The race was founded by Road Atlanta owner Don Panoz to bring the rules and spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to North America. The inaugural event in 1998 was held as part of the IMSA season with a special one-off format. This success led to the creation of the American Le Mans Series in 1999 with a similar formula. Petit Le Mans was a flagship event for the ALMS, which became the most prominent top-class sports car racing series during the 2000s. The 2010 and 2011 editions were also part of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the precursor of the World Endurance Championship. Class winners of the event originally received an automatic invitation to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, however this was removed in 2012.
Don Panoz collaborated with the organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), to form the new sports car endurance race at Road Atlanta for 1998. The event would adopt the ACO's rules. The race would be similar to the 12 Hours of Sebring, in that it did not run a full 24 hours like Le Mans. Instead, the race would be 10 hours or 1,000 miles (1,600 km), whichever came first. IMSA agreed to let the race be the season finale of their series with a special one-off format, featuring competitors from Le Mans.
If Petit Le Mans proved to be successful, the ACO would look into developing a series around the same formula. The inaugural event in 1998 attracted 31 entries, including that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Porsche factory team. Before the race had finished, an agreement was made for Panoz to establish the American Le Mans Series in 1999 with the support of the ACO, replacing the IMSA GT Championship.
The 2009 and 2015 races were shortened due to heavy rains making the track impassable. The 2015 race featured the first time a GT car won overall against the faster prototypes. Nick Tandy, winner of the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, and co-driver Patrick Pilet took the checkered flag when officials called the race with a little over two hours remaining.
Petit Le Mans is held annually at Road Atlanta, a 2.54-mile (4.09 km) permanent road course located in Braselton, Georgia, United States. The race has been run for a duration of 10 hours since 2014, prior to which it was run for either 1,000 miles or 10 hours, whichever came first. Teams are required to use multiple drivers, usually three per entry, with driver stints regulated by IMSA rules. The race is contested with multiple car classes—typically split into prototype and GT categories—sharing the circuit simultaneously.
The event is one of the Endurance Cup rounds in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and is considered one of the three crown jewel events in the series, along with the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. Since 2014 the race has been one of the crown jewel events of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. It traditionally serves as the season-ending round of the championship, and championship titles are frequently decided during the event. The race usually starts at around 12 p.m. local time on Saturday and ends at 10 p.m. in the evening, with the final two hours of the race taking place at night. Rinaldo Capello holds the record of most race wins, having won in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Petit Le Mans occupies a significant place on the international endurance racing calendar. It has been regarded as one of the "Big Six" endurance motor races worldwide, alongside the 24-hour races at Le Mans, Daytona, Nürburgring and Spa, as well as the Sebring 12 Hours. Manufacturers have participated in the event with innovative technologies and designs, including alternative powertrains and fuel technologies. Notably, Panoz's participation in the 1998 race with the Q9 GTR-1 Hybrid marked the first time in motorsport history that hybrid technology had been used to record a race start, finish, and class win. Other experimental vehicles that have participated in the race include the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid and the DeltaWing, which made their North American debuts in the 2010 and 2012 races, respectively.
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