Petit Le Mans: the French shine in LMP2 and GTLM, collapse in DPi

Eight French drivers were at the start of this 24th edition of Petit Le Mans, on the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (Georgia, United States). Four of them were entered in the premier DPi category: Sébastien Bourdais, associated with Tristan Vautier and Loïc Duval on a Cadillac DPi-VR from JDC Miller Racing, then Simon Pagenaud, who shared another prototype of the same brand (from team Ally Racing) with Jimmie Johnson and Kamui Kobayashi. But if the latter finished in 4th position, the French trio threw in the towel at 1h30 from the finish, following a mechanical problem. We can therefore speak of rPoor results in the prototype category.

Gabriel Aubry, first in LM P2

The young Frenchman, who shared the No. 8 Oreca 07 of the Tower Motorsport team, with the Canadian John Farano and, as his name suggests, the American James French, won the LM P2 category. He did not cross the finish line as a winner, but recovered the victory following a penalty 37 seconds inflicted on the Oreca 07 n ° 52 (PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport team), then driven by Ben Keating. The reason for this penalty? A touchdown between n ° 52 and n ° 8 for the victory on the last lap, which led the race management to stick a drive through (passage through the pit lane) to the driver of n ° 52. As the race was drawing to a close, the driver did not have time to take his penalty, which was transformed into a fixed time. Deprived of victory, Ben Keating and Mikel Jensen, supported by Scott Huffaker in this race, are nevertheless crowned champions of the season.

Mathieu Jaminet Winner at GTLM

Here again, things were not easy, and as often in IMSA the twists and turns were numerous. Ten minutes from the finish, French driver Kevin Estre (associated with Fred Makowiecki and Michael Christensen), driving a WeatherTech Racing Porsche RSR-19, was in battle for victory with Nick’s Corvette C8.R Tandy (associated with Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims). The latter was doing everything to take command of the race, especially after the abandonment of the sister car a few hours earlier. But it was without counting on the pressure put by Mathieu Jaminet, in third position at the wheel of another Porsche, shared with Matt Campbell and Cooper MacNeil. Feeling caught in a sandwich, the driver of the Corvette Racing team wanted to try everything for everything, but hooked up with the Mazda of Harry Tincknell, the very one who will win the general classification! Once the Corvette was off the track, the two Porsches then took off for a double, Jaminet eventually gaining the upper hand over his teammate.

Weather and tires as a referee

This season, Petit Le Mans took place a month later, which generated the doubling of the night race duration (four hours instead of two), but also a lower temperature, raised to 5 ° C at the end race. The organizers were unable to start the event earlier due to television coverage issues, but this situation was a little challenge for the pilots in terms of tires. In IMSA heating blankets are not allowed for tires, which means that each time a pilot changes his tires, he leaves with cold erasers and must be extra careful during the first laps. This necessarily has an impact on the lap times. Michelin, sole supplier of the championship, has enlightened us on this question, and the solutions proposed to the teams against adapting to the phenomenon. “The team engineers have studied, on the basis of our recommendations, the possibility of riding at the lowest possible pressure to promote mechanical grip,” said Hans Hemmel, Michelin manager in IMSA. “But in these cool conditions, it is precisely a slightly higher pressure which allows the temperature to be put in the tires more quickly. It was therefore necessary to find the best compromise between grip and revving, and the results obtained were excellent. As always, the tire is an essential part of the race!

The next season of the IMSA championship will start on January 27, 2022, with the Rolex 24 from Daytona. A 24-hour race where it will certainly be cold overnight, but the prototypes will then have two different compounds at their disposal, against only one at Petit Le Mans.

Photo : Rick Dole

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Eight French drivers were at the start of this 24th edition of Petit Le Mans, on the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (Georgia, United States). Four of them were entered in the premier DPi category: Sébastien Bourdais, associated with Tristan Vautier and Loïc Duval on a Cadillac DPi-VR from JDC Miller Racing, then Simon Pagenaud, who shared another prototype of the same brand (from team Ally Racing) with Jimmie Johnson and Kamui Kobayashi. But if the latter finished in 4th position, the French trio threw in the towel at 1h30 from the finish, following a mechanical problem. We can therefore speak of rPoor results in the prototype category.

Gabriel Aubry, first in LM P2

The young Frenchman, who shared the No. 8 Oreca 07 of the Tower Motorsport team, with the Canadian John Farano and, as his name suggests, the American James French, won the LM P2 category. He did not cross the finish line as a winner, but recovered the victory following a penalty 37 seconds inflicted on the Oreca 07 n ° 52 (PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport team), then driven by Ben Keating. The reason for this penalty? A touchdown between n ° 52 and n ° 8 for the victory on the last lap, which led the race management to stick a drive through (passage through the pit lane) to the driver of n ° 52. As the race was drawing to a close, the driver did not have time to take his penalty, which was transformed into a fixed time. Deprived of victory, Ben Keating and Mikel Jensen, supported by Scott Huffaker in this race, are nevertheless crowned champions of the season.

Mathieu Jaminet Winner at GTLM

Here again, things were not easy, and as often in IMSA the twists and turns were numerous. Ten minutes from the finish, French driver Kevin Estre (associated with Fred Makowiecki and Michael Christensen), driving a WeatherTech Racing Porsche RSR-19, was in battle for victory with Nick’s Corvette C8.R Tandy (associated with Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims). The latter was doing everything to take command of the race, especially after the abandonment of the sister car a few hours earlier. But it was without counting on the pressure put by Mathieu Jaminet, in third position at the wheel of another Porsche, shared with Matt Campbell and Cooper MacNeil. Feeling caught in a sandwich, the driver of the Corvette Racing team wanted to try everything for everything, but hooked up with the Mazda of Harry Tincknell, the very one who will win the general classification! Once the Corvette was off the track, the two Porsches then took off for a double, Jaminet eventually gaining the upper hand over his teammate.

Weather and tires as a referee

This season, Petit Le Mans took place a month later, which generated the doubling of the night race duration (four hours instead of two), but also a lower temperature, raised to 5 ° C at the end race. The organizers were unable to start the event earlier due to television coverage issues, but this situation was a little challenge for the pilots in terms of tires. In IMSA heating blankets are not allowed for tires, which means that each time a pilot changes his tires, he leaves with cold erasers and must be extra careful during the first laps. This necessarily has an impact on the lap times. Michelin, sole supplier of the championship, has enlightened us on this question, and the solutions proposed to the teams against adapting to the phenomenon. “The team engineers have studied, on the basis of our recommendations, the possibility of riding at the lowest possible pressure to promote mechanical grip,” said Hans Hemmel, Michelin manager in IMSA. “But in these cool conditions, it is precisely a slightly higher pressure which allows the temperature to be put in the tires more quickly. It was therefore necessary to find the best compromise between grip and revving, and the results obtained were excellent. As always, the tire is an essential part of the race!

The next season of the IMSA championship will start on January 27, 2022, with the Rolex 24 from Daytona. A 24-hour race where it will certainly be cold overnight, but the prototypes will then have two different compounds at their disposal, against only one at Petit Le Mans.

Photo : Rick Dole

More motorsport news:

MotoGP Valencia: Bagnaia winner but Rossi in our hearts

MotoGP: the 12 most beautiful races of Valentino Rossi

Why is Petit Le Mans called Petit Le Mans?