Aitken jumps to early Petit lead as Porsche crowned IMSA champions

In front of what is believed to be a record crowd at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, the 2024 Motul Petit Le Mans began with Jack Aitken getting a massive start in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, pulling out a 0.5s lead almost immediately. Connor De Phillippi, right behind Aitken in line, took advantage of clear track in front of him to put the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 into second ahead of Matt Campbell in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 and Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 01 Cadillac.

The moment Campbell crossed the start line, Porsche Penske Motorsport and Porsche were guaranteed the team and manufacturer championships. The No. 7 team cannot be overtaken by the No. 01 Cadillac in the points, although which PPM 963 will be champion is still in question.

The No. 01 squad was dealt another blow early, as they received a mechanical black flag for "Scritineering System Requirements,” which likely translates to putting out too much power. Sitting still in the pits with a computer plugged into the car put the No. 01 Cadillac, Bourdais still at the wheel, a lap down.

All polesitters kept their positions at the start, but 20m in, Scott Andrews beached the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes AMG he qualified on GTD pole in the gravel at Turn 5, handing the lead to Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. The field was shuffled shortly thereafter as all teams took advantage of the yellow to pit for fuel. Unfortunately for Bourdais, the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 with Jordan Taylor at the wheel did not pit.

The apparently record crowd makes it 11 of 12 races this season that the WeatherTech Championship has seen new high marks for attendance.