2024 Petit Le Mans

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2023.^[1] It was the eleventh consecutive year the IMSA SCC hosted the race at Road Atlanta. The 2024 Petit Le Mans was the final of eleven scheduled sports car races of 2024 by IMSA.^[2], and was held at the twelve-turn 2.540 mi (4.088 km) Road Atlanta on October 12, 2024.^[2]

Ahead of the event, IMSA published a bulletin regarding the latest balance of performance (BoP) changes in the GTP, GTD Pro, and GTD classes.^[3] In the GTP class, the Porsche received a 1-kilogram increase in weight, with a 3 kilowatts power decrease. The Battle on the Bricks-winning BMW had a weight increase of 5 kilograms, with a 3 kilowatts increase in power. The car weights for the Acura, Cadillac, and Lamborghini remained the same, but the Acura had a 2-kilowatts power reduction, the Cadillac received a 1-kilowatt power reduction, with the Lamborghini gaining one additional kilowatt of power.^[3] In the GT classes, the McLaren had a weight break of 10 kilograms, whilst the Acura received a power increase of 11.3 horsepower.^[3] All other GT cars ran with the same BoP as during the previous event at Indianapolis.

Preceding the event, Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr led the GTP Drivers' Championship with 2,650 points, 124 ahead of teammates Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy. Renger van der Zande and Sébastien Bourdais sat in third, an additional 40 points behind.^[4] After their second place at Indianapolis, Nick Boulle and Tom Dillmann led the LMP2 Drivers' Championship by 98 points over Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson.^[4] The GTD Pro Drivers' Championship leader Laurin Heinrich had a 99-point advantage over second-placed Ross Gunn, with Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in third, 219 points behind. Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth were in fourth.^[4] The GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Philip Ellis and Russell Ward with 3,006 points, 222 points ahead of Patrick Gallagher, with Mikaël Grenier in third.^[4] The Teams' Championships were led by Porsche Penske Motorsport, Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, AO Racing, and Winward Racing, respectively, whilst the Manufacturers' Championships were led by Porsche in GTP and GTD Pro. Mercedes-AMG had already clinched the GTD Manufacturers' Championship.^[4]

The entry list was revealed on October 2, 2024, and featured 54 entries: 11 entries in GTP, 10 in LMP2, 13 in GTD Pro, and 20 entries in GTD.^[5]

No.	Entrant	Car	Driver 1	Driver 2	Driver 3
Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) (11 entries)
01	Cadillac Racing	Cadillac V-Series.R	Sébastien Bourdais	Scott Dixon	Renger van der Zande
5	Proton Competition Mustang Sampling	Porsche 963	Gianmaria Bruni	Alessio Picariello	Bent Viscaal
6	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche 963	Kévin Estre	Mathieu Jaminet	Nick Tandy
7	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche 963	Dane Cameron	Matt Campbell	Felipe Nasr
10	Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	Acura ARX-06	Filipe Albuquerque	Brendon Hartley	Ricky Taylor
24	BMW M Team RLL	BMW M Hybrid V8	Philipp Eng	Augusto Farfus	Jesse Krohn
25	BMW M Team RLL	BMW M Hybrid V8	Connor De Phillippi	Maxime Martin	Nick Yelloly
31	Whelen Cadillac Racing	Cadillac V-Series.R	Jack Aitken	Tom Blomqvist	Pipo Derani
40	Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	Acura ARX-06	Louis Delétraz	Colton Herta	Jordan Taylor
63	Lamborghini – Iron Lynx	Lamborghini SC63	Matteo Cairoli	Andrea Caldarelli	Romain Grosjean
85	JDC–Miller MotorSports	Porsche 963	Phil Hanson	Tijmen van der Helm	Richard Westbrook
Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) (10 entries)
2	United Autosports USA	Oreca 07-Gibson	Ben Hanley	Ben Keating	Nico Pino
8	Tower Motorsports	Oreca 07-Gibson	Sebastián Álvarez	John Farano	Frederik Vesti[6]
11	TDS Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	Mikkel Jensen	Hunter McElrea	Steven Thomas
18	Era Motorsport	Oreca 07-Gibson	Ryan Dalziel	Dwight Merriman	Connor Zilisch
20	MDK by High Class Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	Dennis Andersen	Scott Huffaker	Seth Lucas
22	United Autosports USA	Oreca 07-Gibson	Bijoy Garg	Dan Goldburg	Paul di Resta
52	Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	Oreca 07-Gibson	Nick Boulle	Tom Dillmann	Jakub Śmiechowski
74	Riley	Oreca 07-Gibson	Josh Burdon	Felipe Fraga	Gar Robinson
88	Richard Mille AF Corse	Oreca 07-Gibson	Luis Pérez Companc	Nicklas Nielsen	Lilou Wadoux
99	AO Racing	Oreca 07-Gibson	Matthew Brabham	Paul-Loup Chatin	P. J. Hyett
GT Daytona Pro (GTD Pro) (13 entries)
027	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo	Mario Farnbacher	Zacharie Robichon	Marco Sørensen
1	Paul Miller Racing	BMW M4 GT3	Bryan Sellers	Madison Snow	Neil Verhagen
3	Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	Antonio García	Daniel Juncadella	Alexander Sims
4	Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	Earl Bamber	Nicky Catsburg	Tommy Milner
9	Pfaff Motorsports	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	James Hinchcliffe	Oliver Jarvis	Marvin Kirchhöfer
14	Vasser Sullivan	Lexus RC F GT3	Ben Barnicoat	Jack Hawksworth	Kyle Kirkwood
19	Iron Lynx	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	Mirko Bortolotti	Jordan Pepper	Franck Perera
23	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo	Roman De Angelis	Ross Gunn	Alex Riberas
62	Risi Competizione	Ferrari 296 GT3	Alessandro Pier Guidi	Davide Rigon	Daniel Serra
64	Ford Multimatic Motorsports	Ford Mustang GT3	Christopher Mies	Mike Rockenfeller	Harry Tincknell
65	Ford Multimatic Motorsports	Ford Mustang GT3	Joey Hand	Dirk Müller	Frédéric Vervisch
77	AO Racing	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	Julien Andlauer	Michael Christensen	Laurin Heinrich
82	DragonSpeed	Ferrari 296 GT3	Vincent Abril	Thomas Neubauer	Toni Vilander
GT Daytona (GTD) (20 entries)
023	Triarsi Competizione	Ferrari 296 GT3	Alessio Rovera	Charlie Scardina	Onofrio Triarsi
12	Vasser Sullivan	Lexus RC F GT3	Frankie Montecalvo	Aaron Telitz	Parker Thompson
13	AWA	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	Matt Bell	Orey Fidani	Lars Kern
21	AF Corse	Ferrari 296 GT3	François Heriau	Simon Mann	Miguel Molina
32	Korthoff/Preston Motorsports	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Mikaël Grenier	Kenton Koch	Mike Skeen
34	Conquest Racing	Ferrari 296 GT3	Albert Costa	Manny Franco	Cédric Sbirrazzuoli
43	Andretti Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	Jarett Andretti	Gabby Chaves	Scott Hargrove
44	Magnus Racing	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo	Andy Lally	John Potter	Spencer Pumpelly
45	Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	Graham Doyle	Danny Formal	Kyle Marcelli
47	Cetilar Racing	Ferrari 296 GT3	Antonio Fuoco	Roberto Lacorte	Giorgio Sernagiotto
55	Proton Competition	Ford Mustang GT3	Ryan Hardwick	Giammarco Levorato	Corey Lewis
57	Winward Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Indy Dontje	Philip Ellis	Russell Ward
66	Gradient Racing	Acura NSX GT3 Evo22	Tatiana Calderón	Stevan McAleer	Sheena Monk
70	Inception Racing	Ferrari 296 GT3	Brendan Iribe	Ollie Millroy	Frederik Schandorff
78	Forte Racing	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	Devlin DeFrancesco	Misha Goikhberg	Loris Spinelli
80	Lone Star Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Rui Andrade	Scott Andrews	Salih Yoluç
83	Iron Dames	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	Sarah Bovy	Rahel Frey	Michelle Gatting
86	MDK Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	Klaus Bachler	Anders Fjordbach	Kerong Li
96	Turner Motorsport	BMW M4 GT3	Robby Foley	Patrick Gallagher	Jake Walker
120	Wright Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	Adam Adelson	Jan Heylen	Elliott Skeer
Source:[7][8]

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, one on Thursday morning, one on Thursday afternoon, and one on Thursday evening. The first session on Thursday morning lasted 90 minutes while the second session on Thursday afternoon lasted 75 minutes, and the final session on Thursday evening lasted 90 minutes.^[9]

In the first session, Sébastien Bourdais set the fastest lap in the No. 01 CGR Cadillac at 1 minute, 11.013 seconds, 0.476 seconds quicker than Aitken's No. 31 WCR car. Mathieu Jaminet put the No. 6 Penske Porsche in third overall. BMW were fourth after a lap by Eng, and Nasr's No. 7 Penske Porsche was fifth.^[10] Felipe Fraga led LMP2 in Riley's No. 74 car with a 1:12.823 lap, 0.249 seconds ahead of Hanley's No. 2 United Autosports Oreca.^[10][11] Jordan Pepper led GTD Pro in Iron Lynx's No. 19 car, followed by Gunn's No. 23 Heart Aston Martin.^[11] Molina's No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari paced GTD, followed by Spinelli's No. 78 Forte car.^[10]

In the second session, Jordan Taylor's No. 40 WTR Acura lapped quickest at 1:11.081, ahead of the No. 31 Cadillac of Aitken and Tandy's No. 6 Penske car. Albuquerque was fourth in the No. 10 WTR Acura and Eng in the No. 24 BMW was fifth.^[12] Jensen led LMP2 with a 1:13:373 lap in TDS Racing's No. 11 Oreca, 0.001 seconds ahead of Zilisch's Era Motorsport car.^[12][13] Serra's 1:18.722 lap led the GTD Pro class in Risi's No. 62 Ferrari, 0.015 seconds faster than Hawksworth's No. 14 VasserSullivan Lexus; Gunn's No. 23 Heart Aston Martin was third. Parker Thompson's No. 12 VasserSullivan Lexus recorded the fastest time amongst all GTD cars, followed by Philip Ellis' No. 57 Winward car.^[12]

Van der Zande led the final session in the No. 01 CGR car with a lap of 1 minute, 11.626 seconds. Caldarelli's No. 63 Lamborghini was second-fastest. Nasr was third in the No. 7 Penske Porsche and Farfus in the No. 24 BMW was fourth.^[14] Hanley in LMP2 led for United Autosports with a 1-minute, 13.178 lap, from Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports' Tom Dillmann and Mikkel Jensen's No. 11 TDS Racing car.^[14][15] Heinrich led GTD Pro in AO Racing's No. 77 car with a 1:19.273 lap, 0.044 seconds faster than Snow's No. 1 Paul Miller BMW.^[16] Foley's No. 96 Turner car paced GTD, followed by Bachler's No. 86 MDK Porsche.^[15]

Friday's afternoon qualifying session was broken into three sessions, with one session for the GTP, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD classes, which lasted 15 minutes each.^[9] The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am LMP2 class requiring a Bronze rated driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put GTPs ahead of the LMP2, GTD Pro, and GTD cars.^[17]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and with ‡.

Pos.	Class	No.	Entry	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	GTP	31	Whelen Cadillac Racing	Jack Aitken	1:09.639	_	1‡
2	GTP	7	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Matt Campbell	1:09.709	+0.070	2
3	GTP	25	BMW M Team RLL	Connor De Phillippi	1:09.929	+0.290	3
4	GTP	01	Cadillac Racing	Sébastien Bourdais	1:09.964	+0.325	4
5	GTP	10	Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	Filipe Albuquerque	1:09.995	+0.356	5
6	GTP	85	JDC–Miller MotorSports	Phil Hanson	1:10.103	+0.464	6
7	GTP	40	Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	Jordan Taylor	1:10.103	+0.464	7
8	GTP	6	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Nick Tandy	1:10.212	+0.573	8
9	GTP	24	BMW M Team RLL	Philipp Eng	1:10.261	+0.622	9
10	GTP	5	Proton Competition Mustang Sampling	Alessio Picariello	1:10.636	+0.997	10
11	GTP	63	Lamborghini – Iron Lynx	Andrea Caldarelli	1:10.851	+1.212	11
12	LMP2	2	United Autosports USA	Ben Keating	1:12.739	+3.100	12‡
13	LMP2	11	TDS Racing	Steven Thomas	1:12.973	+3.334	13
14	LMP2	99	AO Racing	P. J. Hyett	1:13.043	+3.404	14
15	LMP2	52	Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	Nick Boulle	1:13.080	+3.441	15
16	LMP2	22	United Autosports USA	Dan Goldburg	1:13.316	+3.677	16
17	LMP2	74	Riley	Gar Robinson	1:13.648	+4.009	17
18	LMP2	20	MDK by High Class Racing	Dennis Andersen	1:14.283	+4.644	18
19	LMP2	88	Richard Mille AF Corse	Luis Pérez Companc	1:14.432	+4.793	19
20	LMP2	18	Era Motorsport	Dwight Merriman	1:14.839	+5.200	20
21	LMP2	8	Tower Motorsports	John Farano	1:15.044	+5.405	21
22	GTD Pro	77	AO Racing	Laurin Heinrich	1:17.881	+8.242	22‡
23	GTD Pro	4	Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	Tommy Milner	1:17.933	+8.294	23
24	GTD Pro	23	Heart of Racing Team	Ross Gunn	1:18.041	+8.402	24
25	GTD Pro	3	Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	Antonio García	1:18.085	+8.446	25
26	GTD Pro	65	Ford Multimatic Motorsports	Frédéric Vervisch	1:18.106	+8.467	26
27	GTD	80	Lone Star Racing	Scott Andrews	1:18.281	+8.642	27‡
28	GTD Pro	64	Ford Multimatic Motorsports	Harry Tincknell	1:18.307	+8.668	28
29	GTD Pro	19	Iron Lynx	Franck Perera	1:18.322	+8.683	29
30	GTD Pro	027	Heart of Racing Team	Marco Sørensen	1:18.457	+8.818	30
31	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Robby Foley	1:18.539	+8.900	31
32	GTD Pro	9	Pfaff Motorsports	Oliver Jarvis	1:18.559	+8.920	32
33	GTD Pro	1	Paul Miller Racing	Madison Snow	1:18.694	+9.055	33
34	GTD Pro	14	Vasser Sullivan	Jack Hawksworth	1:18.703	+9.064	34
35	GTD	57	Winward Racing	Philip Ellis	1:18.751	+9.112	35
36	GTD	32	Korthoff/Preston Motorsports	Mike Skeen	1:18.897	+9.258	36
37	GTD	45	Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	Danny Formal	1:19.063	+9.424	37
38	GTD	21	AF Corse	Simon Mann	1:19.087	+9.448	38
39	GTD	34	Conquest Racing	Rahel Frey	1:19.209	+9.570	39
40	GTD	83	Iron Dames	Manny Franco	1:19.249	+9.610	40
41	GTD Pro	82	DragonSpeed	Toni Vilander	1:19.368	+9.729	41
42	GTD	47	Cetilar Racing	Giorgio Sernagiotto	1:19.396	+9.757	42
43	GTD	78	Forte Racing	Misha Goikhberg	1:19.572	+9.933	43
44	GTD Pro	62	Risi Competizione	Daniel Serra	1:19.5811	+9.942	44
45	GTD	70	Inception Racing	Brendan Iribe	1:19.678	+10.039	45
46	GTD	55	Proton Competition	Ryan Hardwick	1:19.761	+10.122	46
47	GTD	120	Wright Motorsports	Adam Adelson	1:20.246	+10.607	47
48	GTD	66	Gradient Racing	Sheena Monk	1:20.375	+10.736	48
49	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	John Potter	1:20.656	+11.017	49
50	GTD	86	MDK Motorsports	Kerong Li	1:21.481	+11.842	50
51	GTD	12	Vasser Sullivan	Parker Thompson	1:23.2162	+13.577	51
52	GTD	13	AWA	No Time Established			52
53	GTD	023	Triarsi Competizione	No Time Established			53
Sources:[18][19]

• ¹ The No. 62 Risi Ferrari had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
• ² The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.