The 18th Annual petit Le Mans presented by Mazda was the 2015 version of the Petit Le Mans automotive endurance race, was held on October 1–3, 2015 at the Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Georgia. This was the second Petit Le Mans in the United SportsCar Championship. The race was won overall by Richard Lietz, Patrick Pilet, and Nick Tandy in the #911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR. Originally scheduled to run for 10 hours, the race was concluded after 8 hours (199 laps) were completed due to heavy rain, darkness, visibility, and hydroplaning.[1] This marked the first time in the event's history that a GT car won overall.[2] [3]
International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2015 IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship (IMSA TUSC) in August 2014.[4] It was the second consecutive year the event was held as part of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, and the 19th Petit Le Mans. The 2015 Petit Le Mans was the twelfth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2015 by IMSA, and was the fourth round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup.[5] The race was held at the twelve-turn, 2.54miles Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 3, 2015.
The official entry list consisted of 37 cars, including 9 in prototype, 8 in prototype challenge, 8 in GTLM and 12 in GTD.[6]
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.[7]
The first practice session took place at 11:10 am ET on Thursday and ended with Oswaldo Negri Jr. topping the charts for Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:15.163.[8]
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 60 | Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian | Oswaldo Negri Jr. | 1:15.163 | _ | |
| 2 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Scott Pruett | 1:15.627 | +0.464 | |
| 3 | P | 0 | DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone | Katherine Legge | 1:15.757 | +0.594 | |
| Source:[9] | |||||||
The second practice session took place at 3:35 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Joey Hand topping the charts for Chip Ganassi Racing, with a lap time of 1:16.937.[10]
| Class | Team | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:16.937 | _ | |
| 2 | P | 0 | DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone | 1:17.155 | +0.218 | |
| 3 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing | 1:17.352 | +0.415 | |
| Source:[11] | ||||||
The night practice session took place at 7:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Jordan Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:29.369.[12]
| Class | Team | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing | 1:29.369 | _ | |
| 2 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | 1:29.436 | +0.067 | |
| 3 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:29.421 | +2.052 | |
| Source:[13] | ||||||
The fourth and final practice session took place at 10:05 am ET on Friday and ended with João Barbosa topping the charts for Action Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:23.262.[14]
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | João Barbosa | 1:23.262 | _ | |
| 2 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Scott Pruett | 1:23.626 | +0.394 | |
| 3 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche North America | Nick Tandy | 1:24.015 | +0.783 | |
| Source:[15] | |||||||
Richard Westbrook secured overall pole for the event.[16]
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .
Class winners denoted in bold and with .
