Ricky Taylor has Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing out front at the halfway point of Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The #10 Cadillac V-Series.R of Ricky Taylor paces a Cadillac 1-2 around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile natural terrain road course at the fifth hour, ahead of the #31 Whelen Cadillac of Frederik Vesti.
BMW M Team WRT’s Dries Vanthoor, in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, sits third, ahead of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #7 Porsche 963 of Julien Andlauer.
By virtue of the #31 entry starting the race, Jack Aitken was crowned GTP champion for the 2026 season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The opening half of the 10-hour season finale has featured eight cautions, along with one red flag that lasted nearly 30 minutes due to lightning.
The start
The #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Heart of Racing started the race behind the wall with an electrical issue, putting an even steeper climb for Dudu Barrichello’s GTD title hopes. Additionally, the #99 AO Racing LMP2 ORECA 07 of PJ Hyett came to pit lane at the start to swap steering wheels as his initial one wouldn’t engage first gear.
Although Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s #60 Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist led the field to the green flag, he pitted roughly 15 minutes into the contest and handed the lead to Sheldon van der Linde’s #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 (BMW M Team WRT).
Just 30 minutes into the race, another GTD title challenger got hit with a problem as Turner Motorsport’s #96 BMW M4 GT3 Evo slowed into the pits. The crew took the hood off and then deemed it needed to go behind the wall for more significant repairs. However, what became known as a water pressure problem ended up being deemed terminal to the engine, putting a premature end to Turner Motorsport’s day.
The first caution of the race came nearly 55 minutes in after the the #8 Tower Motorsports LMP2 entry went off and into the tire barrier in Turn 1, which set up a full field of pit stops. Despite the incident, the #8 entry was able to return to the track.
Roughly eight minutes past the opening hour, van der Linde led the field to restart. Meanwhile, Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche Penske Motorsport) was handed a drive-through penalty for hitting a pit crew member during his stop.
The caution waved once more with 8h43m remaining after United Autosports USA’s LMP2 #2 entry driven by Phil Fayer spun off course in Turn 10.
Upon a restart, it didn’t take long for the caution to return after Salih Yoluc (DXDT Racing) ended up off course in the esses and hit signage with the #36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. He continued to slow and weave in an attempt to remove the signage, and was hit with a mechanical black flag before finally stopping on track on the long straight and allowing the signage to drop from the front bumper. As a result, though, it brought out a caution for debris. Prior to the caution light coming on, Blomqvist dove to pit lane and handed off to co-driver Nick Yelloly. The rest of the field pitted under caution, cycling Yelloly to the overall lead.
Yelloly led the field to the restart with 8h16m to go, with teammate Colin Braun closely behind in second in the sister car #60 Acura ARX-06.
Meanwhile, Heart of Racing’s #27 was able to get back on track but was slowing and returned to the pits.
Vasser Sullivan’s Frankie Montecalvo slowed and went to the pits with 7h54m remaining after an apparent suspension issue to the right-rear of his #12 Lexus RC F GT3.
The class leaders with 7h50m mark were Yelloly (GTP), Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen’s Misha Goikhberg (LMP2), Pfaff Motorsports’ Sandy Mitchell (GTD Pro), and Triarsi Competizione’s Robert Megennis (GTD).
Through a cycle of pit stops, Renger van der Zande took over the #93 from Yelloly. With roughly 7h6m to go, the caution came out as Wayne Taylor Racing’s #45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Danny Formal was stopped off course near Turn 8.
While everything was straightforward on the restart with 6h50m to go, the clouds opened up a deluge of rain roughly five minutes later and put the field into a frantic push into the pits for rain tires. Through the running, trouble hit the #37 LMP2 entry of Max van der Snel, who went off in Turn 7 and hit signage, dragging it back on track and bringing out the event’s fifth caution.
The restart came with 6h30m to go, with Kevin Magnussen leading the field on slick tires in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 – and proved to be a disadvantage as Braun rocketed to the lead. Coming to the flag, however, the two United Autosport USA LMP2 entries, the #2 of Hunter McElrea and #22 of Rasmus Lindh, came together and spun in the final corner to bring out another caution.
While cars ran under caution as the LMP2 teammates were towed off, a lightning strike brought out a red flag. Following a stoppage of 27minutes, the race resumed.
With the rain having stopped and track drying rapidly, several drivers in the field made the dive to pit lane to swap back to slick tires. During the sequence of cars coming and going from pit lane, it presented a tense moment roughly 20 minutes later as Magnussen plowed into the back of the #93 Acura ARX-06 – with five-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou at the helm – into Turn 3. The ferocity of the impact launched the nose of the #25 BMW in the air briefly before settling back on asphalt and slamming into the tire barrier. The incident brought out the seventh caution of the race.
Through the sequence, Taylor, in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, took over the overall lead, ahead of Vesti in the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Dries Vanthoor had the #24 BMW third, with Palou in fourth. Roman De Angelis had Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Valkyrie.
The race restarted with roughly eight minutes left until the halfway point, with Palou diving to pit lane shortly after and dropping down to ninth. The caution came out once more with the #66 Gradient Racing Ford Mustang GT3 of Jake Walker stopped off course at pit exit.
Other class leaders at the end of the fifth hour: CrowdStrike Racing’s Alex Quinn (LMP2), Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth (GTD Pro), and Conquest Racing’s Albert Costa (GTD).
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