IMSA championships take backseat to race at Petit

For the first time in many years, Petit Le Mans should be less of a 10-hour championship nail-biter and more of a pure fight for class honors at Road Atlanta. To get to that point, two very basic requirements must be met so title contenders can celebrate early and dig in for an epic clash.

Of the four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship categories, the PC title was clinched almost two months ago by James French and Pato O'Ward with Performance Tech Motorsports, leaving Prototype, GT Le Mans and GT Daytona as the three remaining scores to settle.

Thanks to the stellar season-long efforts by Ricky and Jordan Taylor in Wayne Taylor Racing's Cadillac DPi-V.R entry, the Floridians have the Prototype crown all but sewn up entering Petit. In GTLM, the same is true for Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R. And in GTD, Scuderia Corsa's Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen find themselves in an identical situation with their No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3.

The championship leads held by the Caddy kids, Bowtie boys, and the Prancing Horses have the trio looking to start the race in order to capture their Drivers' titles. It's a much different mindset than having to buckle in for a 10-hour slugfest where winner takes all. This year, the 20th running of Petit Le Mans and all of its inherent awesomeness will take center stage for the race itself.

Anything could go wrong, of course, and there are only two scenarios that can derail the championship leaders. The first involves failing to participate in the race, where no points would be awarded, and the second is being assessed a technical infraction by IMSA where a significant amount of points would be taken away.

In Prototype, WTR holds a 29-point lead over the No. 31 Cadillac team of Dane Cameron and Eric Curran and 30 points over the sister No. 5 AXR duo of Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi. If WTR's No. 10 Cadillac is knocked out of the race first, it would be awarded last-place points in class.

The Taylors would earn 21 points for being 10th and last in Prototype, and when added to the 288 they're bringing into the race, they'd end up with 309 points. With 259 points in hand for the No. 31 AXR drivers, adding in the 35 points for a Petit win would leave them with 294. A win for the No. 5 AXR team would only get them to 293 points. That's 15 and 16 points shy, respectively.

Simply put, if the WTR Cadillac takes the start and retires before the race reaches its latter stages, its rivals at AXR would be powerless to overcome the Taylors, even if the Nos. 31 or 5 drivers land atop the podium. If they make the start and avoid technical infractions, your new Prototype champs are named Taylor.

In GTLM, the Spanish-Danish duo of Garcia and Magnussen have a smaller, 19-point lead over the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing pairing of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook, and an equal 18-point lead over the No. 66 FCGR Ford driven by Joey Hand and Dirk Muller and the No. 25 BMW Team RLL entry shared by Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims.

With nine cars entered in GTLM, the worst the No. 3 Corvette drivers could end up with is 22 points for finishing last in class if calamity struck. And when added to the 302 points they've earned coming into Petit, they'd have 324 at the end of the race.

If the No. 67 Ford were to win and add 35 points to its 283, they'd hit 318. For the Nos. 66 and 25, wins would get them to 317 points. Parked early, Corvette still wins by six or more points.

The final class, GTD, offers the same title-guaranteeing situation if Balzan and Nielsen are sidelined. With a 26-point lead over the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen, last-place in the 17-deep class would add 14 points to the 318 secured so far by the Danish-Italian connection, giving the No. 63 squad 332 points in a worst-case outcome.

By winning the race, Bleekemolen would tack 35 points onto the 292 he's scored to end with 327. Scuderia Corsa's pilots still win by five.

Minimum drive-time violations would also seem like another avenue to possibly derail Drivers' titles for WTR, Corvette, and Scuderia Corsa, but in every case, the penalty is akin to finishing last in class. If the pro drivers in Prototype and GTLM fail to complete 45 minutes in their cars before the race reaches its conclusion, the car and its drivers will be moved to the back of the category.

Having run through last-place scenarios for WTR and Corvette Racing, a drive-time infraction won't prevent the Taylors, or Garcia and Magnussen from earning Drivers' titles.

In GTD, the minimum is higher, with one Bronze- or Silver-rated driver needing to complete 2h45m and the others at least two hours. Like failing to finish, a drive-time miscalculation and being placed at the back of the GTD class would not stop Balzan and Nielsen from claiming back-to-back championships due to Bleekemolen's inability to overtake them with a win.

Forget the big picture with points and titles; those will take care of themselves provided the three class leaders drive beneath the green flag Saturday morning and don't lose points in post-race technical inspection.

With nothing other than the racing to enjoy, Road Atlanta has the makings of a proper Battle Royale to close the season.