2017 Petit Le Mans

The 20th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans was the 2017 edition of the Petit Le Mans automotive endurance race, held on October 4–7, 2017, at the Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Georgia, United States. It was the 12th and final race of the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the fourth Petit Le Mans run since the formation of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2014.

IMSA's president Scott Atherton confirmed Petit Le Mans was part of the series' schedule for the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Road America's victory lane in August 2016.^[1] It was the fourth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the 20th annual running of the race.^[2] The race was the final of 2017's twelve scheduled IMSA automobile endurance races, and the last of four North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) events.^[3] It was held at the 12-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km) Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 7, 2017. Event creator, Don Panoz served as the grand marshal for the 2017 event.^[4]

As the final race of the 2017 season, the race marked the swansong for the PC class. First introduced in 2010, the category ran for eight seasons before a lack of interest lead to IMSA ending the class after the 2017 season.^[5][6]

The BMW M6 GTLM also entered it its final IMSA event, ahead of the switch to new-generation GTE machinery for BMW in 2018.^[7] BMW would introduce the M8 GTE as it was based on the upcoming G15 8 Series.^[8]

This would be the final race for entry for Alex Job Racing as the team would step back from professional racing and focus on their historic restorations.^[9]

Stevenson Motorsports also entered their final race after announcing they would shut down operations following the event.^[10]

After the Monterey Grand Prix 1 week earlier, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 288 points, ahead of Dane Cameron and Eric Curran with 259 points, and João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 258 points.^[11] With 252 points, James French and Patricio O'Ward clinched the PC Drivers' Championship with one race to spare.^[12][11] Antonio García and Jan Magnussen led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 302 points, ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook with 283 points.^[11] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 318 points, ahead of Jeroen Bleekemolen with 292 points.^[11] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Ferrari were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.^[11]

A total of 39 cars took part in the event split across four classes. 10 cars were entered in P, 3 in PC, 9 in GTLM, and 17 in GTD.^[13] In P, Team Penske made their IMSA SportsCar Championship debut.^[14] Rebellion Racing made their first appearance since the Sebring round.^[15] Jonathan Bomarito joined Marc Goossens and Renger van der Zande in the VisitFlorida Racing entry.^[16] Brendon Hartley returned to the #2 Tequila Patrón ESM entry.^[17] Ryan Hunter-Reay joined Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing entry.^[18] Julien Canal joined Olivier Pla and José Gutiérrez in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry. In PC, John Falb joined Garett Grist and Tomy Drissi and in the #26 BAR1 Motorsports entry. In GTLM, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber made their first IMSA SportsCar Championship starts since the 2016 Petit Le Mans.^[19][20] Alessandro Pier Guidi replaced James Calado in the Risi Competizione entry.^[13] In GTD, Montaplast by Land-Motorsport made their first appearance since Sebring while Alex Job Racing made their first appearance since the Lime Rock round.^[13] Michael Christensen and Michael de Quesada returned to the Alegra Motorsports entry. Sheldon van der Linde joined Connor De Phillippi and Christopher Mies in the Montaplast by Land-Motorsport entry. Patrick Long joined Gunnar Jeannette and Cooper MacNeil in the Riley Motorsports - WeatherTech Racing entry.^[21] Trent Hindman joined Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in the Paul Miller Racing entry.

There 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.^[22]

The first practice session took place at 11:10 am ET on Thursday and ended with Renger van der Zande topping the charts for VisitFlorida Racing, with a lap time of 1:12.650.^[23] James French set the fastest time in PC.^[24] The GTLM class was topped by the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR of Laurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:18.320.^[24] Jeroen Mul was fastest in GTD.^[23]

The second practice session took place at 3:15 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Juan Pablo Montoya topping the charts for Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:12.445.^[27] The PC class was topped by the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of Patricio O'Ward with a time of 1:16.152.^[28] Alessandro Pier Guidi was fastest in GTLM while Katherine Legge set the fastest time in GTD.^[29][28]

The night practice session took place at 7:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Brendon Hartley topping the charts for Tequila Patrón ESM, with a lap time of 1:12.017.^[32] Patricio O'Ward set the fastest time PC by 0.407 seconds ahead of Buddy Rice in the #20 BAR1 Motorsports entry.^[33] The GTLM class was topped by the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM of Alexander Sims with a time of 1:17.818. Nicky Catsburg was second in the sister #24 car and Tommy Milner rounded out the top 3.^[34] Jack Hawksworth was fastest in GTD.^[34]

The fourth and final practice session took place at 11:40 am ET on Friday and ended with Hélio Castroneves topping the charts for Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:11.968.^[37] James French set the fastest time in PC.^[38] The GTLM class was topped by the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Toni Vilander with a time of 1:17.497.^[39] Connor De Phillippi was fastest in GTD with a time of 1:20.175.^[39]

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.^[41][22]

The first was for cars in GTD class. Matteo Cressoni qualified on pole for the class driving the #63 Scuderia Corsa entry, besting Andy Lally in the #93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry.^[42]

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Toni Vilander qualified on pole driving the #62 car for Risi Competizione, beating Richard Westbrook in the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing car by less than one tenth of a second.^[43]

The third session of qualifying was for cars in the PC class. James French set the fastest time driving the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.^[42]

The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole driving the #6 car for Team Penske, besting Pipo Derani in the #22 Tequila Patrón ESM entry.^[44]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡. All Prototype and Prototype Challenge cars were grouped together on the starting grid, regardless of qualifying position.

• ¹ The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry was moved to the back of the P field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[41]
• ² The No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field due to failing post qualifying technical inspection.
• ³ The No. 33 Riley Motorsports - Team AMG entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[41]
• ⁴ The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[41]

Jordan Taylor, and Ricky Taylor took the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 310 points. They were 19 points ahead of Cameron, and Curran in second position. Barbosa and Fittipaldi followed in third place with 291 points, ahead of Goikhberg and Simpson in fourth with 277 points and Ryan Dalziel and Sharp in fifth with 273 points.^[47] With 283 points, French and O'Ward won the PC Drivers' Championship, 39 points ahead of Yount in second.^[47] García and Magnussen took the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 334 points. They were 17 points ahead of Auberlen and Sims in second position. Hand and Müller followed in third place with 306 points, ahead of Briscoe and Westbrook with 306 points and Pilet and Werner with 295 points.^[47] With 340 points, Balzan and Nielsen won the GTD Drivers' Championship, 20 points ahead of Bleekemolen in second. Lindsey was in third position with 298 points and Klingmann was fourth with 294 points.^[47] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Ferrari won their respective Manufactures' Championships while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa won their respective Teams' Championships.^[47]

Class winners are denoted in bold and with ‡

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
• Note: Bold names include the Drivers', Teams', and Manufactures' Champion respectively.