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Cadillac wins dramatic Petit Le Mans as Nasr/Curran take IMSA title

Renger van der Zande, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Jordan Taylor took Petit Le Mans victory after the sister Cadillac slowed on the final lap of the IMSA SportsCar finale

It marks Cadillac's first victory at the famous 10-hour Road Atlanta endurance race, and two members of its #31 crew, Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran, took the overall championship despite finishing down in eighth place.

The #7 Action Express Racing Cadillac driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi and Tristan Vautier were leading a one-two before falling from first to fourth after running out of fuel.

Albuquerque had wrestled the lead from the polesitting Extreme Speed Motorsports Nissan in the hands of Pipo Derani, with a bold move down the inside of the entrance to the chicane, just under 30 minutes before the chequered flag.

Derani and his co-drivers Timo Bernhard and Johannes van Overbeek suffered an early setback, dropping out of the lead and losing nearly a minute due to a rear-left puncture just 25 minutes into the race.

With the aid of multiple full-course yellows and safety cars, they hurled their way back into the race lead.

Derani was one of the first prototypes to make his final pitstop, but stalled in the pits and went off through the grass on his out-lap, dropping him into the clutches of the Cadillacs.

Van der Zande passed Derani with a stunning move at the final corner, with just over five minutes of the race left.

He took the chequered flag 5.306 seconds ahead of the #77 Mazda RT24-P, which featured ex-Audi World Endurance Championship drivers Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis as well as Tristan Nunez.

IndyCar driver Spencer Pigot made it two Mazdas in the top three along with his team-mates Jonathan Bomarito and Marino Franchitti.

Albuquerque ended up in fourth place ahead of the #7 Acura, which briefly ran second before Helio Castroneves overtook under yellows and earned a drivethrough penalty.

Derani's #22 Nissan finished in sixth after a late pitstop ahead of the two championship rivals.

Jon Bennett and Colin Braun struggled to maintain their late-season charge, ending the race in seventh and struggling for pace throughout the race.

Nasr and Curran (above) also struggled, with the former's lap times seriously suffering in the final hour due to an ambitious fuel strategy.

They finished one place behind their rivals in seventh place, which was enough to secure the title.

Incredibly Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen sealed the GT Le Mans crown despite Garcia spinning the #3 Corvette into the wall on cold tyres.

The car was repaired and they, along with Marcel Fassler finished in eighth, while their championship rivals in the #67 Ford GT could only manage fifth due to a sloppy end to the race.

Nick Tandy took the class victory, aboard the #911 Porsche, which he shares with Patrick Pilet and Frederic Makowiecki.

Impressively, he stopped earlier than his rivals but took GTLM honours by over 11s.

The battle for the GT Daytona title was equally intense, with Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow denying Katherine Legge despite a hard-fought race from Legge and her team-mates Alvaro Parente and Trent Hindman.

Parente took second but Sellers finished just one place behind which was enough to seal the GTD title.

Daniel Serra, Gunnar Jeannette and Cooper MacNeil took the class win in the #63 WeatherTech Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488.

Result

Pos Class Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 P R.van der Zande, J.Taylor, R.H.-Reay Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac 443 10h00m29.165s
2 P O.Jarvis, T.Nunez, L.di Grassi Mazda Team Joest Mazda 443 5.306s
3 P J.Bomarito, M.Franchitti, S.Pigot Mazda Team Joest Mazda 443 7.605s
4 P F.Albuquerque, C.Fittipaldi, T.Vautier Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac 443 9.458s
5 P H.Castroneves, R.Taylor, G.Rahal Acura Team Penske Acura 443 30.450s
6 P J.van Overbeek, P.Derani, T.Bernhard Tequila Patron ESM Nissan 443 45.065s
7 P J.Bennett, C.Braun, R.Dumas CORE Autosport ORECA/Gibson 443 56.543s
8 P F.Nasr, E.Curran, G.Chaves Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac 442 1 Lap
9 P S.Trummer, R.Alon, D.Defrancesco JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA/Gibson 441 Not running
10 P C.Miller, S.Simpson, M.Goikhberg JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA/Gibson 435 8 Laps
11 P S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, N.Nato Tequila Patron ESM Nissan 433 10 Laps
12 GTLM P.Pilet, N.Tandy, F.Makowiecki Porsche GT Team Porsche 419 24 Laps
13 GTLM O.Gavin, T.Milner, M.Fassler Corvette Racing Chevrolet 419 24 Laps
14 GTLM J.Krohn, J.M.Edwards, C.Mostert BMW Team RLL BMW 419 24 Laps
15 GTLM A.Sims, C.De Phillippi, B.Auberlen BMW Team RLL BMW 419 24 Laps
16 GTLM R.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.Dixon Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford 419 24 Laps
17 GTLM E.Bamber, L.Vanthoor, M.Jaminet Porsche GT Team Porsche 419 24 Laps
18 GTLM J.Hand, D.Muller, S.Bourdais Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford 418 25 Laps
19 GTLM J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, M.Fassler Corvette Racing Chevrolet 417 26 Laps
20 GTLM T.Vilander, M.Molina, A.Bertolini Risi Competizione Ferrari 416 27 Laps
21 GTD C.MacNeil, D.Serra, G.Jeannette Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 407 36 Laps
22 GTD K.Legge, A.Parente, T.Hindman Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura 407 36 Laps
23 GTD B.Sellers, M.Snow, C.Lewis Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini 406 37 Laps
24 GTD P.Long, C.Nielsen, R.Renauer Wright Motorsports Porsche 406 37 Laps
25 GTD T.Bell, F.Montecalvo, M.Cressoni Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 406 37 Laps
26 GTD C.Mies, D.Morad, S.van der Linde Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi 406 37 Laps
27 GTD J.Perez, F.Fraga, M.Buhk P1 Motorsports Mercedes 406 37 Laps
28 GTD B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, L.Stolz Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes 405 38 Laps
29 GTD J.Potter, A.Lally, A.Davis Magnus Racing Audi 405 38 Laps
30 GTD J.Hawksworth, D.H.Hansson, S.Rayhall 3GT Racing Lexus 399 44 Laps
31 P S.Saavedra, J.Gutierrez, W.Owen AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier/Gibson 367 Not running
32 P D.Cameron, J.P.Montoya, S.Pagenaud Acura Team Penske Acura 310 133 Laps
33 GTD D.Baumann, K.Marcelli, P.Frommenwiler 3GT Racing Lexus 226 Not running
34 P J.French, K.Masson, N.Boulle Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA/Gibson 204 Not running
35 GTD J.Marks, L.Aschenbach, M.Farnbacher Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura 186 Not running
36 GTD S.Pumpelly, T.Pappas, W.Henzler Park Place Motorsports Porsche 122 Not running
37 GTD D.Machavern, M.Palttala, D.Yount Turner Motorsport BMW 68 Not running


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