Written by Owen Bradley
The Cadillac No.01 team won the IMSA Petit Le Mans race after going an entire lap down early on, meanwhile the Porsche No.7 squad of Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell and Dane Cameron took the IMSA championship in a nail-biting 10-hour finale which saw drama across all classes.
Jack Aitken would lead the field aboard the No.31 Whelen Cadillac, maintaining his start from pole position. Simultaneously, the No.25 BMW of Connor De Philippi would overtake the championship leading No.7 Porsche of Matt Campbell into Turn 1, a dive to the inside at the fast right-hander before the technical, twisty section at the end of the first sector.
After just 10 minutes or racing, Aitken's No.31 Cadillac would catch the GTD field, slowing the leading Cadillac as the No.25 BMW loomed large in Aitken's rear-view mirrors. The No.01 Cadillac would be given a black flag for a torque censor issue, making the car faster in some areas, as Sebastien Bourdais driving the Cadillac back into the pits as the team fixed the issue, re-joining the race an entire lap down with nine hours remaining.
Suddenly, the No.80 Mercedes GTD car would be beached in the gravel at Turn 8, the Mercedes had been leading the GTD class before Scott Andrews would make a mistake, running wide and into the deep gravel trap. This incident would bring out the Full Course Yellow (FCY) just 20 minutes into the race.
The GTP leaders, including the No.31 Cadillac and the No.25 BMW, would come in early to make their first pit stop, attempting to utilise the FCY to their advantage. However, Jordan Taylor in the No.40 Wayne Taylor Acura would stay out on the circuit, running a more conventional pit stop strategy and prioritising track position.
Around 15 minutes later, the green flag would be waved as the field made their way two-by-two down the front straight. Aitken's No.31 Cadillac would be overtaken quickly by Alessio Picariello in the No.5 Porsche, as the No.7 Porsche also duelled with the Cadillac for the better part of a lap, with Aitken narrowly being able to solidify his third position, before later managing to get back past Picariello for second.
With the battle surging on behind, Jordan Taylor in the No.40 Acura would manage to build a near 15-second lead. However, as the No.40 Acura pitted under green flag conditions, the team would actually go an entire lap down, with the refuelling taking longer than expected due to the Acura running longer into the race, and one lap lasting just over a minute.
There would be major contact between the No.2 United Autosports LMP2 car and the No.4 Corvette GTD Pro car, bringing out the FCY. The leaders in GTP would come back into the pits once again, as the No.40 Acura now benefitted, earning their lap back.
There would be huge drama as the GTD Pro championship leaders, the No,77 AO Racing Porsche with the "Rexy the Dinosaur" livery - were stopped at the side of the road, a sign of the problems to come their way whilst attempting to fight for the championship.
This would have serious consequences, with the No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin driven by Ross Gunn subsequently needing to finish inside the top two places to claim the GTD Pro championship. Gunn would run in third place for a long time, around 45 seconds from the two leading cars towards the end of the race.
With the No.31 Cadillac of Aitken maintaining the lead just a few hours into the race, the sister No.01 Cadillac would be given more grief, as the stewards decided to give the Cadillac driven by Bourdais at the time, a Drive-Through penalty for contact with another car.
There would be a lengthy period of green flag running, for around three hours, as certain teams were left questioning their strategies, with some cars needing an FCY to get unlapped and propel themselves back into the race. The No.31 Cadillac would be given a penalty for overtaking under the yellow flag, Aitken driving through the pit lane, the penalty putting them outside of the Top 5.
Surprisingly, the No.6 Porsche of Nick Tandy would also be given a penalty just an hour later, deemed to take responsibility for the contact with the No.47 Ferrari GTD. Tandy would serve the penalty, as the No.7 Porsche managed to take the lead of the race. The No.5 Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni would also be given a drive-through penalty as well for contact.
The No.40 Acura would have heavy left-rear damage after contact with one of the GTD cars, as the sun began to set, the visibility became much more difficult. A three-way battle would suddenly emerge, with the No.10 Acura seizing the lead of the race, as the No.7 Porsche and No.6 Porsche trail behind.
The No.01 Cadillac had managed to recover from initially going an entire lap down, albeit Sebastien Bourdais was driving around a minute behind the leading three cars.
Suddenly, with just one hour remaining, the No.10 Acura of Ricky Taylor would be involved in a huge crash with the No.55 Ford Mustang GTD at Turn 5, leaving debris all over the circuit as the Acura would be forced to retire the car, to the dismay of Ricky Taylor, who appeared visually frustrated. This incident would bring out the final FCY.
Ross Gunn in the GTD Pro class, would therefore close to the leading two cars in class, this would be the final opportunity for the No.23 Aston Martin to overtake on the two leaders and claim the championship victory over the No.77 AO Racing Porsche, who ran into further problems throughout the course of the race.
This would also promote the No.01 Cadillac into second place after a well-timed pit stop before the FCY led to them undercutting the No.7 Porsche and No.24 BMW.
As the final green flag was waved with just 34 minutes remaining in the race and the field bunched up, Gunn would set the fastest lap in GTD Pro aboard the No.23 Aston Martin, Gunn chasing down the leading No.19 Lamborghini and the No.62 Ferrari.
The LMP2 championship battle would effectively come to an end as the No.52 Inter Europol car of Tom Dillmann, Nick Bouille and Jakub Smiechowski managed the race carefully, flirting with the podium places but not pushing any more than necessary, as they were poised to take the championship in LMP2.
Suddenly, with just 15 minutes remaining in the race, the No.01 Cadillac would send a huge dive-bomb up the inside of the No.6 Porsche into Turn 1, the Porsche caught napping as the Cadillac somehow managed to find the grip to keep it on the circuit.
However, there would be further late race drama as the leading No.01 Cadillac's headlights kept on turning off, a serious hazard on the dark circuit with just 5 minutes remaining in the race. The Cadillac squad feared that they would be called back into the pits, which would give the victory back to the No.6 Porsche. However, the stewards did not get involved, as the No.01 Cadillac's lights turned back on for a little while, before once again going out infrequently.
After going a lap down, with multiple penalties and incidents, the No.01 Cadillac would drive across the line to take a historic victory at the IMSA Petit Le Mans, with the No.7 Porsche coming across the line in third place to take the overall IMSA championship.
Ross Gunn in the No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin would be unable to get past either the No.19 Lamborghini or the No.62 Ferrari, with the Lamborghini coming over the line to take the victory in GTD Pro, as Gunn lost the championship by four points to the No.77 AO Racing Porsche.
In LMP2, the No.11 TDS car would come across the line to take victory, driven by Hunter McElrea - as the No.52 Inter Europol car came across the line to win the LMP2 IMSA Championship.
IMSA Petit Le Mans - Results - GTP Top 10
1st No.01 Cadillac
2nd No.6 Porsche
3rd No.7 Porsche - Champions
4th No.24 BMW
5th No.31 Cadillac
6th No.5 Porsche
7th No.40 Acura
8th No.63 Lamborghini
9th No.10 Acura
10th No.25 BMW
LMP2 Top 5
1st No.11 TDS Racing
2nd No.74 Riley Motorsport
3rd No.18 Era Motorsport
4th No.52 Inter Europol - Champions
5th No.8 Tower Motorsports
GTD Pro Top 5
1st No.19 Lamborghini, Iron Lynx
2nd No.62 Ferrari, Risi Competizione
3rd No.23 Aston Martin, Heart of Racing
4th No.027 Aston Martin, Heart of Racing
5th No.3 Corvette, Pratt Miller Motorsports
GTD Top 5
1st No.34 Ferrari, Conquest Racing
2nd No.78 Lamborghini, Forte Racing
3rd No.12 Lexus, Vasser Sullivan Racing
4th No.32 Mercedes, Korthoff/Preston Motorsports
5th No.023 Ferrari, Triarsi Competizione