Petit Le Mans
 | |
 | |
| IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Road Atlanta |
| Corporate sponsor | Motul |
| First race | 1998 |
| First USCC race | 2014 |
| Laps | 394 |
| Duration | 1998–2013: 1,000 miles (1,600 km) or 10 hours[a] 2014–present: 10 hours |
| Most wins (driver) | Rinaldo Capello (5) |
| Most wins (team) | Audi Sport North America (6) |
| Most wins (manufacturer) | Audi (9) |
The Petit Le Mans (French for little Le Mans) is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, United States. It has often used the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which are slightly modified if necessary, mainly to allow additional cars to compete.
The race was founded by Road Atlanta owner Don Panoz and first run on October 10, 1998 as part of the IMSA season. The 1999 edition was one of the original events of the American Le Mans Series. The 2010 and 2011 editions were also part of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, but the 2012 race for the brand-new World Endurance Championship was controversially dropped in favour of Bahrain. Since 2014 the race has been one of the crown jewel events of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
From 1998 until 2013, Petit Le Mans covered a maximum of 1,000 miles (1,600 km) (which is approximately 394 laps) or a maximum of 10 hours, whichever came first; only once, in the rain-stopped 2009 race, had the leading team failed to complete 1,000 miles (1,600 km). Since 2014, the duration is 10 hours, without distance limitations.[1][2] In addition to the overall race, teams of two or three drivers per car compete for class victories in different categories, divided into prototypes and grand tourers. Class winners of the event originally received an automatic invitation to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, however this was removed in 2012.
The race is regarded as one of the major endurance races in the world and is among the biggest sports car races in North America alongside the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.[3][4] Rinaldo Capello holds the record of most race wins, having won in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
History
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Following the demise of the World Sportscar Championship in 1992, sports car racing was left without a major worldwide series in which to compete. The 24 Hours of Le Mans remained a remnant, still competed by a large number of sports cars, but mostly on a single race basis. Various sports car leagues had sprung up since the WSC's demise without major success, including the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)'s replacement for their GTP series, the Professional SportsCar Racing series. In Europe, two series were also developed, the FIA Sportscar Championship and the FIA GT Championship, although they were not combined like IMSA's series.
Don Panoz, owner of the Road Atlanta racing course, collaborated with the organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), to form a new sports car endurance race at the track for 1998, called Petit Le Mans (French for little Le Mans). The event would adopt the ACO's rules, and in addition to agreeing to lend the Le Mans name out to Panoz, the ACO offered class winners automatic invitations to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race would be similar to the 12 Hours of Sebring, in that it did not run a full 24 hours like Le Mans. Instead, the race would be 10 hours or 1,000 miles (1,600 km), whichever came first. IMSA agreed to let the race be the season finale of their series with a special one-off format, featuring competitors from Le Mans. However, IMSA and Le Mans ran slightly different formulas for their competitors, thus forcing the organizers to create seven different classes: LMP1, LMGT1, and LMGT2 for the ACO-compliant cars, and WSC, GT1, GT2, and GT3 for IMSA's competitors. Even though both organizers used the GT1 and GT2 names the classes were not actually the same, which is why the ACO classes are preceded by LM.
If Petit Le Mans proved to be successful, the ACO would look into developing a series around the same formula. The inaugural event in 1998 attracted 31 entries, including that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Porsche factory team. A satisfactory number of spectators attended the event, while overall honors for the race were contested between the factory Porsche 911 GT1-98 and LMP1-98 cars as well as multiple Ferrari 333 SPs and Panoz Esperante GTR-1s. Before the race had finished, an agreement was made for Panoz to establish the American Le Mans Series in 1999 with the support of the ACO, replacing the IMSA GT Championship.[5][6][7][8]
The 2009 and 2015 races were shortened due to heavy rains making the track impassable. The 2015 race featured the first time a GT car won overall against the faster prototypes. Rain created a flooded track the entire race causing multiple cautions and a red flag, allowing GTLM cars to leap-frog the prototypes that were struggling for grip in the conditions.[9] Nick Tandy, winner of the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, and co-driver Patrick Pilet took the checkered flag when officials called the race with a little over two hours remaining.
Overall winners
Statistics
Multiple wins by driver
| Rank | Driver | Wins | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Rinaldo Capello |
5 | 2000, 2002, 2006–2008 |
| 2 |  Allan McNish |
4 | 2000, 2006–2008 |
| 3 | Emanuele Pirro |
3 | 2001, 2005, 2008 |
 Franck Montagny |
2009–2011 | ||
| Stéphane Sarrazin |
2009–2011 | ||
| 6 |  JJ Lehto |
2 | 2003–2004 |
 Frank Biela |
2001, 2005 | ||
 Neel Jani |
2012–2013 | ||
| Nicolas Prost |
2012–2013 | ||
 Jordan Taylor |
2014, 2018 | ||
| Oliver Jarvis
|
2021–2022 | ||
| Tom Blomqvist |
2022–2023 | ||
 Hélio Castroneves |
2022–2023 |
Wins by manufacturer
| Rank | Manufacturer | Wins | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Audi
|
9 | 2000–2008 |
| 2 | Peugeot
|
3 | 2009–2011 |
| Cadillac
|
2018–2020 | ||
| 3 | Lola
|
2 | 2012–2013 |
 Acura
|
2022–2023 | ||
| 4 | Ferrari
|
1 | 1998 |
| Panoz
|
1999 | ||
| Chevrolet
|
2014 | ||
| Porsche
|
2015 | ||
| Honda
|
2016 | ||
| Nissan
|
2017 | ||
| Mazda
|
2021 |
Multiple wins by team
| Rank | Maker | Wins | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peugeot Sport Total
|
3 | 2009–2011 |
| Audi Sport North America
|
2000–2002 | ||
| Audi Sport North America
|
2006–2008 | ||
| ADT Champion Racing
|
2003–2005 | ||
| Wayne Taylor Racing
|
2014, 2018, 2020 | ||
| Meyer Shank Racing
|
2016, 2022–2023 | ||
| 2 | Rebellion Racing
|
2 | 2012–2013 |
See also
Notes
- ^ From 1998 to 2013, the race was held for whichever of the two durations came first.
References
- ^ "IMSA | TUDOR United SportsCar Championship | Petit le Mans". IMSA.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
- ^ Dagys, John. "Sportscar365 su Twitter: "#DidYouKnow that the Petit le Mans is no longer a 1,000-mile race? It's 10 hours, not 1,000-mile/10-hour (Whichever came first)."". Twitter.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-29. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
- ^ "24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans | A French connection in the U.S." 24h-lemans.com. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
- ^ Staff, Sportscar365 (2014-10-01). "Scrogham (GB Autosport): "I've Seen Petit Le Mans Change Over Time" – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Phillips, David. "Memorable Moments of Motul Petit Le Mans". imsa.com.
- ^ "Don Panoz on defying convention, and the Abruzzi race car". Road and Track.
- ^ "Das Petit Le Mans ist inzwischen ein echter Klassiker / IMSA - SPEEDWEEK.com". www.speedweek.com (in German). 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
- ^ Breslauer, Ken (2017-10-04). "BRESLAUER: A Look Back at the First Petit Le Mans – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
- ^ Dagys, John (20 January 2018). "Michelin Memories: 2015, Porsche's Overall Petit Le Mans Triumph – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
- ^ "Official Race Results" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. 2018-10-15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
External links
