Motul Petit Le Mans – Entry List Notebook

By IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship draws to a close on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Road Atlanta with the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans. The race also represents the season finale for the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

The 21st annual Motul Petit Le Mans headlines an event week at the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta circuit that also includes the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge’s two-hour Fox Factory 120 , which wraps up its 2018 campaign on Friday, Oct. 12. Other events include a season-ending pair of 45-minute Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama races and the one-hour, 45-minute IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda season finale.

The WeatherTech Championship entry list features 37 cars. There will be 14 entries in the Prototype class, with nine GT Le Mans (GTLM) and 14 GT Daytona (GTD) entries.

Live television coverage of Motul Petit Le Mans begins Saturday, Oct. 13 at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS1, with continuing coverage on FS2 from 12 p.m. ET through the checkered flag. Live IMSA Radio coverage also will be available on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio (Sirius 119/XM 202/App 972). Tickets are available now at roadatlanta.com.

The provisional WeatherTech Championship entry list can be found here.

Notes:
– Of more than 100 drivers on the Motul Petit Le Mans entry list, 39 have at least one previous victory in the prestigious event.

o Oliver Gavin has the most Motul Petit Le Mans wins among active drivers with five previous victories. He won the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GTS class in 2002 and 2004, the ALMS GT1 class in 2005 and 2008, and the ALMS GT2 class in 2010. He will share the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with co-drivers Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler.

– There are four additional drivers in this year’s field with three or more Motul Petit Le Mans victories.

o Timo Bernhard, who will share the No. 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Nissan DPi with Johannes van Overbeek and Pipo Derani, is a four-time winner, taking ALMS GT victories in 2003 and 2004 and ALMS P2 wins in 2006 and 2007.

o Jan Magnussen also is a four-time Motul Petit Le Mans winner with victories in the ALMS GTS class in 2004, ALMS GT1 in 2005 and 2008 and ALMS GT2 in 2010. Magnussen is slated to share the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with co-drivers Antonio Garcia and Fassler.

o Patrick Long, who shares the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with Christina Nielsen and Robert Renauer, has three Motul Petit Le Mans wins, taking ALMS GT2 wins in 2005 and 2006 and an ALMS P2 win in 2007.

o Marino Franchitti, who is entered in the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest Mazda RT-24P DPi car alongside Jonathan Bomarito and Spencer Pigot, also is a three-time Motul Petit Le Mans winner with ALMS P2 victories in 2009, 2010 and 2013.

– Jeroen Bleekemolen, who is sharing the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Ben Keating and Luca Stolz, has the most Motul Petit Le Mans pole positions among active drivers with three. He took ALMS GTC poles in 2010 and 2011 and a WeatherTech Championship GTD pole in 2016.

– Corvette Racing is the winningest team in the Motul Petit Le Mans field with eight previous victories. The first came in the ALMS GTS class in 2000 and its most recent was the ALMS GT2 win in 2010.

– Among the top-two contenders for the 2018 WeatherTech Championship title in each class, five of the six teams have at least one previous Motul Petit Le Mans victory. In addition to the eight Corvette Racing wins, CORE autosport has two, while Action Express Racing, Paul Miller Racing and Meyer Shank Racing have one each. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing is the only championship contender without a previous Motul Petit Le Mans win.

– With 19 victories, Porsche is the winningest active manufacturer at Motul Petit Le Mans. Audi is second with 11 wins and Chevrolet is third with 10.

Previous Motul Petit Le Mans Winners in 2018 Field (39)
Oliver Gavin (5) – ALMS GTS – 2002, 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2008; ALMS GT2 – 2010
Timo Bernhard (4) – ALMS GT – 2003, 2004; ALMS P2 – 2006, 2007
Jan Magnussen (4) – ALMS GTS – 2004, ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2008; ALMS GT2 – 2010
Patrick Long (3) – ALMS GT2 – 2005, 2006; ALMS P2 – 2007
Marino Franchitti (3) – ALMS P2 – 2009, 2010, 2013
Bill Auberlen (2) – ALMS GT – 2001, GTLM – 2017
Romain Dumas (2) – ALMS GT – 2003, ALMS P2 – 2007
Johannes van Overbeek (2) – ALMS GT2 – 2007, ALMS GT – 2012
Ryan Briscoe (2) – ALMS P2 – 2008, 2013
Joao Barbosa (2) – ALMS P2 – 2011, P – 2015
Jeroen Bleekemolen (2) – ALMS GTC – 2011; GTD – 2016
Ryan Dalziel (2) – ALMS PC – 2012, P/Overall – 2017
Scott Sharp (2) – ALMS GT – 2012, P/Overall – 2017
Toni Vilander (2) – ALMS GT – 2012, GTLM – 2016
Wolf Henzler (2) – ALMS GT – 2013; GTLM – 2014
Bryan Sellers (2) – ALMS GT – 2013; GTLM – 2014
Nick Tandy (2) – ALMS GT – 2013, GTLM/Overall – 2015
Spencer Pumpelly (2) – ALMS GTC – 2013, GTD – 2015
Madison Snow (2) – ALMS GTC – 2013, GTD – 2015
Dirk Mueller (1) – ALMS GT – 1999
Helio Castroneves (1) – ALMS P2 – 2008
Simon Pagenaud (1) – ALMS P2 – 2010
Andy Lally (1) – ALMS GTC – 2010
Tim Pappas (1) – ALMS GTC – 2011
Mario Farnbacher (1) – ALMS GTC – 2012
Kyle Marcelli (1) – ALMS PC – 2013
Ricky Taylor (1) – P/Overall – 2014
Jordan Taylor (1) – P/Overall – 2014
Renger van der Zande (1) – PC – 2014
Patrick Pilet (1) – GTLM/Overall – 2015
Sebastien Bourdais (1) – P – 2015
Christian Fittipaldi (1) – P – 2015
Robert Alon (1) – PC – 2016
Jose Gutierrez (1) – PC – 2016
Ben Keating (1) – GTD – 2016
Alexander Sims (1) – GTLM – 2017
Connor De Phillippi (1) – GTD – 2017
Christopher Mies (1) – GTD – 2017
Sheldon van der Linde (1) – GTD – 2017

Previous Motul Petit Le Mans Pole Winners in 2018 Field (21)
Jeroen Bleekemolen (3) – ALMS GTC – 2010, 2011; GTD – 2016
Romain Dumas (2) – ALMS GT – 2004, ALMS P2 – 2007
Dane Cameron (2) – ALMS PC – 2011, 2013
Toni Vilander (2) – ALMS GT – 2012, GTLM – 2017
Richard Westbrook (2) – P/Overall – 2015; GTLM – 2016
Bill Auberlen (1) – GT3 – 1998
Dirk Mueller (1) – ALMS GT – 1999
Oliver Gavin (1) – ALMS GTS – 2004
Timo Bernhard (1) – ALMS GT2 – 2005
Andrea Bertolini (1) – ALMS GT1 – 2007
Ryan Briscoe (1) – ALMS P2 – 2008
Marino Franchitti (1) – ALMS P2 – 2009
Kyle Marcelli (1) – ALMS PC – 2012
Spencer Pumpelly (1) – ALMS GTC – 2013
Christian Fittipaldi (1) – P/Overall – 2014
Jack Hawksworth (1) – PC – 2014
Nick Tandy (1) – GTLM – 2014
Earl Bamber (1) – GTLM – 2015
Robert Alon (1) – PC – 2016
Helio Castroneves (1) – P/Overall – 2017
James French (1) – PC – 2017

Previous Motul Petit Le Mans-Winning Teams in 2018 Field (14)
Corvette Racing (8) – ALMS GTS – 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; ALMS GT2 – 2010
Acura Team Penske (3) – ALMS P2 – 2006, 2007, 2008
Risi Competizione (3) – ALMS GT2 – 2008, 2009; GTLM – 2016
AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (3) – ALMS PC – 2011; PC – 2015, 2016
CORE autosport (2) – ALMS PC – 2012; GTLM/Overall – 2015
Tequila Patrón ESM (2) – ALMS GT – 2012; P/Overall – 2017
Wayne Taylor Racing (1) – P/Overall – 2014
Paul Miller Racing (1) – GTD – 2014
Action Express Racing (1) – P – 2015
Park Place Motorsports (1) – GTD – 2015
Meyer Shank Racing (1) – P/Overall – 2016
Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports – GTD – 2016
BMW Team RLL (1) – GTLM – 2017
Montaplast by Land Motorsport (1) – GTD – 2017

Previous Motul Petit Le Mans Race-Winning Manufacturers in 2018 Field (8)
Porsche – 19
Audi – 11
Chevrolet – 10
Ferrari – 8
BMW – 2
Nissan – 1
Mazda – 1
Ford – 1