Now Racing to What’s Next
Twenty-eight years in the making. Porsche Penske's first overall Petit Le Mans GTP win came on a day that showed exactly why this race is still a race to the future.
Paul Pfanner calls Petit Le Mans his favorite race to attend, and this year's IMSA finale at Road Atlanta reminded him why. Porsche won with a prototype for the first time, a race it had chased for 28 years, and Cadillac took the crown, while Acura said a goodbye he hopes is temporary. Paul on why this event is still for the fans, and still a race to the future.
Racing to What's Next
When you're watching an IMSA race, you're literally watching a race to the future. That's how I've always looked at it. This series is the now personified in motorsports, and at Petit Le Mans it absolutely feels like now racing to what's next.
It's perhaps my favorite race to attend. Don Panoz created it in 1998 around a motto, For the Fans, and the event has lived by it ever since. Petit Le Mans is a monument to that idea, with the friendliest, most welcoming vibe of any event I know.
Why I Keep Going Back
The pre-race grid walk is one of the best things in racing anywhere. Fans stand alongside crews and drivers, and kids collect autographs from people who will be fighting for a championship twenty minutes later. Nobody asks whether you belong.
It's a 10-hour race and it feels like it, with a meaningful stretch of darkness at the end. I like to wander the circuit through sunset and dusk and into the dark, watching these cars come over the crests at speed. They're really like starfighters doing battle into the night. It's fascinating to watch in person. There's nothing quite like it. It's just brilliant.
The cars have personality and so do the teams, and the drivers have real presence on top of their skill. Most of all, you're sharing joy with the fans. When the checkered flag falls there's a sense of celebratory joy in the paddock and in the fan areas that's really remarkable. I don't know a lot of events with that sense of well-being, of being witness to something very special. This event is all that.
It's what, to my mind, motorsports should be about. It's not a show. It's a sport where there's competition at every level, and it's visible.
Road Atlanta adds to it. It's a real driver's track, old school to the max, and the first racetrack I ever drove away from California to reach. I told that story in May in "IMSA: The Future Is Now." I've never fallen out of love with the place.
Porsche Finally Cracks It
Rain came and went at Saturday's 29th running, and the race set a record with 16 full course cautions.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske 963 of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Matt Campbell won it, with Vanthoor holding off the No. 24 BMW by 1.205 seconds... Porsche has won Le Mans 19 times, yet until Saturday it had never won Petit Le Mans overall with a prototype. Road Atlanta doesn't give anything away, and I love it for that.
Jack Aitken clinched the GTP title in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen just by taking the start, and Cadillac won the team and manufacturer titles alongside him. Paul Miller Racing, Winward and CrowdStrike by APR took the GTD Pro, GTD and LMP2 crowns.
That's the other half of why this event works. For the manufacturers, the core is relatability. The cars competing create meaning and emotional connection and proof of technology, for brands whose road cars carry the same names.
The Handoff
Scott Atherton, John Doonan's predecessor, remains one of my closest friends. We were the American Le Mans Series agency in his era, one of the high points of my career, and the foundation he built for John is never to be underestimated. The global credibility and strength of IMSA was passed like a baton to a person. John was Scott's handpicked successor, and it was a fantastic handoff. Sure, COVID arrived right as it happened, but IMSA's a winner, and with John at the wheel it keeps winning the hearts and minds of fans.
John's State of the Sport address on Thursday had no bombshells and didn't need any. IMSA's following is up to 4.4 million across platforms, its YouTube channel is closing in on two million subscribers, and four events this year drew more than 100,000 fans. A Nielsen Scarborough report named IMSA the fastest growing form of motorsport in the country. John said he feels like they're just scratching the surface. I believe him.
He was candid too. Costs keep rising, and GTP will be smaller next year. What gives me confidence is the 2030 framework IMSA built with the ACO, an evolution of LMDh that keeps costs disciplined while letting brands bring their own styling, hybrid and engine technology. That's how you keep winning commitments from new entrants and manufacturers. More to come in the years ahead.
Robert's Platform
In Acura's last IMSA race for a while, the No. 60 started from pole and ran up front all day, then had to pit for energy at the white flag and finished sixth. Racing can be unkind on the last lap.
Robert Clarke would have felt that one. Robert was badge number one at HPD and one of my closest friends. He believed IMSA's prototype and GT racing was the essence of what Honda should be doing, because it connected directly to how the car itself evolves, and to the Acura brand most of all. He had real passion for it. He was also funny, and one of the most focused, intelligent and diligent people I've ever known. He was just a brilliant guy, and he surrounded himself with brilliant people. He died a year ago last month. I think of him every day and there's a hole in my heart without him. I know the people who worked with him feel the same.
Those people are still there, and they're still winning. HRC is Robert's masterwork, and it runs on a winning mindset. David Salters left the presidency on September 12 for a technology startup outside racing, and Kelvin Fu now leads HRC US. I don't know Kelvin well, but I wish him well. He comes from within the culture, and it's a great culture of winners. To everyone at HRC, thank you for what you've built and for how you've raced. I think the world of you.
I still believe this is a pause. I have great affection for Mike Shank and his team. Mike is a racer through and through. He says they could return as soon as 2028 with a manufacturer program like this one, and I hope it's a top-line program with Honda and Acura. That 2030 framework leaves the door open. Acura belongs in this paddock and I'll keep saying so.
Thirty Next October
Kudos to John Doonan and the whole IMSA team. You're the best in the business at this event, and year after year it proves why IMSA is and always will be my favorite.
Next October brings the 30th Petit Le Mans. I already know where I'll be as the light goes, out on the back of the circuit watching the cars come over the hill with a lot of happy strangers.
Endurance.
Petit Le Mans debuted in 1998 with a Porsche acrobatic performance that rekindled memories of the late Mark Donohue’s similar aero adventure at Road Atlanta in the Porsche 917/10 in 1972.
Pfanner Advantage works with clients to turn change into advantage at the intersection of mobility, motorsport, media, technology, and marketing. Learn more or start a conversation: contact us today.
Paul Pfanner’s recent Shift Happens Insights:
The Advantage Journal arrives every week. What matters in sport, mobility, media, and technology — curated and contextualized by Bill Sparks, Bill Long, and Paul Pfanner. No hedging. No filler. Subscribe — It’s Free
