The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) wrapped up the 2024 season with the ten-hour Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. It was a challenging race for the BMW teams, but Paul Miller Racing still came away with a championship in the Michelin Endurance Cup.
2024 has been a tough year for BMW M Team RLL, but things turned around at the Indianapolis race back in mid-September when the #24 (shown above) and #25 M Hybrid V8 prototypes finished 1-2 in the GTP class.The team was hoping to carry that momentum into the Petit Le Mans finale but had some bad luck that thwarted hopes of another podium finish.
Connor De Phillippi put in a great lap in qualifying to put the #25 car third on the grid for the race, just three-tenths off the pole time of Jack Aitken in the #31 Cadillac. Philipp Eng qualified the #24 in ninth but was just three-tenths behind De Phillippi. The top seven GTP cars were within half-second of each other in qualifying.
The #24 car of Eng, Jesse Krohn and Augusto Farfus (brought in as a third driver for this race) had a setback early in the race when they were involved in a collision, but they were able to return to racing. Later on, the #25 car of De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly and Maxime Martin (brought in as a third driver) had its race end with a fuel system issue, which was a big disappointment after the car had shown good speed in qualifying and the race.
As the race progressed, the #24 car with Eng at the wheel found its way up to third place toward the end, but had a tire pressure leak that led to a pit stop and a drop down to fourth place, which is where they finished. “It was a long race with a lot happening for us right from the start,” said Jesse Krohn. “We were a lap down for most of the race and only managed to get it back at the very last moment. Philipp had the podium and even the win in sight and tried everything, but unfortunately, it wasn’t to be this time. That’s racing. Looking back on the season, it was great to see the progress we’ve made thanks to the extremely hard work of BMW M Team RLL and BMW M Motorsport.” The race was won by the #01 Cadillac.
In the GT classes, Robby Foley put the #96 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3 in second on the grid in qualifying for the GTD class, while Madison Snow qualified the #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 in tenth in GTD Pro. The Turner duo of Foley, Patrick Gallagher and Jake Walker were running within the top five for most of the race but fell back to ninth by the end. Foley and Gallagher finished second in the GTD class championship behind Winward Mercedes Mercedes drivers Russell Ward and Philip Ellis.
Turner Motorsport finished second in the GTD drivers championship with Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher.
Paul Miller Racing with drivers Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers and Neil Verhagen finished seventh in the GTD Pro class, but it was enough to give them the Michelin Endurance Cup championship ahead of the Risi Competizione Ferrari. “This one in particular proves that we can move up to the GTD Pro category and still win a championship, we can compete at that level that–up until this point, we hadn’t attempted.” said Paul Miller Racing team manager Mitchell Simmons. “And for us to do that in our first year, words can’t express how proud I am of the crew and the effort that they put in. That result shows what we’re really capable of and I’m really excited to build on this in GTD Pro in the future.”
Paul Miller Racing won the GTD Pro class Michelin Endurance Cup title.
The Paul Miller Racing team will look a little different next year, as driver Bryan Sellers will part with the team after nine years to take on a new role as driver and program manager with Corvette team DXDT Racing. Sellers competed with the DXDT team in the SRO GT World Challenge America championship this season. There’s no word yet on who will replace Sellers at the team, which is set to expand to two M4 GT3 entries in the GTD Pro class next season.
BMW M Team RLL also announced the departure of Nick Yelloly. Yelloly had been a BMW works driver for six years and was partnered with Connor De Phillippi in the #25 M Hybrid V8 over the last two seasons. Yelloly will be moving to the Meyer Shank Racing team for their Acura GTP effort in the IWSC next season. There’s no word yet on who will replace Yelloly in the #25 car for the 2025 season. —David Haueter
[Photos courtesy LAT Images]