A maxed-out
54-car grid is expected to take part in Petit Le Mans.
Entry list released for next weekend's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finale...
sportscar365.com
Outside of DragonSpeed running in GTD Pro, there's no major changes here in terms of entrants. Car Blanche will finish the year in GTD Pro (
going along with their entry into the 2027 GTD Pro Championship), and the usual MEC entries from Risi, Manthey, Lone Star etc. fill out the GTD Pro and GTD categories.
Regarding the drivers in GTP, Laurin Heinrich will return to the #7 Porsche Penske 963, in a final effort to steal the GTP Drivers Championship from Jack Aitken. Other noteworthy additions include Nico Muller returning to the #5 JDC-Miller Porsche (
who are looking to potentially have a 2nd 963 on the grid in 2027) alongside Kaylen Frederick, as well as Colton Herta & Factory Cadillac driver Will Stevens piloting the #40 & #10 Wayne Taylor cars, respectively. Scott Dixon & 5-time Indycar champion Alex Palou will have respective driver duties in the #60 & #93 MSR Acuras.
No unexpected driver shake-ups in LMP2, though in the GT classes, Factory McLaren driver Benji Gothe will be the 3rd driver in the GTD Pro RLL Mclaren, and AMG Factory driver Lucas Stolz will race in the #80 Lone Star GTD Mercedes. Mathieu Jaminet will also be behind the wheel of "Grello" in GTD Pro.
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Regarding championship fights, it'll be a tall climb for
GTP title hopeful Laurin Heinrich. Jack Aitken will win the GTP Drivers Championship if he finishes 9th or better in the race. If my math, and understanding of the rules are correct, I believe Aitken can clinch the championship if the #31 Cadillac scores at least 4 points over the #7 Porsche in qualifying. If that doesn't happen, Heinrich and the #7 Porsche would have to win the race, and Aitken and the #31 would have to finish dead last in GTP for Heinrich to have his most realistic shot at winning the GTP Drivers championship.
In LMP2, mathematically the Top-4 of Inter-Europol, Crowdstrike by APR, the #22 United Autosports squad and AO Racing have a shot at the title, with those 4 covering a 108-point spread. Realistically, it'll likely be a fight between Inter-Europol and Crowdstrike, as only 4 points seperate the 2 teams in the standings, though I expect United and AO to complicate matters for them.
In
GTD Pro the additional MEC cars adds some extra risk of the top teams losing their championship bid. With 14 cars, there's a 180-point spread on the table in the race, and the Top-7 are within 179 points of each other. Realistically, I expect it to be a fight between the #4 Corvette, the Paul Miller BMW, and the recently on-form Pfaff Temerario, as those three are within a 53-point window to each other. Both of the Multimatic Mustangs are plenty quick and have an outside shot of jumping in, too, and definetly shouldn't be discounted.
Finally, in
GTD, I think it's safe to say that all eyes are going to be on Winward Racing and Turner Motorsport. Despite being on a 4-poidum streak, which includes winning 3 of the last 4 races, Winward only has a 6-point advantage over Turner Motorsport after the latter's win at Indianapolis. The Heart of Racing Aston is also a big threat, as there's only 116 points between them and 1st. Imo, GTD will probably be the class to watch, as you have Winward fighting for their 3rd-straight GTD title, Turner fighting for its first Teams, and possibly Drivers title in over a decade, and THOR fighting for it's first Teams title, with Dudu Barichello in the hunt for a Drivers Championship.
