No. 57 Winward Mercedes Unofficially Clinches GTD Crown; No. 77 Rexy Porsche Encounters Issue Endangering GTD PRO Title Bid
By Mark Robinson
BRASELTON, Ga. – The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 led the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finale, the Motul Petit Le Mans, and battles for season championships in three of the four classes raged on four hours into the 10-hour race today at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
NBC Sports’ live coverage of the race streams through the race completion on Peacock, with USA Network joining over the air at 6 p.m. through the finish.
Felipe Nasr was piloting the No. 7 that he shares with Dane Cameron and Matt Campbell at the four-hour mark and held a 6.613-second lead over the Penske teammate car, the No. 6 Porsche 963 driven by Kevin Estre, for the overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class lead. Other class leaders at that time were: Mikkel Jensen in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07 in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2); Franck Perera in the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO); and Elliott Skeer in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD).
Season championship battles in each of the four classes were limited to two or three cars once the green flag waved, with one car unofficially clinching its class title early in the race. The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG-GT3 and full-season drivers Russell Ward and Philip Ellis needed to finish 18th or better in GTD to sew up the title, and that was guaranteed when the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo retired a little more than an hour into the race.
In GTP, only the Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963s remained in championship contention. The No. 7 held a 133-point lead on the No. 6 entering the race, meaning a ninth-place GTP finish or better cements the class championship for Nasr, Cameron and the No. 7 Porsche.
The LMP2 battle was down to the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA, No. 74 Riley ORECA and No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA. And in GTD PRO, the title battle was between the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
The No. 77 “Rexy” Porsche’s GTD PRO title hopes took a substantial hit when the car began experiencing gearbox problems two hours into the race. Driver Julien Andlauer came to a stop and restarted several times on course attempting to resolve the problem in the car. Eventually, Andlauer was forced to pit so the crew could work on the steering column and went five laps down to the class leaders.
The No. 77 Porsche entered the race with a 104-point GTD PRO lead over the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin. The No. 23 was running second in class at the four-hour mark while the No. 77 was in 11th place.
Three full-course cautions interrupted racing in the opening 90 minutes. The most significant came when the pole-sitting LMP2 driven by Ben Keating, the No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07, sustained substantial damage when it was caught up in a collision with two other cars – the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Tommy Milner and the No. 20 MDK by High Class Racing ORECA piloted by Dennis Andersen. Keating’s No. 2 sustained extensive damage to the suspension and had its rear wing assembly knocked off in the incident.
The No. 2 underwent repairs for over an hour in the paddock before returning to the track more than 50 laps down. The No. 4 Corvette was also towed back to the paddock, where it lost 50 laps while undergoing repairs for significant front- and right-rear damage.
In addition to being the final race of the full season, the Motul Petit Le Mans is the last of five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events. With endurance points awarded after four hours, the overall Michelin Endurance Cup leaders were: the No. 7 Penske Porsche in GTP, the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA in LMP2, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in GTD PRO and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes in GTD.