IMSA: Michael Shank Racing wins Petit Le Mans

A fairytale ending to the decade-long partnership between Michael Shank Racing and driver John Pew was realized Saturday night in Road Atlanta as the team won the 19th installment of Petit Le Mans with Pew, Ozz Negri and pole winner Olivier Pla sharing the No. 60 Ligier JS P2-Honda.

"It is so frigging good," Shank said. "These guys deserve it, Honda, Ozz, John Pew, Oli Pla, my crew. 250 starts with John Pew, win the big one, s*** ..."

"Being my last race here, this is the way to end the whole thing," Pew added after MSR won its second race of the season. "My co-drivers, the whole team, this is fantastic. It has been a fantastic 10 years with Michael Shank, and most of it spend [driving] with Ozz."

Pla reinforced his status as one of the fastest sports car drivers on the planet and scorched the track whenever he was in the car. MSR led every practice session, Pla left the Prototype class in the dust during qualifying, and the Frenchman kept his rivals in check on the path to Victory Lane.

• Complete Petit Le Mans race results

"It has been a dream weekend," he said. "I always go for it, but I really wanted the win and we had pace. Luck was with us.

On a day where perfect weather and a giant crowd witnessed incredible competition, MSR led a 1-2 for the Ligier JS P2-Honda package as Pipo Derani moved the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM entry through the field to finish 3.5 seconds behind Pla. The final race for Daytona Prototypes also ended with Wayne Taylor Racing completing the podium with the No. 10 Corvette DP to give the tubeframe cars a proper sendoff.

Mazda Racing was primed to send off its Lola-built prototypes with a fine third place – to complete an all-P2 podium – until the No. 70 driven by Joel Miller crested the Turn 11 hill with a shower of flames trailing from the engine bay. Mazda's punishing season, which produced pole positions and many laps led, ended in an unfittingly cruel fashion. Fourteen minutes were left on the clock – and the season – when the No. 70 caught fire.

• Cameron, Curran deliver Prototype title

If Prototype was a celebration among friends, the GT Le Mans win by Risi Competizione was a joyous relief after a year of bad luck and misfortune. The Ferrari team's last victory came in 2014, and with one shot left to score the first win with the new 488 GTE, Giancarlo Fisichella, Toni Vilander and James Calado's No. 62 streaked away after the Mazda cleanup was completed and reached the checkered flag with 15.6 seconds in hand over the No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing GT. New GTLM champions Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin, and endurance teammate Marcel Fassler completed the top three in the No. 4 C7.R.

• Corvette Racing takes GT Le Mans championship

"The last one hour and a half was probably the longest of my life," said a relieved Fisichella. "We drove at the maximum and drove a perfect race. It's good for us, good for Mr. Risi, and good for the crew. This was a team effort and we never give up."

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports turned their PC pole into a win as Tom Kimber-Smith, Robert Alon and Jose Gutierrez won by a lap over the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports car and nine laps over the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry.

"Basically, I came in with very little experience and none in the car," said the impressive Alon. "Definitely it was a bit of a learning curve coming from Prototype Lites. The whole team worked their butts off. And the whole team came together. I think all of my experience finally came together in this race."

• Starworks Motorsport takes PC title

It wouldn't be sports car endurance racing without controversy, and the GT Daytona class more than delivered in the waning moments of the event.

Andy Lally stormed past Jeroen Bleekemolen with 80 seconds left to score the win (on the road) for Magnus Racing, but his No. 44 Audi R8 LMS was not welcomed into Victory Lane. Bleekemolen, Ben Keating and Marc Miller were promoted to first in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R after Magnus owner/driver John Potter failed to achieve the minimum seat time required to be scored. Per IMSA rule 12.3.3, the No. 44 was "placed behind all other Cars in that class for the purpose of finishing positions and awarding any finishing points. All other Cars are elevated in the finishing positions and finishing points."

"It really means a ton," said Keating, who will switch to another GTD brand in 2017. "I've tried to win this race so many times throughout the years, so to win it the first time driving the Viper for the last time, it's really special."

"The race, and the fight with Andy [Lally] was unbelievable," Bleekemolen added. "I did the last four hours, I had no AC and no drink for the last two. It was the toughest stint of my life. I rate Andy very high, he is always a great fighter, very aggressive but fair. And right on the end, even though it was the last lap of the race, he kept it fair. I feel bad about the situation, he crossed the line first, but we saw the numbers, John had to go in for a long time and maybe go back, but in the end, we won. We'll go out on a high. We couldn't get the championship, so we wanted the win, and we'll take it."

• Nielsen, Balzan clinch GTD championship

Following Magnus Racing's disqualification from the IMSA race at VIR for a post-race technical infraction, the humor-laden team could struggle to find anything funny about its second infraction in a span of three events.

IMSA heads into a short offseason with its new Daytona Prototype internationals due to start testing in November and December, but for now, it's time to celebrate.