Meyer Shank Racing and his trio of Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist and Helio Castroneves win the 25e edition of Petit Le Mans as well as the IMSA 2022 titles. Acura scored its first success at Road Atlanta and especially the last of the DPi era…
It was a real twist that took place 50 minutes before the presentation of the checkered flag. While the two Cadillac DPi n°02 and n°01 had approached the last hour of the race in the lead before pointing in 3e et 4eposition after another pit stop, Earl Bamber and Renger van der Zande collided in the first corner. Beyond
The race was neutralized to allow the evacuation of the two cars which were able to return to their pits. During this time, the two Acura ARX-05 DPi didn’t require much to take off at the head of the race. Failing to take place on the track given the neutralization, it was in the pits that the confrontation began. The #10/Wayne Taylor Racing Acura entered the pits in the lead, but thanks to a better pitstop, it was the #60/Meyer Shank Racing Acura driven by Tom Blomqvist that emerged in front! So 2eWayne Taylor Racing took advantage of the neutralization in the race to make a second free pit stop to refuel in sight
It was with 32 minutes of racing on the clock that the race was restarted with three cars that could claim victory: the Acura n°60 and n°10 as well as the Cadillac DPi-VR n°31/Action Express Racing. The long-awaited direct battle between the two Acuras only lasted a few meters, cut short by a technical problem on the n°10, then 2e. Stopped in the pits, this car will not go any further, to the chagrin of Filipe Albuquerque, Brendon Hartley, Ricky Taylor and the entire Wayne Taylor Racing team…
A final neutralization less than 5 minutes from the end of the race following the exit from the track of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°57/Winward Racing sealed the fate of the race. Tom Blomqvist was therefore able to secure victory at the wheel of the No. 60 Acura and thus clinch the title with his regular teammate Oliver Jarvis.
The #31 Cadillac DPi/Action Express Racing, driven by Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla and Mike Conway finished in second place while the trio of Kamui Kobayashi, Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller in the #48 Cadillac/Ally Cadillac completed the podium of the general classification
It was with 32 minutes of racing on the clock that the race was restarted with three cars that could claim victory: the Acura n°60 and n°10 as well as the Cadillac DPi-VR n°31/Action Express Racing. The long-awaited direct battle between the two Acuras only lasted a few meters, cut short by a technical problem on the n°10, then 2e. Stopped in the pits, this car will not go any further, to the chagrin of Filipe Albuquerque, Brendon Hartley, Ricky Taylor and the entire Wayne Taylor Racing team…
A final neutralization less than 5 minutes from the end of the race following the exit from the track of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°57/Winward Racing sealed the fate of the race. Tom Blomqvist was therefore able to secure victory at the wheel of the No. 60 Acura and thus clinch the title with his regular teammate Oliver Jarvis.
The #31 Cadillac DPi/Action Express Racing, driven by Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla and Mike Conway finished in second place while the trio of Kamui Kobayashi, Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller in the #48 Cadillac/Ally Cadillac completed the podium of the general classification
The LMP3 category was won by the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320, driven by Jarrett Andretti, Josh Burdon and Gabby Chaves.
Acura achieved a double win tonight at Road Atlanta with the victory of the trio of Gradient Racing’s #66 Acura NSX GT3, 2 seconds ahead of the #70 McLaren 720S GT3/ Inception Racing and the #96/Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 meanwhile relegated to 2 minutes and 30 seconds ´
What a thunderous end to the race from Daniel Serra who went for the victory in the GTD Pro category. The Brazilian played back-to-back with the #9/Pfaff Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R and the #14/Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to win the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3. But now, a few moments after the arrival, the ax fell. Giuseppe Risi’s team will not be able to enjoy this success following an irregularity observed in the minimum driving time of one of the drivers. The Ferrari is relegated to the bottom of the classification and it is therefore the Lexus n°14 which inherits the victory on the green carpet, ahead of the BMW M4 GT3 n°25/BMW Team RLL and the Porsche n°9/Pfaff Motorsports, 2022 champions Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell.
Florian DEFET
Photos : IMSÀ
THE CLASSIFICATION OF PETIT LE MANS 2022
1 – Jarvis/Blomqvist/Castroneves (Acura DPi) Meyer Shank – 423 tours
2 – Pla/Derani/Conway (Cadillac DPi) – AXR at 4”369
3 – Rockenfeller/Kobayashi/Johnson (Cadillac DPi) AXR 1 lap
4 – van der Zande/Bourdais/Dixon (Cadillac DPi) Chip Ganassi at 4 lap
5 – Farano/Deletraz/Pinto de Andrade (Oreca 07) Tower with 5 towers
6 – Hedman/Montoya/Montoya (Oreca 07) DragonSpeed USA 5 laps
7 – Thomas/Pierson/Nunez (Oreca 07) PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports at 5 laps
8 – Bamber/Lynn/Hunter-Reay (Cadillac DPi) Chip Ganassi à 5 tours
9 – Taylor/Albuquerque/Hartley (Acura DPi) 9-lap WTR
10 – Andersen/Fjordbach/Scherer (Oreca 07) High Class at 9 laps
11 – Andretti/Chaves/Burdon (Ligier JS P320) Andretti at 22 laps
12 – Balogh/Grist/Siegel (Ligier JS P320) Jr III Racing at 22 laps
13 – Barbosa/Jakobsen/Pino (Ligier JS P320) Sean Creech – a 22 tours
14 – Robinson/Fraga/van Berlo (Ligier JS P320) Riley at 23 tours
15 – Bennett/Braun/Kurtz (Ligier JS P320) CORE Autosport at 24 laps
16 – Mantella/Marcelli/Sarchet (Duqueine D08) AWA at 26 laps
17 – Fidani/Bell/Kern (Duqueine D08) AWA at 28 tours
18 – Simpson/Bechtolsheimer/Farnbacher (Acura NSX) Gradient LP
19 – Iribe/Pepper/Priaulx (McLaren 720S) Inception at 36 laps
20 – Foley/Auberlen/Dinan (BMW M4) Turner Motorsport at 37 laps
21 – Hardwick/Robichon/Heylen (Porsche 911R) Wright at 37 laps
22 – Sellers/Snow/Johansson (BMW M4) Paul Miller Racing a 37 tours
23 – Hawksworth/Barnicoat/Kirkwood (Lexus RC F) VasserSullivan à 37 tours
24 – De Phillippi/Edwards/Krohn (BMW M4) BMW M Team RLL a 37 tours
25 – Campbell/Jaminet/Nasr (Porsche 911R) Pfaff Motorsports à 37 laps
26 – Gunn/Riberas/Gamble (Aston Martin Vantage) HORT a 37 tours
27 – Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg (Corvette C8.R) Corvette a 37 tours
28 – Skeen/McAleer/Mueller (Mercedes-AMG GT3) Korthoff in 38 laps
29 – De Angelis/Martin/James (Aston Martin Vantage) HORT a 38 tours
30 – Mann/Perez Companc/Vilander (Ferrari 488) AF CORSE at 38 laps
31 – Buhk/Grenier/Goetz (Mercedes-AMG GT3) WeatherTech Racing a 38 tours
32 – Serra / Rigon / Calado (Ferrari 488) – Risi Competizione with 37 tours
33 – Conwright/Holzer/Yount (Lamborghini Huracan) NTE/SSR a 38 tours
34 – Lacorte/Sernagiotto/De Pauw (Ferrari 488) Cetilar Racing at 39 tours
35 – Ward/Ellis/Dienst (Mercedes-AMG GT3) – Winward Racing a 40 tours
36 – Goldburg/Shields/Maxson (Ligier JS P320) Performance Tech a 68 tours
37 – Ferriol/Legge/Boulle (Porsche 911R) – Team Hardpoint – at 159 laps
38 – Merriman/Dalziel/Rasmussen (Oreca 07) – Era Motorsport at 174 laps
39 – Vautier/Westbrook/Duval (Cadillac DPi) – JDC Miller – at 253 laps
40 – Montecalvo/Telitz/Heistand (Lexus RC F) – VasserSullivan a 265 tours
41 – Keating/Jensen/Huffaker (Oreca 07) – PR1 Mathiasen – a 321 tours
42 – Potter/Lally/Pumpelly (Aston Martin Vantage) – Magnus a 361 tours
43 – Megennis/Lewis/Westphal (Lamborghini Huracan) – Peregrine a 401 tours