Saturday’s Petit Le Mans marks the eighth championship round and season finale of the 2022 VSCA SportsCar Championship, marking the conclusion of VSCA’s inaugural season.
New entries joining the grid for season finale
The third-longest race of the season will see several teams add additional entries or first-time teams making their series debut.
Agee Motorsports’ No. 17 Dallara will get company in the form of a second No. 47 Dallara P2 Prototype that the Roanoke, Virginia team will enter in the Petit Le Mans.
A completely new organization making its VSCA debut is 499RACING and their No. 499 Dallara P217 entry. The team out of Jacksonville, Florida completes a grid of what is expected 15 P2 Prototype class cars for Saturday’s event.
FR13DA Sport Group will enter a second No. 911 Porsche in the ten-hour endurance race. Likewise Element SimRacing has entered a No. 70 Porsche, to make its debut in the GT3 class.
Another team expanding into the GT3 category will be Albrecht Motorsports as their No. 147 BMW M4 GT3 will join the grid this weekend.
Element SimRacing in control in P2 Prototype class
Element SimRacing and the No. 7 Dallara team with drivers Nils Hundehege and Jan Vollmers are in prime position to take the series championship entering the final race of the season with a 320-point lead over the No. 51 Dallara of World of SimRacing Team.
Winning the previous race at Road America in August ensured the points leaders from Germany only have to complete 70% of Saturday’s race and finish no lower than 15th to claim the SportsCar Championship title, regardless of where the other contenders finish.
At the same time, the No. 7 Dallara also leads the championship in the VSCA Endurance Cup – the in-series championship of the four big endurance events at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta.
Element SimRacing are leading the No. 23 Dallara of Sim Racing Grid by seven points.
Endurance Cup points will be awarded after four hours, eight hours and at the finish of Saturday’s ten-hour event. With the maximum possible amount of Endurance Cup points an entry can earn in the race standing at 15 points, the Endurance Cup title is still up for grabs as well with the No. 7 Dallara having the best chances.
Mosport race winners No. 14 Dallara of Fischer Motorsport will see the return of Kyle Birnie behind the steering wheel as the team is gunning for its second season victory in the Petit Le Mans.
“It feels great to be back behind the wheel. I haven’t been in the car since Le Mans in August and haven’t done a VSCA race since Daytona in January. So it’s just nice to be back and get this opportunity to close out the season strong, together with the team.”, said Birnie.
Fischer Motorsport also celebrates the conclusion of its twentieth racing season with running silver special edition liveries on all three of its cars at Road Atlanta.
Long-time championship leaders and 24 Hours of Daytona champions Lone Wolf Motorsports and their No. 747 Dallara will likewise look to finish the season with a win.
The team had led the point standings in P2 Prototype class competition from Daytona through Watkins Glen but is looking for its first win since January.
Another contender and favorite for the win in Saturday’s race will be the two Race4CAT Motorsport Dallara No. 10 and No. 11. The two cars have combined for two poles and one win, but are looking for their first trip to the winner’s circle since the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.
Coming off a strong second place at Road America, Champion Motorsports’ No. 79 Dallara that still was not quite enough to win the VSCA Sprint Cup, the team with drivers Thomas Fisher and Cameron Barker are another favorite to be in the midst of the battle for the win at Road Atlanta.
GT3 championship still undecided, Kinetic Racing title favorites
Undecided and with the points much closer, the Petit Le Mans will also see the conclusion of the GT3 championship battle. Only two contenders remain, with all other entries mathematically eliminated from the series GT3 championship.
After a dramatic turn of events at Road America, Torque Freak Racing’s No. 6 Porsche lost the championship lead and now sits 170 points behind the No. 67 Porsche of Kinetic Racing, who are favorites to capture the GT3 series championship.
In order to do so, the No. 67 Porsche with drivers Aedan Campbell and Vincent L’Herbier will need to complete 70% of the race distance (compared to the eventual GT3 winners) and finish eleventh or better.
If Kinetic Racing finish twelfth and Torque Freak Racing’s No. 6 Porsche wins the race, both teams will be tied with Torque Freak Racing taking the championship on account of four wins over Kinetic Racing’s two.
“Petit Le Mans is a race of discipline for us. Staying in control of wanting to race vs. obtaining the result we need to clinch the title.”, said Kinetic Racing’s Nicholas Sceats.
“Road Atlanta is an intense track for traffic management, so we all have to "get along", if you will. But most of all it’s about having fun and enjoying the last round of the 2022 season, the way I see it.”
In the VSCA Endurance Cup GT3 competition things are still wide open. Torque Freak Racing’s No. 6 Porsche is leading the No. 13 Meguiars Porsche of Team FR13DA Sport by six points.
Kinetic Racing’s No. 67 Porsche sits in third, nine points back, closely followed by the No. 87 WestWood Racing eSports Audi and No. 16 Resolve Racing Porsche right behind, with both trailing the points leaders by ten points.
Resolve Racing has taken full advantage of putting itself into contention for the Endurance Cup following a fourth-place finish in the 6 Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen in June.
“Road Atlanta is a very tricky track. So, our main goal is to try and have a good clean race. A good finish for the Endurance Cup would do wonders for the team morale, but mostly we just want to put together a solid finish.”, said Resolve Racing team manager Theo Taylor.
“Just also want to put in a thank you to the organizers, from the entire team, for the massive effort they've put in this year.”, Taylor added.
Petit Le Mans closing chapter of exciting inaugural season
From a drama-filled 24 Hours of Daytona through the big stage finale Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in October, this year has seen an exciting inaugural season of VSCA.
After this weekend, a grand total of 69 cars (26 P2 Prototypes and 43 GT3s) will have competed in eight championship rounds over the course of ten months.
Teams, who have run the full season, will have completed nearly 63 hours of racing.
Drivers from 26 different countries around the globe will have competed in the 2022 VSCA SportsCar Championship season.
On Saturday, it all comes down to ten more hours of multi-class endurance racing at Road Atlanta, as the series waits for its champions to be crowned.
Race start is scheduled for 14:00 GMT / 10:00 am EDT and the race will be streamed live in full length on the VSCA YouTube channel.