Whelen Cadillac takes command as darkness descends upon Petit Le Mans

Of the 53 starters, 46 have made it to sunset at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, and with two hours left in the 28th Motul Petit Le Mans, the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R has taken the lead in the race, while the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 is coming down the home stretch towards the GTP Championship.

A long green flag run was interrupted with 4h10m left after contact between the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Miguel Molina and the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Jake Walker damaged the left rear of the BMW and brought out a full course yellow for debris.

The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac took the lead after pit stops under that caution period. When the race restarted, Frederik Vesti peeled off a string of outright fastest laps of the race and eventually broke away from the Vanthoor brothers, Dries and Laurens, in the No. 24 RLL BMW and No. 6 Penske Porsche.

Since the last restart, the race has remained under green. Aitken is back in the No. 31 Cadillac, leading the No. 6 Penske Porsche, now driven by Matt Campbell, in second place. Both cars are due to make their next pit stops soon.

At the interval, the No. 63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63 – with one working headlight – runs third ahead of the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06. Before their most recent stops, the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 was third and the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team was putting it under pressure from fourth.

The No. 99 AO Racing ORECA 07-Gibson has recovered from its earlier puncture and risen from ninth to second place in LMP2, and just minutes ago, the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA dropped out of second place and was pushed behind the wall with a mechanical problem.

With that, AO Racing’s PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron can now cruise to the LMP2 championship as United’s Daniel Goldburg had to finish at least fourth to have any chance.

Hunter McElrea currently leads the class in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA, but he’s off-sequence after serving a mechanical black flag for faulty brake lights. 

Jonny Edgar runs second in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA, poised to complete the comeback and take the lead, with Oliver Jarvis in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA running third.

In GTD PRO, the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R of Nico Varrone was leading at the interval, but is off-sequence, and will make its pit stop soon, handing the lead back to the dominant No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Dan Harper is continuing where co-driver Max Hesse left off before him, with the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Kyle Kirkwood in third, taking over from Ben Barnicoat.

The battle for the championship between the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R and the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 has taken two big swings in the last two hours alone.

With 3h45m left, Kirkwood in the Lexus overtook Daniel Juncadella in the No. 3 Corvette, up the inside of Turn 1. As he left the door ajar for Kirkwood, Juncadella also allowed Giacomo Altoè in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 to slip past him into third.

Co-driver Albert Costa took over the No. 81 Ferrari after a driver change, but then had to serve a drive-through penalty for an unattended tire in its pit stall. Making matters worse,  Costa served the penalty, but only after tangling with the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, the GTD class leader, at the Turn 10 chicane. 

Costa has now fallen to seventh in GTD PRO, while Antonio García is now in fourth place in the No. 3 Corvette.

Despite the collision, Pier Guidi and the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari still lead the GTD class in a Ferrari 1-2 over the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione 296 GT3 driven by Kenton Koch in second.

Jack Hawksworth is running a solid third in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus – both RC F GT3s are having a good race – with Tom Gamble running fourth in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

HOUR 8 STANDINGS