#60 Acura wins, Championships for #31 Cadillac

IMSA

Oct 15

Meyer Shank Racing #60 Acura wins

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #60 Acura ARX-06 - Meyer Shank Racing

It was the #60 Acura ARX-06 - Meyer Shank Racing which was the main beneficiary of the 13 "Full Course Yellows" which peppered this 26th edition of Motul Petit Le Mans. Indeed, the #60 Acura lost two laps for repairs following a collision after two hours of racing. The following "Full Course Yellow" allowed Blomqvist-Braun-Castroneves to return to the leaders' lap. At the start of the 11th "Full Course Yellow", 20 laps from the end, Tom Blomqvist stole the lead from Bourdais to win under the regime of the 13th "Full Course Yellow".

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

Despite having been leader for more than 56% of the race (223 laps out of 393) Sebastien Bourdais/Renger van der Zande/Scott Dixon with the #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R finished second.

Sebastien Bourdais: “It was a great day for Cadillac in the first season of GTP. We managed to not get hit and stay out of trouble, which put us in good shape. It’s a shame the way the yellows fell. It seemed like it was ours to lose and coming in second really hurts. Overall, the package was strong during the day when the sun came out and stronger when night fell and temperatures came down.” Source: Cadillac Racing

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #59 Proton Competition Porsche 963.

Group shot for the Porsche 963s which finished 3rd with #59 Proton Competition Porsche 963 of Harry Tincknell/Gianmaria Bruni/Neel Jani, 4th (#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport) and 5th (#5 JDC Miller MotorSports).

A title race by elimination.

It was a title race by elimination (after 20 leader changes) as two of the major contenders for the titles were eliminated by incidents causing two of the 13 « Full Course Yellow ».

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #6 Porsche 963

Third in the run for Championships, Jaminet and Tandy with the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 lost all hopes at the beginning of the second hour when Tandy was hit causing a repair of more than 1 hour 48’.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #10 WTR by Andretti Acura ARX-06

Second in drivers and teams’ championships, Albuquerque and Taylor eliminated themselves with 1 hour 3’ to go when Felipe Albuquerque (#10 WTR by Andretti Acura) and #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing driven by Pipo Derani clashed in turn 1 after Albuquerque tried to pass Derani around the outside of turn one, lost grip in the grass and ended in the barriers.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Road Atlanta. #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R.

Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, and Jack Aitken with the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R end sixth-place which was enough for Derani and Sims to win the Drivers’ championship and Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing the Teams’ title. The second place of Cadillac Racing #01 offers the Manufacturers Championship to Cadillac.

Pipo Derani: “It’s amazing; what a season. It was up and down but up there when it mattered for the overall championship, the endurance championship and the manufacturer championships. I’m proud of all the work behind the scenes by so many people to get to this point in the first year of GTP. There are so many things out of your control in a race like this. The end of the race was very tense. I overtook both of the BMWs and came away victorious. At the end of the day I said to myself, ‘I’ve already won a championship. Whatever comes this year is a bonus.’ Quite honestly I was very, very relaxed the whole week. I put my faith in God’s hands and did the best I could with what I had and in the end it worked out well. I’m really proud of this moment.”

Alexander Sims: "It's been an incredible year. It's pretty mad to think we've wrapped it up. A crazy race as we expected coming into this. Such a rollercoaster. Just so proud of the job that everyone has done. Pipo and Jack have done an insane job all year long. I really felt like I've been the third wheel a bit... just do my solid job each time and bring the car in and let them get in the car and do the job. The team has been flawless. So many good pit stops. I'm so, so proud of everyone."

Jack Aitken: "Alex really underplays himself as always. It's been an absolute pleasure working with everybody. This is a championship that everyone deserves. (On the late-race contact review and the final hour) "We were extremely nervous, not only for that but also how the final pit stop played out. Pipo really had to win that one track with how the BMWs were working together. He did an amazing job and pulled it out when he needed to." Source: Cadillac Racing