Just 47 Points Separate GTD PRO; 6 Points Cover GTD
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.
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 GT classes. A link to the prototype one is here.
GTD PRO: Double Bonus
The top seven teams and driver duos in GTD PRO are separated by 179 points, led by Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R fielded by perennial frontrunner Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. Second place in the most recent race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway lifted them to the top of the order by 47 points over Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi (No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO) and 53 points ahead of Sandy Mitchell and Andrea Caldarelli (No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3).
Two-car, factory-backed efforts elevated Chevrolet and Ford to the top of the manufacturer’s chase, with Chevy leading by 68 points. Paul Miller Racing and BMW are chasing their fourth Michelin Endurance Cup, including the last two years in GTD PRO. They enter the Road Atlanta weekend with a 6-point advantage on the No. 4 Corvette, with Harry King and Nick Tandy (No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R [992]) another point back. BMW leads that manufacturer competition by 3 points over Chevrolet and 4 over Porsche.
TOMMY MILNER (No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R):“Certainly it’s great to be in the points lead going into the last race. That’s where you’d prefer to be, of course. But everything is still very close. Ultimately, we need to have a very strong race, no matter what. There’s still many, many cars mathematically in the hunt for the championship, so all those teams will be doing everything that they can to get that win. For us, it’s as we’ve approached all the other races this year. I know there’s lots of points possibilities and things like that we won’t bother ourselves with at this point. That won’t matter until the race gets going. It’s going to be business as usual in many ways, focusing on ourselves, making sure that we have the best Corvette that we can for the race and see what happens at the end.”
CONNOR DE PHILLIPPI (No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO): “We’re going in as the hunter this weekend instead of the hunted. That will be a refreshing position to be in, in terms of how we race, and I’m excited for that. We had a really good test about a week and a half ago and the car felt good there. Obviously, hoping that all translates into race week. We still have the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup to still try to win, but the overall driver championship is obviously a big priority for us as well. Hopefully we can bookend the season and end with a win, and hopefully that’s enough for the title.”
GTD: Winward Three-Peat?
Two-time defending GTD champion team Winward Racing and drivers Philip Ellis and Russell Ward have won a class-high four races in 2026 in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3. But DNFs at Sebring at Watkins Glen allowed the consistent Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher (winners of the most recent WeatherTech round at Indianapolis in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO) to remain within six points. With a deficit of 116 points, Dudu Barrichello (No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO) is still in the hunt for the driver’s championship, while Mercedes-AMG holds a reasonably comfortable 94-point cushion over Aston Martin for the GTD manufacturer’s crown.
A host of competitors remain in contention for the Michelin Endurance Cup championships, led by Antonio Fuoco and Simon Mann in the No. 21 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO. Ferrari leads Aston Martin by two points among manufacturers.
Finally, the fight for the Jim Trueman Award is between a pair of previous winners, as Orey Fidani (No. 13 13 Autosport Corvette Z06 GT3.R) is up 30 points on Brendan Iribe (No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO). Watch these two cars among the at least six scheduled cars with a Bronze-rated driver (Nos. 13, 16, 44, 66, 70, 912); if the No. 70 gets two of those in-between the No. 13, they’ll jump ahead.
RUSSELL WARD (No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3): “Qualifying is going to be important. It’s so close right now in the championship points. We need to try to finish in front of the No. 96 car, which is going to be a tall order. They’re usually really strong at Petit. We’ll start with qualifying and see if we can extend that that points lead to a position greater than just being one car in front. If we can do that, it will give a little bit of a buffer for us. But we’re just going to go in and race the racetrack and see where it comes out. Looking forward to it, and it’s going to be a battle down to the end.”
ROBBY FOLEY (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO): “The last couple years with the No. 57 sort of dominating, you have to win a race or two or three to really be in the conversation. We’ve always kind of been chasing them. We had a run at the championship with them in 2024, albeit one that wasn’t as close as it is now. We had a really strong Indy, which was great, and put us more in the championship picture. I think it’s going to come down to just having a good, clean race. That’s kind of been our M.O. all season – always being in and around the top five and around the podium. For us, it’s just another race and we’ll keep up kind of the same mentality as what got us to this position.”
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.