ALMS – 37 entered in the 16th edition of Petit Le Mans

Next year, the 17th edition of Le Petit Le Mans will constitute the closing round of the USCR (United SportsCar Racing), a championship resulting from the merger between the ALMS and Grand-Am. But, before that, the 16th opus remains to be contested next week, the final event of the 2013 American Le Mans Series. Perhaps the last time that it will be possible to admire LM P1s on the Road Atlanta circuit.

Saturday October 19, no less than 37 cars are expected on the Georgian track, namely four LM P1s, as many LM P2s, eleven GTs, eight LM PCs and ten GTCs. Barring any big surprises (it's hard to see the DeltaWing and the Dyson Racing Lola getting involved in the fight), victory should go to a Frenchman. It remains to be seen whether Romain Dumas, who shares the wheel of the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03c with the Germans Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf, will manage to steal the title from Nicolas Cheers, who will be supported by the Swiss Neel Jani and the German Nick Heidfeld on the Lola B12/60-Toyota of Rebellion Racing.

In LM P2, in addition to a prestigious fight to write their name on the list of winners of this classic, the drivers will compete for the title. Because if the Level 5 Motorsports team is already certain of finishing in first place in the Teams ranking, nothing is done between Scott Tucker, Scott Sharp, Marino Franchitti and Guy Cosmo, respectively credited with 149, 143, 141 and 137 points .

On the GT side too, if Corvette has already won the Teams and Manufacturers crowns, uncertainty reigns as to the attribution of the Drivers' title, even if the gaps are more significant. On a good dynamic and showing incredible regularity, the Spaniard Antonio Garcia and the Dane Jan Magnussen (Corvette C6 ZR1 n°3) have 125 points on the clock, 16 more than BMW driver Dirk Müller (109 points), who is the last to be able to steal the crown from them, a success in Atlanta bringing in a whopping 24 points . Note the presence in this category of Emmanuel Collard. The former official driver Porsche was called in to reinforce the Paul Miller Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to lend a hand to the German Marco Holzer and the American Bryce Miller.

If Mike Guash and the Jeroen Bleekemolen-Cooper MacNeil duo dominate the LM PC and GTC rankings respectively, several of their rivals can still hope to beat them to the post.

Free practice begins on Thursday October 17. The start of the race will be given on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. local time, 17:30 p.m. French time.