IMSA Petit Le Mans Preview
- Natalie Johnston
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
The final round of the IMSA calendar, the 10 Hours of Motul Petit Le Mans, is set to take place this Saturday from 12:00 pm until 10:00 pm track time (EST) at Road Atlanta. Qualifying is set to start at 3:15 pm track time on Friday.
There are 53 entries this weekend between all four classes. There are 12 entries in GTP; the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche is absent once again after sustaining massive damage to their car’s chassis at Watkins Glen. The typical 12 entries in LMP2 will be competing this weekend. In GTD PRO and GTD, there are 10 and 19 entries respectively.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport holds the lead in the standings of GTP, followed by the No. 7 Porsche Penske. Julien Andlauer of the discontinued Porsche WEC squad joins Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell in the No. 6 this weekend. Andlauer’s teammate Laurens Vanthoor joins the No. 7’s lineup once again after winning with the IMSA team in Daytona and Sebring earlier this year.
The No. 24 BMW M Team RLL car sits in third place, but is only 14 points back of the No. 7 and could see a reversal after this race. Former F1 driver Kevin Magnussen joins Philip Eng and Dries Vanthoor this weekend, and will surely be hoping for a better outing than they had at the 36 hours of Florida earlier this season.
The No. 77 AO Racing car holds a decent lead of 85 points over the second-place No. 22 United Autosport USA for the championship in LMP2. The No. 22 has a better record at the endurance events this season, but AO Racing’s consistency is increasingly tricky to beat. Daniel Goldburg is 85 points behind PJ Hyett for the Jim Trueman award and will be looking to best the AO Racing squad on Saturday.
The No. 77 and the No. 99 AO Racing cars will debut a fun Halloween-themed skeleton liveries for the final round of the IMSA season.
In GTD PRO, there is a close battle for the championship between the No. 3 Pratt Miller Corvette and the No. 81 Dragonspeed Ferrari. Coming into this weekend, they are separated by just 18 points after a fantastic second half of the season by the Dragonspeed.
In GTD, the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes is in the lead for the championship ahead of the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. The Heart of Racing team will look to have a better result at Petit Le Mans after finishing in P11 from pole last time out.
The Cadillacs had a great showing last time out in Indianapolis and look to be showing pace this weekend. Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac set the fastest time in two of Thursday’s practice sessions.
The changes in Balance of Performance for GTP are minimal; however, there have been some adjustments to the Minimum Weight Allowance. Acura has been given an 8 kg addition to their minimum weight after the No. 60 had a podium outing at Indy. The Porsches were given a 6 kg reduction, which will give them a slight edge after a series of unremarkable outings.
For the GT cars, both the BMWs and the Ferraris got a huge +12kg increase in minimum weight. The Ferraris in particular have had a great run of form lately, taking a double podium at Indy. This may affect the Dragonspeed’s battle for the championship in GTD PRO.
The winner of the Bob Akin award will be decided this weekend. Brendan Iribe in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari and Orey Fidani in the No. 13 AWA Racing Corvette are currently tied for the win, and will be giving it their all to hopefully secure an entry at the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The standings in the Michelin Endurance Cup championship in each class are impeccably close. The largest points gap between the first and second place teams is in LMP2, with a five-point gap between the No. 43 Inter Europol and the No. 11 TDS Racing.
In GTP, the No. 7 Porsche Penske holds a three-point lead over the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura. In GTD PRO, the Paul Miller BMWs hold the top two spots with the No. 1 getting the edge on the No. 48 by just four points. The No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari heads the GTD standings, three points ahead of the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin.
