2016 Petit Le Mans

The Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda was the 2016 edition of the Petit Le Mans automotive endurance race, held on October 1, 2016, at the Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Georgia, United States. It was the 12th and final race of the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship,^[1] and the third Petit Le Mans run since the formation of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2014.

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015.^[2] It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the 19th Petit Le Mans.^[2] The Petit Le Mans was the last of twelve scheduled automobile endurance races of 2016 by IMSA, and the last in the four round North American Endurance Cup (NAEC).^[2] The race took place at the 12-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km) Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 1, 2016.^[2]

Before the race, Eric Curran and Dane Cameron were leading the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 285 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi in second by one point, and Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor in third with 278 points.^[3] With 329 points, Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande led the Prototype Challenge Drivers' Championship over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith by 10 points.^[3] In GTLM, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 314 points, 11 ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook.^[3] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 299 points; the duo held a thirty two-point advantage over Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating.^[3] Chevrolet and Audi were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Action Express Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.^[3]

There were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Thursday morning and afternoon. The third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes; the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.^[4]

In the first practice session, Olivier Pla set the fastest lap in the No. 60 MSR Ligier-Honda at 1 minute,14.157 seconds, 0.539 seconds faster than Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda. Dane Cameron was third fastest in the No. 31 AER vehicle.^[5] The fastest PC car was Renger van der Zande's No. 8 Starworks Motorsports entry with a 1 minute, 16.235 seconds, followed by Stephen Simpson's No. 85 JDC car.^[6] With a 1:18.840 lap, García led the GTLM class in the No. 3 Corvette, ahead of Fisichella's No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.^[6] Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche recorded the fastest time in GTD.^[5]

In the second session, Negri was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 13.923 seconds, ahead of the two Mazdas.^[7] The seven-vehicle PC class was led by BAR1's No. 20 car, driven by Mowlem with a time of 1 minute, 16.707 seconds.^[8] Ferrari paced GTLM with Scuderia Corsa's 488 of Serra lapping 1:18.354 from Hand's second-placed No. 66 CGR Ford GT.^[8] Bergmeister led GTD with a time of 1:21.340.^[8]

The third practice session ran at night and saw Pla's No. 60 MSR vehicle set the fastest time overall at 1 minute, 13.541 seconds. Bomarito was almost five-tenths behind in second, with the No. 5 AER car of Barbosa third.^[9] A 1:18.240 lap saw Coletti's No. 7 Starworks Motorsport car lead PC.^[10] Müller's No. 66 Ford lead GTLM over Alessandro Pier Guidi's No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari and Westbrook's No. 67 Ford by more than one-tenth of a second.^[8] Audi paced GTD with Magnus' R8 of Seefreid lapping 1:21.187, ahead of Lawson Aschenbach's No. 9 Stevenson Audi.^[10]

Pla led the final session in No. 60 MSR Ligier-Honda with a lap of 1 minute, 10.786 seconds. Nunez's No. 55 Mazda was second-fastest, followed by ESM's Derani.^[11] French's No. 38 PTM Oreca led PC with a 1:15.925 lap, faster than Kimber-Smith's No. 52 PR/1 vehicle.^[11][12] Ferrari occupied first and second in GTLM with Serra's No. 68 Scuderia Corsa car faster than Vilander's Risi 488 by two-tenths of a second.^[11] Lally's No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 led GTD, and Jeroen Bleekemolen, in the No. 33 Riley Motorsport Dodge, was second in class.^[12]

In Friday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.^[13][4]

Olivier Pla in the No. 60 MSR Ligier-Honda took his second pole position of the season with a lap of 1 minute, 13.061 seconds.^[14] He was joined on the grid's front row by Tristan Nunez whose best lap in the No. 55 Mazda was 0.459 seconds slower.^[15] Dane Cameron's No. 31 AER Corvette DP took third followed by Tom Long's No. 70 Mazda.^[15][14] Fittipaldi's No. 5 AER car started from fifth.^[15]

Alon set the fastest time in PC to take pole for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports with a 1:16.411 time. Popow qualified the No. 8 Starworks entry second followed by Johnny Mowlem's No. 20 BAR1 car.^[16] Koch was fourth for Performance Tech and Coletti qualified fifth.^[15] In GTLM, Westbrook took his third pole of the season with a time of 1 minute, 18.131 seconds.^[17] He was joined by Antonio García's No. 3 Corvette on the grid's front row with his best lap being 0.152 seconds slower, and Toni Vilander drove the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 to third place.^[17] Hand was fourth in the slower Ford with the No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Serra fifth.^[15] The fastest BMW was Edwards' No. 100 RLL M6 in sixth, and Milner's No. 4 Corvette took seventh.^[15][18]

Bleekemolen took pole in GTD in Riley Motorsports' No. 33 Dodge with a 1-minute, 21.305 seconds time. Matt McMurry's No. 73 Park Place Porsche qualified second, and Mario Farnbacher's No. 23 AJR car was third. Rounding out the top five in the class were the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Nielsen, and Aschenbach's No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS.^[15]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡. All Prototype and Prototype Challenge cars were grouped together on the starting grid, regardless of qualifying position.

Pos	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	P	60	Michael Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian	Olivier Pla	1:13.061	_	1‡
2	P	55	Mazda Motorsports	Tristan Nunez	1:13.520	+0.459	2
3	P	31	Action Express Racing	Dane Cameron	1:13.903	+0.842	3
4	P	70	Mazda Motorsports	Tom Long	1:14.061	+1.000	4
5	P	5	Action Express Racing	Christian Fittipaldi	1:14.160	+1.099	5
6	P	90	VisitFlorida Racing	Ryan Dalziel	1:14.276	+1.215	6
7	P	2	Tequila Patrón ESM	Johannes van Overbeek	1:14.360	+1.299	7
8	P	0	Panoz DeltaWing Racing	Andy Meyrick	1:14.446	+1.385	8
9	P	10	Wayne Taylor Racing	Ricky Taylor	1:14.533	+1.472	161
10	PC	52	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	Robert Alon	1:16.411	+3.350	9‡
11	PC	8	Starworks Motorsport	Alex Popow	1:16.470	+3.409	10
12	PC	20	BAR1 Motorsports	Johnny Mowlem	1:16.495	+3.434	152
13	PC	38	Performance Tech Motorsports	Kenton Koch	1:16.640	+3.579	11
14	PC	7	Starworks Motorsport	Stefano Coletti	1:16.858	+3.797	12
15	PC	85	JDC-Miller Motorsports	Chris Miller	1:17.205	+4.144	13
16	GTLM	67	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Richard Westbrook	1:18.131	+5.070	17‡
17	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio García	1:18.283	+5.222	18
18	GTLM	62	Risi Competizione	Toni Vilander	1:18.294	+5.233	19
19	GTLM	66	Ford Chip Ganassi Racing	Joey Hand	1:18.327	+5.266	20
20	GTLM	68	Scuderia Corsa	Daniel Serra	1:18.349	+5.288	21
21	GTLM	100	BMW Team RLL	John Edwards	1:18.382	+5.321	22
22	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Tommy Milner	1:18.468	+5.407	23
23	GTLM	912	Porsche North America	Earl Bamber	1:18.712	+5.651	24
24	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Bill Auberlen	1:18.752	+5.691	25
25	GTLM	911	Porsche North America	Nick Tandy	1:18.866	+5.805	26
26	PC	88	Starworks Motorsport	Mark Kvamme	1:19.407	+6.346	14
27	GTD	33	Riley Motorsports	Jeroen Bleekemolen	1:21.305	+8.244	27‡
28	GTD	73	Park Place Motorsports	Matt McMurry	1:21.765	+8.704	28
29	GTD	23	Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing	Mario Farnbacher	1:21.898	+8.837	29
30	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Christina Nielsen	1:22.103	+9.042	30
31	GTD	9	Stevenson Motorsports	Lawson Aschenbach	1:22.114	+9.053	31
32	GTD	6	Stevenson Motorsports	Robin Liddell	1:22.139	+9.078	32
33	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Madison Snow	1:22.143	+9.082	33
34	GTD	16	Change Racing	Corey Lewis	1:22.231	+9.170	34
35	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Bret Curtis	1:22.421	+9.360	35
36	GTD	27	Dream Racing Motorsport	Paolo Ruberti	1:22.680	+9.619	36
37	GTD	44	Magnus Racing	John Potter	1:22.950	+9.889	37
38	GTD	97	Turner Motorsport	Michael Marsal	1:20.904	+11.111	38
Sources:[19][20]

• ¹ The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry was moved to the back of the Prototype grid as per 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Tire change).^[13]
• ² The No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the PC grid as per 43.1 of the Sporting regulations (Starting driver change).^[13]

Curran and Cameron took the Prototype Drivers' championship with 314 points. They were 3 points clear of Barbosa and Fittipaldi.^[21] With 355 points, Popow and van der Zande won the PC Drivers' Championship, beating Alon and Kimber-Smith on countback.^[21] Gavin and Milner took the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 345 points. They were 17 points clear of Briscoe and Westbrook in second. García and Magnussen were third with 319 points.^[21] Balzan and Nielsen won the GTD Drivers' Championship with 332 points, 32 points ahead of Bleekemolen and Keating. Sellers and Snow were third with 293 points.^[21] Chevrolet and Audi heir respective Manufactures' Championships, while Action Express Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa won their respective Teams' Championships.^[21]

Class winners are denoted in bold and with ‡. P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).^[22]

Final race classification Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 P 60 Michael Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Olivier Pla John Pew Oswaldo Negri Jr. Ligier JS P2 C 412 10:00:30.023‡ Honda HR28TT/HPD 2.8L V6 Twin-Turbo 2 P 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Johannes van Overbeek Scott Sharp Pipo Derani Ligier JS P2 C 412 +3.524 Honda HR28TT/HPD 2.8L V6 Twin-Turbo 3 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor Jordan Taylor Max Angelelli Corvette Daytona Prototype C 412 +11.745 Chevrolet 5.5L V8 4 P 31 Action Express Racing Dane Cameron Eric Curran Simon Pagenaud Corvette Daytona Prototype C 412 +14.258 Chevrolet 5.5L V8 5 P 5 Action Express Racing Christian Fittipaldi João Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque Corvette Daytona Prototype C 410 +2 Lap Chevrolet 5.5L V8 6 PC 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Robert Alon José Gutiérrez Tom Kimber-Smith Oreca FLM09 C 404 +8 laps‡ Chevrolet LS3 6.2L V8 7 PC 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Kenton Koch James French Kyle Marcelli Oreca FLM09 C 403 +9 laps Chevrolet LS3 6.2L V8 8 DNF P 70 Mazda Motorsports Tom Long Joel Miller Spencer Pigot Mazda Prototype C 401 DNF Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L I4 Turbo 9 GTLM 62 Risi Competizione Toni Vilander Giancarlo Fisichella James Calado Ferrari 488 GTE M 398 +14 laps‡ Ferrari F154CB 3.9L Turbo V8 10 GTLM 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Joey Hand Dirk Müller Sébastien Bourdais Ford GT M 398 +14 laps Ford 3.5 L EcoBoost V6 11 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner Oliver Gavin Marcel Fässler Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 398 +14 laps Chevrolet 5.5L V8 12 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jan Magnussen Mike Rockenfeller Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 397 +15 laps Chevrolet 5.5L V8 13 PC 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Chris Miller Misha Goikhberg Stephen Simpson Oreca FLM09 C 395 +17 laps Chevrolet LS3 6.2L V8 14 GTLM 912 Porsche North America Earl Bamber Frédéric Makowiecki Michael Christensen Porsche 911 RSR M 395 +17 laps Porsche 4.0L Flat 6 15 PC 88 Starworks Motorsport Mark Kvamme Max Hanratty Richard Bradley Oreca FLM09 C 393 +19 laps Chevrolet LS3 6.2L V8 16 GTLM 100 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Lucas Luhr Kuno Wittmer BMW M6 GTLM M 391 +21 laps BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 17 GTD 33 Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Marc Miller Dodge Viper GT3-R C 385 +27 laps‡ Dodge 8.3L V10 18 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen Alessandro Balzan Jeff Segal Ferrari 488 GT3 C 384 +28 laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9L Turbo V8 19 GTD 97 Turner Motorsport Michael Marsal Markus Palttala Cameron Lawrence BMW M6 GT3 C 384 +28 laps BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 20 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow Bryan Sellers Bryce Miller Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 383 +29 laps Lamborghini 5.2L V10 21 GTD 9 Stevenson Motorsports Lawson Aschenbach Matt Bell Dion von Moltke Audi R8 LMS C 383 +29 laps Audi 5.2L V10 22 GTD 27 Dream Racing Motorsport Paolo Ruperti Luca Persiani Cédric Sbirrazzuoli Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 383 +29 laps Lamborghini 5.2L V10 23 GTD 6 Stevenson Motorsports Robin Liddell Andrew Davis Mike Skeen Audi R8 LMS C 382 +30 laps Audi 5.2L V10 24 PC 20 BAR1 Motorsports Tomy Drissi Don Yount Johnny Mowlem Oreca FLM09 M 379 +33 laps Chevrolet LS3 6.2L V8 25 GTLM 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Richard Westbrook Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Ford GT M 372 +40 laps Ford 3.5L EcoBoost V6 26 GTD 23 Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher Ian James Alex Riberas Porsche 911 GT3 R C 366 +46 laps Porsche 4.0L Flat 6 27 DNF GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Bret Curtis Ashley Freiberg Jens Klingmann BMW M6 GT3 C 364 DNF BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 28 DNF GTLM 68 Scuderia Corsa Andrea Bertolini Daniel Serra Alessandro Pier Guidi Ferrari 488 GTE M 350 DNF Ferrari F154CB 3.9L Turbo V8 29 GTD 16 Change Racing Corey Lewis Spencer Pumpelly Richard Antinucci Lamborghini Huracán GT3 C 350 +62 laps Lamborghini 5.2L V10 30 GTD 44 Magnus Racing John Potter Andy Lally Marco Seefried Audi R8 LMS C 349 +63 laps Audi 5.2L V10 31 GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Matt McMurry Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey Porsche 911 GT3 R C 348 +64 laps Porsche 4.0L Flat 6 32 DNF GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen Dirk Werner Augusto Farfus BMW M6 GTLM M 317 DNF BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 33 DNF PC 8 Starworks Motorsport Alex Popow Renger van der Zande David Heinemeier Hansson Oreca FLM09 C 287 DNF Chevrolet LS3 6.2L V8 34 GTLM 911 Porsche North America Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet Richard Lietz Porsche 911 RSR M 229 +183 laps Porsche 4.0L Flat 6 35 DNF P 90 VisitFlorida Racing Ryan Dalziel Marc Goossens Ryan Hunter-Reay Corvette Daytona Prototype C 198 DNF Chevrolet 5.5L V8 36 DNF P 0 Panoz DeltaWing Racing Andy Meyrick Katherine Legge Sean Rayhall DeltaWing DWC13 C 169 DNF Élan (Mazda) 1.9L I4 Turbo 37 DNF P 55 Mazda Motorsports Tristan Nunez Jonathan Bomarito Spencer Pigot Mazda Prototype C 114 DNF Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L I4 Turbo 38 DNF PC 7 Starworks Motorsport Stefano Coletti James Dayson Quinlan Lall Oreca FLM 09 C 50 DNF Chevrolet LS3 6.2L V8 Sources:[23][24]

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental M Michelin

Prototype Drivers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Eric Curran Dane Cameron 314 2 João Barbosa Christian Fittipaldi 311 3 Jordan Taylor Ricky Taylor 309 4 1 Oswaldo Negri Jr. 282 5 1 Marc Goossens 273 Source:[21]

PC Drivers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Alex Popow Renger van der Zande 355 2 Robert Alon Tom Kimber-Smith 355 3 Stephen Simpson Misha Goikhberg 317 4 James French 305 5 1 Kyle Marcelli 274 Source:[21]

GTLM Drivers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner 345 2 Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook 328 3 Antonio García Jan Magnussen 319 4 Earl Bamber Frédéric Makowiecki 313 5 1 Toni Vilander Giancarlo Fisichella 305 Source:[21]

GTD Drivers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Alessandro Balzan Christina Nielsen 332 2 Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating 303 3 1 Bryan Sellers Madison Snow 293 4 1 Andrew Davis Robin Liddell 290 5 Mario Farnbacher Alex Riberas 285 Source:[21]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Prototype Teams' Championship standings Pos. +/– Team Points 1 No. 31 Action Express Racing 314 2 No. 5 Action Express Racing 311 3 No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing 309 4 1 No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian 282 5 1 No. 90 VisitFlorida Racing 273 Source:[21]

PC Teams' Championship standings Pos. +/– Team Points 1 No. 8 Starworks Motorsport 355 2 No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 355 3 No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports 330 4 No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports 317 5 No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports 302 Source:[21]

GTLM Teams' Championship standings Pos. +/– Team Points 1 No. 4 Corvette Racing 345 2 No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 328 3 No. 3 Corvette Racing 319 4 No. 912 Porsche North America 313 5 1 No. 62 Risi Competizione 305 Source:[21]

GTD Teams' Championship standings Pos. +/– Team Points 1 No. 63 Scuderia Corsa 332 2 No. 33 Riley Motorsports 303 3 1 No. 48 Paul Miller Racing 293 4 1 No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports 290 5 No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing 285 Source:[21]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Prototype Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 338 2 Honda 324 3 Mazda 304 4 BMW 56 5 Ford 30 Source:[21]

GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 359 2 Ford 341 3 Porsche 330 4 1 Ferrari 317 5 1 BMW 314 Source:[21]

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Audi 334 2 1 Ferrari 328 3 1 Porsche 322 4 Dodge 321 5 BMW 313 Source:[21]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
• Note: Bold names include the Drivers', Teams', and Manufactures' Champion respectively.

• Race Results