IMSA: Petit Le Mans mid-race report

Corvettes held the lead in both the Prototype and GT Le Mans classes at the four-hour mark of Saturday's Petit Le Mans presented by Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort at Road Atlanta, scoring the maximum five points available in each class toward the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

Jordan Taylor led the Prototype class in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette Daytona Prototype, holding a 1.969-second lead over Joao Barbosa in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP. The four points for running second enabled Barbosa and Action Express Racing co-driver Christian Fittipaldi to extend their lead in the Patrón Endurance Cup to four points, 39-35, over the No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Honda Ligier JS P2, which was running sixth with Pipo Derani at the wheel.

Tommy Milner led GTLM in the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. Entering the event with a one-point lead over four competitors in the class, Milner and Oliver Gavin extended their lead to four points, 32-28, over the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM, the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, and both the No. 911 and No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSRs.

Kenton Koch's No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA FLM09 was running second in Prototype Challenge, expanding his lead in the driver standings to five points over Tom Kimber-Smith and Robert Alon, 42-37. Kimber-Smith earned five points for leading the opening segment, extending the lead of the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA to five points over the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA in the PC team standings, 37-32.

In GT Daytona, Andy Lally led at the four-hour mark to allow the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 to take over the lead in the Patrón Endurance Cup standings. Entering the race one point behind, Lally and co-driver John Potter now lead No. 23 Alex Job Racing/Team Seattle Porsche 911 GT3 R drivers Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas, 32-31, who were running third at the end of the segment.

The Patrón Endurance Cup began with the Rolex 24 At Daytona, followed by the Mobil One 12 Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida and Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen. Points are awarded at the end of each segment with five points for first; four points for second; three for third; and two for all other competitors. Patrón Endurance Cup points also will be awarded at the eight-hour mark and at the finish of the Petit Le Mans.

View full results via Al Kamel Systems at Results.IMSA.com.

• Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entered the event in contention for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM title, needing to win in the No. 67 Ford GT coupled with an eighth-place or worse finish for the points-leading No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R. Richard Westbrook won the pole and led the opening 42 laps before pitting at the 54-minute mark.

A problem with the right-front wheel lock dropped the car to ninth. Westbrook brought the car back to the lead before pitting, turning the car over to Ryan Briscoe, who had to serve a penalty for contact that occurred with Westbrook at the wheel. The car began smoking shortly afterwards, resulting in a trip behind the wall that cost the team 20 laps to repair a broken wastegate pipe – effectively eliminating them from the championship.

Corvette Racing also had problems in the opening segment; however, it was the No. 3 C7.R of Jan Magnussen that went behind the wall at the two-hour mark to repair a problem with the throttle body motor that cost the team approximately eight minutes.
The first of the Prototype teams to experience problems was the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP, with Marc Goossens pitting two hours, 18 minutes into the race with a problematic control unit that eventually cost the team 51 laps. Experiencing electrical difficulties was the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports entry, which retired before the four-hour mark.

• In GTD, the No. 16 Change Racing Pertamina/Monster Energy Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Spencer Pumpelly, Corey Lewis and Richard Antinucci spent time behind the wall for problems including replacing the alternator and failure of the electrical cooling pump.

• The No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports ORECA FLM09 brought out the first caution one hour, 20 minutes into the event when Tomy Drissi spun into a gravel trap at the exit of Turn 10 and needed assistance. Another PC team behind the wall in the early going was the No. 7 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09 of Stefano Coletti, James Dayson and Quinlan Lall due to handling problems. The car was slightly damaged in a spin during the Saturday morning warm-up which broke the front splitter. Starworks Motorsport then saw its PC championship-leading No. 8 entry taken to the paddock with brake issues at the four-hour mark.

• The second caution waved at the three-hour, 13-minute mark, due to debris in Turn 4 after the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR of Frederic Makowiecki had contact with a GTD competitor.

• Ideal weather conditions have sunny skies and 82 degrees, with a track temperature of 98 degrees.

• The Petit Le Mans is being streamed live on the FOX Sports GO app. 9:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports Go with FS1 authentication. Live television coverage is on FS2 through 6 p.m. There will be a three-hour highlight telecast on FS1 on Monday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. ET.