Le Grande Le Mans Invitations Up For Grabs For LMP2, GTD At Road Atlanta
The WeatherTech Championship guys get moving Thursday across three separate practice sessions and then there's qualifying on Friday, and the hype is building as cars and teams in all four classes still have loads to play for as they prepare for the final race of the 2024 campaign.
Focusing on two key awards in particular, the payoff for coming out as winners yields arguably the greatest prize that isn't a class championship - an invitation to Le Mans next June.
Two awards - the Bob Akin and Jim Trueman Bronze Cups - are tracked throughout the IMSA season with points scored for the best-finishing Bronze-rated drivers on the grid for LMP2 and GTD classes. The reward for claiming the Bronze Cup is an entry ticket to run at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and it goes without saying just how great that opportunity can prove to be for a racing program that wouldn't get the opportunity otherwise.
This past June, it was Inception Racing with their No. 70 McLaren 720S and the Crowdstrike Racing by APR machine that ran around Circut de Le Sarthe following their Bronze Cup victories last season. Inception crossed the finish line with a very-respectful P13 class finish, while Crowdstrike unfortunately bowed out after 149 laps logged in the books (racing at Le Mans was just about the last good thing that happened to George Kurtz and Co. before their software outage crippled basically every computer in the world a month later).
With just PLM left to run, there are a handful of teams in position to win these cup titles and give them the opportunity to participate in (one of) the world's greatest endurance races. Let's break it down.
LMP2 Jim Trueman Cup - Inter Europol and Riley
The No. 52 Inter Europol lead in class with Nick Boulle charting ahead of Gar Robinson and the Riley gang by 70 points in the standings. A top three finish wraps things up for the Polish bakers, while the No. 74 need a couple things to break their way - Riley have to finish on the podium *and* they need to finish four spots ahead of the 52 to snatch away the title.
My money is on the Inter Europol team due to the fact they've been incredibly consistent all season long, so why not bet on them to keep the streak going in the season finale? They already have a track record at Le Mans as they pulled off the incredible class victory in 2023 so a return trip to the race would be yet chance for them to pull off another legendary victory.
GTD Bob Akin Cup - AWA Racing, Inception Racing, Gradient Racing
The GTD battle will rage between three teams - AWA, Inception and Gradient. Orey Fidani in the No. 13 Corvette Z06 hold a pretty legit 120-point lead over Brendan Iribe and the No. 70 Inception Ferrari, (remember Inception switched cars just last month?) while the gap between AWA and Sheena Monk with Gradient Racing is 150 points. If AWA finish inside the top-six among the other Bronze-rated GTD drivers on track, they'll take home the Cup.
For AWA, it would be an amazing way to cap off what has been an absolute roller coaster of a debut season with their GT3.R Corvette; if you remember from back at the Rolex, literally right as the cars were rolling out of pit lane to start the formation laps, the car crapped out and had to be pushed down the road by the team. They eventually got the thing fired up and running and ran 308 laps before succumbing to a power steering issue. From that moment back in January to a potential date next year at Le Mans would be quite the story.
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| What a wild start to a brand new car for those guys |
But as the gambling types that we are, we're gonna go with Gradient Racing to pull off the upset and come out winners in what would be a very poetic Final Dance moment for the Acura NSX as the car wraps up its lifespan in IMSA. Also, and maybe more importantly, because we know Stevan McAleer on a first name basis (no big deal) and seeing him race around Le Mans in a new GT3 Mustang would be sick.
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