LMP2 primed for a tight championship-decider at Petit Le Mans

Focus on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship going into the season finale Motul Petit Le Mans has naturally been on the incredibly close fight for the GTP title and the five-point spread between the top three combatants. But it's not the only close championship battle. LMP2 has only a 20-point spread between first and second. That's the difference between a single finishing position in a race.

Before we get to that, a quick rundown of the other (non-GTP) points battles. GTD is already decided in favor of Paul Miller Racing's Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, whose record-setting five wins in the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 have dominated the class. In GTD PRO, the only way Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth don't take the title for Vasser Sullivan Racing and Lexus is if they don't start the race. The same is true of Gar Robinson in LMP3. Once he goes under the green flag in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, he's a champion for the second time and the final WeatherTech Championship LMP3 title holder.

In LMP2 however, it could very well be a fight to the finish. Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas (No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA) have a 20-point lead over Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin (No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA). That makes qualifying, in which 10 percent of race points are earned, for Saturday's race extremely important. If Keating qualifies ahead of Thomas, it's, in most cases, whichever team finishes ahead of the other for the championship. If Thomas is the higher qualifier, it now becomes at least a two-position advantage for Keating and Chatin to take the title, with the exception of a victory for the No. 52.

In IMSA's scoring system, teams are awarded 350 points for a victory and 320 for second place. Second through fifth are 20-point differences, and fifth and further are 10-point gaps. So if neither team is in the top five, Keating, Chatin and Alex Quinn will need to finish at least two positions ahead of Thomas, Jensen and Scott Huffaker on Saturday.

In case of a tie, Jensen and Thomas have, for now, two victories to Keating and Jensen's one, and thus would claim the title.

The GTP PRO title is already done, but Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor are in the thick of the fight for second. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

The third-place duo of Ben Hanley and George Kurtz (Crowdstrike Racing by APR) are relatively secure in that position, 80 points behind Keating and Chatin and nearly 100 points ahead of fourth-place Giedo van der Garde, although a victory for them and a rough race for the leading pair could move them into second or even, in an unlikely set of circumstances, deliver them a championship. Fifth-place in the points, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel for Era Motorsport, have a good chance to move up in the points places if they can finish a couple positions ahead of van der Garde's Tower Motorsports entry.

With the championships all but sealed in the other three classes, there are still battles after the first position in the points. Anthony Mantella and Wayne Boyd (AWA) are second in the LMP3 points, 29 ahead of Jr III Racing's Garret Grist; Matthew Bell and Orey Fidani are another 31 points back in fourth.

Second place in GTD PRO is still up for grabs. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, in Taylor's final race for Corvette Racing, have a 39-point advantage over WeatherTech Racing's Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon. They, in turn, have a 38 point lead over Pfaff Motorsports' Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet as they go into the final race for the Plaid Porsche. With Petit Le Mans being a Michelin Endurance Cup Round, and having eight entries rather than the usual five, it makes the possibility of any of these teams doing some position swapping much greater.

Marco Sorensen and Roman De Angelis in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 are fairly secure in second position in GTD. The closest fight in the top five in the class is for third between Aaron Telitz/Frankie Montecalvo (No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3) at 2747 points and Brendan Iribe/Frederik Schandorff (No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo).

Most eyes will be glued to the four-way GTP title at the front; but there are plenty of battles to keep an eye on as teams try to finish the season strong.