSF communication award winner for the best communicator at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be retiring from ‘full-time competition’ at the end of the year but will still be on-hand during a transition period early next year.

***Night practice for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans is set to run from 7:30-9 p.m. EST with live coverage on IMSA Radio, with qualifying for set for Friday at 3:20 p.m. EST, which will be streamed live on Peacock as well as IMSA’s YouTube channel.

Jonathan Grace contributed to this report

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