Road Atlanta Wednesday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams unloaded on Wednesday for this weekend’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans, which also closes out the Michelin Endurance Cup campaign. A capacity grid of 54 cars are set to take part in the ten-hour enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

***RS1 appears to have Ryan Yardley and Zach Vanier as Jan Heylen’s co-drivers for its No. 28 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo this weekend, although Devlin DeFrancesco’s name is displayed on the GTD car itself. Sportscar365 understands that a deal for DeFrancesco to join the Florida-based team fell through last night, with Vanier getting the late call-up alongside Yardley, a Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Driver.

***The No. 911 Manthey Porsche has traded in its traditional ‘Grello’ design for a bright orange/red livery for primary sponsor Viessmann, which will donate €50,000 ($56,000 USD) to the German Cancer Center (DKFZ) and the Austin Hatcher Foundation as part of the cause.

***Reigning GTP champion Mathieu Jaminet, who has replaced the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup-bound Ricardo Feller in the Manthey GTD Pro lineup, will be making his first WeatherTech Championship start since winning the title here last year with Matt Campbell, who is set for his final outing with Porsche Penske Motorsport before moving to Ford Racing’s Hypercar program in the FIA World Endurance Championship next year.

***Saturday’s race will mark the end of a number of programs, teams and/or manufacturers currently in the series, most notably both Acura and Meyer Shank Racing. Additionally, it is expected to be the final series outings for both the Lexus RC F GT3 and Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which will be replaced by the GR GT3 and Lamborghini Temerario GT3, respectively next year.

***Pfaff Motorsports will also depart the series, despite what Sportscar365 understands was a last-ditch effort to attempt to keep the core of the team together, potentially as mixed effort with Wayne Taylor Racing. Mike Johnson, who has been Pfaff’s race strategist, revealed to Sportscar365 that his Archangel Motorsports team even explored options to run the Temerario GT3 program but said his team was lacking the budget needed to competitively compete in GTD Pro.

***Paul Miller Racing, another team that’s set to have a different look next year, with the crew poised to be under new ownership, lost the GTD Pro points lead to the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner, which BMW factory ace Connor De Phillippi said has changed their approach from being the “hunted” to now being the “hunter” and only 47 points behind.

***De Phillippi said: “Road Atlanta is generally a strong track for us as a team and also the car, also for myself, I’ve always enjoyed racing there. I like just the whole dynamic of the multi-class racing at that circuit. We’re going in as the hunter this weekend instead of the hunted, so that’ll be a refreshing position to be in, in terms of how we race, and it’s kind of go in and that’s really the only option.”

***De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen are rejoined by Dan Harper for the first time since the trio, plus Max Hesse, took top class honors in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

***Longtime engineer, strategist, technical and competition director Jeff Braun will be stepping back from full-time duties at the end of this weekend. Braun currently serves as the competition director at 13 Autosport and has worked for a whos-who in open-wheel and sports car racing over the last 45 years, most recently having been a key player at CORE autosport, Level 5 Motorsports, Krohn Racing and Risi Competizione.

***Braun told Sportscar365: “I’m not retiring but I would like to do some fun and interesting one-offs or consulting. Maybe someone calls with a cool project or a start-up team and I can contribute for some events. But after 45 years of racing professionally, I’m not looking for a full-season gig. I now have a three-year-old grandson (Roczen, Colin and Melissa Braun’s son) and have some other stuff I also want to do.”

***While some drivers, including Earl Bamber, Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde, Paul di Resta, Harry Tincknell, Nicky Catsburg, Eduardo Barrichello and GTP points leader Jack Aitken spent last weekend at Fuji Speedway for the WEC race, Laurin Heinrich went further west and competed in the Shanghai 8 Hours, at the wheel of an Origine Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, which retired due to mechanical issues.

***Robert Megennis will have his complete focus on the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo this weekend as he’s been replaced by Josh Green in the No. 92 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO in Michelin Pilot Challenge, alongside 2026-27 IMSA Diverse Development Scholarship winner Nicky Hays.

***Random Vandals team principal Paul Sparta told Sportscar365 this was by design, in order to not stretch Megennis too thin over the weekend. Sparta, meanwhile, has walked back plans to enter the WeatherTech Championship next year and is going all-in on SRO America in 2027 with an expanded GT World Challenge America powered by AWS effort.

***Only three drivers are set to pull double duty between Pilot Challenge and Petit Le Mans this weekend: Jenson Altzman, Robby Foley and Mason Filippi.

***Nathan Toney, the team owner of VP Racing SportsCar Challenge outfit Toney Driver Development, has been working with Inter Europol Competition in an engineering and strategy capacity this season alongside team patron/driver Kuba Smiechowski, who has also been assisting with strategy. The Polish squad enters the weekend with a scant four-point lead in the LMP2 standings, the smallest margin of all four classes.

***Tom Dillmann said: “Nathan has been key because he knows the IMSA rules very well, so it’s helping us a lot to adjust to things quickly. Also on my car [is] Kuba. He has been very strong on that and I think he played a key part as well. All four of our engineers have a very important role. And this year they delivered definitely.”

***Ford Racing’s ‘Sweepstakes’ livery on its pair of factory Mustang GT3 EVOs (pictured above), paying homage to the first win on Oct. 10, 1901 that helped launch the Ford Motor Company, comes as the Detroit manufacturer is vying for the GTD Pro manufacturers’ championship. Ford enters Saturday’s race just 68 points behind rival Chevrolet.

***Ford Racing on-road racing and product marketing manager Scott Bartlett said: “What an incredible story [it would be]. You start almost 125 years ago with a win and you bookend it with a championship. I know it’s a very, very tight race and there’s a lot of opportunity for others as well but I think for us it would be the Cinderella story to have that moment happen and be able to close out 125 with a championship.”

***An exact working replica of Sweepstakes is on display in the Ford Racing exhibit in the fan zone, above the WeatherTech Championship paddock. The replica was constructed by vintage car authority and engineer Glenn Miller and was used in the filming of the Mustang GT3 EVO livery unveil that was released on Monday.

***The ‘Car Blanche’ branding will continue on the YRB Racing-entered Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo next year according to team principal Christopher Deely, as it steps up to a full season GTD Pro program with Valentin Hasse-Clot and Marco Sorensen. “We love the atmosphere, we love the culture that we’ve created behind it. We plan to roll that forward into 2027,” he told Sportscar365.

***IMSA President John Doonan confirmed to Sportscar365 there will be no grandfathering period for the existing LMP2 machinery and new-gen prototypes, which will debut in the WeatherTech Championship in 2029. Doonan suggested current LMP2 cars could find a new home in the IMSA-sanctioned HSR Prototype Challenge presented by Michelin series come 2029.

***Doonan will hold the annual ‘IMSA State of the Sport’ address, hosted by NBC Sports’ Leigh Diffey, on Thursday at 12:15 p.m., where several announcements are expected to be made. However, unlike recent years, the 2027 WeatherTech Championship entry list will not be released.

***Three WeatherTech Championship practice sessions are on tap tomorrow, beginning with a 90-minute session from 10:40 a.m.-12:10 p.m. EST, Practice 2, which includes dedicated time for FIA Bronze-rated drivers, from 3:20-5:05 p.m., and night practice from 7:30-9 p.m.

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