Story and photos by Tim Adams
Coming into the 25th annual running of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta the big story was the final race of the top prototype class, Daytona Prototype International, or DPi as it is known. Hurricane Ian initially threatened to throw a wrench into all of this, forecast to be heading right over Road Atlanta with heavy rains forecast for Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, all of the forecasts were completely wrong. We had a brief sprinkle Friday afternoon that did not even wet the racing surface. All the fans and racers had to deal with was high winds on Friday and Saturday.
After the merger of the ALMS and Grand-AM we were left with the hideous and ridiculously slow Daytona Prototypes as the top class. They were terrible. In 2014 I even skipped attending this race, I had zero interest in watching these prehistoric Daytona Prototypes race. They did make improvements in appearance of the cars in 2015 and 2016, but underneath they were still basically a tube frame Trans-Am car running ancient technology. In 2017 DPi was born. Finally, proper prototypes.
Manufacturers jumped on board. The only problem though was that the top prototype class could not race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The rules did not match between IMSA, and the WEC, which sets the rules for Le Mans. That has finally changed. IMSA and the WEC have finally produced a common set of rules for the top class so that every team can race all over the world in the WEC, or in the US in IMSA. One slight problem is that they have decided to call the cars by different names. In the WEC they will be known as Hypercar. Hypercar consists of LMH (Le Mans Hypercar), and LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h). In IMSA they have decided to call the top prototype class GTP, harkening back to the glory days of IMSA GTP racing from 1981 to 1993. All the cars that will compete in IMSA full time will be LMDh cars, with normal internal combustion engine and a hybrid component. Porsche, Acura, Cadillac, and BMW will be on the grid January at Daytona. Lamborghini is said to be looking at 2024 to debut in GTP. In the WEC, Toyota, Peugeot, Ferrari, Glickenhaus, Porsche, and Cadillac will race in 2023, with Lamborghini and Alpine joining in 2024. Will any of the WEC teams race in the enduros in IMSA? Time will tell, but as of this writing the answer is no. For more information on Hypercar please visit fiawec.com.
Joining DPi for Petit Le Mans was LMP2, LMP3, GTD Pro and GTD. LMP2 also competes in the WEC, and GTD will also join the WEC in 2024. LMP3 can compete in IMSA and the ELMS the European Le Mans Series, they cannot run at Le Mans.
This is where things get a little muddy, as the WEC and IMSA just cannot seem to come up with a common set of rules for GTD/GT3. First thing, IMSA calls it GTD, everyone else in the world calls it GT3. Second, in IMSA they have two classes that follow the same rules, GTD Pro, and GTD. GTD Pro is factory backed teams, with all professional driver lineups. GTD is a mixture of amateur and professional drivers, but with no full-time factory backing.
In 2024 GTD/GT3 will be racing at Le Mans and all the WEC races. The problem is that the WEC will allow no factory backed teams. All teams will have to have a mixture of amateur and professional drivers. This throws a big wrench into a team like Corvette Racing which has always been factory backed with professional drivers. GM is also behind in getting a GT3 program together. As of this writing, the C8 Z06 based GT3 is just undergoing initial testing. The car will not be ready until Daytona 2024! GM has also been very reluctant to make any cars available to privateers wanting to race. That changes in 2024. To race in the WEC, cars must be available to anyone who wants to race them. They will need to build at least ten the first twelve months, and twenty the first twenty-four months. In addition, the WEC is forcing manufacturers to buy a specific aero kit to run at Le Mans. A ridiculous expense. Time again will tell how this works out. Hopefully, IMSA and the WEC can get together and common sense can prevail. I am not holding my breath though.
Thanks to Hurricane Ian taking a different track the weather was fantastic for a 10-hour race on Saturday. Once again, all camp sites were sold out, and Road Atlanta was packed with race fans. I must point out again that pictures and watching video cannot do Road Atlanta justice. The elevation changes at this track must be seen in person. Standing at the top of the hill at turn 3 and looking down thru the esses is just amazing. Watching the cars flat out up the hill towards turn 11, a blind corner that just falls off a cliff as the racers head toward turn 12, again amazing. Then you throw in the racing at night, you must attend this race in person, it is something that just cannot be properly conveyed in just photographs. I will try though.
In DPi it looked like Cadillac was going to go out as a winner in the last race for the class. In the last hour though the top two cars, both from Chip Ganassi racing took each other out in turn 1. This opened it up for the Meyer Shank Racing Acura to take the win in DPi. Driving for Meyer Shank were Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves. They also took the season long points championship in DPi when the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura had contact with a GTD with just laps to go and suffered a suspension failure.
In LPM2 the father and son duo of Juan Pablo Montoya, and Sebastian Montoya, with co-driver Henrik Hedman driving the DragonSpeed USA ORECA 07 Gibson were the winners. LMP3 went to Andretti Autosport Ligier driven by Jarrett Andretti, Josh Burdon, and Gabby Chaves.
In GTD Pro and GTD it was great to see three Ferrari 488’s entered. They are one of the best-looking GT cars in history in this writer’s opinion.
In GTD Pro, the Risi Ferrari crossed the finish line first, but one of the drivers exceeded the maximum drive time allowed by 11 minutes. So, they went from first in class, to last. An inexcusable mistake. Inheriting the win was the Vasser Sullivan Lexus driven by Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood, and Jack Hawksworth. The season long points battle in GTD Pro ended when the race started. The Pfaff Motorsports Porsche was so dominate all season all they had to do was start the race to win. In GTD the race win went to the Gradient Racing Acura NSX, their first. Diving the Acura were Till Bectosheimer, Mario Farnbacher, and Kyffin Simpson. The Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin took the overall season points title in GTD.
2023 looks like it is going to be an amazing season. With four manufacturers battling it out in GTP. GTD Pro and GTD again should provide fantastic racing. LMP2 and LMP3 will remain the weaker classes in IMSA, but still should provide some intense racing. I look forward to covering IMSA again at Road America and Road Atlanta in 2023. If you can, get yourself a ticket to the 24 Hours of Daytona and watch the new era of GTP begin in January. It is going to be a blast.
