International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018.[2] It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2019 Petit Le Mans was the last of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the last of four rounds held as part of the Michelin Endurance Cup.[3] The race took place at the 12-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km) Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 12, 2019.[4]
As the final race for the 2019 season, the race concluded IMSA's 50th anniversary season.
Scott Atherton would retire from his position as President of the International Motor Sports Association following the event.[5] In his final race as president, Scott Atherton served as the events grand marshal.[6] John Doonan would replace Scott Atherton as president of the International Motor Sports Association beginning in 2020.[7]
This would be the final race for the Ford GT as Ford was ending their factory involvement following the 2019 season.[8] The Nissan Onroak DPi made its final appearance as Jon Bennett would retire from full time driving.[9][10]
There were four practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two sessions on Thursday morning and afternoon were 60 minutes and 75 minutes in length, while the third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes, and the fourth on Friday morning lasted one hour.[25]
In the second practice session, Cameron was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 09.095 seconds, ahead of the No. 85 Cadillac of Tristan Vautier and Albuquerque's No. 5 Mustang Sampling car.[30][31] van der Zande placed the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac entry fourth and Ricky Taylor's No. 7 Acura rounded out the top five. Aubry led LMP2 in the No. 52 PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07.[31]Daniel Serra led GTLM in the No. 62 Ferrari with a 1-minute, 16.708 seconds lap. Antonio García's No. 3 Corvette was second. Dixon in the No. 66 CGR Ford GT was third.[32]Felipe Fraga No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 was fastest in GTD, while Morad was 0.409 seconds slower in the No. 29 Land-Motorsport Audi.[28]Chris Miller caused the first caused the session's first stoppage when he spun his No. 84 JDC-Miller Cadillac at turn 10a and got beached in the gravel trap. Later, Nunez, Marks, and Piedrahita spun and got their cars beached at turns 6 and 10a, respectively.[31]
The third practice session ran at night and saw Derani's No. 31 Cadillac set the fastest time overall at 1 minute, 09.455 seconds. Albuquerque was almost two-tenths of a second behind in second, with the No. 7 Team Penske Acura of Ricky Taylor was third.[33] Vautier in the No. 85 Cadillac was fourth and Jarvis' No. 77 Mazda was fifth.[33]René Binder necessitated the showing of a red flag when he spun and beached the No. 50 Juncos Racing in the gravel trap at turn 10a halfway through the session.[34] Aubry was the fastest LMP2 driver in the PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports entry.[34] In GTLM, Müller was fastest in class with a lap of 1 minute, 16.552 seconds. Blomqvist was second-fastest in the No. 25 BMW M8 and Briscoe took third in the No. 67 Ford GT.[28][34] In GTD, Auberlen was again fastest in the class, followed by Jeroen Bleekemolen's No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.[35]
Nasr led the final session in the No. 31 WER car with a lap of 1 minute, 08.419 seconds. Ricky Taylor's No. 7 Acura was second-fastest. The No. 5 Cadillac of Albuquerque set the third-quickest lap. van der Zande's No. 10 Cadillac, along with Bernhard's No. 77 Mazda car were fourth and fifth. [36]Misha Goikhberg necessitated the showing of a red flag when he spun and beached the No. 85 JDC-Miller Cadillac in the gravel trap at turn 10 with 17 minutes remaining in the session.[37][27] Aubry was fastest again in LMP2.[37] Calado's No. 62 Ferrari was fastest in GTlM while, Robby Foley, driving the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6, was the fastest driver in GTD.[27]
Friday's afternoon qualifying session was broken into three sessions that were scheduled for 15 minutes each.[25] Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM and DPi/LMP2 had two separate identically timed sessions. All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap.[25] IMSA then arranged the grid so that the DPi, LMP2, and GTLM cars started in front of the GTD field.
Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Cadillac set a new track record to clinch pole position with a time of 1 minute and 08.457 seconds.[38][39] He was joined on the grid's front row by Ricky Taylor's No. 7 Acura who was 0.141 seconds slower.[39]Filipe Albuquerque qualified the No. 5 Cadillac in third, ahead of Dane Cameron's fourth-placed No. 6 Acura.[40] The two Mazdas were fourth and fifth (the No. 77 car driven by Bernhard in front of the No. 55 vehicle of Tincknell).[40] Trummer's No. 84 Cadillac took sixth and van der Zande's No. 10 Cadillac qualified seventh.[41] Pigot's No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac took eighth, ahead of Goikhberg in the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac and the No. 54 CORE Autosport Nissan driven by Jon Bennett rounded out the DPi qualifiers.[40] In LMP2, Masson set the fastest time in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry, with his fastest lap being 0.131 seconds faster than McMurry in the No. 52 PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca.[39]
In GTLM, James Calado in the No. 62 Ferrari set a new category track record to take pole position with a time of 1 minute and 15.639 seconds.[42] García in the No. 3 Corvette set the second fastest time, but would start at the back of the GTLM field after his car failed post post-qualifying technical inspection where it was discovered that the Corvette was found to not have complied with mandated ride height. As a result, Philipp Eng would start in second position followed Vanthoor's No. 912 Porsche in third.[41]
In GTD, Corey Lewis took his second consecutive pole position of the season with a lap of 1 minute and 19.530 seconds. He was joined by Ben Keating's No. 33 Mercedes-AMG on the grid's front row with his best lap being 0.135 second slower, and Jeff Westphal drove the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari to third place.[39][40]Justin Marks qualified the No. 86 Acura fourth, ahead of Christina Nielsen's fifth placed No. 57 Acura.[41] The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW failed to record a time due to Robby Foley spinning at turn 10a and beaching the car at the gravel trap on his outlap.[42][41] The No. 29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport and No. 47 Precision Performance Motorsports entries lost all their lap times due to both teams crew touching their respective cars.[42]
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
1 The No. 3 Corvette Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTLM classification for violating competition rules regarding the car's rear wing.[45][46]
2 The No. 29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport entry had all qualifying laps forfeited as per Article 40.2.9. of the Sporting regulations (car was touched by the crew during qualifying without permission by the officials).[47]
3 The No. 47 Precision Performance Motorsports entry had all qualifying laps forfeited as per Article 40.2.9. of the Sporting regulations (car was touched by the crew during qualifying without permission by the officials).[47]
Race
Post-race
Cameron and Montoya took the DPi Drivers' Championship with 302 points. They were five points clear of Derani and Nasr.[48] With 270 points, McMurry won the LMP2 Drivers' Championship, 11 points clear of Cassels.[48] Bamber and Vanthoor took the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 330 points. They were 17 points clear of Pilet and Tandy in second. García and Magnussen were third with 317 points.[48] Farnbacher and Hindman won the GTD Drivers' Championship with 283 points, 21 points ahead of Auberlen and Foley. Robichon was third with 262 points.[48] Acura, Porsche, and Lamborghini won their respective Manufactures' Championships, while Acura Team Penske, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and Meyer Shank Racing won their respective Teams' Championships.[48]
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