While GTP Sees a 147-Point Gap, LMP2 Has Single-Digit Margin
By John Oreovicz
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Set to run for the 29th time, the Motul Petit Le Mans is the traditional season-closer for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Factoring in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, no fewer than 24 championship battles will be resolved over 10 hours of racing Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
That breaks down to:
- Four Driver Championships in the WeatherTech Championship, for all four classes – Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD)
- Four Team Championships for the same four classes
- Three Manufacturer Championships across GTP, GTD PRO and GTD – arguably the most prestigious honors on offer for the 12 competing manufacturers in the WeatherTech Championship
- Four Driver Championships in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup across the five longest races of the season
- Four Team Championships in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup
- Three Manufacturer Championships in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup
- The Jim Trueman Award for the top Bronze-rated driver in LMP2, which would be the same as the LMP2 full-season champion, and carries with it an IMSA invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans
- The Bob Akin Award for the top Bronze-rated driver in GTD, which is the top scorer among Bronze-classified cars in class, and also carries an IMSA invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Here’s a brief look at the championship permutations (a longer breakdown is here), along with comments from key figures involved in those title tilts in the two prototype classes:
GTP: One More Heinrich Miracle?
With a 136-point lead over Porsche, Cadillac will clinch the manufacturer’s championship if one of its three entries simply starts the race. Starting the race will also clinch a seventh team championship for Cadillac Whelen, while a strong qualifying performance could lock up the driver’s title for Jack Aitken on Friday. Aitken teamed with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti to claim the overall and GTP class win at the 2025 Motul Petit Le Mans, a precursor to this year’s dominant performance for the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R which includes two wins and seven podium finishes from eight starts.
Laurin Heinrich, the breakout star of 2026 who is in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 this weekend, is the only driver still in championship contention; he must win the race with Aitken finishing lower than ninth in the 11-car field. The No. 7 Porsche has wrapped the Michelin Endurance Cup Team Championship, and Porsche is poised to clinch that Manufacturer Championship, while drivers Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer and Heinrich have taken two different paths to the Driver Championship lead.
JACK AITKEN (No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R): “Anything can happen, especially at Petit. My goal is to try and have a great qualifying. Hopefully that means that we can go into the race worry-free and just enjoy it and race for the win. If we still have a similar gap in the championship going in, then we need to be a little bit smarter. But it’s nothing that we haven’t been doing all year long anyway. We’ve got a good feel in the team right now and I’ve got a lot of trust in the people around me, so I’m very happy to just go in and treat it like any of the races that we’ve been to this year and come out with very good results.”
LAURIN HEINRICH (No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963): “I could not have envisioned or imagined being in this situation right now because the initial plan was for me to just do three races. And now…well, we are here. Who would have thought? We’re still fighting for the driver championship title, which is a great feat driving three different cars. Six podiums out of eight races so far is great. It’s something crazy and I’m really thankful for the chance, because it has been a wild ride. 147 points behind is not easy to catch up, but we all know that at Motul Petit Le Mans, anything can happen in that race, and I won’t give up until the checkered flag falls.”
LMP2: Inter Europol’s Big Momentum
Tom Dillmann and Jeremy Clarke were fourth in the standings after the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in June. But they took the LMP2 class victory in the last three races in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 to turn a 107-point deficit into a slim 4-point advantage over Alex Quinn and George Kurtz (No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07) heading to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Clarke, who is battling Kurtz for the Jim Trueman Award, has notched four Motul Pole Awards this year. Dan Goldburg (No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07) is third in the standings, 101 points back, while a tough result at Road America left 2025 Trueman Award winner PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron (No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07) 108 points in arrears. Notably, Clarke has scored 44 more points in qualifying than Kurtz this season.
TOM DILLMAN (No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07): “It’s a new game, because four points is basically like zero. Actually, a target on Friday night (qualifying) is to take six points out of CrowdStrike. I think Jeremy is the fastest Bronze, but it’s a tough fight. There are four or five guys very quick, fighting for pole within a couple tenths. It’s quite impressive. We’ve managed to take a lot of poles. Hopefully the same in Petit to give us a 10-point, one-position buffer for the race. That’s the goal. Whoever finishes in front will take the title. It’s very straightforward.”
ALEX QUINN (No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07): “All year long we’ve had a bit of a lead in the championship, but it’s been slowly coming down. This weekend, we’re actually four points behind. It’s basically like we’re going into the last round tied, so we know we just need to beat them. There’s no pressure now – we just have one goal, and that’s to beat Inter Europol. I don’t think it’ll come down to qualifications, to be honest. With the way the points work, at least the first half of the finishing positions, I think it’s more down to the race and that’s where we are putting most of our attention, let’s say. I think it’s kind of nice that we’re not going in leading. We’ve got nothing to lose – we can only gain. Yeah, full attack!”
The first three hours of the Motul Petit Le Mans will be broadcast on NBC starting at Noon ET on Saturday, October 3, with live coverage continuing to the finish on NBCSN. Livestreams are available on Peacock in the U.S. and via IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube channel for international viewers.