Jack Aitken heads into the final round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a substantial championship advantage, but Laurin Heinrich remains in contention as the series heads to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the last race of the season, the 29th Motul Petit Le Mans.
The IMSA season comes down to 10 hours at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta this Saturday, with the traditional Petit Le Mans season finale set to decide a long list of championships across the SportsCar Championship and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.
The focus at the front of the field, however, is on the GTP championship and mainly the battle between Cadillac and Porsche.
Aitken leads Heinrich by 147 points heading into the finale, putting the #31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in a strong position to secure the driver’s championship. Cadillac also holds a 136-point advantage over Porsche in the manufacturer standings, while the #31 team is in position to secure the team championship.
With one of Cadillac’s three entries needing only to start the race to secure the manufacturer’s title, much of the pressure rests on Porsche and, in particular, the youngster Laurin Heinrich.
The #31 Cadillac has been one of the most consistent cars in the GTP field throughout the season. Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti also won last year’s Petit Le Mans, and the car returns to Road Atlanta having taken two wins and seven podiums from eight starts in this season.
Aitken’s position means he does not need to win on Saturday. A ninth-place finish or better would be enough to secure the driver’s championship, provided he starts the race.
(Bamber and Vesti are not in contention as Vesti only raced in the endurance rounds, while Bamber missed out on the race at Long Beach due to a clash with the World Endurance Championship.)
That does not mean the Cadillac driver plans to simply manage the gap: “Anything can happen, especially at Petit,” said Jack Aitken.
“My goal is to try and have a great qualifying. Hopefully that means that we can go into the race worry-free and just enjoy it and race for the win. If we still have a similar gap in the championship going in, then we need to be a little bit smarter.
“But it’s nothing that we haven’t been doing all year long anyway. We’ve got a good feel in the team right now and I’ve got a lot of trust in the people around me, so I’m very happy to just go in and treat it like any of the races that we’ve been to this year and come out with very good results.”
Qualifying will therefore be important before the 10-hour race even begins. A strong result on Friday could put Aitken in an even stronger position, while Heinrich needs to maximize every available opportunity.
For Heinrich, the situation is considerably more difficult.
The Porsche Penske Motorsport driver has to win Petit Le Mans, while Aitken must finish lower than ninth, for Heinrich to take the championship. It is a narrow path, but one that remains open going into the final weekend.
Heinrich’s position is particularly notable given how his season began. The Porsche driver initially expected to compete in only three races (the longest endurance rounds), later joining the customer JDC-Miller Porsche in the other races.
A strong run of results has turned him into a championship contender. He has six podium finishes from eight starts and arrives at Petit Le Mans still fighting for the title.
Heinrich has done so while competing in three different Porsche 963s during the season: “I could not have envisioned or imagined being in this situation right now because the initial plan was for me to just do three races.
“And now…well, we are here. Who would have thought? We’re still fighting for the driver championship title, which is a great feat driving three different cars. Six podiums out of eight races so far is great. It’s something crazy and I’m really thankful for the chance, because it has been a wild ride.
“147 points behind is not easy to catch up with, but we all know that at Motul Petit Le Mans, anything can happen in that race, and I won’t give up until the checkered flag falls.”
10 Hours of Racing.
Petit Le Mans is a 10-hour endurance race, where the GTP field shares the track with LMP2, and two GTD (GT3) classes throughout the race. Traffic, pit strategy, full-course cautions, driver changes, and reliability can all significantly affect the race.
That does not change the mathematics of the championship, but it does provide more opportunities for the order to change over the course of the race.
Porsche also has more than just the drivers’ championship at stake. The #7 Porsche has already secured the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Team Championship, while Porsche is positioned to secure the corresponding manufacturer title.
The fight between Cadillac and Porsche has therefore extended throughout the season, but the final outcome of the GTP driver’s championship remains the main question heading into Saturday.
Heinrich has shown promising pace at Road Atlanta so far. The #7 Porsche was at the front during practice, with Julien Andlauer setting the fastest time in the opening session before Heinrich went quickest in Thursday night’s final practice.
That pace will need to translate into a complete 10-hour race if Porsche is to keep the championship alive until the finish.
For Cadillac, the situation is more straightforward. The #31 has the points advantage, the team has already demonstrated that it can win at Road Atlanta, and Aitken only needs to stay inside the top nine to secure the driver’s title.
The race starts 12:10 PM ET (18:10 PM CET) on Saturday.
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