Don Panoz, owner of the Road Atlanta circuit, collaborated with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest — organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans — to create a new endurance race for 1998. The race took its name, Petit Le Mans ("Little Le Mans" in French), from its intent to bring the ACO's rules and spirit to North American soil. The ACO agreed to lend the Le Mans name and offered class winners automatic invitations to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.
For the inaugural event IMSA agreed to include the race as a special one-off season finale. The hybrid field required seven separate classes to accommodate both ACO-compliant cars (LMP1, LMGT1, LMGT2) and IMSA competitors (WSC, GT1, GT2, GT3). Thirty-one entries attended the 1998 race, including the Porsche factory team that had won that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The success of the event convinced Panoz to establish the American Le Mans Series for 1999 with ACO backing, replacing the IMSA GT Championship and giving Petit Le Mans a permanent home.
The race is held at Road Atlanta, a 2.54-mile permanent road course featuring twelve turns, significant elevation changes, and high-speed sections. Notable sections include the downhill "Esses" and the final corner leading onto the main straight. The circuit's compressed and technical character demands precise traffic management, particularly as faster prototype classes share the track with GT machinery throughout the field.
The race distance was originally set at 1,000 miles or 10 hours, whichever came first. Since 2014 it has been run to a flat 10-hour duration. Teams typically field three drivers per entry, with stints regulated by IMSA rules. The race normally begins around midday local time, meaning the final two hours are contested at night — a factor that adds a strategic and visual dimension to the season finale.
Held in early October, weather conditions at Road Atlanta are variable and rain is not uncommon. The 2009 and 2015 editions were shortened due to heavy rainfall making the track unsafe. The 2015 race produced a rare outcome when GT cars outran the prototypes overall; rain from Hurricane Joaquin flooded the circuit throughout and allowed GTLM machinery to leapfrog the faster prototypes struggling for grip. Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet took the overall win when officials called the race early.
Petit Le Mans has traditionally served as the final round of its respective championship — first the American Le Mans Series, and from 2014 the IMSA SportsCar Championship. As a result, the race frequently decides season titles, and teams approach it with varying strategies: some target the overall win aggressively while others drive conservatively to lock in a championship. The event is one of the Endurance Cup rounds within IMSA and carries extra points weight accordingly.
The 2010 and 2011 editions were also counted as rounds of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, giving the event a temporary profile on the global endurance calendar. The automatic Le Mans invitation for class winners — one of the original incentives of the Panoz-ACO partnership — was discontinued in 2012.
Petit Le Mans occupies a recognised position in international endurance racing and has been listed among the world's "Big Six" endurance races alongside the 24-hour events at Le Mans, Daytona, Nurburgring, and Spa, as well as the Sebring 12 Hours. The race has attracted Formula One and Indianapolis 500 winners, factory manufacturer programs, and experimental machinery. The 1998 inaugural event was notable for the Panoz Q9 GTR-1 Hybrid, which became the first hybrid-powered car in motorsport history to record a race start, finish, and class win.
Other experimental entries have included the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, which made its North American debut at the 2010 race, and the radical DeltaWing project, which appeared in 2012.
Rinaldo Capello holds the record for most overall victories, having won in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The race has served as a stage for significant manufacturer battles, technological debuts, and defining championship showdowns across more than two decades of North American endurance racing.