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Petit Le Mans

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Petit Le Mans
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
VenueRoad Atlanta
CorporatesponsorMotul
First race1998
First USCC race2014
Laps394
Duration1998–2013:
1,000 miles (1,600 km) or 10 hours[a]
2014–present:
10 hours
Most wins (driver)Rinaldo Capello(5)
Most wins (team)Audi Sport North America(6)
Most wins (manufacturer)Audi(9)

Petit Le Mans(FrenchforLittle Le Mans) is asports carendurancerace held annually atRoad AtlantainBraselton, Georgia,United States. The race has been held for a duration of 10 hours since 2014, having previously been held for either 1,000 miles (1,600 km) or 10 hours, whichever came first.[1][2]In addition to the overall race, teams compete for class victories in different categories, divided intoprototypesandgrand tourers.

The race was founded by Road Atlanta ownerDon Panozto bring the rules and spirit of the24 Hours of Le Mansto North America. The success of theinaugural eventin 1998, held as part of theIMSAseason with a special one-off format, led to the creation of theAmerican Le Mans Seriesin 1999 with a similar formula. Petit Le Mans was a flagship event for the ALMS, which became the most prominent top-class sports car racing series during the 2000s. The 2010 and 2011 editions were also part of theIntercontinental Le Mans Cup,the precursor of theWorld Endurance Championship.Since 2014 the race has been one of the crown jewel events of theIMSA SportsCar Championship.Class winners of the event originally received an automatic invitation to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, however this was removed in 2012.

The race is regarded as one of the major endurance races in the world and is among the biggest sports car races in North America alongside the24 Hours of Daytonaand12 Hours of Sebring.[3][4]Rinaldo Capelloholds the record of most race wins, having won in2000,2002,2006,2007and2008.

History

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ACadillac DPi-V.RandPorsche 911 GT3 Rcompeting at the 2021 race

Following the demise of theWorld Sportscar Championshipin 1992, sports car racing was left without a major worldwide series in which to compete. The24 Hours of Le Mansremained a remnant, still competed by a large number of sports cars, but mostly on a single race basis. Various sports car leagues had sprung up since the WSC's demise without major success, including theInternational Motor Sports Association(IMSA)'s replacement for their GTP series, the Professional SportsCar Racing series. In Europe, two series were also developed, theFIA Sportscar Championshipand theFIA GT Championship,although they were not combined like IMSA's series.

Don Panoz,owner of theRoad Atlantaracing course, collaborated with the organizers of the24 Hours of Le Mans,theAutomobile Club de l'Ouest(ACO), to form a new sports car endurance race at the track for 1998, called Petit Le Mans (French forlittle Le Mans). The event would adopt the ACO's rules, and in addition to agreeing to lend the Le Mans name out to Panoz, the ACO offered class winners automatic invitations to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race would be similar to the12 Hours of Sebring,in that it did not run a full 24 hours like Le Mans. Instead, the race would be 10 hours or 1,000 miles (1,600 km), whichever came first. IMSA agreed to let the race be the season finale of their series with a special one-off format, featuring competitors from Le Mans. However, IMSA and Le Mans ran slightly different formulas for their competitors, thus forcing the organizers to create seven different classes: LMP1, LMGT1, and LMGT2 for the ACO-compliant cars, and WSC, GT1, GT2, and GT3 for IMSA's competitors. Even though both organizers used the GT1 and GT2 names the classes were not actually the same, which is why the ACO classes are preceded by LM.

If Petit Le Mans proved to be successful, the ACO would look into developing a series around the same formula. The inaugural event in 1998 attracted 31 entries, including that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Porsche factory team. A satisfactory number of spectators attended the event, while overall honors for the race were contested between the factoryPorsche 911 GT1-98 andLMP1-98cars as well as multipleFerrari 333 SPsandPanoz Esperante GTR-1s.Before the race had finished, an agreement was made for Panoz to establish theAmerican Le Mans Seriesin 1999 with the support of the ACO, replacing theIMSA GT Championship.[5][6][7][8]

The 2009 and 2015 races were shortened due to heavy rains making the track impassable. The 2015 race featured the first time aGTcar won overall against the faster prototypes. Rain created a flooded track the entire race causing multiple cautions and a red flag, allowing GTLM cars to leap-frog the prototypes that were struggling for grip in the conditions.[9]Nick Tandy, winner of the2015 24 Hours of Le Mans,and co-driver Patrick Pilet took the checkered flag when officials called the race with a little over two hours remaining.

Overall winners

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Year Drivers Team Chassis-Engine Championship(s)
1998 BelgiumEric van de Poele
South AfricaWayne Taylor
FranceEmmanuel Collard
United StatesDoyle-Risi Racing Ferrari 333 SP Professional SportsCar Racing Championship
1999 AustraliaDavid Brabham
FranceÉric Bernard
United KingdomAndy Wallace
United StatesPanoz Motor Sports Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S-Ford American Le Mans Series
2000 United KingdomAllan McNish
ItalyRinaldo Capello
ItalyMichele Alboreto
GermanyAudi Sport North America Audi R8
2001 GermanyFrank Biela
ItalyEmanuele Pirro
GermanyAudi Sport North America Audi R8 American Le Mans Series
European Le Mans Series
2002 DenmarkTom Kristensen
ItalyRinaldo Capello
GermanyAudi Sport North America Audi R8 American Le Mans Series
2003 FinlandJJ Lehto
United KingdomJohnny Herbert
United StatesADTChampion Racing Audi R8
2004 GermanyMarco Werner
FinlandJJ Lehto
United StatesADTChampion Racing Audi R8
2005 GermanyFrank Biela
ItalyEmanuele Pirro
United StatesADTChampion Racing Audi R8
2006 ItalyRinaldo Capello
United KingdomAllan McNish
United StatesAudi Sport North America Audi R10 TDI
2007 United KingdomAllan McNish
ItalyRinaldo Capello
United StatesAudi Sport North America Audi R10 TDI
2008 United KingdomAllan McNish
ItalyRinaldo Capello
ItalyEmanuele Pirro
United StatesAudi Sport North America Audi R10 TDI
2009 FranceFranck Montagny
FranceStéphane Sarrazin
FranceTeam PeugeotTotal Peugeot 908 HDi FAP
2010 FranceFranck Montagny
FranceStéphane Sarrazin
PortugalPedro Lamy
FranceTeam PeugeotTotal Peugeot 908 HDi FAP American Le Mans Series
Intercontinental Le Mans Cup
2011 FranceFranck Montagny
FranceStéphane Sarrazin
AustriaAlexander Wurz
FrancePeugeot SportTotal Peugeot 908
2012 SwitzerlandNeel Jani
FranceNicolas Prost
ItalyAndrea Belicchi
SwitzerlandRebellion Racing Lola B12/60-Toyota American Le Mans Series
European Le Mans Series
2013 SwitzerlandNeel Jani
FranceNicolas Prost
GermanyNick Heidfeld
SwitzerlandRebellion Racing Lola B12/60-Toyota American Le Mans Series
2014 United StatesJordan Taylor
United StatesRicky Taylor
ItalyMax Angelelli
United StatesWayne Taylor Racing Chevrolet Corvette DP United SportsCar Championship
2015 United KingdomNick Tandy
FrancePatrick Pilet
AustriaRichard Lietz
United StatesPorsche North America Porsche 911 RSR
2016 United StatesJohn Pew
BrazilOswaldo Negri Jr.
FranceOlivier Pla
United StatesMichael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2-Honda IMSA SportsCar Championship
2017 United KingdomRyan Dalziel
New ZealandBrendon Hartley
United StatesScott Sharp
United StatesTequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi
2018[10] United StatesRyan Hunter-Reay
United StatesJordan Taylor
NetherlandsRenger van der Zande
United StatesWayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R
2019 BrazilFelipe Nasr
BrazilPipo Derani
United StatesEric Curran
United StatesWhelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R
2020 AustraliaRyan Briscoe
New ZealandScott Dixon
NetherlandsRenger van der Zande
United StatesKonica Minolta Cadillac Cadillac DPi-V.R
2021 United StatesJonathan Bomarito
United KingdomOliver Jarvis
United KingdomHarry Tincknell
CanadaMazda Motorsports Mazda RT24-P
2022 United KingdomTom Blomqvist
BrazilHélio Castroneves
United KingdomOliver Jarvis
United StatesMeyer Shank Racingw/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05
2023 United KingdomTom Blomqvist
BrazilHélio Castroneves
United StatesColin Braun
United StatesMeyer Shank Racingw/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06
2024 FranceSébastien Bourdais
New ZealandScott Dixon
NetherlandsRenger van der Zande
United StatesCadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R

Statistics

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Multiple wins by driver

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Rank Driver Wins Years
1 ItalyRinaldo Capello 5 2000, 2002, 2006–2008
2 United KingdomAllan McNish 4 2000, 2006–2008
3 ItalyEmanuele Pirro 3 2001, 2005, 2008
FranceFranck Montagny 2009–2011
FranceStéphane Sarrazin 2009–2011
NetherlandsRenger van der Zande 2018, 2020, 2024
7 FinlandJJ Lehto 2 2003–2004
GermanyFrank Biela 2001, 2005
SwitzerlandNeel Jani 2012–2013
FranceNicolas Prost 2012–2013
United StatesJordan Taylor 2014, 2018
United KingdomOliver Jarvis 2021–2022
United KingdomTom Blomqvist 2022–2023
BrazilHélio Castroneves 2022–2023
New ZealandScott Dixon 2020, 2024

Wins by manufacturer

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Rank Manufacturer Wins Years
1 GermanyAudi 9 2000–2008
2 United StatesCadillac 4 2018–2020, 2024
3 FrancePeugeot 3 2009–2011
4 United KingdomLola 2 2012–2013
JapanAcura 2022–2023
6 ItalyFerrari 1 1998
United StatesPanoz 1999
United StatesChevrolet 2014
GermanyPorsche 2015
JapanHonda 2016
JapanNissan 2017
JapanMazda 2021

Multiple wins by team

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Rank Maker Wins Years
1 FrancePeugeot SportTotal 3 2009–2011
GermanyAudi Sport North America 2000–2002
United StatesAudi Sport North America 2006–2008
United StatesADTChampion Racing 2003–2005
United StatesWayne Taylor Racing 2014, 2018, 2020
United StatesMeyer Shank Racing 2016, 2022–2023
7 SwitzerlandRebellion Racing 2 2012–2013

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^From 1998 to 2013, the race was held for whichever of the two durations came first.

References

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  1. ^"IMSA | TUDOR United SportsCar Championship | Petit le Mans".IMSA.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-10-06.Retrieved2 October2014.
  2. ^Dagys, John."Sportscar365 su Twitter:" #DidYouKnow that the Petit le Mans is no longer a 1,000-mile race? It's 10 hours, not 1,000-mile/10-hour (Whichever came first). "".Twitter.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-01-29.Retrieved2 October2014.
  3. ^"24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans | A French connection in the U.S."24h-lemans.Retrieved2023-02-14.
  4. ^Staff, Sportscar365 (2014-10-01)."Scrogham (GB Autosport):" I've Seen Petit Le Mans Change Over Time "– Sportscar365".sportscar365.Retrieved2024-01-06.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^Phillips, David."Memorable Moments of Motul Petit Le Mans".imsa.
  6. ^"Don Panoz on defying convention, and the Abruzzi race car".Road and Track.
  7. ^"Das Petit Le Mans ist inzwischen ein echter Klassiker / IMSA - SPEEDWEEK".speedweek(in German). 2019-10-11.Retrieved2024-08-31.
  8. ^Breslauer, Ken (2017-10-04)."BRESLAUER: A Look Back at the First Petit Le Mans – Sportscar365".sportscar365.Retrieved2024-08-31.
  9. ^Dagys, John (20 January 2018)."Michelin Memories: 2015, Porsche's Overall Petit Le Mans Triumph – Sportscar365".sportscar365.Retrieved2023-02-14.
  10. ^"Official Race Results"(PDF).International Motor Sports Association.2018-10-15. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2018-12-09.Retrieved2018-12-09.
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