October 12, 2024
No. 01 Cadillac Recovers to Win Motul Petit Le Mans, No. 7 Porsche Clinches Title
Frantic Final Half Hour Determines Other Three Class Championships
By Mark Robinson
BRASELTON, Ga. – The No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R came back from two laps off the pace Saturday to win the 27th annual Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, while the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 secured the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class championship.
The No. 01 Cadillac, operated by Chip Ganassi Racing and co-driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon, fell behind early due to a pair of pit-lane drive-through penalties but battled its way back onto the lead lap with four hours to go. The No. 01 never led, however, until van der Zande made a bold pass on Nick Tandy in the No. 6 Penske Porsche heading into Turn 1 with just 15 minutes remaining in the 10-hour race.
The drama wasn’t finished for the No. 1, though, as its headlights began flickering on and off in the closing laps. The team risked being ordered to pit lane if both lights remained off, but van der Zande was able to get one or both lights to stay on intermittently until taking the checkered flag 2.948 seconds ahead of Tandy.
The No. 7 Porsche finished third to clinch the GTP team, driver and manufacturer championships for both the season and in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.
The late-race drama wasn’t limited to the GTP class, with a frantic dash to the finish in the last 35 minutes following a restart from the fifth full-course caution of the race. Soon after the restart, Albert Costa Balboa wheeled the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 past Loris Spinelli in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 for the lead in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class. Spinelli made multiple attempts to retake the lead but was rebuffed by Balboa each time, with the final margin just 0.718 seconds.
Jordan Pepper gave Lamborghini the win in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class, taking the No. 19 Iron Lynx Huracán GT3 EVO2 to the class victory by 2.361 seconds. But it was the battle behind him that drew the attention. Ross Gunn was running in third in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 but needed to finish in second to secure the driver and team championships. He was unable to get past Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, though, which allowed the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R to hang onto the GTD PRO title by a mere four points.
In the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, Mikkel Jensen pulled away from the field in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07 after the final restart to win by 17 seconds. By finishing fourth, the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA and drivers Nick Boulle and Tom Dillman clinched the LMP2 championships.
