The 18th Annual petit Le Mans presented by Mazda was the 2015 version of the Petit Le Mans automotive endurance race, was held on October 1–3, 2015 at the Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Georgia. This was the second Petit Le Mans in the United SportsCar Championship. The race was won overall by Richard Lietz, Patrick Pilet, and Nick Tandy in the #911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR. Originally scheduled to run for 10 hours, the race was concluded after 8 hours (199 laps) were completed due to heavy rain, darkness, visibility, and hydroplaning. This marked the first time in the event's history that a GT car won overall.
Background
Preview International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2015 IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship (IMSA TUSC) in August 2014. It was the second consecutive year the event was held as part of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, and the 19th Petit Le Mans. The 2015 Petit Le Mans was the twelfth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2015 by IMSA, and was the fourth round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the twelve-turn, Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 3, 2015.
Entry list The official entry list consisted of 37 cars, including 9 in prototype, 8 in prototype challenge, 8 in GTLM and 12 in GTD.
Practice There were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Thursday morning and afternoon. The third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes; the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.
Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 11:10 am ET on Thursday and ended with Oswaldo Negri Jr. topping the charts for Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:15.163. ClassTeamDriverTime1P60Michael Shank Racing with Curb/AgajanianOswaldo Negri Jr.1:15.163_2P01Chip Ganassi RacingScott Pruett1:15.627 +0.4643P0DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFoneKatherine Legge1:15.757 +0.594Source:
Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 3:35 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Joey Hand topping the charts for Chip Ganassi Racing, with a lap time of 1:16.937. ClassTeamTime1P01Chip Ganassi Racing1:16.937_2P0DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone1:17.155 +0.2183P31Action Express Racing1:17.352 +0.415Source:
Night Practice The night practice session took place at 7:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Jordan Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:29.369. ClassTeamTime1P10Wayne Taylor Racing1:29.369_2P5Action Express Racing1:29.436 +0.0673P01Chip Ganassi Racing1:29.421 +2.052Source:
Final Practice The fourth and final practice session took place at 10:05 am ET on Friday and ended with João Barbosa topping the charts for Action Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:23.262. ClassTeamDriverTime1P5Action Express RacingJoão Barbosa1:23.262_2P01Chip Ganassi RacingScott Pruett1:23.626 +0.3943GTLM911Porsche North AmericaNick Tandy1:24.015 +0.783Source:
Qualifying Richard Westbrook secured overall pole for the event.
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1P90VisitFlorida.com RacingRichard Westbrook1:27.860_12P5Action Express RacingChristian Fittipaldi1:28.920 +1.06023P01Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix SabatesJoey Hand1:29.627 +1.76734GTLM912Porsche North AmericaEarl Bamber1:30.304 +2.444365GTLM911Porsche North AmericaNick Tandy1:30.398 +2.538356P10Wayne Taylor RacingRicky Taylor1:30.621 +2.76147P31Action Express RacingDane Cameron1:30.884 +3.02458GTLM4Corvette RacingOliver Gavin1:31.685 +3.825179GTLM24BMW Team RLLLucas Luhr1:31.763 +3.9031810LMPC52PR1/Mathiasen MotorsportsTom Kimber-Smith1:32.378 +4.518611LMPC16BAR1 MotorsportsJohnny Mowlem1:32.924 +5.064712GTLM62Risi CompetizioneGiancarlo Fisichella1:32.989 +5.1291913GTLM25BMW Team RLLBill Auberlen1:33.680 +5.8202014GTLM3Corvette RacingAntonio García1:33.773 +5.9132115PC88Starworks MotorsportAlex Popow1:33.903 +6.0431616PC11RSR RacingChris Cumming1:35.825 +7.965817PC85JDC-Miller MotorSportsChris Miller1:36.838 +10.260918PC8Starworks MotorsportMirco Schultis1:38.120 +10.2601019GTD93Riley MotorsportsCameron Lawrence1:38.295 +10.4352220GTD73Park Place MotorsportsSpencer Pumpelly1:38.886 +11.0262321GTD22Alex Job RacingLeh Keen1:38.899 +11.0392422P0Claro/TracFone DeltaWing RacingKatherine Legge1:39.618 +11.7581123GTD45Flying Lizard MotorsportsGuy Cosmo1:41.604 +13.7442524GTD33Riley MotorsportsBen Keating1:41.698 +13.8382625GTD63Scuderia CorsaJeff Segal1:41.750 +13.8902726GTD64Scuderia CorsaDaniel Serra1:42.627 +14.7672827PC54CORE AutosportAnthony Lazzaro1:42.775 +14.9151228GTD007TRG-AMRChristina Nielsen1:42.911 +15.0512929GTD48Paul Miller RacingDion von Moltke1:43.620 +15.7603030GTD23Team Seattle/Alex Job RacingMario Farnbacher1:44.320 +16.4603131GTD44Magnus RacingJohn Potter1:47.000 +19.1403232GTLM17Team Falken TireBryan SellersNo time _3433P07Mazda MotorsportsNoneNo time _1434PC38Performance Tech MotorsportsNoneNo time _3735P60Michael Shank Racing with Curb-AgajanianNoneNo time _1336P70Mazda MotorsportsNoneNo time _1537GTD97Turner MotorsportNoneNo time _33Source:
The No. 912 Porsche North America entry had its fastest lap deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
Results
Class winners denoted in bold and with .
+Final race classificationClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/RetiredEngine 1 GTLM 911 Porsche North America Richard Lietz Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR 199 7:51:12.894 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 2 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Jens Klingmann Lucas Luhr BMW Z4 GTE 199 +5.475 BMW 4.4 L V8 3 P 5 Action Express Racing João Barbosa Sébastien Bourdais Christian Fittipaldi Chevrolet Corvette DP 199 +8.524 Chevrolet LS6 5.0 L V8 4 P 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Scott Dixon Joey Hand Scott Pruett Riley XXVI 199 +8.773 Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 5 P 31 Action Express Racing Dane Cameron Eric Curran Max Papis Chevrolet Corvette DP 199 +9.908 Chevrolet LS6 5.0 L V8 6 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Ryan Briscoe Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 199 +11.764 Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 7 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Max Angelelli Jordan Taylor Ricky Taylor Chevrolet Corvette DP 199 +13.378 Chevrolet LS6 5.0 L V8 8 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen Augusto Farfus Dirk Werner BMW Z4 GTE 199 +14.446 BMW 4.4 L V8 9 GTLM 62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella Pierre Kaffer Toni Vilander Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 199 +20.840 Ferrari F142 4.5 L V8 10 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Ryan Briscoe Antonio García Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 198 +1 Lap Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 11 GTLM 17 Team Falken Tire Wolf Henzler Patrick Long Bryan Sellers Porsche 911 RSR 197 +2 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 12 P 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Mike Rockenfeller Michael Valiante Richard Westbrook Chevrolet Corvette DP 197 +2 Laps Chevrolet LS6 5.0 L V8 13 GTLM 912 Porsche North America Earl Bamber Jörg Bergmeister Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 911 RSR 196 +3 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 14 PC 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Mike Guasch Tom Kimber-Smith Andrew Palmer Oreca FLM09 194 +5 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 15 PC 8 Starworks Motorsport Mike Hedlund Alex Popow Mirco Schultis Renger van der Zande Oreca FLM09 194 +5 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 16 PC 16 BAR1 Motorsports Tomy Drissi Marc Drumwright Johnny Mowlem Don Yount Oreca FLM09 193 +6 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 17 GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Lindsey Spencer Pumpelly Madison Snow Porsche 911 GT America 192 +7 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 18 GTD 44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally John Potter Robert Renauer Porsche 911 GT America 192 +7 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 19 GTD 93 Riley Motorsports Al Carter Marc Goossens Cameron Lawrence Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R 192 +7 Laps Dodge 8.0 L V10 20 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Townsend Bell Jeff Segal Bill Sweedler Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 192 +7 Laps Ferrari F142 4.5 L V8 21 GTD 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Guy Cosmo Colin Thompson Robert Thorne Audi R8 LMS 192 +7 Laps Audi 5.2 L V10 22 GTD 64 Scuderia Corsa Matteo Cressoni Daniel Serra Jeff Westphal Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 192 +7 Laps Ferrari F142 4.5 L V8 23 GTD 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher Ian James Alex Riberas Porsche 911 GT America 192 +7 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 24 GTD 22 Alex Job Racing Andrew Davis Leh Keen Cooper MacNeil Porsche 911 GT America 192 +7 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 25 GTD 007 TRG-AMR Brandon Davis Christina Nielsen Kuno Wittmer Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 191 +8 Laps Aston Martin 6.0 L V12 26 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Christopher Haase Bryce Miller Dion von Moltke Audi R8 LMS 191 +8 Laps Audi 5.2 L V10 27 GTD 97 Turner Motorsport Billy Johnson Michael Marsal Markus Palttala Andy Priaulx BMW Z4 GT3 189 +10 Laps BMW 4.4 L V8 28 GTD 33 Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen Sebastiaan Bleekemolen Ben Keating Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R 185 +14 Laps Dodge 8.0 L V10 29 PC 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Anthony Lazzaro Oreca FLM09 174 +25 Laps Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 30 P 07 Mazda Motorsports Joel Miller Tom Long Mazda Prototype 167 Did not finish Mazda SkyActiv-D 2.2 L Turbo I4 (Diesel) 31 P 70 Mazda Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito Tristan Nunez Sylvain Tremblay Mazda Prototype 158 Did not finish Mazda SkyActiv-D 2.2 L Turbo I4 (Diesel) 32 PC 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Misha Goikhberg Chris Miller Rusty Mitchell Oreca FLM09 145 Did not finish Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 33 P 0 Claro/TracFone DeltaWing Racing Katherine Legge Andy Meyrick Memo Rojas DeltaWing DWC13 133 Did not finish Élan 1.4 L Turbo I4 34 PC 11 RSR Racing Chris Cumming Bruno Junqueira Gustavo Menezes Oreca FLM09 105 Did not finish Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 35 P 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Matt McMurry Oswaldo Negri John Pew Ligier JS P2 100 Did not finish Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Twin-turbo V6 36 PC 88 Starworks Motorsport John Falb Alex Popow Sean Rayhall Oreca FLM09 79 Did not finish Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 DNS PC 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Conor Daly James French Jerome Mee Oreca FLM09 – Did not start Chevrolet 6.2 L V8Source:+ Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer Continental Michelin Falken Tire
References