The final Petit Le Mans of the IMSA DPi era gave the class a perfect send off, a dramatic final two hours seeing the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Helio Castroneves claim race victory.
In doing so, full-time drivers Blomqvist and Jarvis were able to overturn a 14 point deficit over the #10 Acura and take out the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Petit Le Mans was essentially a winner-take-all scenario for the two cars in the 2022 title chase, Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, joined by New Zealander Brendon Hartley for the enduro, taking a 19 point lead into the final race of the season.
Blomqvist responded by taking pole position yesterday, putting the pressure on Taylor and Albuquerque come Sunday.
The first eight hours of the event saw multiple lead changes as strategy, driver changes and safety car periods came into effect, but it wasn’t until the final two hours when the drama truly began.
With 2hr15m to go, Alex Lynn ran wide in the #2 CGR Cadillac before coming into the pits to hand over to Earl Bamber to see home the race. Sebastien Bourdais also stopped not long after, handing over the final run to Renger van der Zande in the #1 Cadillac, Scott Dixon their third driver used in earlier running.
The two Acura’s made similar stops, all contending cars with their anchor in as the race entered its final hour, the lead changing multiple times and the true running order revealed after nine hours of strategy.
It was an Acura 1-2 temporarily after the two Cadillacs made their final stops for tyres and fuel, Albuquerque building the lead over Blomqvist and looking likely to claim the race and title, despite both needing to come in for one final stop.
Then came contact behind. The #1 and #2 Cadillac making side-by-side contact into Turn 6, both shooting into the gravel and connecting with the tyre wall.
Bamber, who was behind the wheel of the #2, had been help up by lapped traffic which gave van der Zande a run on the outside for position. Forced slightly wide, the crash came when van der Zande turned into the corner with Bamber on his inside.
This brought about a safety car, both cars needing to be retrieved before being driven back, under their own power, to pit lane.
They both managed to return to action, albeit several laps down and out of contention.
Albuquerque and Blomqvist made the most of a cheap pitstop, the latter managing the overtake with a quicker stop.
The race restarted with 30 minutes remaining, the Acuras joined up front by the Cadillac of Pipo Derani of Whelen Engineering Racing. Derani, who partners Olivier Pla and was joined by Mike Conway for the event, kept pace with the duo, the top three within two seconds of each other five minutes after the restart.
With just 14 minutes remaining the front free encountered lapped GT traffic, Albuquerque making contact with a Winward Racing Mercedes on the way through, limping back to the lane.
This all but assured Blomqvist and Jarvis as the winners of the final-ever DPi classification in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship should they finish the race.
They went one better, claiming Petit Le Mans victory with Castroneves, a spirited fight from Derani, Pla and Conway seeing them finish second, only five seconds off the pace after 10 hours of racing.
The Ally Cadillac of Mike Rockenfeller, Kamui Kobayshi and IndyCar/NASCAR veteran Jimmie Johnson took out the final podium place, one lap back.
Van der Zande, Bourdais and Dixon recovered from their earlier crash with their teammates to finish fourth, while Bamber, Lynn and Ryan Hunter-Reay finished eighth overall, the fifth best DPi.
Despite the incident in the closing stages, Albuquerque, Taylor and Hartley managed ninth overall, the number of laps they had completed enough to hold that place despite not rejoining the race.
With the 2022 season complete, IMSA will now take a three month break before returning for the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona on January 28-29 next year.
The new season also brings a new class of Hypercar, the exiting Daytona Prototype International replaced by the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP).
The new GTP cars will run in a LMDh-spec category which mirrors what is used by the AOC in series including the World Endurance Championship.
The change also brings a range of new manufacturers to the flagship class of the series, Porsche and BMW joining Acura and Cadillac to create an extended field.
The new Lamborghini LMDh hypercar will also join the GTP class, however only beginning from 2024.
The new specs also open the door for other competitors to join the field, Ferrari and Peugeot with an option to compete in the future with their new LMH cars.
