ThePetit Le Mans powered byMazdawas the 2016 edition of thePetit Le Mansautomotive endurance race, held on October 1, 2016, at theRoad Atlantacircuit inBraselton, Georgia,United States.It was the 12th and final race of the2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship,[1]and the third Petit Le Mans run since the formation of theWeatherTech SportsCar Championshipin2014.
Background
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Preview
editInternational Motor Sports Association(IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship(IMSA SCC) in August 2015.[2]It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the 19th Petit Le Mans.[2]The Petit Le Mans was the last of twelve scheduled automobileenduranceraces of 2016 by IMSA, and the last in the four round North American Endurance Cup (NAEC).[2]The race took place at the 12-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km)Road AtlantainBraselton, Georgiaon October 1, 2016.[2]
Before the race,Eric CurranandDane Cameronwere leading the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 285 points, ahead ofJoão BarbosaandChristian Fittipaldiin second by one point, andJordan TaylorandRicky Taylorin third with 278 points.[3]With 329 points,Alex PopowandRenger van der Zandeled the Prototype Challenge Drivers' Championship overRobert AlonandTom Kimber-Smithby 10 points.[3]In GTLM,Oliver GavinandTommy Milnerled the Drivers' Championship with 314 points, 11 ahead ofRyan BriscoeandRichard Westbrook.[3]In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led byAlessandro BalzanandChristina Nielsenwith 299 points; the duo held a thirty two-point advantage overJeroen BleekemolenandBen Keating.[3]ChevroletandAudiwere leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, whileAction Express Racing,Starworks Motorsport,Corvette Racing,andScuderia Corsaeach led their own Teams' Championships.[3]
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.[4]
In the first practice session,Olivier Plaset the fastest lap in the No. 60 MSR Ligier-Honda at 1 minute,14.157 seconds, 0.539 seconds faster than Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda. Dane Cameron was third fastest in the No. 31 AER vehicle.[5]The fastest PC car wasRenger van der Zande's No. 8 Starworks Motorsports entry with a 1 minute, 16.235 seconds, followed byStephen Simpson's No. 85 JDC car.[6]With a 1:18.840 lap, García led the GTLM class in the No. 3 Corvette, ahead of Fisichella's No. 62Risi CompetizioneFerrari 488 GTE.[6]Alex Riberasin the No. 23Team Seattle/Alex Job RacingPorsche recorded the fastest time in GTD.[5]
In the second session, Negri was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 13.923 seconds, ahead of the two Mazdas.[7]The seven-vehicle PC class was led by BAR1's No. 20 car, driven by Mowlem with a time of 1 minute, 16.707 seconds.[8]Ferrari paced GTLM with Scuderia Corsa's 488 of Serra lapping 1:18.354 from Hand's second-placed No. 66 CGR Ford GT.[8]Bergmeister led GTD with a time of 1:21.340.[8]
The third practice session ran at night and saw Pla's No. 60 MSR vehicle set the fastest time overall at 1 minute, 13.541 seconds. Bomarito was almost five-tenths behind in second, with the No. 5 AER car of Barbosa third.[9]A 1:18.240 lap saw Coletti's No. 7 Starworks Motorsport car lead PC.[10]Müller's No. 66 Ford lead GTLM overAlessandro Pier Guidi's No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari and Westbrook's No. 67 Ford by more than one-tenth of a second.[8]Audi paced GTD with Magnus' R8 of Seefreid lapping 1:21.187, ahead ofLawson Aschenbach's No. 9 Stevenson Audi.[10]
Pla led the final session in No. 60 MSR Ligier-Honda with a lap of 1 minute, 10.786 seconds. Nunez's No. 55 Mazda was second-fastest, followed by ESM's Derani.[11]French's No. 38 PTM Oreca led PC with a 1:15.925 lap, faster than Kimber-Smith's No. 52 PR/1 vehicle.[11][12]Ferrari occupied first and second in GTLM with Serra's No. 68 Scuderia Corsa car faster than Vilander's Risi 488 by two-tenths of a second.[11]Lally's No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 led GTD, andJeroen Bleekemolen,in the No. 33 Riley Motorsport Dodge, was second in class.[12]
Qualifying
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In Friday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.[13][4]
Olivier Pla in the No. 60 MSR Ligier-Honda took his second pole position of the season with a lap of 1 minute, 13.061 seconds.[14]He was joined on thegrid's front row byTristan Nunezwhose best lap in the No. 55 Mazda was 0.459 seconds slower.[15]Dane Cameron's No. 31 AER Corvette DP took third followed byTom Long's No. 70 Mazda.[15][14]Fittipaldi's No. 5 AER car started from fifth.[15]
Alon set the fastest time in PC to take pole for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports with a 1:16.411 time. Popow qualified the No. 8 Starworks entry second followed byJohnny Mowlem's No. 20 BAR1 car.[16]Koch was fourth for Performance Tech and Coletti qualified fifth.[15]In GTLM, Westbrook took his third pole of the season with a time of 1 minute, 18.131 seconds.[17]He was joined by Antonio García's No. 3 Corvette on the grid's front row with his best lap being 0.152 seconds slower, and Toni Vilander drove the No. 62Risi CompetizioneFerrari 488 to third place.[17]Hand was fourth in the slower Ford with the No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Serra fifth.[15]The fastest BMW was Edwards' No. 100 RLL M6 in sixth, and Milner's No. 4 Corvette took seventh.[15][18]
Bleekemolen took pole in GTD in Riley Motorsports' No. 33 Dodge with a 1-minute, 21.305 seconds time.Matt McMurry's No. 73 Park Place Porsche qualified second, andMario Farnbacher's No. 23 AJR car was third. Rounding out the top five in the class were the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Nielsen, and Aschenbach's No. 9 Stevenson MotorsportsAudi R8 LMS.[15]
Qualifying results
editPole positionsin each class are indicated inboldand by ‡. All Prototype and Prototype Challenge cars were grouped together on the starting grid, regardless of qualifying position.
| Pos | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 60 |  Michael Shank Racingw/Curb Agajanian
|
 Olivier Pla
|
1:13.061 | _ | 1‡ |
| 2 | P | 55 |  Mazda Motorsports
|
Tristan Nunez
|
1:13.520 | +0.459 | 2 |
| 3 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing
|
Dane Cameron
|
1:13.903 | +0.842 | 3 |
| 4 | P | 70 | Mazda Motorsports
|
Tom Long
|
1:14.061 | +1.000 | 4 |
| 5 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing
|
 Christian Fittipaldi
|
1:14.160 | +1.099 | 5 |
| 6 | P | 90 | VisitFlorida Racing
|
 Ryan Dalziel
|
1:14.276 | +1.215 | 6 |
| 7 | P | 2 | Tequila Patrón ESM
|
Johannes van Overbeek
|
1:14.360 | +1.299 | 7 |
| 8 | P | 0 | Panoz DeltaWing Racing
|
Andy Meyrick
|
1:14.446 | +1.385 | 8 |
| 9 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing
|
Ricky Taylor
|
1:14.533 | +1.472 | 161 |
| 10 | PC | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports
|
Robert Alon
|
1:16.411 | +3.350 | 9‡ |
| 11 | PC | 8 | Starworks Motorsport
|
 Alex Popow
|
1:16.470 | +3.409 | 10 |
| 12 | PC | 20 | BAR1 Motorsports
|
Johnny Mowlem
|
1:16.495 | +3.434 | 152 |
| 13 | PC | 38 | Performance Tech Motorsports
|
Kenton Koch
|
1:16.640 | +3.579 | 11 |
| 14 | PC | 7 | Starworks Motorsport
|
 Stefano Coletti
|
1:16.858 | +3.797 | 12 |
| 15 | PC | 85 | JDC-Miller Motorsports
|
Chris Miller
|
1:17.205 | +4.144 | 13 |
| 16 | GTLM | 67 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing
|
Richard Westbrook
|
1:18.131 | +5.070 | 17‡ |
| 17 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing
|
 Antonio García
|
1:18.283 | +5.222 | 18 |
| 18 | GTLM | 62 | Risi Competizione
|
 Toni Vilander
|
1:18.294 | +5.233 | 19 |
| 19 | GTLM | 66 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing
|
Joey Hand
|
1:18.327 | +5.266 | 20 |
| 20 | GTLM | 68 | Scuderia Corsa
|
Daniel Serra
|
1:18.349 | +5.288 | 21 |
| 21 | GTLM | 100 | BMW Team RLL
|
John Edwards
|
1:18.382 | +5.321 | 22 |
| 22 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing
|
Tommy Milner
|
1:18.468 | +5.407 | 23 |
| 23 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche North America
|
 Earl Bamber
|
1:18.712 | +5.651 | 24 |
| 24 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL
|
Bill Auberlen
|
1:18.752 | +5.691 | 25 |
| 25 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche North America
|
Nick Tandy
|
1:18.866 | +5.805 | 26 |
| 26 | PC | 88 | Starworks Motorsport
|
Mark Kvamme
|
1:19.407 | +6.346 | 14 |
| 27 | GTD | 33 | Riley Motorsports
|
 Jeroen Bleekemolen
|
1:21.305 | +8.244 | 27‡ |
| 28 | GTD | 73 | Park Place Motorsports
|
Matt McMurry
|
1:21.765 | +8.704 | 28 |
| 29 | GTD | 23 | Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing
|
 Mario Farnbacher
|
1:21.898 | +8.837 | 29 |
| 30 | GTD | 63 | Scuderia Corsa
|
 Christina Nielsen
|
1:22.103 | +9.042 | 30 |
| 31 | GTD | 9 | Stevenson Motorsports
|
Lawson Aschenbach
|
1:22.114 | +9.053 | 31 |
| 32 | GTD | 6 | Stevenson Motorsports
|
Robin Liddell
|
1:22.139 | +9.078 | 32 |
| 33 | GTD | 48 | Paul Miller Racing
|
Madison Snow
|
1:22.143 | +9.082 | 33 |
| 34 | GTD | 16 | Change Racing
|
Corey Lewis
|
1:22.231 | +9.170 | 34 |
| 35 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport
|
Bret Curtis
|
1:22.421 | +9.360 | 35 |
| 36 | GTD | 27 | Dream Racing Motorsport
|
 Paolo Ruberti
|
1:22.680 | +9.619 | 36 |
| 37 | GTD | 44 | Magnus Racing
|
John Potter
|
1:22.950 | +9.889 | 37 |
| 38 | GTD | 97 | Turner Motorsport
|
Michael Marsal
|
1:20.904 | +11.111 | 38 |
| Sources:[19][20] | |||||||
Race
editPost-race
editCurran and Cameron took the Prototype Drivers' championship with 314 points. They were 3 points clear of Barbosa and Fittipaldi.[21]With 355 points, Popow and van der Zande won the PC Drivers' Championship, beating Alon and Kimber-Smith on countback.[21]Gavin and Milner took the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 345 points. They were 17 points clear of Briscoe and Westbrook in second. García and Magnussen were third with 319 points.[21]Balzan and Nielsen won the GTD Drivers' Championship with 332 points, 32 points ahead of Bleekemolen and Keating. Sellers and Snow were third with 293 points.[21]Chevrolet and Audi heir respective Manufactures' Championships, while Action Express Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa won their respective Teams' Championships.[21]
Race results
editClass winners are denoted inboldand with ‡. P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).[22]
Championship standings after the race
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- Note:Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
- Note:Bold names include the Drivers', Teams', and Manufactures' Champion respectively.
References
edit- ^"Petit Le Mans 2016".Racing Sports Cars.Retrieved2020-08-30.
- ^abcdPruett, Marshall (August 8, 2015)."IMSA: 2016 schedule revealed".Racer.Archivedfrom the original on January 1, 2020.RetrievedJanuary 1,2020.
- ^abcde"00_Official Points.pdf"(PDF).imsa.results.alkamelcloud.Alkamel Systems. 17 September 2016.Archived(PDF)from the original on 4 October 2024.Retrieved4 October2024.
- ^abDagys, John (September 28, 2016)."Continental Tire Keys to the Race: Petit Le Mans".sportscar365.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
- ^abDagys, John (September 29, 2016)."Pla Tops Opening Practice at Road Atlanta".sportscar365.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
- ^abPruett, Marshall (29 September 2016)."IMSA: Shank Ligier-Honda leads first Petit practice".Racer.Retrieved5 October2024.
- ^Dagys, John (September 29, 2016)."Negri Quickest in Practice 2".sportscar365.John Dagys Media.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
- ^abcdPruett, Marshall (29 September 2016)."IMSA: Shank takes second Petit Le Mans practice".Racer.Retrieved5 October2024.
- ^Dagys, John (September 29, 2016)."Pla Quickest in Night Practice at Road Atlanta".sportscar365.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
- ^abPruett, Marshall (30 September 2016)."IMSA: Shank sweeps Thursday practice sessions".Racer.Retrieved5 October2024.
- ^abcPruett, Marshall (30 September 2016)."IMSA: Shank P2 tops fourth straight Petit practice".Racer.Retrieved5 October2024.
- ^abMalsher-Lopez, David (30 September 2016)."Shank Ligier and Ferraris lead fourth practice at Petit Le Mans".Motorsport.Retrieved5 October2024.
- ^abc"2016 IMSA Sporting Regulations & Series Supplementary Regulations of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship"(PDF).International Motor Sports Association.May 25, 2016. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on July 5, 2016.RetrievedJanuary 2,2020.
- ^abDagys, John (30 September 2016)."Pla, MSR on Petit Le Mans Pole".Sportscar365.Retrieved6 October2024.
- ^abcdefgMalsher-Lopez, David (30 September 2016)."Pla, Westbrook, Bleekemolen, Alon take Petit Le Mans poles".Motorsport.Retrieved6 October2024.
- ^Pruett, Marshall (30 September 2016)."IMSA: Pla, MSR roll on in Petit Le Mans qualifying".Racer.Retrieved6 October2024.
- ^abDagys, John (30 September 2016)."Westbrook Takes Ford to GTLM Pole at Road Atlanta".Sportscar365.Retrieved6 October2024.
- ^"Petit Le Mans: GT Qualifying, Westbrook On GTLM Pole For Ford".dailysportscar.30 September 2016.Retrieved6 October2024.
- ^"Qualifying Results"(PDF).results.imsa.September 30, 2016. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 8 March 2018.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
- ^"01_Starting Grid.PDF"(PDF).results.imsa.October 1, 2016. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2 January 2023.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
- ^abcdefghijklmnop"2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – Championship Point Standings"(PDF).International Motor Sports Association. October 12, 2016.Archived(PDF)from the original on September 26, 2021.Retrieved5 October2024.
- ^"2016 IMSA Petit Le Mans - Race Report".Top Speed.Retrieved2020-09-30.
- ^"10/01/2016 race: Petit Le Mans (WSCC)".Racing-Reference.info.Retrieved2020-09-30.
- ^"Race Official Results"(PDF).results.imsa.12 October 2016. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 20 February 2018.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
External links
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