Photo: Gruppe C Photography/Porsche
Laurens Vanthoor took Team Penske’s first victory at Motul Petit Le Mans during a chaotic, carnage-filled enduro that saw a record 16 cautions on the full course.
Vanthoor held off the No. 24 WRT Team BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde in a frantic final ten-minute shootout to the finish after the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber, the GTP championship winner, crashed.
The Belgian retained the lead after being the last of the first to make his final stops with 50 minutes to go for energy and new Michelin tires on the left side only, but veered off course in the Esses on his final lap.
A second exit a few corners later for the #7 Penske Porsche 963 briefly gave Bamber the lead but Vanthoor regained the lead two laps later in traffic with the #912 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Ricardo Pera in turn 12.
Van der Linde then got around Bamber for second with 45 minutes to go as the Kiwi collapsed to fourth, behind the pole-sitting No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist.
However, contact between Roman De Angelis and Bamber with 19 minutes remaining that sent the Action Express Cadillac into the Turn 1 barriers resulted in the final caution and a pass-through penalty for the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie for liability in the incident during the race restart.
Vanthoor came under pressure from the South African, who shared driving duties with Dries Vanthoor and Robin Frijns, on the final two laps in traffic, but managed to take the checkered flag 1.205 seconds ahead.
Vanthoor took top honors with longtime co-driver Kevin Estre, who scored his long-awaited first career IMSA victory, and Matt Campbell, in his final start as a Porsche factory driver.
It was Porsche’s first overall victory at Petit Le Mans since the rain-shortened 2015 edition, when Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet drove a GTLM-class Porsche 911 RSR to overall honors and was the first for a Porsche prototype in the race’s 29-year history.
Blomqvist was forced to stop on the final lap to gain energy, which promoted the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Lous Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta to the final podium spot.
The No. 10 Cadillac WTR finished fourth in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque, while De Angelis finished fifth after his penalty.
Blomqvist brought the No. 60 Acura MSR back to sixth place in the manufacturer and team’s final outing in WeatherTech Championship competition.
The remainder of the 11-car GTP field all retired due to accidents.
Although Bamber finished the race in the barriers, his co-driver Jack Aitken clinched his first GTP title by simply going off the grid. It also gave the team and manufacturer titles to Action Express and Cadillac, respectively.
The #7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr crashed dramatically on the front straight with 90 minutes to go after checking behind Vanthoor and the #77 AO Racing Porsche of Harry King.
Nasr, who with Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich was seeking an unprecedented winning streak at Daytona International Speedway, Sebring International Raceway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in the same year, got out of the car under his own power.
That came after the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Tijmen van der Helm brought out the 12th yellow and a race-ending crash for Nick Yelloly’s No. 93 Acura MSR followed numerous mishaps for the car that resulted in three cautions.
The No. 25 BMW crashed in the fourth hour after Kevin Magnussen slammed into Alex Palou’s No. 93 Acura, which sent the Dane’s car airborne and violently into the Turn 5 barriers.
Kurtz and Quinn take LMP2 title in Comeback Drive
CrowdStrike Racing by APR secured a remarkable victory and LMP2 class title after Tom Dillmann collided with Alex Quinn with 1 hour and 47 minutes remaining, resulting in damage to the rear axle of the No. 04 Oreca 07 Gibson.
Quinn came back from a one-lap delay after repairs were made to retake the lead in the final pit sequence in the No. 22 United Autosports car of Paul di Resta, which was in the gravel trap with less than two hours remaining.
Di Resta, however, was forced to pit on the final lap, which promoted Dillmann to second in class, finishing 0.666 seconds behind Quinn.
Dillmann took the final restart in fifth position.
Quinn shared his first IMSA LMP2 title with George Kurtz, who won the Jim Trueman Award and an automatic invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The team led by Stewart and Samantha Cox first overcame a drive-through penalty in the third hour when Kurtz was given responsibility for the incident for contact with Vasser Sullivan’s No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo.
Third driver Toby Sowery then took the lead after driving through a rainstorm and a 30-minute red flag period due to lightning in the area, on slick Michelin tires, while almost everyone else had switched to wet tires.
The No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca of Ferdinand Habsburg, Naveen Rao and Jacob Abel completes the category podium.
RESULTS: Motul Petit Le Mans
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