2021 Motul Petit Le Mans
WORDS - MICHEAL BUSH
PHOTOS - ERNIE VENTENILLA
Returning to the rolling Georgia hills just outside of Brasleton for the 24th running of Petit LeMans did not bring just frigid evening temperatures but also an event full of story lines of which some seemed moviesque.
Starting off with a number of farewell drives throughout the IMSA paddock, the end of the GTLM era culminated in the final Battle of the GT Titans from Corvette Racing, WeatherTech Racing, and RLL. WeatherTech racing brought out a second 911 RSR to battle the Corvettes that they traded barbs with throughout the 2021 season and as RLL had planned from season start, both of the BMW M8 GTE took to the grid for the endurance race.
Mazda entered their farewell race in the premiere DPi class bringing just one RT-24P to compete. As has been all season long, the #55 Idemitsu sponsored 2.0 liter prototype proved to be a contender. Only this time in celebration of all of Mazda Motorsports fans and team members, the bright white color way was adorned with signatures of 100s of fans and team members in attendance for the weekends events.
The biggest farewell that came as a surprise to many was the announcement by long time factory Porsche driver, Patrick Long, that he would be retiring from full time motorsport competition after Saturday’s event.
Of the more exciting storylines, however, was that of the DPi championship battle. The Pipo Derani, Mike Conway, and Felipe Nasr piloted #31 Cadillac found themselves in a dogfight for the second straight year with an Acura ARX-05. Only this year it wouldn’t be a white Penske operated by Ricky Taylor, Alexander Rossi and Juan Pablo Montoya. It would instead be a menacing black 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura driven again by Ricky Taylor, Alexander Rossi, and Felipe Albuquerque.
Remaining championships were less contested with the flagship #3 Corvette Racing team securing their championship after a dominating season over a withered down GTLM class.
The #9 Phaff Motorsports team also secured their championship after a stellar season of yet again showing the Canadians came to battle… and battle they did.
The race itself was a war of attrition. Before the green flag had even dropped the #16 Wright Motorsports team had to pull out a reserve 911R chassis after the primary car made heavy contact with a barrier in practice. The #18 fan favorite Era Motorsports LMP2 car wouldn’t make it past the opening laps after an on track close contact pass with the #10 DPi car sent it into a wall; completely demolishing the car and livery which had been seen by its 6 year old creator Owen for the first time just a day earlier. Throughout the early hours, a number of GTD teams faced issues on track. Namely the usual front runner Paul Miller Huracan GT3, which suffered a stuck wheel after making contact with a spun and stationary LMP3 car at 10b. IMSA Diverse Driver Scholarship finalist and Petit LeMans rookie Jaden Conwright would find misfortune after spinning into a retaining barrier nose first in his Audi R8 LMS GT3. The R8 would become no stranger to on track incidents as the race progressed.
Around the midway point of the race “The Big One” occurred. A term more synonymous with stock car racing, IMSA isn’t accustomed to having a big one. Petit would prove that sports car racing is just as capable of massive incidents. In a bizarre chain reaction coming to green flag entering turn 10, a number of GTD cars seemed to drastically slow after the DPi field had taken green. Seeing the green, a number of cars went full throttle resulting in a major pile up which collected over a third of the GTD field along with the championship winning #3 Corvette driven by Jordan Taylor.
As the six o’clock hour fell, so had the last semblance of daily light. And with it, the temperatures. What was already a brisk and breezy day around Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta became downright chilly with nightfall. As the temps dropped, so did traction. The ensuing cat and mouse game which arose from the DPi pit stops and out laps made for some incredible action which saw cars leading the race going straight off course entering the Essex as they strived to put any kind of heat in their cold Michelin slicks. Over the closing hours, the lead would swap between the #60 MSR Acura, #10 WTR Acura, #31 Whalen Cadillac, and the #55 Mazda.
The closing laps, however, would find Harry Tinknell and the #55 securely in the lead while the championship boxing between Ricky Taylor in the Acura and Felipe Nasr in the Cadillac entered the final round. Nasr and team would gamble for 2 new rear tires while Ricky would come in for a set of 4 scuffs. Both would find the grass on their outlap. Felipe would see a 6+ second lead dwindle in the last 5 laps as he pushed to catch the Mazda. By the final lap Nasr would catch GT traffic giving Taylor the blood in the water to attack at. With a massive dive into the Cadillacs left quarter panel entering 10a, Taylor appeared to have pace to fly past Nasr but Nasr twitched the steering left and Taylor went through the left grass at 10a, then through the sand at 10b. He’d regain control after the 10b apex with zero momentum, which would allow Nasr to retake P2 and the championship win.
GTLM would see both WeatherTech Porsches cross the line first, taking the win and P2. The #4 Corvette would be relegated to P2 after a late race brush with the #55 forced them to pit under green.
GTD would have the #23 Art of Racing Aston Martin take the win after having a quiet yet productive race. The Phaff Porsche would come home P2 while also taking the class championship and the #12 Vasser Sullivan RCF GT3 coming in P3.
The 2021 Motul Petit LeMans was in no way short of excitement. From the sheer amount of new and upcoming drivers mixing it up and possibly also leading to on track shenanigans to the incredible battles played out over 10 fall hours in the Georgia countryside, the 2021 event had done one thing for sure! It left us ready and waiting for 2022 action to start at Daytona International Speedway the weekend of January 21, 2022!!
