Weekend Recap: IMSA Champions Crowned at Petit Le Mans
Recaps from IMSA season-ending event at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta...
Mazda Wins Petit Le Mans; AXR’s Nasr Derani Take DPi Title
Harry Tincknell took Mazda to victory in Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans in the manufacturer’s final DPi race while a second place finish for Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani was enough for the Brazilian duo and Action Express Racing to claim the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title.
Tincknell made a move around Nasr for the lead with 22 minutes to go, rebounding from an engine-related issue that put the car three laps down in the early stages of the ten-hour enduro at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The Englishman shared the emotional victory with Oliver Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito aboard the Multimatic-run Mazda RT24-P.
Nasr, meanwhile, held off a last-gasp move by Ricky Taylor on the final lap to end up just 0.405 seconds ahead of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05, which entered the race with an eight-point lead over the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.
Taylor lost ground due to an off-course excursion on his out lap following his second-to-last pit stop with 1 hour and 40 minutes to go, costing him roughly 10 seconds at the time.
He clawed back the ground on the final stint and on the last lap dived into the inside of Nasr into Turn 10a — briefly taking the position — before losing it while sliding his Acura DPi through the gravel.
Taylor and co-drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Alexander Rossi were credited with a third place finish in the race.
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WeatherTech Porsches Finish 1-2 in Final GTLM Race
Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell and Cooper MacNeil won the last race for IMSA’s GT Le Mans class at Motul Petit Le Mans in a 1-2 finish for the privateer WeatherTech Racing squad against the factory efforts from Corvette Racing and BMW Team RLL.
Jaminet took the checkered flag just 0.318 seconds ahead of Kevin Estre in the sister WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19 after late contact between Nick Tandy and the overall winning Mazda DPi cost the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R a potential second place.
A final-lap reversal between the Porsches following Tandy’s incident resulted in the second major endurance race win of the year for the No. 79 WeatherTech crew which also prevailed in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Previous race leader Estre drew clear of Tandy’s Corvette after the final round of pit stops that took place with approximately three-quarters of an hour to go.
The two GT racing greats came to blows while fighting for the lead during the penultimate hour, in an episode that influenced the pit strategies for the final phase.
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Heylen Captures GS Title in Incident-Fraught Title Decider
Jan Heylen won his first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge title by taking victory alongside Ryan Hardwick in an incident-fraught season finale marked by a dramatic clash that removed the former points-leading Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 from contention.
Heylen and Hardwick won Friday’s two-hour race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta sharing the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, after Heylen narrowly held off Riley Motorsports Toyota driver Scott Andrews at the line.
The championship swung in Heylen’s favor when Turner BMW driver Bill Auberlen and Murillo Racing’s Eric Foss came together whilst battling for the lead with 27 minutes of the two-hour race remaining.
Auberlen braked down the outside of Foss into the Turn 10 left-hander and hung around the outside of the No. 56 Mercedes-AMG GT4 in the hope of taking the position when the track switched back to the right for Turn 10B.
The battling pair clattered each other side-on before ultimately helping each other into the gravel, which enabled Heylen to take the lead and the points advantage.
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Porsche Carrera Cup NA Champion Priaulx Wins Season Finale
Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands champion Sebastian Priaulx narrowly beat Kay van Berlo to win the final race of the season at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Priaulx held off his Kelly-Moss Road and Race teammate van Berlo in the second half of the race after a restart from a safety car period after an incident involving Matt Halcome, John Goetz and Bill Smith.
After wrapping up the championship in Race 1 on Thursday, Priaulx started Race 3 from pole and controlled the opening half despite van Berlo keeping within three seconds.
Despite being helped by the safety car’s intervention on multiple occasions – the other instance being for Sean McAlister going off with just over half an hour to go – van Berlo was unable to find a way past Priaulx in the No. 15 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
Priaulx claimed his sixth win of the year by a margin of 0.869 seconds, while seven-time winner van Berlo finished the campaign 79 points behind after a total of 16 races.
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