The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) came down to the wire in the Petit Le Mans finale at Road Atlanta, a 10-hour race that has a reputation for drama. This year’s edition did turn out to be a very dramatic race, with Paul Miller Racing snatching the GTD Pro championship while BMW M Team WRT finished on the podium in GTP.
The Paul Miller Racing team led the GTD Pro championship for a good part of the season but came into the finale with a 47-point gap to the #4 Corvette Racing team. They got off to a good start in qualifying, with Neil Verhagen putting in a 1:18.194 lap to take the pole in the #1 M4 GT3 EVO. With points awarded for qualifying position, it narrowed the gap to the Corvette team by five points, which qualified third. “We’re either going to come home a champion or we’re going to come home not a champion,” said Verhagen after qualifying. “It makes our goal pretty clear for us. We’re going to go out and attack and do it as much as we can for Paul Miller and BMW.”
Neil Verhagen (middle) celebrates pole position with co-drivers Connor De Phillippi (left) and Dan Harper.
In GTP qualifying, Sheldon van der Linde put in a 1:10.082 lap to put the #24 M Hybrid V8 third on the grid for BMW M Team WRT, while Marco Wittmann qualified the #25 M Hybrid V8 ninth with a 1:10.476. The #60 Acura took the GTP pole, and the #31 Cadillac Whelen team essentially won the championship by qualifying fourth. All they had to do was start the race to clinch it. Turner Motorsport had bad luck in GTD qualifying, as the session was red flagged before Robby Foley could put in a fast lap in the #96 M4 GT3 EVO. He qualified fifth, but the #57 Mercedes-AMG team who was leading the championship took the pole, which widened the points gap to the Turner team.
Turner Motorsport had a DNF at Road Atlanta but finished second in the GTD championship.
Bad luck followed Turner Motorsport into the race. Foley moved up into third in the opening laps on a wet track, but early in the race, the team had to retire the #96 M4 GT3 EVO due to overheating and water pressure issues. It was a bitter way to end the season, and drivers Foley and Patrick Gallagher still ended up second in the GTD class championship. Another GTD championship contender, the #27 Aston Martin, didn’t even start the race due to electrical issues, which handed the championship to the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG team, who went on to win the race. It was their third straight GTD championship. “A really unfortunate end to what was actually a very strong season,” said Foley. “That’s what I want to focus on. We had a great year. Many thanks to everyone at Turner Motorsport and BMW M Motorsport who put us in a position to fight for the GTD title in the final race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. That’s a real shame, but we’ll be back next year.”
A late race off by the #4 Corvette put the Paul Miller Racing BMW in position to win the championship.
The fortunes of the Paul Miller Racing team also went up and down during the race. It seemed all but over for them when De Phillippi was involved in an incident with the #59 McLaren and went into the tire wall. They were able to continue but lost several positions, but strong driving and good strategy brought them back into the mix in GTD Pro, including a decision to keep Verhagen out on slicks during a shower while other teams switched to rain tires. With three hours left, the #1 was in third place in class with Dan Harper at the wheel, and the team got the BMW out ahead of the #4 Corvette after pitting with two hours left.
They say in racing that “yellows breed yellows.” When the field goes under a caution and bunches all the cars together, then goes green again with everyone battling for position in close quarters, it often leads to other incidents which cause more caution/yellow flag periods. There were 16 cautions during the 10-hour Petit Le Mans race, and a restart after the 14th caution led to a dramatic turn of events in GTD Pro, as the #4 Corvette banged fenders with another car and ended up in the gravel trap. This put the Paul Miller BMW in a much better position to win the championship, but they then had to keep the #9 Lamborghini at bay, which was right behind the BMW team in the points. Verhagen was in the #1 BMW for the final stint and finished third to clinch the championship, with the GTD Pro win going to the #68 Aston Martin.
Connor De Phillippi (left), Neil Verhagen (middle) and Dan Harper celebrate with Paul Miller Racing team members. Harper was a third driver for the longer endurance races.
The GTD Pro championship with full-season drivers Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi was Paul Miller Racing’s first in the class after winning GTD class championships in 2018 and 2023. “When I had the chance to join Paul Miller Racing for the full season, I knew it was a huge opportunity to try to win the championship,” said De Phillippi. “When we won Daytona, we started off strong. Starting off with a strong Daytona is huge for the overall title. We went race by race, maximizing what we had each given weekend. Made the least amount of mistakes between everyone in the field. Team-wise we made the least amount of mistakes. More often than not we didn’t have the fastest car on a given weekend, but a car we could be competitive with. If we played our cards right, we could play for a podium. When there was more to grab, we took it. So proud of everyone at Paul Miller Racing.” Chevrolet won the GTD Pro class manufacturer championship.
The #24 M Hybrid V8 finished second in GTP.
BMW M Team WRT also had a strong finish in the GTP class, with the #24 M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Robin Frijns finishing second behind the #6 Porsche 963. Van der Linde almost caught the #6 in the closing laps but lost some time getting around slower cars in traffic. The #25 car of Kevin Magnussen, Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng had to retire after an accident. “That was a strong final race of the season for our #24,” said Team Principal Vincent Vosse. “Of course, with just one second behind, you think about missing out on the possible win a bit, but we gave it everything and have no regrets. Unfortunately, #25 had the accident; otherwise, a strong result would have been possible there as well. Our first IMSA season is now over, and we will analyse closely how we can manage to be as strong in every race next season, as we were recently in Indianapolis and here.”
The #25 M Hybrid V8 had a DNF after being involved in an accident.
On the season, BMW M Team WRT had five podiums in the GTP class, including one win at Indianapolis, and three other top five finishes. The Paul Miller Racing team had four podiums in GTD Pro, including wins at Daytona and Road Atlanta, as well as three other top five finishes. In GTD, the Turner Motorsport team had four podium finishes including a win at Indianapolis, as well as two other top five finishes.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy LAT Images]
