Story and photos by Tim Adams
The 21st annual Motul Petit Le Mans was a fantastic tribute to race founder Don Panoz, who had passed away just a month earlier. Amazing weather, and great racing all weekend greeted the huge crowd that filled just about every available open spot at Road Atlanta in Braselton Georgia.
Announced earlier in the summer that Tequila Patron would not return as a sponsor, this did not stop the ESM Patron Nissan team from trying to go out on top. The #22 car qualified on the pole for the race, with the teammate #2 car qualifying fourth. At the start of the race, the #22 car sprinted out to the lead, but an early tire puncture would cost them. Teammates in the #2 car would face mechanical issues with their car as well. The pole sitter #22 would fight its way back and be in contention for the win at the end of the 10-hour race. It was not to be however as they faded late in the race, but still managed to finish in 6th place. Sadly, this would be the final race period, for the ESM team. With Tequila Patron ending their long running sponsorship, the team was unable to find funding and the team has folded, with the cars and all equipment sold off. Fortunately, CORE Autosport bought everything from the team. Next year we will see at least one Nissan DPi in the Prototype in the field.
The race in Prototype came down to the last two corners, the Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi ran out of fuel, and the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi slid by to take the win. It stinks to see a 10-hour race come down to fuel mileage, but with few cautions, that is just the way the race played out. A race record was set due to the blistering pace, around 80 miles further than the previous record.
With a solid 8th overall finish, the Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi took the season points title in Prototype.
In GTLM it was the usual fierce battle between the nine entrants in the class. They were nose to tail throughout much of the race. In the end the factory Porsche #911 took the win in the class. The real drama however was for the overall season points battle. The #3 Corvette held the lead coming into the final race over the Chip Ganassi Racing #67 Ford GT. The Corvette did not hold back charging to the lead early in the race, drama was coming though. With only a couple hours left, Antonio Garcia exited the pits during a caution period, and promptly put the #3 Corvette into wall! Under caution! A huge mistake.
This is where the teamwork of Corvette Racing truly came into play. The team basically rebuilt the entire front end of the #3 car in a little over five minutes. It was remarkable to watch. Fans gathered in the paddock cheered loudly as the car was pushed back out to rejoin the race. The problem was, they rejoined in ninth, last in class. Now it was time for the sister car #4, to take the fight to the #67 Ford GT. Fight they did, the #4 car climbed up to finish second in class, as the #67 Ford faded to finish in fifth. Where did the #3 car finish you ask? Managing to get around the Risi Ferrari they finished 8th in class, and won the season title. Corvette Racing did not win a single race the entire season yet won the overall title. That is ultimate example of teamwork, and why Corvette Racing is held up year after year as one of the finest, if not the finest team in sportscar racing.
In GTD, the sponsor WeatherTech, left very happy. The Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, sponsored by WeatherTech was the victor. The top four contenders were right together to the very end. The season long points battle went down the very end also. The Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini edged out the runner-up Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX for the title. It was a bittersweet second place for the MSR Acura team. The #86 car was not supposed to run the entire season, but it kept doing so well, they managed to find a way to financially keep on the grid the entire season and almost won the championship.
As we head into next season, things look pretty good. 37 full season entries. There are some issues, however. The FIA uses a driver rating system, and IMSA follows this, but has the right to reclassify drivers differently if they chose. This leads to the mess we have now. There are four ratings, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Madison Snow won the GTD title as one of the team drivers with Paul Miller Racing. He is 22. IMSA decided to reclassify him as a Gold, the FIA rates him as a Silver. With IMSA now classifying him as a Gold, he is essentially considered a professional. Now the trouble is, Bryan Sellers his teammate is also a Gold. In GTD you cannot have two Gold drivers in your lineup. As a result, Madison Snow retied. Again, he is 22! The driver rating system has been a mess for a few years now, and it does not look like it is going to be corrected anytime soon.
IMSA also has a problem with LMP2. In August at Road America the decision to split DPi, and LMP2 was announced. Something had to be done. Manufacturers in DPi did not want to keep having to see their cars being constantly held back to the spec LMP2 power levels. The decision was made to split the Prototype classes and unleash DPi. It was also announced in December 2018, that LMP2 would be held further back, basically guaranteeing that a LMP2 car will not be in the running for the overall win at any race. As I expected, with LMP2 not being in the run for any overall win, who would want to put up any money to race them? The only real enticement is the ability of LMP2 to run at Le Mans. DPi cannot run at Le Mans. As of this writing only two cars are scheduled to compete the full season in LMP2. IMSA also reduced the races LMP2 will run from 10 to 8. We will be lucky to see LMP2 make it through the season. You cannot have a class that only has two cars in it. IMSA, this is not going to work.
Driver rating problems, and the LMP2 issues aside, I am really looking forward to the 2019 WeatherTech Championship. See you at the track.
