Story and photos by Tim Adams
Once again, a capacity field of 54 cars were entered in this years running of the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s final race of the season, a 10-hour endurance race. After witnessing the 2023 race that featured a dozen cautions, and the crash filled sprint race at Road America, which spent more time under yellow than green, my hopes were not high for a great race. To my surprise I was wrong.
It all started with the first hour and a half practice on Thursday morning, the entire practice session was ran under the green flag! This is not the norm at all. The other practice sessions went well also with only minimal problems.
Perfect weather all weekend made for a great race, and a monster record crowd. Attendance was reported to be nearly 10 percent higher than 2023, and the entire infield parking was sold out. The only real way to get around the track on race day was to walk. I walked over thirteen miles on race day.
The race turned out to be one of the best Petit Le Mans in history. Only five caution periods for just over one hour spent under the yellow flag. That is over eight hours of racing, including one stretch of four and a half hours under the green flag. I must give credit to all the drivers, teams, officials, and spotters, for doing an amazing job. Four and a half hours straight, under green, where have you ever seen this happen, it was amazing.
In the top class GTP, all Penske had to do was start the race in their Porsche 963’s and the team, manufacturer, and driver championships would be theirs. The #7 car would take the title, with the sister car #6 finishing second in the season long battle. The race itself would be won by the pink, Chip Ganassi Cadillac, driven by Renger van der Zande, in dramatic fashion with a pass of the #6 Penske Porsche after a late race caution. Joining Renger in the winner’s circle were his co-drivers Sebastian Bourdais, and Scott Dixon. This was the final race for Chip Ganassi Racing in GTP with Cadillac. What a way to end this chapter for Chip Ganassi Racing. Time will tell if they will be back in the top class in the future. Next year Cadillac will be moving back to Wayne Taylor Racing.
A highlight for many spectators was finally being able to see the Lamborghini SC63 in action in GTP. This year Lamborghini only ran the endurance races in IMSA and all the races in the WEC. With the two car mandates in WEC next year, it remains to be seen if they will run WEC or IMSA. They do not have the budget to do both. According to the team all options are open, they are entered in IMSA for next year, so hopefully we will see them back. The car is stunning in action.
In LMP2 your winner this year was the TDS Racing, FEAR THE TAF, Oreca 07 Gibson. The pole sitting United Autosports suffered an early race incident and had to retire. The season long points championship went to the Inter Eurpol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca. Along with the season long points championship, the team also was awarded the Trueman award, which goes to the highest placing Bronze driver in LMP2, Nick Boulle. The team now has an automatic invite the 2025 24Hrs of Le Mans.
In GTD Pro, AO Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3.R, affectionately known as Rexy, seemed poised to take the season long title with a nice clean race. Helping the cause was the amazing pole lap by driver Laurin Heinrich, a new track record. Five extra points came with this pole. The race was far from clean for Rexy, suffering from steering wheel connection issues, which caused transmission shifting problems, even stopping on the track at one point, they just kept pushing. The AO Racing Twitter account summed it up nicely, Rexy was “On the struggle bus”. The Heart of Racing Aston Martin was just night quite able to take advantage of Rexy’s struggles. It went back and forth for most of the race as to who would win the season long points battle, in the end though, Rexy prevailed, by four points! Those extra five points for the pole, won the team the championship. It was an epic battle that was amazing to watch. The overall race win went to the Iron Lynx team in their Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. For the fans, AO Racing is absolutely the best team to follow, they are number one in fan engagement, and it is not even close. Who does not like dinosaurs?
In GTD the overall was win went to Conquest Racing in their Ferrari 296 GT3. It is fantastic to see Ferrari back, we had seven Ferrari’s in GTD at this race. The season long championship went to Winward Racing in their Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO. The highest placed Bronze driver in GTD wins the Akin award, which also carries and automatic invite to the 24Hrs of Le Mans in 2025. The award went to Orey Fidani in the AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Fans will now have another Corvette on the grid to cheer for at Le Mans in 2025.
We truly are in another golden age of sportscar racing. Record attendance at many races, 18 manufacturers involved in 2024, 19 for 2025. 48 car fields for the full WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, with 56 car fields for the five Endurance Cup rounds. Joining the fray in GTP next year, will be the Aston Martin Valkyrie, a V-12 powered car that looks, and sounds amazing in the testing they have been doing so far. I will see you in 2025, it is going to be a fantastic year.
