Many sports car races have long histories: fifty, sixty, eighty or more years. Some become classics almost at once.
Though the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans race has only been with us since 1998, it is seen as an essential part of the North American Sports car calendar, another 12 Hours of Sebring—though only a quarter of its age.
Conceived by American Le Mans Series founder Dr. Don Panoz at a time when North American sports car racing was coming unraveled, Petit went on the be the second most important race of the ALMS season, often attracting the best and fastest competitors from not just North America but around the world.
Now that ALMS and its competitor Rolex Sports Car Series have morphed into the Tudor United Sports Car Championship, what will become of the ALMS' signature race? Tune in to Fox TV at 11:15 a.m. Saturday to find out.
The 17th Petit Le Mans, now a guaranteed ten hours instead of the old ten hours/1000 miles, whichever came first, starts with one of the largest grids in the race’s history—fifty-five cars are expected to take the green flag.
The race is still run on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta circuit, a fast track with high-speed corners and lots of elevation changes.
Missing will be the international LMP1 the Audis and Peugeots which battled the ALMS P1 teams head-to-head, just as they did at Le Mans. Also missing will be those ALMS P1s. TUSC’s top class is composed of LMP2 prototypes and Rolex-era Daytona prototypes—quick enough cars, but not the best of the best.
One thing that won’t be missing is some of the best GT racing on the planet. The old ALMS GT2/GTE field has been imported intact. Fans will still get to watch the best factory-supported Corvettes, Vipers, Porsches, BMWs, and the familiar Risi Ferrari (and fan favorite Falken Porsche for that matter) battling for class honors. Now called GT-Le Mans, the racing is about the same regardless of the name—generally close and competitive.
Tudor has converted the old ALMS GTC class—basically an advertisement for GT3 Porsche’s GT3 Cup cars—into GT Daytona, featuring a variety of modified GT3 cars from Porsche, Audi, Ferrari, BMW and Dodge. No one can complain about this change; GTD offers some of the tightest racing on track, nearly as fast and every bit as varied at GTLM.
It is advised that race fans check their local listings to see exactly when and on which Fox channel Petit Le Mans will be broadcast in any specific area. According to IMSA.com on Tuesday, Sept. 30, the race starts at 11:15 a.m. eastern on Saturday, October 4 and will be streamed in its entirety without geoblocking on the IMSA.com website.
Television coverage is shown as starting at 3 p.m. on Fox Sports 2, running continuously through the podium ceremonies. A two-hour race recap will air Sunday morning at (possibly) 8 a.m. on Fox Sports 1.
As always Live Timing and Scoring will stream on IMSA.com—an invaluable asset when trying to follow a long, multi-class race.
