2025 IMSA Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta | Race Recap

You saw the gap back to the GT field as Blomqvist aboard that light blue, accurate GTP machine comes through the final corner. Green flag waves racing at the 28th annual Petit Le Mans. Look at Aitken juking around. He looked to the inside. There's Nasa there with a really good start. The Porsche slides into P3 as they climb the hill. This is going to be interesting. LMP2 cars in with GTP as well. And now on the right side of the screen, the GTP. green. BMW to the front with authority, but the prototype is getting stacked up on the left side of the screen. GTD field, though, three wide now as they go to turn three. Like Atlanta traffic on 85 coming north to the racetrack, side by side, GT cars down through the S's to turn five. It is wild already. That is really crazy. Aaron Telus and the Corvette going side by side. Here we go. Seventy Inception Ferrari involved as well as the thirty four Ferrari. See what happened here. Cal watching further up the hill. Oh, there's the yellow and just gets backwards. And then the 70 of a reap nose to nose heavy impact. But Joey hand with nowhere to go. Right on board here, Joey, I think, could see the incident. He backs up. Brandon straight into then that collects Joey ironically, or coincidentally, the 13 cars right in the picture as well. He may have survived. He's in that battle for the Aiken award to get that invite to Lamar for next year. You saw you saw Joey hand check up and it looked like he was going to stay out of the problem. And as he tried to go around it, he just got collected for the hood of that number 70 Ferrari of a reap just went flying as John Potter lifts the car back in the forty five now wounded with left rear damage. The restart zone is at the exit of ten B right there. So drivers already on it. But here's the thing about 70 degrees. That's low ambient temperature. The track is cold as well, and it's going to take a little while to get these tires warm and sticky. You can see the drivers weaving around already trying to generate some of that temperature. Look at that. Oh, that's so tight there. The 40 car trying to squeeze inside the second of the BMWs going into the high speed turn one. One of the cars with the most significant damage is a Mustang from gradient racing and Joey hand the first 30 seconds of the race. How do you describe that? I mean, just kind of crazy. I don't know why people were getting so nuts there on the start. I had one car that let go at another one outside me coming down the hill, and I saw a car spinning, started checking up pretty easily going to miss it as far as I was starting out the front and just got smoked from behind like, I mean, really, really hard. So that pushed me into another car, and I don't know who was who, but it was pretty it was a hard hit from behind, especially. So yeah, I don't think we need to be racing like that beginning, probably. But you know, it's biggest shame is for this gradient team. You know, I love being on this on this team and all the people here stuff to be out in the first 35 seconds of race. Thankful for this Ford Mustang dark horse, but it's pretty tore up. I don't think you're not going to see it back on the track, but I'm all right. Wish we could have got through that. I got to tell you, I don't remember the last time I was involved in a wreck where I had to get out of the car. You know, you get tore up here and there, but yeah, it's a shame. I just feel really bad for the team, but you know, hopefully we get to do it again together. You can certainly hear the disappointment and frustration in Joey hands voice, such a stellar shoe behind the wheel. We're not going to get a chance to see him perform today going on bad. They may like to do that green mirror, which would be GTD car. But maybe it wasn't a mirror. Maybe it was from contact earlier. You're going to see that. You just see it over that green rise. It is a mirror and it sees it. He sees it right at the last moment, tries to get back to the right hand side of the road, just clips it. And oftentimes it's a Ferrari that has the mirrors hanging way out compared to the other cars that are the most vulnerable. So it wouldn't surprise me if it was a GTD Ferrari mirror on board here, dare you to miss it. And it's gone caution already. You heard it hurt him, cracked the throttle. So I think the team has said we've gone caution. He immediately cracked the throttle, but then he suddenly saw that mirror in front of him. This is where the GTP drivers earn their pay. You've got to look ahead. Think ahead. Where can I use this traffic to my advantage? Where is it going to bump me? That's tight. That is super tight. Almost touching there at about 150 miles an hour. That could have been a disaster for Blomqvist and the driver of the P2 car there, because it was, the downhill is rarely too wide like that. We've seen huge accidents from there. To turn number two, battle for third, Aston Martin, Hartnett Racing down the inside of Nasa, the reigning champion, and Aston are into a third place position on pace. Incredible stuff from the Hartnett Racing team, and Roscoe, what a first season this has been. Left-handers are the biggest issue. When he turns right here for five, he just can't see the apex, so he has to drive completely out of the right-hand side of the car and just use the right-hand side of the track. For every trailing car, you hope the spotter is giving these cars information that there's a driver half blind. And the 99 follows him off the road on board P.J. Hyatt. Oh, that was so close. Not sure there was a touch, but both of them fly off the road. That is a massive moment for our championship leader right there, the number 99 car. The safety car is out of the way, and that means Tom Blomqvist is going to be ready to go as soon as he exits this right-hand corner. He'll jump in the throttle of that accurate GTP machine, and I'll tell you what, Jack Aitken not letting him get away. The red Cadillac just behind. A lot of energy in that car. You can just see it from how Jack is really putting that car on edge, weaving around here, trying to clean off the tires as well as generate a bit of tire temperature. Great run here for J.D.C. Miller motorsports. That bright yellow Porsche, privateer car that you see climbing the hill. Max Esteson, the American driver on debut. Great qualifying performance. Yes, he was at the tail end of the field, but very close to the pace of the Penske's. He's putting in a really great stint here. They did test here recently and has really moved their game up a notch. Also a lot of the fans are watching the fact that the 93 just hit pit lane. One of the crew members came back and grabbed a backup steering wheel out of a box because there was something amiss, possibly with the shifting, so we'll look more into that in just a few moments and try to diagnose that problem, but they are definitely in a massive huddle here with the 93. Hopefully they fixed it because the leaders are just coming back as we watch the restart. They could not shift the car, I believe, was the issue on board with the 93, but I think, Kyle, he might have just beaten the leader out, his teammate, Tom Blundquist. Yeah, this guy had electrical gremlins earlier in this weekend, lost a lot of track time. That's why they qualified performance yesterday was quite outstanding, but I spoke to Tristan Vartier. He's been drafted into that car this weekend. He said the problem is the problem in fixing itself, and, you know, we're changing bits and pieces. Then suddenly it doesn't do it again. So the steering wheel controls so many of the operations of these highly sophisticated race cars, but he's still got a bit of drama. It looks like it's still not right, and you may be wondering, well, what would the steering wheel have to do with that? There are so many items that are controlled via the electronic dials on the steering wheel. Sometimes if those dials have a problem or the paddles that you shift with don't have good connections, you don't get the fire that you need. And right now, this problem is not fixed in ninety three. We talk about chaos, mayhem and drama. You don't expect to see this Michelin tire up and out of the ballpark, and it's still going. Oh, why? Any machine? It's the Lone Star Racing Mercedes. They're limping it around. How crazy would it be if there's not a caution because the tire left the facility? Yeah, I don't think this eighty is gonna want to do another one point six miles. Denny is from the Netherlands. Just dragging left rear. That'll be brake rotor rear floor. Come to stop. Now we see a caution. I'm a left hand corner. That's the right call. Pretty sure. A.J. Peterson was saying, Just stop it right there. Let's not tear this thing up. And who did is a great job at Indy. They were super quick there, but they lost a wheel there. They did. Have a look. the pins, just moving around in the wheel. Well, then he gets up to turn three and eventually comes off the job and save a kid is super talented. They see the wheel disappearing, makes it all the way over the hill, continues to ban. There's our leader right there. Go. Yes. Yeah. This could be a record for a loose wheel in terms of distance traveled because we lost sight of it. Once it cleared the wall, I think it did another quarter mile like a golf ball. Yeah, I never get lucky like that. My golf ball does end up where this Michelin tire ends. That's like me hitting my slice into the parking lot. Typically, though, mine go to the right. Watch this. Nearly caught back up with the race car and Blomquist. It literally went right over it. So the head of the field, Matthew Jamin a looking for the championship in hand as they run. But it's not over. He's being chased by Colin Brown in the blue Acura, Kevin Magnuson, third in that BMW number twenty four and Magnuson already in his groove. Let's see what he can do. Get into a rhythm earlier. Maybe then the cars in front of him. These are top pros and a great run going here for the eighty five squad J.D.C. Miller Motorsports. That's the bright yellow Porsche. They got Porsche factory driver Neil Jani been drafted in for this weekend alongside time in Van der Helm and Max Estes and did an awesome job during his opening stint here today. Had that car running up in the top five. Right. Debut performance. It is. So that was great. The team has really learned a lot. They finally did a little bit of testing here about a month ago, did a couple of days first time since an open test way back at Sebring. And that really is a turn the tide a little bit for that whole group. Smoking here on the back straightaway. I think that's a spike. That's the ninety nine. That's the championship leading car. It's got some issues going on right now. What has Johnny Edgar gotten into? I wonder if he's got cut down tire and he couldn't really break correctly either. Maybe that smoke flat right rear. We may be hearing. You could see the smoke. He's coming down the straightaway at top speed and then suddenly didn't have the braking ability. It changes the crossway and the weight in the car as they come across. And look at that. I mean, just look at that. for his two teammates. Cameron and Hyatt. They are now they're in a deficit. This is the type of thing that happens in the last hour. You have no time to recover today, but right now, six and a half hours to go. Hopefully there's no bodywork damage. They just change that wheel and continue all the rest of behind the wheel of this car. Dan Goldberg, his teammate in position to win the driver's championship in L.M.P. If they can outlast and outrace the A.O. Racing ninety nine. See the crossway in the car. These cars are so stiffly sprung without right flat. You could see he came in his pit box. The left front is kind of up in the air like sitting in a restaurant when you got a chair that's got uneven feet and it doesn't want to settle on the floor. That's exactly what the race car feels like when you got pressure drop in one corner of the race car. A.O. Racing crew going to work. They're going to replace that whole back end there, Chris. It pops off. Going to put the new one back on. Yeah, Dave, that's because when that tire went go, they let go. They felt like they had some damage on the rear wing. So better to be safe than sorry. And you could see the assembly being put in rapidly by the crew. And just as quickly as I say that Johnny Edgar is down in a way he did report the flat tire on the right rear. He said it just let go. He's not sure if he hit something on the racetrack or there may have been contact. But either way, a rapid response by the crew has him down in a way. And again, that championship is going to flip flop back and forth. Now they're in second. Going to try to track down that 22 again. You could see on the back end there, the Gunner Jeanette led a.o. Racing team had the wrap all ready for the spike where he got hit there as they accelerated off of turn seven. And incident is under review. I mean, he got into the brake zone. I'm sure he was coming in there much reduced pace, but even so, we couldn't quite keep it together there to keep the car on the road. Tell you what, Jack Aitken was hoping to get by Tom Blomquist and for Blomquist, when he leaves the race this evening, goes back to the hotel, he's still going to see a Cadillac in his rearview mirror, I think, because Aitken has been there entire time and I think each time we do a restart, Jack seems to be a little more aggressive each time in that red wheel and Cadillac. I find it interesting, though, that Aitken hasn't tried to really force a move. It seems like he's had the pace at times, and I wonder how the fuel mileage has been on the Cadillac, because we saw the number ten have to pit a little bit earlier from an energy standpoint, and I wonder if Aitken knows, hey, we might not have the energy stint value of the Acura, so let's just ride and save a little gas in the draft. When you've got cars this close together in the darkness, Townsend, how difficult is it to see? Eliaskier there in the 120, the green Porsche. I thought he was going to run out of road and there'd be contact, and they still haven't touched. Oh, that was crazy there. Eliaskier had to eat up that curb there down through turn four to get risk, not getting into the Ferrari. Phillip, one of the drivers who will be saying goodbye to Bobby Rahal's bunch, Team RLL, no longer campaigning the BMW and the GTP level next year. That'll be WRT, who has taken over for that, and meanwhile, Townsend, battle here. Oh, yeah. 31 to 60 in the 24. This is a three way battle for second. They split a GTD. This is nuts. Mustang again in between the battle in GTD and GTP. Bamber trying to hang on to third gets third from second from Colin Brown. Oh, no. Colin Brown does not want to get trapped on the outside of the downhill there side by side. Oh, boy. We saw that was going to be contact. We saw it just not work in the GTD class. It did work here in GTP. Problem on the racetrack for the 43. This is bad news for Jeremy Clark. He's led the entire race since the start. The number 43 backwards in turn six. He'll have to choose his moment carefully here, Cal. It's a bit blind for him to see who's coming through. Oh, and it's blind for the other cars coming through that turn six. It's a really fast corner, about 110 miles an hour minimum speed. He finally gets back into the rhythm and flow. So, yeah, as you said, Tanzan, they've led from the drop of the green here today. Been an excellent run for that team. And it can change that quickly. I'm not exactly sure how he got backwards there at the exit of six. Let's take a look and find out. Side by side here, the 11, black and yellow. It's a little squeeze. That's Steven Thomas. Good dodge by the number two to jump to the outside. United autosports entry. They just grazed each other a little bit there possibly with the United car on the 43's right side. Meanwhile, Jamine brings the Porsche Penske 963 to pit lane. Matt Yocum is there. And Jam Jam brings the 963 to a stop. The captain, Roger Penske, watching from his perch high above the pit boxes now. Jam Jam's going to get out. Lauren Vanthoor is going to get in. He slides into that cockpit. Fresh Michelin's going on. Nice entry into the box. And because they are the championship point leader coming in, they have an empty box in front. No worries about any kind of traffic whatsoever. In fact, the box that's in front is the penalty box. If you get a penalty and they're going to stop you and pay that price, that's where you would do it. Right in front of the Michelin pit box with a bunch of Michelin fans looking at it. It just seems like it takes forever replenishing the fuel and the six, smoking those brakes easily. So 31 is still on the racetrack, and he'll be looking to put the six a lap down. But 31 still has to pit. Watch the onboard here as Vanthoor look at those eyes so intently focused on cold tires. It's such a handful to drive these cars on the out lap. You are allowed to come, obviously, if you're out of energy. Let's take a look and see how this one evolves. There you go. He hits the wall. Now he's just rolling back onto the racetrack. Stopped. Watch. Here comes Sebastian Alvarez. Oh, just sees him late. Tries to go to the left hand side of that race car and just clips him, but just destroys the right front of the LMP two machine and heavy damage to this Ferrari at the same time, of course. The number nine Lamborghini, the fast car, three mechanics pushing the car with the official to the paddock. Never a good sign. Hinch head to the paddock. Unfortunately, yikes. Don't like to see that lights out on the safety car. They are out of the way. Cars in the restart zone investing aboard that red and white number 31 wheel and Cadillac GTP is on it early in the 31 has been up front all day long. Look what happened here. Look at this. The 60 around the 23. Something happened for Barrett's in the Aston Martin. Just super slow on the restart. Could barely get going out of turn 10. And the number 60 of Scott Dixon jumped all over the opportunity. On board here with the Aston. Three hours and 45 minutes to go. Don't get your driver too anxious about the situation. As we'll take a look again at what led to this. Kirkwood's already by. And then Alto a brilliant job. Just get him. Doesn't look like he's going to make it. He knows he's in a disadvantage. But that Ferrari making a smooth move. Take a look at this traffic here. GTD traffic. Top of the screen. Just amazing. See that side view mirror dangling there on the Aston Martin there. And he takes another up. Then it goes missing. He's been on track. That's the 81. Another Ferrari involved as well. And to add maybe some salt in the wound. The car 81. A penalty for a tire without a crew in pit lane. So he's got a drive-through penalty to serve as well. And if there is any damage on that race car, they can't service it while serving a penalty. A little bit to unwrap here. The GTD leader 21. Alessandro Pierghi. He was around the corner. Albert Costa behind the wheel. He hadn't been out there long. He's got 98% energy still. So he must have just gone out on his second lap after a pit stop. So do you think possibly, well, we'll take a look at the replay. Possibly serving his penalty? Was he coming to pit road? He's serving the penalty now for an issue on the previous pit stop. But that doesn't have any effect on the issue he had on the race track. He intended to come in there if he was misjudged out there. Let's see. He just went for a gap there that really wasn't there on the other Ferraris. So this is going to be looked at as well. And hopefully for Albert Costa's sake and the Dragonspeed team, he's not at fault there. See the 85 car there of Esteson just squeaking through. His teammate Valman had an issue in the same chicane about half an hour ago when he got turned by Sheldon van der Linde. This is the drama you expect here in the nighttime hours. Check out what took place in the dark. Wow, that is a really awful place to get nudged off the road. We've seen some monster incidents over the year. That was a brilliant piece of driving and a little bit of luck there to keep that together there for Bachler. The number 22, Dan Goldberg. His championship may be rolling to a stop or rolling behind the pit wall. That car is up on skates. 23 in for a pit stop as well. Wow. Drama. Chris. Certainly drama. We will follow up with that United Autosports issue as they roll that car back to the paddock. Meanwhile, Ross Gunn staying aboard the Valkyrie here as they do a routine service. What a run for this group so far today. Pitting from fourth. Remember, they led night practice. This is the window where this car came to life last night. We'll see if that trend continues today as the driver sits behind the wheel. Got a new bottle of water as well. They're going to do some of the rubber removal from all the tire buildup as well as the energy replenishment. Counting it down, waiting for that number to hit 99. It does, and batting down and away. We saw the problem for the 22 earlier behind the wall. Chris, what do you know? I am top of your screen. It is thrash mode for United Autosports on that 22 machine. Talked to Rasmus Linn, who climbed out of the race car first. He said, I got hit by either the leader in GTP or the 40 machine. Going into turn one, they had right front damage. The attention, as you can see on your screen right now, looks like either the brake rotor or, and I know Townsend and you and Brian could probably diagnose this a little bit better, but they just had just a big enough issue to where Rasmus said, I have to come in and get this fixed. But they're trying to thrash to get it back out. But unfortunately for Dan Goldberg, plummeting as far as points back to that 99, just with the amount of time sitting back here in the paddock. So it is all hands on deck. There are one, two, three, four, at least six or seven United Autosports crew members diagnosing this right front. Hard at work, but certainly trying to not see their championship hope slip away. Something in the suspension there like a ball joint or a push rod. Yeah, I think. Looks like a push rod, but I'm not all that familiar with the front suspension on this car, but obviously it was a big enough hit that it bent it and they're going to have to replace it. Speaking of checking and seeing what happened to the 93, little adventure for Ringer Van Duzando to see if we can find out what happens side by side with the seven. Seven squeezed him out there. Nads are on the attack. Wow. At least he's got headlights this year to see where he's going. For a guy that's in the insurance business part-time, he sure does live life on the edge. I know these Michelin tires are good. I know they're good on the racetrack. I didn't expect them to be that good in the grass. They're all weather. They must be. Guys, the Penske crew members are up on the wall. As soon as they heard the call from the 31, Travis Law, the strategist, said, All right, we're going to come this time. The other factor is in here. Think about that manufacturer's title. The 6 car might have their eyeballs on the 60 as much as they do the 31 because if Acura beats the Porsche, that could turn the tables in the manufacturer fight. We've speculated. How long does it take for a splash and go? That Aston Martin or Roman DeAngelis was 42 seconds back. How much energy do these two guys need? Kevin, they're coming to you. The goal is five seconds. Let's watch the 31 wheel and engineering action express. I think we're at 2, 3, 4, 5. Can they release? We'll keep an eye on the 6. It's taking a little bit longer than that, Matt. And the 6 pulls in front of the 31. Hits his marks in the box. The most important movement now is Zach Griggs. Clean engagement. Travis Law counting him down. All right. He clean disengaged. He's away. 30 seconds of energy. 23 through turn 1. Should be flashing by right now. At least that's the way it looks on the dancing ants. Where are they on the racetrack? Tough to tell at night as there's a car off in turn 5. This is turn 5 as they approach. We'll look for any stray headlights. Maybe just somebody dropped a wheel. Long pistons on pit lane. Topping up right now as well in the Acura. Waiting for things to get sorted out. So difficult to figure out who's who in this cacophony of lights that are coming at you. That interval will be updated at start-finish. We know DeAngelis much closer to Bamber than 31 seconds. Yeah, and importantly, we talked about Jaminé backing off. We talked about potentially DeAngelis leapfrogging around him. That's exactly what's happened here. DeAngelis runs third. Jaminé fourth. Big question mark is on Grosjean if he can make it. And how far up the road is Bamber? Now it gets updated. DeAngelis just four seconds back. Wow, that was close. One more time under the bridge down through turn 12. He can see the checkered flag from here. Earl Bamber will celebrate his first win at Petit Le Mans. The 31st win, the class win for the Wheelan-Cadillac engineering team. And for Jack Aitken, not feeling well today. I think his spirits have been lifted with this victory. Frederic Vestey doing his job as well. 21, Pierre Ghidi. Look how close it is, guys, between the two Ferrari factory drivers. James Colato gave it all that he could trying to get to the line. Could not get past the 21. And the 21 will celebrate. AF Corsa takes a victory here at Petit Le Mans. Now Paul Miller racing. Victories for both of their cars this year. And looking for another win at Petit Le Mans for this program. Questions surrounding it. The program for 2026, no question here. Looking for the third win in 2025. And the second class win at Petit Le Mans. And for Dan Harper, he can see it. He, Max Husserl, Connor DiFilippe. They'll take the win at Petit Le Mans. I mean, driver of the day for me. Cal, guys, never seen Road Atlanta before. His first time here, he finishes in the night. And they win by 26 seconds. Hugely impressive. Yeah, what a talent. He really is just a super win. Whether that's their last ride with BMW, we'll have to wait and see. And the 11 takes the win. We talked about the up and down weekend for TDS Racing. They take the victory. Hard fought seems like an understatement for what that team went through. TDS Racing, remember, three in a row at Indianapolis. They started the season with the win at Daytona. Mikkel Jensen, Hunter McElroy, and perhaps most importantly, Stephen Thomas. Is it really his last race in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship after the performance that they had here today? There are the drivers standing. Remember at the beginning of the year, it was three in a row for the seven car. And then wheels kind of fell off. The consistent ones were the six. They were there week in and week out, and they walk away with a Rolex watch. They did. Only one win on the year, but that doesn't matter. They got the big title. And look at the 31 car. Two wins, suddenly. Volk's Jack Aitken to split the two Penske machines in the overall points standings. Yeah, I agree. The 31, if you're not going to win the championship, you want to finish strong. They certainly did that at Indianapolis and right here at Road Atlanta. So, wins on the 93 and the 60 as well throughout the year. So, Acura showing well, and they were in it for the Manufacturer's Championship as well. What a great job, though, by A.O. Racing. They come away with the championship. Hard fought, for sure. Absolutely. And just like we saw in the GTP overall standings with the win here tonight, suddenly Stephen Thomas leapfrogs ahead of one of the other championship contenders coming in, Dan Goldberg. He had a great run here today. He really gave everything. Unfortunately, that incident with his teammate running over the curb, breaking the suspension, ruined their day and ruined their championship chances on the 22. Yeah, Robinson and Fraga come home fourth. Last LMP2 race for Gar Robinson. We'll miss him. But I look to the champion there, Dane Cameron, along with P.J. Hyatt, for Dane Cameron to win a championship, lose his ride, gather things back up, and then repeat again. What a fifth championship in IMSA for that driver. Nobody else has done that in the modern era of IMSA sports car racing. That's awesome. GTD Pro, it was a great win all year long. And throughout the day, that championship went back and forth and back and forth. And for a while, the longest time, it looked like Hosta had it there in the 81. But then things went south. And as I said, once the snowball started rolling downhill, it just seemed to get bigger. Just that final quarter of the race, they just seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, just burned them a couple of times in terms of penalties, incidents, and it just went the way of the three cars. So consistent. Garcia and Sims did get that big win at VIR, but another big trophy for Garcia, but still yet to get that Petit Le Mans victory. GTD standings, and this one was wrapped up early, the 57, Ellison Ward. And they were almost, dare I say, Penske-like over the last two seasons, collecting max points wherever they could find them. And it's just saying, hey, this is as good as we're going to be today, but we're not going to throw it away. We're going to collect points, and we're going to collect championships. And I think a real career-defining season for Kenton Cook. I mean, he impressed start to finish, made some amazing passes on track, comes into this race with a sprained ankle, has to switch to right-foot braking at the last second, and still manages a way to impress again on track. So great job from the 023. Monster Drive, the team had the fastest lap of the race, and you brought it home two for two to the end. How did you guys get this done? I mean, that was a real team effort. I mean, we had a wicked fast car all day, but there was a lot of strategy going on as well. You know, I think the McGinney guys played a fantastic strategy there at the end, but full credit to this Wheatland Cadillac. We've had a fast car for the last couple races, and it's amazing to get back-to-back wins for the team. I mean, we've been digging all season, and this is just a true credit to everyone at Cadillac, everyone back at the shop. And, whoa, I can't believe the first one here. It feels great. That's what I was going to say. You've accomplished a lot, but this is one of the big ones. What's the significance of Petit Le Mans? I mean, it is one of the big ones. It's, you know, one of the ones that every single driver in the world wants to win and managed to finally capture one overall, so it's definitely a special moment. I can't wait for my teammates because, you know, Jack did an amazing job qualifying at the front. He didn't feel too good in the middle of the race, but he came through, and then Fred just did a phenomenal job. You know, the rookie this season, he's got a big talent and a big future. So those teams bonded together, and, yeah, we just can't wait for what comes next. Congratulations, Earl Bamber, Frederick Vestey, and Jack Aitken win for Wheelan Engineering Action Express. 15th, dating back to 1967, the 15th Sports Car Championship for what started out as Penske Racing. What are you most proud of at this effort this year? Well, I think it's all our team. Certainly, Porsche came to the party with us this year with a great car, and I just can't thank everybody enough. This is a magic moment for us, obviously, to see our two cars finish again, 10 hours, and up on the podium, which is certainly key for us. But more important is the Manufacturer Championship for Porsche and the Team and Driver Championship for us. So great day. I won't forget it. You've had so many iconic drivers pilot your machines. You put Mathieu Jaminet and Matty Campbell together this year. They had so much magic back in GTD Pro. What impressed you the most, start to finish, of their performance? Well, you see them on the racetrack. They're fast. They're consistent. They don't make mistakes, and you couldn't make mistakes today because it was right down to the end there, as you could see it, with the way the yellows came out. But overall, they're the best. Congratulations. Roger Penske, this is going to be his 48th championship in auto racing. Incredible run. Well, how about this? 2025. A.O. Racing goes back-to-back with team championships, this time in LMP2. And for this guy, Dan Cameron, fifth, a record fifth in the championship. What are the emotions? You've done it all in different classes, but this one's got to be special. Yeah, super, super special. To go two in a row for the first time is amazing. Super proud of A.O., really thankful to PJ, to Gunnar for bringing me on board to this program. I believe that it could produce this. They believe that I could be the guy to take it here. So really amazing to put all the pieces together. It's been, honestly, a really, really difficult 12 months for me. So this is pretty outstanding. What made this season special? Obviously, the success that you've had at Le Mans, but to cap it off here with a championship, how big was this season for you and your career? Yeah, huge, huge. You know, it's not often you get to win the championship. It's certainly not often you get to win Le Mans and a championship in the same season. So we knew all the pieces were there. It's just a matter of putting it all together. So it just takes some belief and a bit of fun along the way for us with the dinosaurs and dragons and all the rest. So, you know, not only can we have some fun, but, you know, we're here to win as well. So looking forward to more. Congratulations. Dane Cameron, Making History. I want to bring in Gunnar Jannett, co-founder here. We're waiting for PJ, but he's back there celebrating as somebody that saw this program from the ground up with PJ. Now he's a Truman Award winner, not to mention a champion. What is this moment like for A.O. Racing? Oh, it's very, very special. As Dane said, you know, we were able to get our first team championship last year in GTV Pro and then to do it this year in the LMP2 category with PJ. It's just, it hasn't even hit me yet. And to bring a guy like Dane Cameron in and to go right from his fourth championship to his fifth championship with our team, it says a lot about what we're building. For him to have the faith to come from a Penske organization over to us. And I'm just really looking forward to what we can do in the future. Congratulations, Gunnar Jannett and A.O. Racing champions in LMP2. Kristen, the party's just starting. Two in a row for the 11 LMP2 team. Mikkel, absolute perfection in that final stint. How did you find the magic? It was tough. We had a taillight issue with two hours to go, so we had no light on the rear of the car. We had to box to change the tail. It set us back. And from then on, it was just about putting the best laps out there. If we didn't have the best pace on track, we would never have the chance to get back. But yeah, Hunter did great. I got back in the car for the last two hours and just trying to nail those laps. And at the end, we were back at the top. Hunter, the story this weekend has been Thomas's retirement and how meaningful a race win would be for you and this team. How much was that motivating you throughout the weekend? For sure. I mean, I owe Stephen a lot and Emily. They gave me a really great opportunity these last two years. So me and this guy have had some fun with him. Obviously, he's been with him longer than I have even. But to win the last race with him is very special and very fitting. And to be honest, today was probably the best I've seen him drive. He did a mega pole lap. He got put to the back, and then he drove to the front. So not much more of a statement he can make than that. And I think all three of us just executed the job. And it's nice for us. We needed this. We had a rough start to the year. And we knew if we could just execute, we have a dominant pace. So this is proof of that. Tell me what it means to now be a Petit Le Mans winner. It's my second in a row with him. So I don't know how many you won, but he's on three. He's my second now. So it's really special. This race is obviously one that I've always wanted to just compete in. So to win it two in a row from two is I'm a pretty lucky boy. What a phenomenal race for the 11 car guys. Again, two in a row after a win at Indianapolis. Now closing out the season with a win at Petit Le Mans. GTD Pro goes to the Paul Miller Racing BMW. The 48 guys got it done. Conner DiFilippi actually cheated and drove both cars to double his chances. Max Hesse was awesome. And Dan Harper brought it to the finish. And Dan, I'm listening to your scanner. And the team is telling you to be very conservative. Take no chances. The next thing I look, you're passing the Corvette. Tell me how that came together. Yeah, well, I gave it everything to get past. A couple of times I was alongside into the last chicane. I didn't quite pull it off because we were, like they say, taking as little risk as possible. I was very fortunate that he got held up a little through the last corner by a prototype. And I was able to get a good run onto the start finish straight and get up the inside for turn one. And we had some great wheel-to-wheel action through the esses. And he was very fair to me. And I equally was fair to him. So it was nice to get the move done on track. But I think we were sort of going that way anyway with the fuel advantage. So very happy for all the boys. It's been a tough year up and down for both cars. It's a shame for the number one how they were sort of out of contention today quite early. But it's great. Great result for the guys. So very happy. Max, you and Dan are rookies in this series. And it's supposed to be really hard to win here on debut. How did you guys do this? What's this experience been like? It's been awesome. It's been awesome from the first minute we came here this week. The car has always been in a very good spot. And I think also the conditions with getting dark and a bit colder, it came to us at the end. And the race is brutal. It's very tough. I can confirm that. But happy to get it done on the first attempt. Not the first time Connor has been able to get it done in this classic race. You get to play a role of doing a lot of things. First you have to take care of the race car and be fast. But you get to kind of help out these young guns. What's this experience like? How much do you cherish it? It's been amazing. Doing double duty is never easy. But I brought what I could to the table. Both of these guys were fantastic all weekend. Dan did a phenomenal performance. Max as well. I mean, we got to the race lead kind of early in the end of my second stint. And we just kind of managed it from there. I mean, the team did a phenomenal job. I'm blessed to be part of this team. And just happy we ended on a high. Congratulations. Way to finish the season for Paul Miller Racing and the BMW. Securing their first win since spring in 2022. Simon, how much heart was behind this effort? It's been a tough year for sure. There are many situations where we should have had better results. So to be able to come away with a win today for the whole team is huge. Especially here at Petit Le Mans. Such a legendary race. Such an important race. It wasn't easy. But it's a big accomplishment for everyone on the team. A few emotions. How do you feel? For sure, really happy. Like he said, we had a difficult year this year. And it's always good to finish like that. To finish with a really good result. And yeah, it's good for the team. Thanks to all my teammates and the team for the amazing job. And it's good to finish the year like that. This team also locking up the Michelin Endurance Cup championship in the GTD class, Matt. And when you look at history, and you go back to 2022, when they won the GTD Pro Championship, everybody expected the Matt and Mattuxo going to GTP and being together. But they split them up to pair them up with some veterans. This year, finally, the best friends are together. What means the most about your relationship and having it come down, scoring the GTP Championship? Yeah, I mean, it's super special. It's hard to put into words, you know. Like, you know, we've done a lot together over the years and always been strong. And, you know, after winning in 2022, you know, we wanted to be together also in the following years. But unfortunately, that didn't pay off. And now coming back, you know, straight back into things and being competitive and now coming away with a championship, it's absolutely phenomenal, you know, to do it against my best mate. It's, you know, words can't describe, you know. I'm so happy and a big relief off the shoulders now. Now, money can buy speed, but it can't buy chemistry. And you two certainly have had it. Best friends off track. How does that help you guys on track, especially the season when you scored the win at Laguna Seca and that was the jump start to your championship run? Yeah, exactly. I mean, what makes our strength is to support each other. In the end, in the good and the bad days, communication is key. And when you have someone that you can trust 110%, you know, on your shoulder and next to you, yeah, that's everyone can wish a friend like this, but also a teammate, you know. In the end, it's a team sport. We don't do everything by ourselves. So, yeah, it's also up to this guy and to a lot of boys also on the pit stand and in the pits. So, a big thank you to everyone. I've been very close the last two years. Imagine what it could have been maybe if we would have been this last two years also together. Maybe we could have had one more on the way. But, yeah, speechless for this year. No two bigger words than thank you. And you're always grateful. It's on the back of your helmet. It means so much to you that everybody believed in you a decade ago. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's amazing to think how far I've come. You know, also this guy and the sacrifices he had to make along the way. But, you know, the people that were able to support me and get me to this point, you know, all these years ago in 2015 when we set out to go on this journey. And lucky enough we've been able to take every box. And definitely today is another one. So, you know, extremely grateful for everyone who's gotten me to this point in my career. Well, the six had to go to the bullpen. Larry, come on in. Lawrence Vanthor. You were running the six. You were running the seven. You were all over the place. Yeah, well, at one point they told me you're next in the car. I was like, which one? We don't know yet. So I was like, okay. No, it was a pleasure. And I'm really happy for these guys. We obviously know each other well. All the years and all the races we've done together. And they both deserve it very much. So I'm happy I could assist in a little bit. But it's about them. Like the old Penske saying says, effort equals results. These guys, what a season they've had to reach that plateau of a dream resume. Now is GTP Championships in IMSA WeatherTech Racing. Steven Thomas, in what you have said is your last and final professional race, could you have written a better ending to this chapter? No, this is a complete dream ending. You know, when I put it on pole and then had it taken away with the infraction, then I was like, oh, I'm starting from the back and I was down. But then it turned to be my best two stints ever and the most fun I've ever had in a race car. And then to turn it over to the best professional racers and to win not just the race, but the Endurance Cup, which we didn't think we had a chance of coming in, a complete dream ending for me. What has this team and what has racing done for you? Racing is the greatest thing I've ever done. And to find it late in life is just a wonderful thing for what the gentlemen and gentlelady drivers. It is transformative, not just for me, but a lot of the bronzes in the paddock. And it's just been tremendous racing here and racing with IMSA. And, you know, if you can find me a sponsor, I'll come back next year. Well done to this entire team, guys. Just a storybook ending for the 11, not only to win in Indianapolis, but also here in Petit Le Mans in Steven Thomas's final start. Chris, are they drinking champagne down there yet? Yeah, finally, they had to subdue or at least postpone their championship celebration some nine hours and 15 minutes. We found out 45 minutes into the race. Russell Ward, I got to ask you first, back to back, not only titles, but for the manufacturer and Mercedes AMG, a partner you've had for many, many years now as a global leader in customer racing. So what does the significance of that do for this team? Yeah, look, I mean, this year was a little bit more difficult. We didn't have a lot of two full season entries in Mercedes AMG. So, you know, to be able to bring that home in the final race, I mean, is a really nice carrot on top of the, you know, of the cake. So, you know, for us, it's just an awesome day. And, you know, good to have the championship back to back. It proves it wasn't a fluke. And, you know, we're ready for next year, you know, so. Philip, for you, wheeling this car there at the end, obviously you knew the championship was wrapped up for quite some time. But what was the rest of the afternoon like with this team? Just kind of knowing you had it wrapped up, but obviously wanting to go out there for the win. Yeah, I mean, we still had the manufacturer's title to fight for. So it wasn't quite over yet. You know, I think we all would have loved to cap it off with another podium. Yeah, we actually never had a top five. So that's a good one. But I think a little bit unsatisfying how we ended. But, yeah, I was super happy with the result of the year. The team's done a mega job the entire year. Russell's done a mega job, India as well, in the endurance races. And, yeah, just couldn't be happier. That's right. Back to back now, manufacturer's titles as well. And for Indy Donchie, the endurance driver, this has been a dynamic pairing. The three of you, the last couple of years, what has it been like with Wynwood Racing, Mercedes, and now obviously being a part of another championship? Oh, just awesome. It's a great team to be with. Also great teammates. I think we can say we are great friends together. We know everything from each other. Not everything, but on the racing side. So pit stops, everything that goes so well. So, yeah, that's so perfect with this team. And I'm really happy to be here at Wynwood. The boys in blue did it again, although this case here, Petit Le Mans, the car was pink and black. But either way, back-to-back GTD champions, Wynwood Racing and Mercedes. And the championship winning, Antonio Garcia in the three-corvette. Antonio, leading into this weekend, you had told me, despite all of your experience in your 16th Petit Le Mans start, you still had some nerves, some butterflies on wrapping up this championship. Antonio, how good does it feel to now get it done? I mean, obviously very, very happy. I mean, it's been a few years since I've won a championship. But, yeah, really, really happy for the whole Corvette community, Team Chevy, for Alex. I mean, our first championship together. Yeah, I mean, very, very happy to have done all just without. I couldn't have done this without Corvette Racing, all the teammates that I've been driving with over the last 16 years. Yeah, I mean, very happy for that. And, yeah, very, very grateful to be in this position. Alex, in your second IMSA racing championship, take me through what this race was like for you. So mentally demanding. Yeah, it's incredibly intense here at Petit Le Mans every single time I do it. But it's so thrilling. You know, the track is just amazing here at Road Atlanta. Such a nice sequence of corners and so many cars means that all the traffic, all the shenanigans in the race keep you on your toes. So our Corvette was working super well today. And, frankly, all year long, we've had a phenomenal year.