Yahoo Autos Everything to play in IMSA WeatherTech title showdowns
There’s pressure, and then there’s pressure. This weekend, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship championship leaders are facing a different, slightly lighter, kind of squeeze than in the past.
For the first time in half a decade, the championship in the top class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship isn’t a matter of a single position at the finish, and it’s unlikely to come down to the final minutes of Motul Petit Le Mans. That’s not to say there aren’t some intriguing championship stories within GTP and the other classes, however.
The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 squad of Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron comes into the finale with a 124-point lead in the GTP championship points over teammates Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy (which would have been only 14 points without the penalty for the No. 6 following Indianapolis). That’s not an insurmountable lead; there is possible points swing of 165 points, but that swing requires one car to take pole and win, and the other to finish last in both qualifying and the race – an unlikely occurrence.
The No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R is within that window as well, with Sebastein Bourdais and Renger van der Zander 164 points behind Nasr and Cameron. So the battle for second could be quite interesting, especially as PPM has said it may very well position the No. 6 in the race to take Michelin Endurance Cup points away from the No. 01. IMEC points are awarded at the 4h and 8h marks, plus the finish.
That Endurance Cup fight is between the No.7 (37 points), the No.01 (33) and the No.31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R trio of Jack Aitken, Pipo Derani and Tom Blomqvist (32).
The main championship is a long shot for the No.01 Cadillac, but it’s right in the hunt for the Endurance Cup title. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
Porsche Penske Motorsport certainly occupies an enviable position coming into this year’s finale, with two cars leading the championship, and the only rival for the title has to execute with absolute perfection while disaster has to strike PPM for it to go any other way. Still, some performance on the part of the No.7 crew, joined by Matt Campbell for the weekend, is required.
“I always thought a nice quote from [Team Penske President Tim] Cindric was that pressure is a privilege,” said Cameron. “To be in these positions, to have these expectations on us and have the eyes on us really is a privilege at the end of the day. We’re fortunate to be in these positions; it’s why we do it, it’s why we compete, it’s why we show up, it’s where you want to be at the end of the year. It’s that culmination of that year’s work – not only for this year, but multiple years in this case – to be in this position.”
Nick Boulle and Tom Dillman are also in an enviable position of having a 98-point lead in the LMP2 championship for Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. Hardly insurmountable, but comfortable, especially given that PR1 has won five of six LMP2 titles. Riley Motorsports with Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga are chasing them, but they could also be overtaken by Era Motorsports’ Ryan Dalziel, who is 25 points in arrears.
The IMEC championship in LMP2 is a tie at the top. TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea and Boulle, Dillmann and Jakub Smiechowski have 35 points. They’re closely pursued by Era Motorsports’ Daytona- and Sebring-winning trio of Dalziel, Dwight Merriman and Connor Zilisch, only two points behind.
Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports has a solid but not insurmountable buffer in the LMP2 standings. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
Boulle leads the running for the Jim Trueman Award as well. Awarded to the highest-placing Bronze-rated driver in the overall championship, based on points awarded only within the Tureman candidates themselves, Boulle has a 70-point lead over Robinson. It’s a coveted prize, because the winner receives an automatic entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
On the strength of three victories for AO Racing, Laurin Heinrich has a cushy 99-point lead in the GTD PRO championship over Heart of Racing’s Ross Gunn. While Heart of Racing is doing everything it can to claim the title for Aston Martin, including moving its second Vantage GT3 Evo to GTD PRO and putting Roman De Angelis with Gunn and Alex Riberas in the No. 23, it’s still a tough ask. Depending on qualifying, Gunn needs at least a six-position advantage – in a 12-car field – over the AO Porsche to claim the title.
Still, it’s a possibility. This is Heinrich’s first Petit Le Mans; but he has the very experienced Michael Christensen and Julien Andlauer backing him up.
“Maybe [99 points] sounds a lot, but as we’ve all have seen in the last few years, this race can be quite crazy, and anything can happen,” said Heinrich.
AO Racing’s Porsche 911 has the edge in GTD PRO. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
“So what’s needed to win the championship? First of all, a good qualifying. The points, they are so tight, so the qualifying can make a big difference at the end. And then obviously just staying out of trouble. I think the last one or two hours of that race can get really hectic, and I think we just need to stay calm and collected on the engineering stand as well as in the cockpit, and just finish the job. As long as we are more or less around the Aston Martin in terms of position, we should be fine for the championship.”
Paul Miller Racing has no real shot at the overall championship, so it is going to go all-out to try to win the IMEC Championship for the team, and Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen. They currently have a five-point lead over Heinrich, tied at 32 with Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon for Risi Competizione. PMR is determined to be in the lead at the first points-scoring interval at the four-hour mark.
The best championship position for a leader is in GTD, and it it belongs to Winward Racing. Russell Ward and Philip Ellis have four victories in the No. 57 Mercedes AMG, including the first three endurance races with Indy Dontje, plus Daniel Morad at Daytona. That’s given them a 222-point lead coming into the finale. It’s also helped Mercedes AMG – which has a fifth win with Korthoff Preston Motorsports – to the GTD manufacturers title, the only championship secured prior to Petit Le Mans.
If there’s one hitch, it’s that Winward hasn’t had good luck at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. And the last endurance race, at Indianapolis, was the team’s worst finish of the season. But qualifying aside, all they really need is to finish 18th in a 20-car field.
“We’ve done this race a couple of times and, truthfully, we’ve never actually finished this race,” said Ward. “We’ve always had some issues in the night time, with traffic or with prototypes and things like that. So it’s kind of just going to be staying out of trouble. It’s really, really difficult here at nighttime; the prototypes are 10 seconds a lap faster, they catch you every five or six laps, and a lot of blind turns and very little light on the track.
Winward Racing has a strong lead in GTD – but a rocky past at Road Atlanta. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
“I’ve done the past couple of years into the night. I’ve never done the final stint, but the sun glare here is pretty bad, and it’ll catch a lot of people out in between Turn 6 and 7. That’s where the worst part of it is. And you’ve just got to take a little bit back there, make sure you don’t overshoot anything.”
Turner Motorsports is the only team that has a chance to catch Winward and the No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 , so Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher, along with endurance addition Jake Walker, have all to play for with nothing to lose.
With the three endurance wins, Ward, Ellis and Dontje are naturally leading the IMEC points as well. But Inception Racing is only a point behind, and won the Endurance Cup in 2021. Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff and Ollie Milroy have a good shot of overtaking Winward, especially as Winward isn’t focused on the Endurance Cup and could be playing conservatively to be sure they’re in the race at the end.
Defending IMEC champs Korthoff Preston Motorsports are in a good position to repeat with Mikael Grenier, Mike Skeen and Kenton Koch, and Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Jan Heylen are right behind.
Inception has another prize to chase, the Bob Akin Award for the best-placed Bronze driver in the overall championship. Like the Jim Trueman Award, the winner gets an automatic entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Iribe would love to go back. But Inception is going to have to finish well ahead of AWA Racing’s No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, as Orey Fidani has a 120-point lead. Sheena Monk is still in the fight as well, 30 points behind Iribe.
The margins for the championships for the most part are a little bigger than they have been in recent history. But that same history shows that anything can happen at Petit Le Mans. Even if the odds favor the leaders, there is still much to play for.
