Sixty seconds. Five turns. That’s all it took for the first major moment of the 28th Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

A major accident at the bottom of the Esses collected six vehicles. Manny Franco in the #34 Conquest Ferrari spun at Turn 5 causing bottleneck in GTD. Brendan Iribe was trying to make up ground and got blindsided with the #70 Inception Ferrari colliding head on with Franco. Behind the two Ferraris, Joey Hand collected the rear and damaged his front. Front damage was also collected by John Potter and his #44 Magnus Aston Martin. The #45 Wayne Taylor Racing and #78 Forte Lamborghinis suffered damage. Getting away from the scene of the accident unscathed was Orey Fidani and the #13 AWA Corvette.

Winward, Fidani Clinch as Endurance Cup is in the Air

The accident effectively crowned our first champions of the day. With the Magnus Racing Aston Martin and Inception Ferrari officially out, Winward Racing have clinched the GTD Championship. Their job is not done as they are looking to win the GTD Manufacturer championship for Mercedes. The team is also looking for their first Petit Le Mans victory.

Additionally, the Bob Akin Award for best bronze driver is also effectiely settled. Orey Fidani and Brendan Iribe were tied coming into today’s race. With the Inception Ferrari out, Fidani looks to claim the Award (and the entry to the Le Mans 24 Hours). Inception’s exit may also swing the Endurance Cup for GTD open. The Heart of Racing Team only trailed by 3 points coming into today. With the first of three points distribution at 4 Hours, this title looks likely to change hands by the checkered.

Other Dashes of Yellow

This accident was the first of three yellow flags during the opening stage of the race. The second yellow came when Lilou Wadoux lost her driver side mirror and laid on the racing line. As the yellow was dispatched, second place Jack Aitken hit the mirror attempting to avoid it. Despite this, no damage was reported on the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac. Yellow number three came when a sponsor sign laid in the racing line as a result of a P2 battle.

Naveen Rao in the #52 and PJ Hyett in the #99 collided at Turn 12, sending both off the road. Rao collected the sign and drove nearly the whole lap with the sign, affecting his vision. The sign finally fell off at the entrance of Turn 10. Then, the fourth yellow brought us a case of deja vu. The #80 with Lin Hodenius at the wheel lost his left rear wheel. In a repeat of their race at Indianapolis, the car lost the wheel going up the hill at Turn 2.

Trouble for Acura

Outside of GTD, the race has been fairly clean, close and competitive. The biggest headline is the #93 developing problems with shifting and as things stand, the issues have not been pinpointed. The issue appears to go in and out with no fix at the moment. With Acura fighting for the GTP manufacturers championship, fighting with a wounded second car is not ideal.

The #60 Meyer Shank Acura in control early Photo Courtesy: Meyer Shank Racing/Facebook

Class Top 3s

At two hours, Tom Blomqvist leads overall in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura over Jack Aitken’s Whelen Cadillac in second. BMW have found their way to third with the #24 driven by Kevin Magnussen.

In LMP2, Jeremy Clarke control the race for InterEuropol Competition. Nick Boulle is second for the #2 United Autosports team. Doing all he needs to do, PJ Hyett (despite the early scare) runs third for AO Racing in the “Spike skeleton” special livery.

AO’s other special, “Skeleton Rexy” leads GTD PRO with Laurin Heinrich at the wheel of the #77 Porsche. The polesitting #48 Paul Miller BMW sits second with Connor de Phillippi now at the controls. The sister #1 BMW with Neil Verhagen completes your GTD PRO Top 3.

After all the chaos in GTD, it is a Ferrari 1-2-3. Simon Mann leads for AF Corse despite an earlier drive-thru penalty. Triarsi Competizione has both of their cars in contention with the hobbled Kenton Koch second in the #023 looking to grab second in the GTD drivers championship. AJ Muss in the sister #021 rounds out your Top 3.

Stay tuned for more race updates from Petit Le Mans here on GT Report.