Sebastien Bourdais, behind the wheel of the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R, is leading the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s season finale, Petit Le Mans, after a frantic first two hours, which has included four caution periods and three safety cars.
Louis Deletraz, in the #10 Wayne Taylor Acura ARX-06, started on pole but lost the lead to Bourdais at the start. However, the race wasn’t green for long, as Ari Balogh in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07-Gibson spun and crashed his car only a few minutes into the race. A full course yellow was thrown and the rsce soon restarted again, after the car was loaded onto a flatbed.
Bourdais retained the lead and got a decent jump on Deletraz, but the race once again wasn’t green for long. Ferrari factory driver Antonio Fuoco,driving the #47 Cetilar Ferrari 296 GT3, got a pubcture while trying to pass the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3, meaning another full course yellow was called, followed by a safety car to bunch the field together.
Many GTPs pitted, but Bourdais and Deletraz stayed out. Meanwhile, in LMP2, Ben Keating in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca 07-Gibson, had been growing his lead but had this slashed under the safety car.
At the restart, Pipo Derani in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R lost three places with the Brazilian getting a slow start as he had to check up behind Deletraz, who was again cautious. It was, however, the Brazilian who lost out, going from third to sixth at the first corner, with #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06’s Tom Blomqvist now third.
Over in the two GT classes, GTD Pro and GTD, young Frenchwoman Doriane Pin lead overall in the GTD-entered #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, from the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth. Hawksworth and his teammate Ben Barnicoat won the GTD Pro championship as soon as the green flag flew, with no one able to mathematically catch them in the points after this race.
Deletraz, meanwhile, caught Bourdais by virtue of better luck in traffic and, down the back straight, passed the veteran Frenchman on the inside into the chicane. At the first hour these two led, with Blomqvist third.
However, soon after there was yet another yellow after a 3-car incident on the way down to the chicane. Dennis Andersen, driving the #20 High Class Oreca 07-Gibson, tipped Charles Scardina in the #023 Triarsi Ferrari 296 GT3 into a spin.
Scardina’s Ferrari subsequently collected Brendan Iribe in the #70 Inception McLaren 720s GT3 Evo and, with GTP title implications, Nick Tandy in the #6 Porsche 963. All three cars ended up in the gravel trap, but Andersen managed to get away — despite causing the whole thing. He would later get a drive through penalty plus a 120 second stop/go penalty for causing an avoidable accident.
Once the mess was cleared, many GTPs pitted, although most had with the exception of Bourdais, who was leading. Former leader Deletraz was at the back as he had pitted early. However, he retook the lead when he didn’t pit under caution. Bourdais, meanwhile, lost out as he had to do a full fuel fill, while others did not.
At the restart, Deletraz led from Blomqvist and Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche 963. This order was retained but soon, another caution period was called as Deletraz and Blomqvist battled for the lead. Blomqvist then pushed Corey Lewis, in the #1 Paul M<iller BMW M4 GT3, into the wall while lapping the American after the chicane.
Also under the current yellow, contact was made between Sheldon van der Linde in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 and Alexander Sims, who had taken over the #31 Action Express Cadillac from Derani. Both ran through the red light with van der Linde rear ending Sims as the Brit stopped suddenly at pit out.
So, with the race having just restarted, Bourdais leads from the #5 JDC Miller Porsche 963 of Mike Rockenfeller. Third is Marco Wittmann in the #24 BMW, with Nasr’s teammate Matt Campbell fourth in the #7 Porsche. Deletraz’s teammate Ricky Taylor is fifth in the #10 Waytne Taylor Acura.
In LMP2, Keating’s teammate Alex Quinn leads in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca. George Kurtz is second in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca, with Steven Thomas third in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca.
Bijoy Garg is leading LMP3, in the #30 Jr III Ligier JS P320-Nissan, with Anthony Mantella second in the #17 AWA Duqueine D08-Nissan. Josh Burdon is third in the #74 Riley Ligier.
Jules Gounon is top of GTD Pro, in the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Kevin Estre following him in the #9 Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R. Kyle Kirkwood is third in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC GT3.
Finally, in GTD, Russell Ward, behind the wheel of the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, leads the class. Patrick Liddy, in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT£ EVO2, is second, with Kenton Koch in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3 third.
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