ISMA Petit Le Mans Preview

54 cars between five classes will battle it out to win the final race of a thrilling season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The 26th running of the Petit Le Mans will be held this weekend at the tight, technical but incredibly fast Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.

The 10-hour classic has created some of the wildest and most iconic moments in the world of sports car racing.

Some big names in the motorsport world will be making one-off appearances this weekend. These include 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button and 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden in the GTP class as well as this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado in GTD Pro.

Three of the five car classes have had their respective championships already decided.

In the LMP3 class, the No. 74 Riley Motorsports machine led by Gar Robinson secured the title in the category’s final year of WTSC competition.

Both GT categories are also locked up. The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat grabbed the GTD Pro title, and the pro-amateur GTD class saw the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow take the crown.

However, the final two championships up for grabs are some of the closest title battles we have seen in the modern era of North American sportscar racing.

In the LMP2 class, four teams have a mathematical chance at winning it all, but the title will most likely come down to the No. 11 TDS Racing car against the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry. The two teams are separated by only 20 points heading into the finale.

The championship fight that everyone is looking towards, though, is the one in the new GTP class. In the category’s first year of existence, six out of the eight cars that have competed in all ten rounds so far have a shot to take the title.

The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura and the No. 6 Penske Motorsports Porsche are all within five points of each other.

Add in the No. 25 RLL Racing BMW, the No. 7 Penske Motorsport Porsche and the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura all with an outside shot, and Saturday’s race becomes an intense fight for every position.

GTP, or Grand Touring Prototype, was introduced this year as the new top category in prototype racing. It also serves as IMSA’s first foray into hybrid engine technology. The category garnered a lot of hype and interest heading into this season because of it.

To say GTP has not disappointed so far would be a massive understatement. Six different cars, along with all four GTP manufacturers, have won races this season, creating an unprecedented amount of parity and unpredictability.

In addition to the introduction of hybrids, 2023 marked the first year of the convergence between the regulations of IMSA and its European cousin, the World Endurance Championship. Now, top-level prototypes in both series can race against each other.

These factors have brought more eyes onto the sport as more teams and manufacturers have been announcing plans to race in both series in the coming years. This season has served as only the beginning of a potentially new golden era of sportscar racing.

Petit Le Mans never fails to deliver an outstanding racing product, with the final run to the finish being some of the best action of the entire motorsport calendar. With the extremely tight championship battles and the competitive nature of IMSA, this race has a chance to be an all-time classic.

The 10-hour-long fight for racing glory begins Saturday, Oct. 14th, at 11:30 a.m.

Jack Rachinsky is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jjr6682@psu.edu.