BRASELTON, Georgia – On-track action is underway at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta where multiple championships are on the line for several Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams across a pair of IMSA racing series at this weekend’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans. WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition and Korthoff Preston Motorsports battle for respective GT Daytona (GTD) Pro and GTD IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) honors in Saturday’s featured Motul Petit Le Mans. On Friday, Murillo Racing battles for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) driver and team titles and joins four other Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries in attempting to secure a second-straight GS manufacturer championship for Mercedes-AMG.
A championship within the overall IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the IMEC awards the top performers in the year’s long-distance races at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and this weekend’s 10-hour Petit Le Mans.
Anchored by a victory in the Daytona opener, the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3 and co-drivers Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Maro Engel head into Saturday’s race with a three-point lead in the IMEC GTD Pro driver standings, 33 – 30. The No. 79 and Mercedes-AMG lead in turn lead the GTD Pro team and manufacturer standings by the same three-point margin.
In GTD, the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 and co-drivers Mikael Grenier, Mike Skeen and Kenton Koch are one point out of first place, 29 – 28, in both the driver and team IMEC championships. Mercedes-AMG is in a two-way first-place 30-point tie in the manufacturer battle.
Michelin Endurance Cups are awarded to the championship winning drivers, team and manufacturer in all WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes. Points for the Endurance Cup are allocated three times throughout the 10-hour Petit Le Mans race at the completion of hours four, eight and the overall race finish at hour 10. The points system is straightforward, with the first-place car in each segment earning five points, second place earning four and third earning three points. Fourth and on down and through the field all receive two points each segment.
The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of co-drivers Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje is not in contention for any season-end honors but comes to Petit Le Mans as the hottest team in GTD. Winward won the most recent race at Indianapolis one event after finishing third in Virginia. Both finishes are the team’s best of the year.
Friday’s two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race will see the No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak bring their battle for the GS driver and team championships down to the wire. The No. 72 squad led the GS class championships all summer and remains in contention for the titles heading into Friday’s finale in third place just 70 points out of the lead.
The No. 72 team and drivers compete alongside longtime teammates Eric Foss and late team addition Charles Espenlaub who co-drive the No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4. A former GS driver champion, Espenlaub fills in for the No. 56 team’s primary driver Jeff Mosing who is recovering from a back injury from an incident in a single-make series race in late July at Road America.
Mercedes-AMG leads the GS manufacturer championship standings by 40 points, primarily on the strength of the No. 72 Murillo team’s race win at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last May and victories at Detroit and one race ago at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) by Bryce Ward and Daniel Morad in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The No. 27 Lone Star Racing/Bluff City Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 chased the No. 57 to the finish line at IMS for a one-two Mercedes-AMG finish at “The Brickyard.” The runner-up result was the best finish of the season for the No. 27 and team drivers Anton Dias Perera and Scott Andrews who have one more chance to secure a victory this season in Friday’s finale.
The final Mercedes-AMG GT4 entry in the Pilot Challenge race is the No. 11 Wilsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Gary Ferrera and Kris Wilson. The reigning GS Bronze Cup champions, Ferrera and Wilson will clinch a second-straight title in the class showcasing “Am” or Sportsman drivers just by starting tomorrow’s race.
The 26th Annual Motul Petit Le Man runs between 11:40 a.m. and 9:40 p.m. EDT with live coverage of the final hours and finish on the USA Network from 6:30 – 10 p.m. EDT this Saturday, October 14. International viewers can watch flag-to-flag livestream coverage of the race on IMSA.com.
Jules Gounon, Driver – No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I loved the circuit when I tested there a few weeks ago. I think it’s one of my favorite tracks in the U.S. Our goal is to score endurance points at the four-and-eight-hour marks. We need to stay ahead. If that happens, we can then focus on the race win. It is great to have Maro back with his experience and speed for this weekend.”
Daniel Juncadella, Driver – No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Very exciting race coming up. I haven’t been to Petit since 2021. Our first goal will be to win the Endurance Championship and secondly to win the race. It is one of the big races on the IMSA schedule, like the Rolex 24 and Sebring, that you want to win. I am excited to get back in the car after our win at Indy. We welcome Maro back and are ready to close out the season at Petit this weekend.”
Maro Engel, Driver – No. 79 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Really looking forward to Petit Le Mans. There is always a great crowd to match the competition on the track. Dani and Jules are fighting for the IMEC Championship, and I will do everything I can to help them get that. We had a good test there and the WeatherTech Racing/Proton team is ready. It is too bad I had to miss The Glen, but we will do everything to get the team that championship on Saturday.”
Mike Skeen, Driver – No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Petit Le Mans is always an awesome event, and we love Road Atlanta. It’s going to be a bit of chaos with even more cars than last year. Lots of traffic and it is a tough venue for dealing with traffic. We will have our work cut out for us trying to keep it clean all day, but I think we will have a good car based on the test we did a few weeks ago. We are pretty excited heading into the weekend with lots to fight for and the Endurance Cup championship being pretty tight. We would love to bring home a big trophy at the end of the year.”
Kenton Koch, Driver – No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “We had a good test two weeks ago and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 felt pretty good. Hopefully, when we get to this weekend, it will still feel really good, we’ll make it even better and hopefully beat our competition for the IMEC. I’m learning more from the team and drivers than anything in this position. I have not had a lot of GT3 experience, but getting a pretty deep foothold on GT3 cars now, understanding them, knowing what they need and learning from the factory on what the cars need to go quickly, it’s a very cool position for me to be in.”
Philip Ellis, Driver – No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “The last two races have really gone quite well. On the team side, I think we have executed a little bit better, and we can take this momentum to a track where we have always been competitive the last few years. We have not been super lucky here but going in this year it looks pretty good. It’s a very risk management kind of race, especially the last couple of hours when everybody is going for championships. So, the same as Indy, we will keep the car clean for the last hour and try to push for the podium or class win.”
Kenny Murillo, Driver – No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “We need to change our approach to the weekend to something more aggressive. Our more passive approach hasn’t worked for us as our competitors have seriously upped their game. This championship means everything to the Murillo Racing Team, as this has been a long time coming. It’s our turn to win this year, and we’re going to do everything possible to make sure we come out with that championship trophy.”
Scott Andrews, Driver – No. 27 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “It’s all about momentum and we finally got that monkey off our back in a way with that podium at Indy. Everyone was so much happier after that. You put in so much work all year, but racing can be an unforgiving sport as we have seen all year. So really just that one result makes up for all of the hard yards we have had to put in. We are looking forward to Petit and it is a track on which I have had podiums in both GS and WeatherTech and a circuit that Anton generally drives well on. It’s another opportunity to put the Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 back up on the podium.”
