Image by Richard Dole/LAT
Cadillac back out front at Petit Le Mans
Green flag racing continues to dominate Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans. After eight hours of racing, Mike Conway held an 11-second lead over the No. 77 Mazda of Timo Bernhard, closely followed by the No. 31 Cadillac of Felipe Nasr, with two hours remaining in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech Championship season.
The good news for the No. 31 Whelen team is that it was able to add a point to its Michelin Endurance Cup lead. With only the points from the final 10-hour segment to be awarded, Nasr, Derani and Eric Curran lead Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande by two points, 40-38. Mathieu Vaxiviere is currently 10th in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac. Action Express Racing is looking for its sixth consecutive victory in the championship-with-a-championship.
Racing has been green for 3h22m, with only three cautions thus far.
Alessandro Pier Guidi in the No. 62 Ferrari passed Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Ford to take the GTLM lead at the 7h45m mark. With two hours remaining, Conor De Phillippi runs third in the No. 25 BMW, followed by the two Porsches, Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 912 and Frederic Makowiecki in the No. 911.
That pass for the GTLM lead also hurt the Ford team in the Michelin Endurance Cup by costing them a valuable bonus point. Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet now have 35 points, one more than Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe.
Robby Foley led GTD in the No. 96 BMW, followed by Christopher Mies in the No. 29 Audi and Zach Robichon in the No. 9 Porsche. The segment did not affect the Michelin Endurance Cup, with the No. 33 Mercedes drivers continuing to lead the No. 63 Ferrari drivers by two points, 35-33, with the two cars fourth and fifth at the end of the segment.
J.J. O'Malley
J.J. O’Malley became news editor for Chris Economaki in 1977, launching him on a career covering all facets of motorsports in many capacities. He did public relations at Watkins Glen International for 14 years; followed by four seasons at Homestead-Miami Speedway; news editor at ISC Publications (now Edgeset Marketing); and communications manager for Grand-Am and IMSA. He’s currently completing his 13th book on racing – a history of the Daytona Prototype – in addition to covering events for RACER.com, Edgeset Marketing and Sunday Group Management. O’Malley is an honorary member of the prestigious Road Racing Drivers Club.
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