Breaking it down: The titles Porsche can win at Petit Le Mans

The overall championship for GTP cars, the GTD Pro class, the manufacturers’ championship and the teams’ championship are all available as well as the Michelin Endurance Cup.

With so many championships to fight for, let’s run through what to watch from Petit Le Mans and how Porsche can win those titles.

The list of titles and awards Porsche can win:

GTP class

Drivers’ Manufacturers’ Teams’ VP Fuels Front Runner Award Michelin Endurance cup: Drivers’, Manufacturers’, Teams’

GTD Pro class

Drivers’ Manufacturers’ Teams’ VP Fuels Front Runner Award Michelin Endurance cup: Drivers’, Manufacturers’, Teams’

GTD class

VP Fuels Front Runner Award Michelin Endurance cup: Drivers’, Teams’

Breaking it down

GTP

In its second season of IMSA with the top-level 963 prototype, each of the Porsche Penske Motorsport cars is in contention for the top titles, having won two races each, with no other entry managing more than one.

The car has also been on the podium in all seven of eight races of the season, and sit 1-2 in the championship with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans to finish the series.

Drivers’ championship

Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr - drivers of the #7 car - lead the championship by 124 points over the #6 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy.

Providing it qualifies and starts the race, the #7 will score at least 242 points taking its tally to 2892.

That means the #6 will need to score 366 points to win the title. It must win the race, and if it wins it would beat the #7 because ties are decided in favour of whoever wins the highest number of races.

It doesn’t matter where it qualifies as even last would provide 22 additional points taking its total to 388.

To guarantee the title without thinking about the #6, the #7 drivers must score 262 points, which could be done by qualifying ninth (last, you can’t qualify lower) and finishing seventh.

The only other car that can win the title is the Cadillac #01, but as long as the #7 is able to qualify, it will be untouchable.

In the event of any issue that stops the Porsche teams gaining points for qualifying, the #01 would need to be on pole and win the race with the #7 car last in class (ninth).

Teams’ championship

The above permutations apply to the teams’ championship as well, with each car number scoring points in the same way the drivers do for that championship.

So for example, if the #7 wins the race, the #7 car gets the same amount of points as the drivers’ do for the drivers’ championship.

Manufacturers’ championship

Porsche currently leads the manufacturers’ championship by 124 points. A score of 261 would guarantee the title but that’s if the one of the Cadillac cars gets a maximum score.

The points in this championship are classified by taking the top scoring car only from each manufacturer. So as long as the top Porsche scores 261 or more, it will take the title. Porsche would win on a tie-break.

GTD Pro

In the GT class for road-car inspired machines, Laurin Heinrich and #77 AO Racing team have had a phenomenal season, leading the championship into the last round as the only 911 GT3 R in the class.

The car - nicknamed Rexy - is always the star of any IMSA weekend, with a green dinosaur paint scheme and a mascot at the races thrilling children in particular. Hot Wheels recently released a model of Rexy and its sister livery, Roxy.

Drivers’ championship

Heinrich leads the championship over the #23 entry by 99 points heading into the finale, and would win in case of a tie-break.

That means if the #23 took maximum points, 385, Heinrich would need 286 points to guarantee the title, which he could secure by scoring third overall, or fourth with the help of six points from qualifying (which he’d likely get for just being last).

Teams’ championship

As in GTP, the drivers’ points are the same as the teams’ so the above applies for the #77 AO Racing car fighting for the title.

Manufacturers’ championship

Porsche leads the GTD Pro manufacturers’ championship by 122 points with 385 on offer. A score of 264 would guarantee the title.

Michelin Endurance Cup

Cameron and Nasr also lead the GTP drivers’ section of the Michelin Endurance Cup award, which is a championship for only the long-distance events and concludes after Petit Le Mans.

At the four-hour, eight-hour and finish mark, five points are awarded to the class leader, four points to second, three points to third, and two points for each other car in the class. Even if a car retires from the race, as long as it starts, it will score two points for each section. So there’s a maximum of 15 points on offer and a minimum of six.

GTP drivers’ championship

Cameron and Nasr lead this Cup by four points over the #01 car.

Jaminet and Tandy are still in contention in the #6 car, but would need to score 14 points - one point off a maximum score - to move to the top, and that’s if the #7 crew finish last at every stage. In the event of a tie-break between the two, the #7 would win. The #6 is currently fifth and considered outsiders.

GTP teams’ championship

The teams’ championship in the Michelin Endurance Cup is the same as IMSA, in the sense that the car number scores the same number of points as the drivers. So the same permutations above apply.

GTP manufacturer’s championship

The top scorer from each manufacturer counts to its overall score. Porsche currently leads the Michelin Endurance Cup GTP manufacturers championship by six points, with 15 points on offer.

GTD Pro

In the GTD Pro section of the Michelin Endurance Cup, Laurin Heinrich is second in the drivers’ championship and five points behind the leader, although assuming the leading car starts the race it will score the minimum of six points.

So Heinrich needs to score 12 points to have a chance of winning, as he’d lose on a tie-break.

It’s the same situation in the teams’ championship with Heinrich’s points counting for the #77 car.

In the GTP Pro Michelin Endurance Cup manufacturers’ championship, Porsche is just two points behind the leader with 15 on offer.

GTD

In the GTD class Porsche teams are also in contention for some awards with the #120 car driven mainly by Adam Adelson and Elliot Skeer - with Jan Heylen for most of the endurance rounds - in the #120 Wright Motorsports 911 GT3 R.

Adelson and Skeer are fourth in the Michelin Endurance Cup GTD drivers’ title, six points behind the leaders with 15 on offer. The same applies in the teams’ championship for the #120 entry.

Porsche can’t win the Michelin Endurance Cup GTD manufacturers’ trophy.

VP Fuels Front Runner Award

This award is given to the car that leads the highest number of laps in select races.

Just one point is awarded for this, and as it stands, three teams are tied on one point, with two on offer at Petit Le Mans.

The #7 has a point, while the #6 is yet to score.

The situation is the same in GTD Pro, where the #77 has one point with two on offer.

The #120 Wright Motorsports car took the award at the last race in the GTD category and so still has a chance to win.

Porsche at Petit Le Mans

In the first season with the Porsche 963, the #7 car spearheaded by Felipe Nasr was the team’s best scorer in the 2023 event taking fourth.

Porsche Penske Motorsport has improved this season and placed at least one car on the podium in all but one round, and is hoping to finish the season strong.

It has a long history of wins in the Grand Prix of Atlanta, an event first run in the 1970s, and does have a win since the event has run in its current 10 Hour format since 1999.

In 2015, Nick Tandy - now driving the #6 963 - completed the incredible feat of winning the race outright in a GT car, the first time in the history of the event and one of the only times this has happened in any international sportscar race since purpose-built prototypes became commonplace.