The
2018 Petit Le Mans
(formally known as the 2018
MOTUL
Petit Le Mans for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st running of the
Petit Le Mans
, and was held on October 15, 2018.
[1]
It was the last race in the
2018 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship
, and the last race of the 2018 Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup, and was run at
Road Atlanta
in
Braselton, Georgia
. The race was won overall by the #10
Wayne Taylor Racing
Cadillac DPi-V.R
.
Background
[
edit
]
International Motor Sports Association
's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the
2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship
(IMSA SCC) in August 2017.
[2]
It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the 21st annual running of the race. The race was the final of 2018's twelve scheduled IMSA
automobile endurance
races, and the last of four Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) events.
[3]
The race was held at the twelve-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km)
Road Atlanta
in
Braselton, Georgia
, on October 15, 2018.
[3]
The 2018 Petit Le Mans marked the first IMSA race after the passing of
American Le Mans Series
founder
Don Panoz
on 11 September 2018.
[4]
The
DeltaWing
and
Panoz Esperante GTR-1
did 1 demonstration lap before the race start on Saturday in tribute of Panoz.
[5]
After the
Monterey Grand Prix
1 month earlier,
Eric Curran
and
Felipe Nasr
led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 254 points, ahead of
Jon Bennett
and
Colin Braun
with 250 points.
[6]
With 299 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by
Antonio Garcia
and
Jan Magnussen
with a nine-point advantage over
Ryan Briscoe
and
Richard Westbrook
.
[6]
In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by
Bryan Sellers
and
Madison Snow
with a six-point advantage over
Katherine Legge
with 297 points.
[6]
Cadillac
,
Ford
, and
Lamborghini
were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while
Whelen Engineering Racing
,
Corvette Racing
, and
Paul Miller Racing
each led their own Teams' Championships.
[6]
As the final race for the 2018 season, the race marked the final event for
Continental Tire
being the official tire supplier of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Beginning in 2019,
Michelin
would take over as the sole tire supplier of the series.
[7]
The P class made its final appearance as Daytona Prototype International and LMP2 would split into two classes in 2019.
[8]
This was the final race entry for
Tequila Patron ESM
due to
Tequila Patron
ending their involvement with IMSA.
[9]
As a result, the team shutdown after not finding a sponsor to replace
Tequila Patron
.
[10]
On October 3, 2018, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining
Balance of Performance
for the event.
[11]
In P, the
Acura ARX-05
received an increase in turbo boost and gained 2 liters of fuel capacity. The LMP2 cars gained 3 liters of fuel capacity while the
Mazda RT24-P
gained 1 liter of fuel capacity. In GTLM, the
Porsche 911 RSR
received a 0.7 mm larger air restrictor and got a 15 kilogram weight increase. Additionally, the car gained 1 liter of fuel capacity. The
BMW M8 GTE
received a fuel capacity reduction of 6 liters. In GTD, the
Acura NSX GT3
received a 10 kilogram weight increase. The
Audi R8 LMS
received a 1 mm smaller air restrictor and a fuel capacity reduction of 2 liters.
Entries
[
edit
]
Due to a highly controversial change made by the FIA/ACO in the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship, which saw the date of the 6 Hours of Fuji moved to allow Fernando Alonso to compete at the home race of the sole LMP1 manufacturer, Toyota, several drivers which were due to compete in both events were unable to do so.
[12]
[13]
As such, the entry list featured a large number of changes compared to the previous rounds of the championship.
[14]
A total of 37 cars took part in the event split across 3 classes. 14 cars were entered in P, 9 in GTLM, and 14 in GTD.
[15]
In P,
Tristan Vautier
substituted for
Joao Barbosa
, who received injuries from an accident at the previous round in
Laguna Seca
.
[16]
Marino Franchitti
substituted for
Harry Tincknell
in the #55
Mazda Team Joest
entry due to a clash with the WEC race at Fuji while
Lucas Di Grassi
substituted for
Rene Rast
in the #77
Mazda Team Joest
entry due to a clash with the DTM race at
Hockenheimring
.
[17]
Timo Bernhard
and
Norman Nato
subbed for
Oliver Pla
and
Nicolas Lapierre
in the
Tequila Patron ESM
entries due to a clash with the WEC race at Fuji.
[18]
[19]
Gabby Chaves
joined
Felipe Nasr
and
Eric Curran
in the #31
Whelen Engineering Racing
entry.
[20]
in GTLM,
Risi Competizione
made its first appearance since Sebring.
[21]
Chaz Mostert
made his IMSA SportsCar Championship debut joining
John Edwards
and
Jesse Krohn
in the #24
BMW Team RLL
entry.
[22]
Mathieu Jaminet
joined
Earl Bamber
and
Laurens Vanthoor
in the #912
Porsche GT Team
entry.
[23]
Bill Auberlen
returned to the #25
BMW Team RLL
entry.
Marcel Fassler
substituted for
Mike Rockenfeller
in the #3
Corvette Racing
entry due to a clash with the DTM race at
Hockenheimring
.
[15]
In GTD, Montaplast by Land-Motorsport and P1 Motorsports made their first appearances since the
Watkins Glen
round. Don Yount, Dillon Machavern, and
Markus Palttala
returned to the
Turner Motorsport
entry.
Practice
[
edit
]
There were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Thursday morning and afternoon. The third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes; the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.
[24]
Practice 1
[
edit
]
The first practice session took place at 11:15 am
ET
on Thursday and ended with
Filipe Albuquerque
topping the charts for
Mustang Sampling Racing
, with a lap time of 1:11.878.
[25]
Practice 2
[
edit
]
The second practice session took place at 3:15 pm
ET
on Thursday and ended with
Colin Braun
topping the charts for
CORE Autosport
, with a lap time of 1:11.669.
[27]
Night Practice
[
edit
]
The night practice session took place at 7:30 pm
ET
on Thursday and ended with
Norman Nato
topping the charts for
Tequila Patron ESM
, with a lap time of 1:11.457.
[29]
Final Practice
[
edit
]
The fourth and final practice session took place at 11:15 am
ET
on Friday and ended with
Oliver Jarvis
topping the charts for
Mazda Team Joest
, with a lap time of 1:10.786.
[31]
Qualifying
[
edit
]
Friday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups.
[24]
All three categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype and GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries.
[33]
Qualifying results
[
edit
]
Pole positions
in each class are indicated in
bold
and by ‡.
- 1
The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the P field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified.
- 2
The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.
- 3
The No. 73 Park Place Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying.
- 4
The No. 58 Wright Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified.
Race
[
edit
]
Post-race
[
edit
]
Curran, and Nasr took the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 277 points. They were 3 points ahead of Bennett, and Braun in second position. Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande followed in third place with 270 points, ahead of Goikhberg and Simpson in fourth with 252 points and Cameron and Montoya in fifth with 251 points.
[36]
Garcia and Magnussen took the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 322 points. They were 6 points ahead of Briscoe and Westbrook in second position. Gavin and Milner followed in third place with 310 points, ahead of Hand and Muller with 308 points in fourth and Bamber and Vanthoor in fifth with 308 points.
[36]
With 333 points, Sellers and Snow won the GTD Drivers' Championship, 4 points ahead of Legge in second.
Bleekemolen
and Keating were in third position with 299 points and MacNeil was fourth with 295 points.
[36]
Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini won their respective Manufactures' Championships while Whelen Engineering Racing, Corvette Racing, and Paul Miller Racing won their respective Teams' Championships.
[36]
Results
[
edit
]
Class winners are denoted in
bold
and ‡.
Standings after the race
[
edit
]
- Note
: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
- Note
: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
- Note
: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Dagys, John (15 October 2018).
"Continental Tire Petit Le Mans Post-Race Notebook ? Sportscar365"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
2019-01-03
.
- ^
Goodwin, Graham (August 6, 2017).
"IMSA Announce 2018 Calendar"
. DailySportsCar.
Archived
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July 25,
2023
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- ^
a
b
Pruett, Marshall (August 4, 2017).
"IMSA's 2018 WeatherTech calendar released"
.
racer.com
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July 25,
2023
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- ^
Malsher-Lopez, David (September 11, 2018).
"Don Panoz, 1935-2018"
.
us.motorsport.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
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- ^
Watkins, Gary (October 8, 2018).
"DeltaWing and GTR-1 to pay tribute to Don Panoz"
.
us.motorsport.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
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- ^
a
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(PDF)
.
results.imsa.com
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. Retrieved
July 25,
2023
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- ^
Malsher-Lopez, David (September 20, 2017).
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.
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June 21,
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- ^
Bradley, Charles (August 3, 2018).
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us.motorsport.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
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- ^
Malsher-Lopez, David (July 16, 2018).
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.
us.motorsport.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
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- ^
Dagys, John (December 1, 2018).
"ESM Shutters Operations"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Dagys, John (October 3, 2018).
"Acura DPi Gets Power Increase for Petit Le Mans"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
"Petit Le Mans, Fuji WEC Date Clash a "Big Problem" for Drivers ? Sportscar365"
. Retrieved
2019-01-03
.
- ^
"WEC moves Fuji race to avoid Alonso F1 clash"
.
www.motorsport.com
. 9 February 2018
. Retrieved
2019-01-03
.
- ^
"IMSA Petit Le Mans entry list released"
.
RACER
. 2018-10-04
. Retrieved
2019-01-03
.
- ^
a
b
Lloyd, Daniel (October 3, 2018).
"37 Cars for Petit Le Mans"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Dagys, John (October 9, 2018).
"Vautier to Sub for Barbosa at Action Express"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Dagys, John (October 4, 2018).
"Franchitti, Di Grassi Complete Mazda Lineup at Petit Le Mans"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Kilshaw, Jake (August 27, 2018).
"ESM Signs Bernhard, Giovinazzi for Petit Le Mans"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
"Nato to Replace Giovinazzi for Petit Le Mans"
.
sportscar365.com
. October 2, 2018
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Malsher-Lopez, David (September 25, 2018).
"Chaves rejoins Action Express for Petit Le Mans"
.
us.motorsport.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Lloyd, Daniel (September 14, 2018).
"Risi Competizione Confirms Petit Le Mans Entry"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Klein, Jamie (August 5, 2018).
"Mostert to make IMSA debut at Petit Le Mans"
.
us.motorsport.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Lloyd, Daniel (October 2, 2018).
"Jaminet Gets Porsche GTLM Call-Up for Petit Le Mans"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Continental Tire Keys to the Race: Petit Le Mans"
.
sportscar365.com
. October 10, 2018
. Retrieved
July 25,
2023
.
- ^
Dagys, John (October 11, 2018).
"Action Express 1-2 in Opening Practice at Road Atlanta"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
"03_Results_Practice 1.PDF"
(PDF)
.
results.imsa.com
. October 11, 2018
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Dagys, John (October 11, 2018).
"Braun Tops Practice 2 at Road Atlanta"
.
sportscar365.com
. John Dagys Media
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
"03_Results_Practice 2.PDF"
(PDF)
.
results.imsa.com
. October 11, 2018
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Dagys, John (October 11, 2018).
"Nato Leads ESM 1-2 in Night Practice"
.
sportscar365.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
"03_Results_Practice 3.PDF"
(PDF)
.
results.imsa.com
. October 11, 2018
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
Malsher-Lopez, David (October 12, 2018).
"Petit Le Mans: Jarvis puts Mazda on top in FP4, Corvettes lead GTLM"
.
us.motorsport.com
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
"03_Results_Practice 4.PDF"
(PDF)
.
results.imsa.com
. October 12, 2018
. Retrieved
June 21,
2023
.
- ^
"2018 IMSA Sporting Regulations & Series Supplementary Regulations of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship"
(PDF)
.
International Motor Sports Association
. May 16, 2018.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on June 29, 2018
. Retrieved
June 14,
2018
.
- ^
"IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship"
(PDF)
.
results.imsa.com
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2018-10-13
. Retrieved
2019-01-03
.
- ^
"00_Starting Grid_Race_Official.PDF"
(PDF)
.
results.imsa.com
. October 13, 2018
. Retrieved
June 20,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
"00_Championship Points - Official.pdf"
(PDF)
.
results.imsa.com
. October 15, 2018
. Retrieved
July 25,
2023
.
- ^
"IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship"
(PDF)
.
www.dailysportscar.com
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2019-01-03
. Retrieved
2019-01-03
.
- ^
"2018 MOTUL PETIT LE MANS"
.
racing-reference.info
. Retrieved
November 13,
2023
.
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The event would run on a distance of 1,000 km or 10 hours before 2014.
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