Porsche 1-2 Sets Up Three-Way Effective Tie Before IMSA Season Finale

Penske Porsche Motorsport has earned a surprising 1-2 finish at team owner Roger Penske's Indianapolis Motor Speedway, creating an effective three-way tie in the IMSA GTP championship before the season finale Petit Le Mans endurance race next month. The No. 6 Penske Porsche of Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet now trails he No. 31 Action Express Cadillac by five points and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Racing Acura by two points.

In IMSA's points system, that is an effective tie. Any of the three would win a championship with a win at Petit Le Mans next month, the first championship of the modern GTP class and the first in what has quickly become the most competitive top-level prototype championship in American racing since the early 1990s.

Seven cars are technically alive for the championship, with the No. 25 Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW closest to the leading group at 38 points back. While the RLL car would need all of those three other championship contenders to finish off the podium in the final race, that means all four IMSA GTP manufacturers have a realistic shot at a championship at the end of that ten-hour race. Since all four cars are new, any title would also be a season-long championship won on debut for whichever factory-backed effort takes the final checkered flag.

While the GTP championship is coming down to the wire, IMSA's GTD championships have either effectively or officially been decided already. Paul Miller Racing, a five-time winner on the season, won the pro-am GTD sprint championship by simply starting today's race. A podium in today's race secured the season-long championship, although that race result was a relative disappointment after the team qualified on the overall pole among all GTD cars. GTD Pro's title is still not official just yet, but the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus has a massive lead and should secure the championship so long as they start the season finale.

The IMSA season concludes at Road Atlanta with the Petit Le Mans endurance race on October 14th. When the series gets going again at Daytona in January, Lamborghini will have joined the top class with their new SC63 prototype.

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