The 18th Annual petit Le Mans presented by Mazda was the 2015 version of the Petit Le Mans automotive endurance race, was held on October 1–3 2015 at the Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Georgia. This was the second Petit Le Mans in the United SportsCar Championship. The race was won overall by Richard Lietz, Patrick Pilet, and Nick Tandy in the #911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR. Originally scheduled to run for 10 hours, the race was concluded after 8 hours (199 laps) were completed due to heavy rain, darkness, visibility, and hydroplaning.[1] This marked the first time in the event's history that a GT car won overall.[2][3]
Background
edit
Preview
editInternational Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2015 IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship (IMSA TUSC) in August 2014.[4] It was the second consecutive year the event was held as part of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, and the 19th Petit Le Mans. The 2015 Petit Le Mans was the twelfth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2015 by IMSA, and was the fourth round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup.[5] The race was held at the twelve-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km) Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 3, 2015.[5]
Entry list
editThe official entry list consisted of 37 cars, including 9 in prototype, 8 in prototype challenge, 8 in GTLM and 12 in GTD.[6]
Practice
editThere were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Thursday morning and afternoon. The third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes; the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.[7]
Practice 1
editThe first practice session took place at 11:10 am ET on Thursday and ended with Oswaldo Negri Jr. topping the charts for Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:15.163.[8]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 60 | Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian | Oswaldo Negri Jr. | 1:15.163 | _ |
| 2 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Scott Pruett | 1:15.627 | +0.464 |
| 3 | P | 0 | DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone | Katherine Legge | 1:15.757 | +0.594 |
| Source:[9] | ||||||
Practice 2
editThe second practice session took place at 3:35 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Joey Hand topping the charts for Chip Ganassi Racing, with a lap time of 1:16.937.[10]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:16.937 | _ |
| 2 | P | 0 | DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone | 1:17.155 | +0.218 |
| 3 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing | 1:17.352 | +0.415 |
| Source:[11] | |||||
Night Practice
editThe night practice session took place at 7:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Jordan Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:29.369.[12]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing | 1:29.369 | _ |
| 2 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | 1:29.436 | +0.067 |
| 3 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:29.421 | +2.052 |
| Source:[13] | |||||
Final Practice
editThe fourth and final practice session took place at 10:05 am ET on Friday and ended with João Barbosa topping the charts for Action Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:23.262.[14]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | João Barbosa | 1:23.262 | _ |
| 2 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Scott Pruett | 1:23.626 | +0.394 |
| 3 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche North America | Nick Tandy | 1:24.015 | +0.783 |
| Source:[15] | ||||||
Qualifying
editRichard Westbrook secured overall pole for the event. [16]
Qualifying results
editPole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 90 | VisitFlorida.com Racing | Richard Westbrook | 1:27.860 | _ | 1‡ |
| 2 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | Christian Fittipaldi | 1:28.920 | +1.060 | 2 |
| 3 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates | Joey Hand | 1:29.627 | +1.767 | 3 |
| 4 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche North America | Earl Bamber | 1:30.3041 | +2.444 | 36 |
| 5 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche North America | Nick Tandy | 1:30.398 | +2.538 | 35 |
| 6 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing | Ricky Taylor | 1:30.621 | +2.761 | 4 |
| 7 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing | Dane Cameron | 1:30.884 | +3.024 | 5 |
| 8 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Oliver Gavin | 1:31.685 | +3.825 | 17‡ |
| 9 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL | Lucas Luhr | 1:31.763 | +3.903 | 18 |
| 10 | LMPC | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | Tom Kimber-Smith | 1:32.378 | +4.518 | 6‡ |
| 11 | LMPC | 16 | BAR1 Motorsports | Johnny Mowlem | 1:32.924 | +5.064 | 7 |
| 12 | GTLM | 62 | Risi Competizione | Giancarlo Fisichella | 1:32.989 | +5.129 | 19 |
| 13 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL | Bill Auberlen | 1:33.680 | +5.820 | 20 |
| 14 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Antonio García | 1:33.773 | +5.913 | 21 |
| 15 | PC | 88 | Starworks Motorsport | Alex Popow | 1:33.903 | +6.043 | 16 |
| 16 | PC | 11 | RSR Racing | Chris Cumming | 1:35.825 | +7.965 | 8 |
| 17 | PC | 85 | JDC-Miller MotorSports | Chris Miller | 1:36.838 | +10.260 | 9 |
| 18 | PC | 8 | Starworks Motorsport | Mirco Schultis | 1:38.120 | +10.260 | 10 |
| 19 | GTD | 93 | Riley Motorsports | Cameron Lawrence | 1:38.295 | +10.435 | 22‡ |
| 20 | GTD | 73 | Park Place Motorsports | Spencer Pumpelly | 1:38.886 | +11.026 | 23 |
| 21 | GTD | 22 | Alex Job Racing | Leh Keen | 1:38.899 | +11.039 | 24 |
| 22 | P | 0 | Claro/TracFone DeltaWing Racing | Katherine Legge | 1:39.618 | +11.758 | 11 |
| 23 | GTD | 45 | Flying Lizard Motorsports | Guy Cosmo | 1:41.604 | +13.744 | 25 |
| 24 | GTD | 33 | Riley Motorsports | Ben Keating | 1:41.698 | +13.838 | 26 |
| 25 | GTD | 63 | Scuderia Corsa | Jeff Segal | 1:41.750 | +13.890 | 27 |
| 26 | GTD | 64 | Scuderia Corsa | Daniel Serra | 1:42.627 | +14.767 | 28 |
| 27 | PC | 54 | CORE Autosport | Anthony Lazzaro | 1:42.775 | +14.915 | 12 |
| 28 | GTD | 007 | TRG-AMR | Christina Nielsen | 1:42.911 | +15.051 | 29 |
| 29 | GTD | 48 | Paul Miller Racing | Dion von Moltke | 1:43.620 | +15.760 | 30 |
| 30 | GTD | 23 | Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing | Mario Farnbacher | 1:44.320 | +16.460 | 31 |
| 31 | GTD | 44 | Magnus Racing | John Potter | 1:47.000 | +19.140 | 32 |
| 32 | GTLM | 17 | Team Falken Tire | Bryan Sellers | No time | _ | 34 |
| 33 | P | 07 | Mazda Motorsports | None | No time | _ | 14 |
| 34 | PC | 38 | Performance Tech Motorsports | None | No time | _ | 37 |
| 35 | P | 60 | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | None | No time | _ | 13 |
| 36 | P | 70 | Mazda Motorsports | None | No time | _ | 15 |
| 37 | GTD | 97 | Turner Motorsport | None | No time | _ | 33 |
| Source:[17][18] | |||||||
- 1 The No. 912 Porsche North America entry had its fastest lap deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
Results
editClass winners denoted in bold and with ‡.
References
edit- ^ DiZinno, Tony (3 October 2015). "Barfield, Drivers Discuss Decision to End Petit Le Mans Early". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ DiZinno, Tony (3 October 2015). "Tandy, Pilet Score Historic Overall Win in Rain-Shortened Petit Le Mans". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (3 October 2015). "Action Express Wins Prototype Class, Championship at Petit Le Mans". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (10 August 2014). "2015 TUSC, CTSC Schedules Released". Sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ a b Pruett, Marshall (August 10, 2014). "IMSA: 2015 TUDOR Championship schedule revealed". Racer.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ DiZinno, Tony (23 September 2015). "37 Cars on Petit Le Mans Entry List". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (September 30, 2015). "Continental Tire Keys to the Race: Petit Le Mans". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "TUSCC: Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta, Thursday Free Practice". dailysportscar.com. October 2, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "ResultsQuery" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. October 2, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ DiZinno, Tony (October 1, 2015). "Hand Quickest in Wet Practice 2 at Road Atlanta". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "ResultsQuery" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. October 2, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ DiZinno, Tony (October 1, 2015). "Pew Crash Puts Shank's Petit Le Mans Participation in Doubt". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "ResultsQuery" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. October 2, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (October 2, 2015). "Barbosa Quickest in Mixed-Condition Practice 4". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "ResultsQuery" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. October 2, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ Pruett, Marshell (2 October 2015). "IMSA: Petit Le Mans poles set at rainy Road Atlanta". racer.com. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ^ "Road_Atlanta_Qualifying.pdf" (PDF). imsatiming.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ^ "Corrected Grid Official" (PDF). imsatiming.com. 3 October 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ "Road_Atlanta-2015-10-03.html". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ "Unofficial Race Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-22. Retrieved 5 March 2023.