Story and photos by Tim Adams
The 24th annual Motul Petit Le Mans was unique this year. In 2020 the race was not in its usual place as the season ending event after a shuffling of the schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021 the race was back in its rightful season ending position, but a month later than usual, because once again Covid-19 disrupted the season schedule.
Racing two weeks into November proved to be a challenge to the race teams. On race day the temperature barely made it into the 50’s and at the race end it was down to 39 degrees. This made for interesting out laps on very cold tires after pit stops. Racing this late after daylight savings time ended also meant almost half of the race was contested at night. Myself, I liked the change, but in 2022 the race will once again be in its early October slot on the calendar, pending anymore Covid-19 issues.
The race was also the last time that the GTLM class was contested. Only a few years ago GTLM would see the likes of the Ford GT, Corvette C7.R, Porsche 911 RSR, Ferrari 488, and BMW M8 competing in fiercely contested races. Aston Martin would also join the fray in the WEC races in the GTE class, the equivalent of IMSA’s GTLM. The class is going away because all the factory support from manufacturers has ended. Basically, only Corvette Racing was left in IMSA, competing against one privateer Porsche for most races, with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW M8 GTE only running the four endurance races this year. You cannot have a class that only has three cars. For Petit a proper sendoff to the class was achieved with a six-car field. The two C8.R’s from Corvette Racing, the two BMW M8’s from RLL, and two Porsche 911 RSR’s from WeatherTech Racing were entered.
In 2022 with GTLM going away, IMSA is splitting GTD into two classes, GTD Pro which are manufacturer backed teams with all professional driver lineups, and GTD which will feature Pro-Am, or Am-Am driver lineups. They will all race on the same Michelin tire, unlike GTLM in which all the teams used tires specifically developed for their car.
IMSA’s GTD is a GT3 spec car that is raced all over the world, except for the WEC and Le Mans, only GTLM/GTE can race in the WEC in 2022. This of course just leads to confusion when it comes to trying to explain things to the casual race fan. Well, the WEC came to its senses and is also ending the GTLM/GTE class, but not until 2024. Two years too late! It seems IMSA and the ACO/WEC can never get their timelines to line up.
So here we go, try to stay with me here. In 2022 GTE Pro and GTE Am will once again compete in the WEC. In 2023 GTE Pro goes away, and only GTE Am will compete in the WEC, then in 2024 GT3 will compete in both the WEC and IMSA. Of course, there must be a snag in all this happiness of the two series finally being able to come to a common set of rules, and that is the WEC will not allow factory backed teams, so no GTD Pro, and no all pro driver lineups. This leaves a team like Corvette Racing with quite a quandary. Corvette Racing has always been a fully backed professional race team, no amateur drivers. As of this writing, after the 2022 season, Corvette Racing may cease to exist. GM is undecided.
For 2022 GM and Corvette Racing are splitting their resources. GM wants to win Le Mans with its factory backed C8.R, bad. 2022 will be their last time they can try, so they will run the 4 car in the WEC for the entire season, and run the 3 car in GTD Pro in IMSA. The 3 car will be converted back to GTE/GTLM spec and join the 4 car at Le Mans in June. GM was caught with their pants down with the ending of GTLM. The GTLM and GTD/GT3 cars are not the same. IMSA has agreed to let GM convert its GTLM spec car into a pseudo GT3 racer to compete in GTD Pro. During the Petit Le Mans race week GM did announce that they will start building GT3 C8 Z06 GT3.R’s in 2022. The rules require them to make at least 20 available for purchase. They will start with 10, then another 10. 2022 will see one Corvette in GTD Pro, and at least one BMW M4 ran by RLL. There are rumors of more GTD Pro manufacturers coming in, but as of this writing none are confirmed. There will be plenty of GTD cars, we are just not sure how many Pro cars there will be.
Thankfully in the Prototype category, IMSA and the WEC figured it out. In 2023 LMDh and Hypercar will both be able to race in any IMSA or WEC race. Why they could not get the GT timeline to match up is unfortunate.
The crowd at this year’s race was the largest I had ever seen. It was packed. Mazda announced earlier this year that they were leaving the Prototype ranks at the end of this season. In a fitting end to the program, they took the lead late in the race and held on for the win.
In GTLM it was an intense battle between the 4 Corvette and the two Porsche 911’s. Unfortunately, the 3 Corvette was taken out in a massive accident midway thru the race. There was a total of 10 cautions, way too many laps ran under yellow. Nearing the end of the race the 97 Porsche and 4 Corvette were neck to neck, even hitting each other coming thru turn 10a. Soon after this the 4 Corvette was hit by the race winning Mazda Prototype which broke the Corvettes chassis ending their bid to win the final GTLM race. The 97 Porsche was headed for the win when on the last lap team orders were called and they were told to let the 79 Porsche get by for the win.
2022 will be a transition year as we wait for the Prototype rules to converge in 2023. 2023 looks to be the start of another golden age of sportscar racing as the manufacturers have lined up one after another announcing efforts to compete under the unified rules. If they could have only gotten the GT regulations to line up also.
Either way, the 25th annual Motul Petit Le Mans looks to be another fantastic race. See you on October 1st, 2022.
