2021 Petit Le Mans

The 2021 Petit Le Mans (known as the 2021 MOTUL Petit Le Mans for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th running of the Petit Le Mans, and was held on November 13, 2021. It was the 12th and final race in the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the 4th race of the 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup. The race was held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. This race was the last ever race for the GTLM Class.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the eighth consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and 24th Petit Le Mans.^[1] The 2021 Petit Le Mans was final of 2021's IMSA sports car endurance races, and the last of four races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC).^[2] The race took place at the 12-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km) Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.

The 2021 running marked the event's return to the final calendar spot on the schedule following the wholesale schedule changes that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.^[3] The 2021 edition underwent a date change of its own, being postponed from its traditional early-October spot to the weekend of November 13th.^[4] The event featured support from four of IMSA's supporting series; the Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA Prototype Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup North America, and Mazda MX-5 Cup.^[5]

On November 3, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event.^[6] In GTLM, the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R received a one-liter reduction in fuel capacity, while in GTD the 2021 debut of the McLaren required its addition to the BoP table.

This would be the final race for entry Mazda Motorsports as Mazda was stepping back from all racing activities following the 2021 season with the exception of the Mazda MX-5 Cup.^[7] Also making its farewell was the GTLM class which in 2022 would be replaced by the new GTD Pro class.^[8]

Before the race, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 3071 points, ahead of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr in second with 3052 points.^[9] In LMP2, Mikkel Jensen and Ben Keating led the Drivers' Championship with 1807 points, ahead of Tristan Nunez and Steven Thomas.^[9] With 1800 points, Gar Robinson led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship, 50 points ahead of Jon Bennett and Colin Braun.^[9] Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 3269 points, 127 points ahead of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy.^[9] With 2938 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Zacharie Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor, ahead of Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers.^[9] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Pfaff Motorsports each led their own Teams' Championships.^[9]

A total of 43 cars took part in the event, split across five classes. 7 were entered in DPi, 5 in LMP2, 10 in LMP3, 6 in GTLM, and 15 in GTD.

In DPi, the expected addition of the Endurance Cup effort from Ally Cadillac Racing was present, while Hélio Castroneves replaced Olivier Pla as Meyer Shank Racing's third driver.^[10] In LMP2, United Autosports returned to complete their scheduled Endurance Cup campaign. In GTLM the pair of BMW Team RLL M8s returned for the Endurance Cup, WeatherTech Racing also added a second entry, which alongside its own full time entry and the two Corvettes boosted the class to six entries for its last ever race. LMP3 saw its largest grid of the season with ten cars, which included a series debut for FastMD Racing.^[11] Returns for United Autosports, Forty7 Motorsports, Jr III Racing (whose lineup included former IndyCar driver Spencer Pigot),^[12] and WIN Autosport^[13] helped to boost the class to its record-breaking entry number. GTD also featured a number of changes, including the first appearance of the season for the McLaren 720S GT3, fielded by Inception Racing.^[14] NTE Sport and Gilbert/Korthoff Motorsports also returned as part of their selective 2021 calendars, as did Alegra Motorsports, who added Mercedes-AMG factor driver Daniel Juncadella to their lineup.^[15] Winward Racing also returned for the first time since their class victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona,^[16] while the Heart of Racing Team dropped their second entry.^[17]

Just hours before the race, Earl Bamber stepped in for Kevin Magnussen in Chip Ganassi Racing's DPi-class entry after Magnussen fell ill.^[18]

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, all three one on Thursday. The first session on Thursday morning lasted one hour. The second session on Thursday afternoon lasted 75 minutes. The final session on Thursday evening lasted 90 minutes.^[19]

The first practice session took place at 9:20 am ET on Thursday and ended with Felipe Nasr topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:09.508, ahead of the No. 01 Cadillac of Renger van der Zande.^[20] Gabriel Aubry set the fastest time in LMP2.^[21] Colin Braun was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:15.916.^[22] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Frédéric Makowiecki with a time of 1:16.726. Mathieu Jaminet was second in the sister No. 79 WeatherTech Racing entry and Antonio García rounded out the top 3.^[20] Bill Auberlen set the fastest time in GTD.^[21] The session was red flagged twice. 33 minutes into the session, the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P of Jonathan Bomarito stopped at turn eight due to a mechanical issue.^[20] 15 minutes later, Steven Thomas in the No. 11 WIN Autosport entry stopped just before turn ten.^[20]

The second practice session took place at 2:20 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Harry Tincknell topping the charts for Mazda Motorsports, with a lap time of 1:09.356, 0.044 seconds faster than Felipe Nasr's No. 31 Cadillac.^[25] Mikkel Jensen set the fastest time in LMP2.^[26] Dylan Murry was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:16.413.^[25] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:16.938. Kévin Estre was second fastest in the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing entry and Mathieu Jaminet rounded out the top 3.^[27] Robby Foley was fastest in GTD.^[27] The session was red flagged three times for on-track incidents. The No. 8 Oreca of John Farano collided with Jan Heylen's Porsche at turn twelve and brought out the first red flag.^[25][26] The No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 of Oliver Askew stopped on track resulting in the sessions second red flag. The final stoppage came when Jim Cox spun the No. 91 Ligier at turn 10a and got beached.^[25]

The third and final practice session took place at 6:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Tristan Vautier topping the charts for JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing, with a lap time of 1:10.796, ahead of The No. 01 Cadillac of Kevin Magnussen.^[30] Mikkel Jensen set the fastest time in LMP2.^[31] Rasmus Lindh was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:16.605.^[32] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Frédéric Makowiecki with a time of 1:17.253. Mathieu Jaminet was second in the sister No. 79 WeatherTech Racing entry and Jesse Krohn rounded out the top 3.^[31] Jack Hawksworth was fastest in GTD.^[32]

Qualifying was broken into four sessions.^[19] The first was for cars in GTD class. Madison Snow qualified on pole driving the No. 1 car for Paul Miller Racing, beating Benjamin Hites in the No. 42 NTE Sport entry. Robby Foley was third in the No. 96 BMW followed by Aaron Telitz in the No. 14 Lexus.^[35]

The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Jesse Krohn qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 24 car for BMW Team RLL, beating Matt Campbell in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing entry by just over five-tenths of a second.^[36] Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 championship points.^[35]

The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Niklas Krütten qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 2 car for United Autosports, besting Rasmus Lindh in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry.^[35]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi and LMP2 classes. Felipe Nasr took overall pole for the event driving the No. 31 car for Whelen Engineering Racing, beating Harry Tincknell in the Mazda Motorsports entry. Nasr reduced Albuquerque and Taylor's points lead to eight points heading into the race.^[37] Ben Keating qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca.^[36]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

Derani and Nasr took the DPi Drivers' Championship with 3407 points. They were 11 points ahead of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor.^[43] With 2162 points, Jensen and Keating won the LMP2 Drivers' Championship, 136 points ahead of Nunez and Thomas in second.^[43] With 2176 points, Robinson won the LMP3 Drivers' Championship, 186 points ahead of Bennett and Braun.^[43] Antonio García and Jordan Taylor took the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 3549 points. They were 101 points ahead of Milner and Tandy in second. MacNeil was third with 3356 points and Campbell was fourth with 2084 points.^[43] With 3284 points, Robichon and Vanthoor won the GTD Drivers' Championship, 121 points ahead of Sellers and Snow in second. De Angelis and Gunn were third position with 3111 points and Long was fourth with 2943 points.^[43] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Porsche won their respective Manufactures' Championships while Whelen Engineering Racing, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Pfaff Motorsports won their respective Teams' Championships.^[43]

Class winners 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.