IMSA releases 53-car entry list for Petit Le Mans

IMSA has published the provisional entry list for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, featuring 53 cars across all four classes.

The 10-hour season finale at Road Atlanta on Saturday, October 11th, sees expanded line-ups for all 12 GTP cars.

Championship leaders Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell will have a new co-driver in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, as Julien Andlauer steps in to assist the No. 6 crew’s GTP title bid. Meanwhile, Laurens Vanthoor will rejoin fellow Daytona and Sebring winners Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy in the No. 7 Penske Porsche.

Kevin Magnussen and Robin Frijns will join BMW M Team RLL for the team’s final race together: Magnussen will join Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8, while Frijns will join Marco Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde in the No. 25.

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing’s line-up was set earlier with Will Stevens in the blue No. 10 V-Series.R, and Norman Nato in the silver No. 40 Cadillac. Frederik Vesti will again reprise his endurance role in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen car, coming off an Indianapolis victory alongside Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber.

Acura Meyer Shank Racing will have Scott Dixon in the No. 60 ARX-06, and Tristan Vautier in the No. 93, making his first start for the team. Neel Jani and Max Esterson will join Tijmen van der Helm in the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche.

JDC-Miller will have the only privately-entered Porsche 963 in the field, with confirmation that the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche will not return for Petit Le Mans. The team is understood to have been informed recently by Multimatic that the tub, which was damaged at Watkins Glen, will not be repaired in time for Road Atlanta.

This will also be a bittersweet occasion for the No. 63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63, taking part in its final IMSA race before a minimum one-year pause starting in 2026. Romain Grosjean, Edoardo Mortara, and Daniil Kvyat will be motivated to send the SC63 off with a strong result, as will the rest of the Riley Motorsports crew, which has supported the car this year.

Completing the GTP field is the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, featuring Alex Riberas as its third driver.

There’s one driver change of note in the 12-car LMP2 field: Alex Quinn will replace Malthe Jakobsen in the No. 04 Crowdstrike by APR ORECA 07-Gibson. Quinn recently signed a contract extension with Algarve Pro Racing (APR) and was with the team at CTMP. He is in the car at Jakobsen's suggestion, as it gives Quinn some IMSA mileage ahead of next year's Rolex 24 at Daytona. Jakobsen will be assisting the team at Petit Le Mans from the pitwall.

GTD PRO is back to 10 cars with three drivers each. AO Racing welcomes back Porsche Penske WEC driver Michael Christensen to the team, driving the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R with Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler. Christensen helped Heinrich and AO clinch the GTD PRO title last year in four races.

Otherwise, it’s a cast of familiar endurance drivers returning for the first time since the Twelve Hours of Sebring: Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports welcomes back Daniel Juncadella (No. 3) and Nico Varrone (No. 4), and Ford Multimatic Motorsports has Ben Barker (No. 64) and Dennis Olsen (No. 65) back in the fold.

Kyle Kirkwood is back with Vasser Sullivan Racing in the No. 14 Lexus, and James Hinchcliffe will drive for Pfaff Motorsports in the No. 9 Lamborghini.

Notably, Connor De Phillippi is entered in both Paul Miller Racing cars – the No. 1 and No. 48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

GTD has 19 cars, featuring the return of Magnus Racing’s No. 44 'Virtual Energy' Aston Martin driven by John Potter, Spencer Pumpelly, and Jan Heylen. It does not, however, include the No. 83 Iron Dames Porsche, which missed Watkins Glen and Indianapolis.

Conquest Racing announced earlier this week that Mike Skeen would join the team, sharing the No. 34 Ferrari with Manny Franco and Daniel Serra. Skeen started the year driving the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari at Daytona and Sebring, alongside Sheena Monk and Stevan McAleer. He spent the last three seasons at Korthoff Motorsports, with six podium finishes during that span.

There are also some changes at the AF Corse-run Cetilar Racing team: Roberto Lacorte is back in the No. 47 Ferrari in place of his son Nicola, while Miguel Molina, the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours winner, replaces his Le Mans-winning co-driver Antonio Fuoco.

Rory van der Steur is set to return to his No. 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin after missing Indianapolis with an injury. And after solid first impressions with their new teams at Indianapolis, Mason Filippi (Gradient Racing), Eric Filgueiras (Forte Racing), and Lin Hodenius (Lone Star Racing) will each get another opportunity with their respective teams at Petit.