Story and photos by Tim Adams
A capacity 54 cars were entered in 2023 season ending Petit Le Mans in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. Joining in on the action-packed weekend were the Michelin Pilot Challenge, Mazda MX-5 Cup, and VP Racing Fuels Challenge racers.
I arrived at the track early Wednesday afternoon and could tell already that we were in for a fantastic, and packed weekend. It turned out on Saturday that this was the largest crowd in Petit Le Mans history. It was crazy trying to move around. The weather for the first three days was not great, lots of clouds and mist or light rain from time to time. For the big race on Saturday though the clouds cleared early in the race and the weather for the duration was fantastic.
With 54 cars entered I was worried that the race would turn into a caution flag fest, especially with the LMP3 cars, which have caused a lot of incidents this year. The LMP3 class features many drivers who just do not have the high-level racing experience and skill level that the rest of the field has.
LMP3 was not the problem this year, it seems that most of the entire field forgot how to drive with respect and not cause incidents. Driving standards were questioned the entire race by everyone, fans, commentors, and racers alike. In total there were 13 full course cautions! Ridiculous. Three-and-a-half-hours were spent tooling around behind the safety car.
The most controversial of all was with just over one hour to go in the top class GTP. Filipe Albuquerque in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 pulled along side of Pipo Derani in the Whelen Engineering Cadillac heading into the very high-speed turn 1. Both cars touched while racing through the turn, Albuquerque being on the outside ended up hard into the tire barrier and wall. Debated raged over a penalty for Derani for forcing Albuquerque off, a questionable move by Albuquerque, or it just being a racing incident. In the end it was declared a racing incident. Looking at it, it was very questionable move by Albuquerque, a pass on the outside of turn 1 at Road Atlanta has virtually zero chance working when trying to pass a car of equal performance. With over an hour left in the race, it made little sense. In the end this cost Wayne Taylor Racing a chance at the overall season points championship. The season champion was the Action Express Whelen Cadillac GTP. Derani was overcome with emotion as he pulled the car into the pit lane at the end of the race. It was a dramatic ending to a hard fought and very close season long points battle in GTP. IMSA bought GTP back, and they delivered.
The overall race winner in GTP was the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06. It was fitting end, with Meyer Shank Racing sitting out the 2024 season. They were caught cheating by manipulating tire pressure data at the 24 Hours of Daytona. They were allowed to keep the win but were penalized with a loss of 200 points, and prize money. The car was quick all year with this being their third victory of the year. After being caught cheating, Honda was extremely unhappy, and the handwriting was on the wall that Acura would be racing with another team in 2024. It was announced sometime before Petit that Meyer Shank Racing would sit out 2024 and Honda announced that the Acura would go to Wayne Taylor Racing in 2024. The winning car was loaded on a truck after the race and shipped to Wayne Taylor.
The future of GTP looks very bright. A total of 10 cars will contest the full season again in 2024. As of right now Porsche is the only one that is building customer cars. This is shame as we could use some more diversity on the grid. As of this writing we will have 4 Porsche’s, 2 Cadillac’s, 2 BMW’s, and 2 Acura’s on the grid next year. The wild card is Lamborghini. They are testing their new LMDh/GTP now and should make a debut on the IMSA grid sometime in 2024. Now if we could just get Ferrari and Toyota over to America to run in IMSA.
At the other end of the spectrum was the official ending of the factory backed Corvette Racing program running the C8.R. It was a short-lived era for the C8.R as Chevrolet was caught sleeping by the WEC and IMSA moving on to the GT3 class. For the last two years Corvette Racing has been running a nerfed GTLM car in the GTD/GT3 class. Next year the new Z06 GT3.R will debut. Again, two years later than it should have debuted, but we will finally have a proper GT3 based Corvette. Expect to see four or more Z06 GT3.R Corvettes on the grid next year.
It was a mixed year for the C8.R, in the WEC running in the proper GTE/GTLM configuration they clinched the 2023 season points championship with two races to go back in July. The highlight by far was winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in GTE AM. Chevrolet wanted to win Le Mans badly in the C8.R, and they got it done in the final chance to do it. In IMSA, running the nerfed car in GTD, the season ended with a whimper. Leading for a while in the beginning the race, the season ended with a blown engine. There is one more race left for the C8.R in the WEC in Bahrain in early November. With no professional teams allowed in the WEC GT3 class the factory program has ended. Chevrolet will provide the cars to teams and give support like every other manufacturer. It will be a little different in IMSA with the GTD Pro class, it will again not be a factory team, but in GTD Pro, an all-professional driver lineup is allowed. Expect to see Z06 GT3.R’s in the GTD Pro and GTD class in 2024 in IMSA.
Looking ahead to next year, the LMP3 class will no longer race in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. They will race in the VP Racing Sportscar Challenge. 48 cars are entered officially for the 2024 season in the WeatherTech Championship in four classes, GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD. Do not expect to see 48 cars at every race, it will be a nicely filled out field at every race though. Expect more than 48 for some of the endurance races. WeatherTech extended their title sponsorship through 2030, VP Racing Fuels did the same, and Michelin extended through 2028.
The future of sportscar racing in the America is very bright, see you at the track in 2024.
