Pole-sitter Jack Aitken is back in front at the Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The No. 31 Whelen Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R led the first 17 laps before yielding first to the No. 40 ARX-06 Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti.
But Aitken retook first place shortly after the first hour when Jordan Taylor made a fuel-only stop for the No. 40. Taylor made a pass for the lead on Lap 53, but Aitken moved back to the front nine laps later.
After 83 laps, Aitken was ahead by 0.8 seconds over Matt Campbell in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. Filipe Albuquerque was third in WTR Andretti’s No. 10 Acura.
Other category leaders after the second hour:
LMP2: PJ Hyett, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA 07
GTD Pro: Franck Perera, No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2
GTD: Parker Thompson, No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3
Hour 1
After the first hour, Jordan Taylor was leading the Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in the No. 40 Acura ARX-06 of Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti.
It’s the team’s final race with the Acura in the Grand Touring Prototype category. WTR Andretti will switch back to General Motors’ Cadillac next year after four seasons with the Honda brand.
Taylor, who won the Twelve Hours of Sebring with co-drivers Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta, took the lead from pole-sitter Jack Aitken on Lap 18 (24 minutes into the race).
Taylor was in first by 8 seconds over the No. 31 Cadillac of Aitken, who started from the pole position for the first time in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series. The No. 5 Porsche was in third place ahead of the Porsche Penske Motorsports 963s that rounded out the top five.
The No. 6, which is ranked second in the points standings, was running fourth ahead of its No. 7 teammate car, which can clinch the GTP championship by finishing seventh or better.
Other category leaders after the first hour:
LMP2: Ben Keating, No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA 07
GTD Pro: Frédéric Vervisch, No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3
GTD: Mike Skeen, No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3
All 11 Grand TouringTouring Prototype entries were on the lead lap through the first hour.
The No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R pitted in the 17th minute because of a black flag for exceeding system requirements after a failure to adhere to powertrain parameters, but the car managed to stay on the lead lap.
It’s the final race for the entry fielded and prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing, which is losing Cadillac support after four seasons and likely won’t be in sports car racing next year.
During a yellow flag for an incident involving the No. 44 GTD car about 20 minutes after the green flag, GTD pole-sitter Scott Andrews spun No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 into the gravel in Turn 5.
How to watch the Petit Le Mans
TV/STREAMING: Full coverage of the IMSA Petit Le Mans at Michelin Road Atlanta will begin Saturday, Oct. 12 on NBC and Peacock at noon ET. Peacock will carry the entire race, and NBC will have coverage of the race from noon-3 p.m. ET. USA Network will have coverage from 6-10:30 p.m. ET.
Peacock will have flag-to-flag coverage of all IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship events in 2024. (Click here for information on how to sign up for Peacock.)
Kevin Lee and Brian Till will be the announcers with analyst Calvin Fish, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe as analysts. Georgia Henneberry, Ryan Myrehn, Dillon Welch and Matt Yocum are the pit reporters.
RADIO: Select sessions live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; SiriusXM live race coverage will begin Saturday, Oct. 12 at 12:00 p.m. (XM 206, Web/App 996).