By Freddie Heaney:
Click here to view images of the 2018 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
Road Atlanta, Saturday 13 October 2018: In a hardly credible ten-hour endurance race, the no. 3 Corvette C7 co-driven by Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Marcel Fassler became the 2018 GT Le Mans championship winner, despite finishing two laps behind the second-place no. 4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, despite having not won a race this season, and despite almost succumbing to a crash while exiting the pits.
Jan Magnussen
Earlier, the car had been in contention for class victory, but with around two-and-a-half hours remaining, Garcia spun exiting pit road and struck the wall. For a moment it appeared their race was over. But implausibly the damage was repaired and the car returned to the track in ninth, three laps down, awakening a scenario where Ryan Briscoe’s no. 67 Ford GT could win the championship by finishing second or better.
Brisco’s Ganassi Ford had been trailing the winning Porsche 911 RSR, co-driven by Nick Tandy, Patrick Pilet and Fred Makowiecki, but then Briscoe, who had pitted with 48 minutes remaining, was overtaken by the no. 4 Corvette while leaving the pits. His Ford, for reasons unknown, was unable to match the Corvette’s pace and later fell behind the two BMW M8s, eventually finishing fifth. Such was the sequence of events that secured the championship for the no. 3 Corvette. Its impressive consistency throughout the 2018 season brought eight podium finishes from eleven starts.
Finishing third acquired further distinction for pole sitter no. 24 BMW M8 GTE of Jesse Krohn, John Edwards and Chaz Mosert, while Ford secured the GTLM manufacturer’s championship. The numbers 67 and 66 Ford GTs finished fifth and seventh respectively.
Also worth noting was the performance of the winning Porsche 911. Marked by their drivers’ dexterity, particularly Tandy, winner of the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, they showed a blend of pace and finesse–feather-footing the RSR around at race pace on marginal fuel levels, and still winning by 11 seconds over the no. 4 Corvette.
Racing–life’s perfect refuge on a sunny autumn afternoon. Road Atlanta’s Spectator Hill overlooks a cascading track that winds its way down to turn five.
Prototypes: Drama in closing moments–1000 miles travelled and quarter-mile to go…
Renger van der Zande
Filipe Albuquerque
Following ten hours of intense competition, the no. 5 Cadillac under the control of Portugese driver Filipe Albuquerque observed the white flag, indicating he had entered the last lap of the 2018 Petit Le Mans, just after 9pm. He was followed by the Dutchman Renger van der Zande driving the no. 10 Cadillac of Wayne Taylor Racing.
But with two corners remaining, the no. 5 Cadillac ran out of fuel, surrendering the coveted race win and coasting home in fourth. Within a quarter-mile of the finishing line and while rolling up the hill from Turn 10, not only did van der Zande slip past so, too, did two Mazda RT 24-Ps, numbers 77 and 55, securing a double podium.
For Albuquerque’s no. 5 Cadillac team heartbreak by agony of defeat, for van der Zande’s jubilation. It was van der Zande’s first victory and his team’s first triumph in 15 races. Prudently, Zande had pitted for fuel later than his rivals. For Mazda, it was their best performance since the manufacturer began racing Prototypes in 2014.
Strikingly, Albuquerque almost won the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona. While leading the final stages of the race, he and Ricky Taylor made contact, causing him to spin with seven minutes remaining; Albuquerque subsequently closed the gap on Taylor but victory slipped from his grasp by 0.671 seconds.
The Petit Le Mans championship consists of three classes: Prototype (P), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD). The Prototypes are the fastest and most technologically advanced. They weigh around 2,050lb and generate 500hp. The GT Le Mans vehicles are the fastest of the competing GT cars and, while the GT Daytona cars are also production based, they don’t feature the higher levels of aerodynamic advancements and power output of their GTLM counterparts.
GTD
Daniel Serra
The GT Daytona action peaked in the final 90 minutes when the top three competitors were separated by fewer than two seconds. Despite intense pressure from the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX of Alvaro Parente, the GTD event was won by the no.63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 co-driven by Daniel Serra, Gunnar Jeanette and Cooper MacNeil. Third place was claimed by the no. 48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Cory Lewis. The Lambo had arrived at Road Atlanta’s finale six points ahead, and by finishing third, it secured the GTD title. Despite two punctures, the Land Motorsport Audi R8 was sixth. Given its speed and with better luck, it would probably have won.
Click here to view images of the 2018 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
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