22 years ago, the inventor of the nicotine patch saved American Sports Car racing. Teams, drivers and fans owe a debt of gratitude to the late Dr Don Panoz. In 1996, Dr Panoz acquired an ailing circuit in Braselton Georgia-Road Atlanta. Immediately, the pharmaceutical entrepreneur upgraded the circuit for world class competition, following years of neglect from multiple owners. One of whom, was infamous marijuana smuggler and 1984 IMSA Camel GT champion, Randy Lanier.

As an avid sports car racing fan, Dr Panoz admired the 24 hours of Le Mans and longed for a similar event in the USA. One could argue that the Rolex 24 hour at Daytona or the 12 hours of Sebring filled this void. However, Dr Panoz had grander plans.

Following close consultation with Le Mans orgnaisers – the Automobile Club de l’Ouest – the American Le Mans series was born. In doing so, a golden era of the sport began. In 1998, Road Atlanta hosted the inaugural Petit Le Mans endurance race. Doyle-Risi’s trio of Wayne Taylor, Emmanuel Collard and Eric van de Poele won the opening encounter in the achingly beautiful Ferrari 333SP. In 1999, the American Le Mans series began, following the roaring success of the first Petit Le Mans.

In line with the main event, Petit Petit Le Mans embraced the box fresh Dallara LMP2 prototype and Corvette C8.R GTLM to race alongside trusted cars from Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW and Audi. This plethora of vehicles are separated into three classes-LMP2, GTLM and GTD. All of which run on circuit simultaneously. Manging the ‘traffic’ is a crucial element of multi-class racing.

In the four-lap qualifying dash, Ben Gregory qualified on pole position in his Dallara P217. Apex Racing Team’s Scott Newton narrowly trailed Gregory by sixty-six-thousandths of a second. MSignsUK.com ace Daniel Lee set the benchmark in GTLM by three tenths of a second from Ethan Bass. Teammates, Tyler Hervais and Brayden Werner, commanded the GTD field and locked out the GTD front row in their Audi R8s.

Scott Newton and Benjamin Gregory were the class of the LMP2 field, switching places back and forth throughout the race. As both drivers took their final pit stops, Scott Newton looked to be in control with marginally hotter pace. However, a gamble on a late tyre change for the Antipodean ace backfired and handed Gregory the win in the closing stages.

GTLM honours went to Daniel Lee in his MSignsUK.com BMW M8. During the opening stint, Lee fended off the advances of Niklas Denneler’s Corvette. However, a technical glitch put paid to Denneler’s chances and allowed Lee to cruise home to victory.

Tyler Hervais and Brayden Werner couldn’t be separated all day in their Audi R8 GT3 machines. They qualified together, raced together and finished together. A titanic battle between the pair reached a dramatic conclusion on the very last corner. Both drivers charged for the line, but it was Brayden Werner who triumphed by a tyre’s width after ninety minutes of hard racing.

Following the race, each class winner gave their reaction to the Apex Racing TV broadcast team:

Brayden Werner: “We went into this race as practice for Petit Le Mans. It was a really great event. There were no team orders, we said ‘let’s see who comes out ahead’.”

Benjamin Gregory: “That was probably one of the hardest races I’ve had in a prototype. Full stop. Thanks to Scott for keeping it so clean and respectful.”

Daniel Lee: “In the ARL GT series, you only get twenty-five minutes or so in the car. So, you don’t get the chance to wear everything out on the car. This is a setup which I’ve been working on for a while. In the mid stages of the race, it was like I was in a trance. The car drove so well.”