Cadillac pole, Porsche title fixed at the start

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Cadillac on pole, but the match winner is Porsche: After qualifying for Petit Le Mans, the season finale of the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship, the two Porsche 963s of the Penske factory team still have to start the race in order to win to bring the manufacturer’s championship to Weissach. (result qualification)

Jack Aitken set the fastest time in the Action Express Cadillac #31 (Derani/Aitken/Blomqvist; 1st GTP) in 1:09.639 minutes, thereby securing pole position for the Petit Le Mans 2024 for the Cadillac V-Series.R. Matt Campbell However, he made it to second position in the Penske Porsche #7 (Cameron/Nasr/Campbell). (All information about Petit Le Mans and championship fight)

Since points are already awarded for qualifying, a tenth place in the race is now enough for the #7 to win the title. Because failed teams also receive points and eleven GTPs start, Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron could be celebrated as champions from the first GTP failure – if they are not the failure themselves.

The third-placed Ganassi-Cadillac #01 (Bourdais/van der Zande/Dixon) in the championship, which placed Sebastien Bourdais in fourth place at Ganassi’s farewell to Cadillac, is now 168 points behind the Porsche #7. The Frenchman and Renger van der Zande can no longer become champions either – unless the #7 is disqualified.

Porsche #7 has to leave a GTP behind

In the title race, if you can still call it that, it’s Porsche against Porsche. However, the #6 Penske Porsche (Tandy/Jaminet/Estre) couldn’t get past eighth on the grid, meaning Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet lost even more points after the bitter loss of third place in Indianapolis. Only if they win and the #7 finishes last in the GTP class would the tide turn.

This means that Porsche can actually concentrate on the Endurance Cup during the race. For Cadillac, it was the third best time in the fourth practice session, after the #01 had already achieved two best times in the first practice session (the latter at night).

The RLL-BMW #25 (de Phillippi/Yelloly/Martin) took third place on the grid behind Cadillac and Porsche. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will show at Petit Le Mans that the double victory in Indianapolis was not a flash in the pan after a previously disappointing season.

Acura didn’t get past the third row of the grid in qualifying. After the best time in the second training session on Thursday afternoon by the WTR-Andretti-Acura #40 (J. Taylor/Deletraz/Herta; 7th), this time the #10 (R. Taylor/Albuquerque/Hartley; 5th) was the best-placed Acura ARX -06. Wayne Taylor Racing will compete with the car for the last time; it will switch to Cadillac in 2025.

New championship standings GTP:
1. Penske-Porsche #7 – 2682 points
2. Penske Porsche No. 6 – 2539
3. Ganassi Cadillac #01 – 2514

Keating faster than all the professionals

In LMP2, Ben Keating showed his top class among amateur drivers. In the United Autosports Oreca #2 (Hanley/Keating/Pino; 1st) he set the fastest time of the entire weekend in this class in 1:12.739 minutes. This is remarkable because professional drivers were also behind the wheel in the free practice sessions.

Behind Keating were Steven Thomas in the TDS-Oreca #11 (Thomas/Jensen/McElrea; 2nd LMP2) and PJ Hyett in the AO-Oreca #99 (Hyett/Chatin/Brabham; 3rd LMP2) “Spike”.

The title favorites Nick Boulle and Tom Dillmann start from fourth position in the PR1-Mathiasen-Oreca #52 (Smiechowski/Dillmann/Boulle). Since Gar Robinson in the Riley-Oreca #74 (Robinson/Fraga/Burdon) couldn’t get past sixth place on the grid, sixth place in the #52 was enough to win the title.

New championship status LMP2:
1. PR1-Mathiasen-Oreca #52 – 1947 points
2. Riley-Oreca No. 74 – 1846
3rd Era-Oreca No. 18 – 1818

Heinrich takes first pole on “Rexy”

The qualifying of the GT vehicles had to be interrupted with the red flag, which significantly shortened the time hunt. The restart occurred with just under seven minutes on the clock. Accordingly, time was short for everyone involved.

The reason was a collision between the Vasser-Sullivan-Lexus #12 (Telitz/Montecalvo/Thompson; 17th GTD) and the Risi-Ferrari #62 (Serra/Rigon/Pier Guidi; 13th GTD Pro), the debris on the road left behind. Both vehicles had their two best lap times deleted. The #12 stopped a second time at the very end of the session.

Laurin Heinrich in the AO Porsche #77 (Andlauer/Heinrich/Christensen; 1st GTD Pro) “Rexy” mastered the situation best and quickly took the lead. In the end, a time of 1:17.881 minutes was enough for pole position in the GTD Pro. For Heinrich it is the first pole in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. He also achieved the best time in the second training session on Thursday afternoon.

Tommy Milner put the Pratt-Miller-Corvette #4 (Milner/Catsburg/Bamber) in second place on the grid, followed by the Heart-of-Racing-Aston-Martin #23 (Gunn/Riberas/de Angelis; 3rd GTD Pro), the direct championship pursuer of the #77. A sixth place in the race was enough for “Rexy” to win the title.

In fourth place on the grid is the Pratt Miller Corvette #3 (Garcia/Sims/Juncadella), which was involved in an accident with the Forte Lamborghini #78 (Goikhberg/Spinelli/DeFrancesco; 10th GTD) from the GTD class during night training there’s war. Both vehicles were able to start again for qualifying on Friday afternoon local time.

In the said GTD class, somewhat surprisingly, the Lone Star Mercedes #80 (Yoluc/Andrews/Andrade) with Scott Andrews at the wheel took pole. It was also the first IMSA pole for the Australian. The vehicle is only registered for the endurance races. Overall, Andrews was the sixth fastest GT car – as an amateur.

New championship standings GTD Pro:
1. AO Porsche #77 – 2922 points
2. Heart of Racing Aston Martin #23 – 2818
3. Paul Miller BMW #1 – 2689

New championship standings GTD:
1. Winward-Mercedes #57 – 3036 points
2. Turner BMW #96 #96 – 2816
3. Korthoff-Preston-Mercedes #32 – 2541