The 2021 Petit Le Mans (known as the 2021 MOTUL Petit Le Mans for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th running of the Petit Le Mans, and was held on November 13, 2021. It was the 12th and final race in the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the 4th race of the 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup. The race was held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. This race was the last ever race for the GTLM Class.
Background
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the eighth consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and 24th Petit Le Mans. The 2021 Petit Le Mans was final of 2021's IMSA sports car endurance races, and the last of four races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC). The race took place at the 12-turn, Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.
The 2021 running marked the event's return to the final calendar spot on the schedule following the wholesale schedule changes that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The 2021 edition underwent a date change of its own, being postponed from its traditional early-October spot to the weekend of November 13th. The event featured support from four of IMSA's supporting series; the Michelin Pilot Challenge, IMSA Prototype Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup North America, and Mazda MX-5 Cup.
On November 3, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. In GTLM, the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R received a one-liter reduction in fuel capacity, while in GTD the 2021 debut of the McLaren required its addition to the BoP table.
This would be the final race for entry Mazda Motorsports as Mazda was stepping back from all racing activities following the 2021 season with the exception of the Mazda MX-5 Cup. Also making its farewell was the GTLM class which in 2022 would be replaced by the new GTD Pro class.
Before the race, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 3071 points, ahead of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr in second with 3052 points. In LMP2, Mikkel Jensen and Ben Keating led the Drivers' Championship with 1807 points, ahead of Tristan Nunez and Steven Thomas. With 1800 points, Gar Robinson led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship, 50 points ahead of Jon Bennett and Colin Braun. Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 3269 points, 127 points ahead of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy. With 2938 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Zacharie Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor, ahead of Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Pfaff Motorsports each led their own Teams' Championships.
Entries
A total of 43 cars took part in the event, split across five classes. 7 were entered in DPi, 5 in LMP2, 10 in LMP3, 6 in GTLM, and 15 in GTD.
In DPi, the expected addition of the Endurance Cup effort from Ally Cadillac Racing was present, while Hélio Castroneves replaced Olivier Pla as Meyer Shank Racing's third driver. In LMP2, United Autosports returned to complete their scheduled Endurance Cup campaign. In GTLM the pair of BMW Team RLL M8s returned for the Endurance Cup, WeatherTech Racing also added a second entry, which alongside its own full time entry and the two Corvettes boosted the class to six entries for its last ever race. LMP3 saw its largest grid of the season with ten cars, which included a series debut for FastMD Racing. Returns for United Autosports, Forty7 Motorsports, Jr III Racing (whose lineup included former IndyCar driver Spencer Pigot), and WIN Autosport helped to boost the class to its record-breaking entry number. GTD also featured a number of changes, including the first appearance of the season for the McLaren 720S GT3, fielded by Inception Racing. NTE Sport and Gilbert/Korthoff Motorsports also returned as part of their selective 2021 calendars, as did Alegra Motorsports, who added Mercedes-AMG factor driver Daniel Juncadella to their lineup. Winward Racing also returned for the first time since their class victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona, while the Heart of Racing Team dropped their second entry.
Just hours before the race, Earl Bamber stepped in for Kevin Magnussen in Chip Ganassi Racing's DPi-class entry after Magnussen fell ill.
Practice There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, all three one on Thursday. The first session on Thursday morning lasted one hour. The second session on Thursday afternoon lasted 75 minutes. The final session on Thursday evening lasted 90 minutes.
Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 9:20 am ET on Thursday and ended with Felipe Nasr topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:09.508, ahead of the No. 01 Cadillac of Renger van der Zande. Gabriel Aubry set the fastest time in LMP2. Colin Braun was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:15.916. The GTLM class was topped by the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Frédéric Makowiecki with a time of 1:16.726. Mathieu Jaminet was second in the sister No. 79 WeatherTech Racing entry and Antonio García rounded out the top 3. Bill Auberlen set the fastest time in GTD. The session was red flagged twice. 33 minutes into the session, the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P of Jonathan Bomarito stopped at turn eight due to a mechanical issue. 15 minutes later, Steven Thomas in the No. 11 WIN Autosport entry stopped just before turn ten. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi31Whelen Engineering RacingFelipe Nasr1:09.508_2DPi01Cadillac Chip Ganassi RacingRenger van der Zande1:09.758 +0.2503DPi60Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-AgajanianDane Cameron1:10.094 +0.586Sources:
Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 2:20 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Harry Tincknell topping the charts for Mazda Motorsports, with a lap time of 1:09.356, 0.044 seconds faster than Felipe Nasr's No. 31 Cadillac. Mikkel Jensen set the fastest time in LMP2. Dylan Murry was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:16.413. The GTLM class was topped by the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:16.938. Kévin Estre was second fastest in the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing entry and Mathieu Jaminet rounded out the top 3. Robby Foley was fastest in GTD. The session was red flagged three times for on-track incidents. The No. 8 Oreca of John Farano collided with Jan Heylen's Porsche at turn twelve and brought out the first red flag. The No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320 of Oliver Askew stopped on track resulting in the sessions second red flag. The final stoppage came when Jim Cox spun the No. 91 Ligier at turn 10a and got beached. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi55Mazda MotorsportsHarry Tincknell1:09.356_2DPi31Whelen Engineering RacingFelipe Nasr1:09.400 +0.0443DPi5JDC-Mustang Sampling RacingSébastien Bourdais1:09.571 +0.215Sources:
Practice 3 The third and final practice session took place at 6:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Tristan Vautier topping the charts for JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing, with a lap time of 1:10.796, ahead of The No. 01 Cadillac of Kevin Magnussen. Mikkel Jensen set the fastest time in LMP2. Rasmus Lindh was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:16.605. The GTLM class was topped by the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Frédéric Makowiecki with a time of 1:17.253. Mathieu Jaminet was second in the sister No. 79 WeatherTech Racing entry and Jesse Krohn rounded out the top 3. Jack Hawksworth was fastest in GTD. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi5JDC-Mustang Sampling RacingTristan Vautier1:10.796_2DPi01Cadillac Chip Ganassi RacingKevin Magnussen1:10.822 +0.0263DPi55Mazda MotorsportsScott Dixon1:11.427 +0.631Sources:
Qualifying
Qualifying was broken into four sessions. The first was for cars in GTD class. Madison Snow qualified on pole driving the No. 1 car for Paul Miller Racing, beating Benjamin Hites in the No. 42 NTE Sport entry. Robby Foley was third in the No. 96 BMW followed by Aaron Telitz in the No. 14 Lexus.
The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Jesse Krohn qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 24 car for BMW Team RLL, beating Matt Campbell in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing entry by just over five-tenths of a second. Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 championship points.
The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Niklas Krütten qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 2 car for United Autosports, besting Rasmus Lindh in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry.
The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi and LMP2 classes. Felipe Nasr took overall pole for the event driving the No. 31 car for Whelen Engineering Racing, beating Harry Tincknell in the Mazda Motorsports entry. Nasr reduced Albuquerque and Taylor's points lead to eight points heading into the race. Ben Keating qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca.
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr1:08.678_12 DPi 55 Mazda Motorsports Harry Tincknell 1:08.693 +0.015 23 DPi 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Sébastien Bourdais 1:08.848 +0.170 34 DPi 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Kevin Magnussen 1:08.879 +0.201 75 DPi 60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Dane Cameron 1:08.920 +0.242 46 DPi 48 Ally Cadillac Racing Kamui Kobayashi 1:09.165 +0.487 57 DPi 10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Filipe Albuquerque 1:09.328 +0.650 68LMP252 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ben Keating1:12.229 +3.55189 LMP2 11 WIN Autosport Steven Thomas 1:12.583 +3.905 910 LMP2 18 Era Motorsport Dwight Merriman 1:13.070 +4.392 1011 LMP2 8 Tower Motorsport By Starworks John Farano 1:14.289 +5.611 1112 LMP2 22 United Autosports James McGuire 1:14.814 +6.136 1213GTLM24 BMW Team RLL Jesse Krohn1:15.226 +6.5482314LMP32 United Autosports Niklas Krütten1:15.664 +6.9861315 GTLM 79 WeatherTech Racing Matt Campbell 1:15.738 +7.060 2416 LMP3 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Rasmus Lindh 1:15.750 +7.072 1417 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García 1:15.930 +7.252 2518 GTLM 97 WeatherTech Racing Frederic Makowiecki 1:16.004 +7.326 2619 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Nick Tandy 1:16.051 +7.373 2720 LMP3 36 Andretti Autosport Jarett Andretti 1:17.122 +8.444 1521 LMP3 91 Riley Motorsports Jim Cox 1:17.403 +8.725 1622 LMP3 74 Riley Motorsports Gar Robinson 1:17.535 +8.857 1723 LMP3 7 Forty7 Motorsports Stefan Rzadzinski 1:17.793 +9.115 1824 LMP3 40 FastMD Racing Max Hanratty 1:18.112 +9.434 1925 LMP3 30 Jr III Motorsports Ari Balogh 1:19.071 +10.393 2026GTD1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow1:19.272 +10.5942927 GTD 42 NTE Sport Benjamín Hites 1:19.273 +10.595 3028 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley 1:19.295 +10.617 3129 GTD 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Aaron Telitz 1:19.308 +10.630 4330 GTD 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo 1:19.456 +10.778 3231 GTD 57 HTP Winward Motorsport Russell Ward 1:19.661 +10.983 3332 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Trent Hindman 1:19.722 +11.044 3433 GTD 9 Pfaff Motorsports Zacharie Robichon 1:19.791 +11.113 3534 GTD 70 Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsport Frederik Schandorff 1:19.800 +11.122 3635 GTD 28 Alegra Motorsports Daniel Morad 1:19.846 +11.168 3736 GTD 19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Misha Goikhberg 1:20.068 +11.390 3837 GTD 88 Team Hardpoint Andrew Davis 1:20.079 +11.401 3938 GTD 32 Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports Guy Cosmo 1:20.353 +11.675 4039 GTD 23 Heart Of Racing Team Ian James 1:20.554 +11.876 4240 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi 1:21.299 +12.621 2841 GTD 44 Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports John Potter 1:21.317 +12.639 41— LMP3 54 CORE AutosportDid Not Participate 21— LMP3 83 WIN AutosportNo Time Established 22Sources:
Race
Post-race