Inside the Petit Le Mans points possibilities

By foxsports
Published

With championships still to be decided in all four categories, Sportscar365 breaks down the points possibilities ahead of today’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Petit Le Mans.

Prototype:

***With the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Eric Curran and Dane Cameron at a one-point lead over teammates Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, whichever car finishes higher will likely be crowned champion.

***The only exception comes if the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP of Jordan and Ricky Taylor wins the race and both Action Express entries finish fourth or lower. A second or third place finish for the Taylor’s could also have them clinch the title, should the AXR cars finish below sixth or eighth, respectively.

***In the Manufacturers Championship, only one Corvette DP will need to start the race in order to clinch the title. Chevrolet currently holds a 17-point lead over Honda, which is an insurmountable margin, as long as points are scored in the race.

Prototype Challenge:

***Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow will need to score a sixth place finish or higher to win the championship for Starworks Motorsport. The PC class features a seven-car field this weekend, with three entries from Starworks alone.

***Only the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports duo of Tom Kimber-Smith and Robert Alon hold a chance of denying van der Zande and Popow the title and will need to win the race to do so, unless the No. 8 Starworks car fails to reach the minimum drive time of three hours (for a Bronze/Silver driver) to score points.

***Performance Tech Motorsports holds a mathematical chance of winning the Teams Championship, should they win the race and both the No. 8 Starworks and No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen entries fail to score points.

GT Le Mans:

***The No. 4 Corvette C7.R pairing of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner will need to score a seventh place finish or higher to be crowned champions. They hold a 11-point led over Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe in the No. 67 Ford GT.

***A total of four driver pairings still hold a mathematical chance of the championship, but the chances for either Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen (No. 3 Corvette) and Earl Bamber/Fred Makowiecki (No. 912 Porsche) are extremely slim.

***The Manufacturers Championship will be locked up once Corvette takes the start of the race. Chevrolet currently holds a 29-point lead over Ford.

GT Daytona:

***The No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan will be champions once Nielsen hits the minimum three-hour drive time. The duo holds a 32-point lead over Riley Motorsports’ Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

***Two other driver pairings: Andrew Davis/Robin Liddell (Stevenson Motorsports) and Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow (Paul Miller Racing) hold a mathematical shot of the Drivers’ Championship but only if both the Nos. 63 and 33 cars fail to score points and one wins the race.

***Audi holds a 11-point lead in the Manufacturers Championship over Porsche, meaning it just needs at least one of its three R8 LMS cars to get to the points-scoring mark to win the title.