If you had waited until the last minute to grab your tickets for Petit Le Mans, the 10-hour finale of IMSA’s 2024 season, you would have been disappointed: tickets were sold out. Georgia police told the show and track that they legally can no longer sell parking passes. The campsites were full.

That’s because American sports car racing is in the throes of a renaissance. The GTP Hypercar regulations both stimulated manufacturer interest and increased the level of competition, while a crowded GT field created competition up and down the field. The result? There’s never been a better time to be a sports car fan in America.

Petit Le Mans: End of an exceptional IMSA season

The 2024 IMSA season is the second with the revival of the Grand Touring Prototype, or GTP, regulations. Also known as “hypercars”, these machines represent the pinnacle of automotive technology and encourage manufacturers like Porsche, Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Lamborghini to have a platform on which to push the limits of hybrid machines .

When it debuted in 2023, the GTP platform was touted as one of the most sustainable racing platforms in North America, with each car using a hybrid powertrain designed in collaboration with IMSA and the Automobile Club of West (ACO), which sanctions the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The result was a technical package that was as affordable as it was valuable to participating manufacturers. Because the ACO and IMSA agree on regulations, companies like Cadillac can get more bang for their buck by designing a car capable of competing in both IMSA and Le Mans – and they don’t have need to break the bank to do it thanks to the approval which restricts automobile development for several years.

While regulations maintain competitiveness, each manufacturer has answered the call with creativity and ingenuity. Cadillac, for example, hired sound engineers to preserve the throaty growl of its production cars’ V8 when its electric motor starts the combustion engine.

To stay true to its heritage, Acura designed its GTP to feature a V6 combustion engine rather than the V8s that power the rest of the pack. Porsche came out strong from the start in 2023, using and selling its data to customer teams to improve in 2024.

BMW started 2023 on the back foot but quickly pooled its resources in IMSA and WEC to improve in 2024, while newcomer Lamborghini impressed in its first year of competition.

Additionally, in the GT category, IMSA and WEC collaborated to introduce international GT3 regulations to dictate both series, and with excellent results: 11 different car manufacturers and 32 teams competed in the GT classes for 2024.

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While 2023 was a stunning year for IMSA, 2024 refined an already exceptional product. In the nine races contested by GTP machines, six different teams won: Porsche’s #6 and 7, Cadillac’s #01, BMW’s #24 and Acura’s #10 and 40. Although it was Penske who ultimately won the championship, the year was peppered with contentious battles.

However, big races are only one part of the very complex puzzle that defines the success of a racing series. To truly be considered great, the fans have to be there too.

Fortunately, the 2024 IMSA season brought record or near-record crowds to almost every event. The season kicked off in January with record attendance at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, where IMSA reported the event saw attendance double since 2018.

Next on the calendar was the 12 Hours of Sebring, which saw an unprecedented IMSA attendance record. The IMSA/IndyCar doubleheader weekends at Long Beach and Detroit have increased crowd sizes. Additionally, Road America, Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen joined the record-breaking party. Only Indianapolis failed to generate larger waves year over year.

“I’ve been coming to (Road Atlanta) for years,” a fan named Rich told me as I explored the track during Petit Le Mans. “I’ve never seen it like this.”

By “like that,” Rich meant “packed.” I tried to join the fans for the pre-race grid walk, where anyone with a ticket has access to get up close to the cars about to enter the circuit, only to find myself in a traffic jam before being able to reach the prototypes. It was the same thing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. In both cases, I excused myself for watching from afar.

In doing so, I chatted with another fan named Jackson, a second-generation racing fan who shared his plans to bring his own daughter to IMSA races as soon as she was old enough to stand on her own two feet.

“Sports car racing was just the coolest thing to me growing up,” he said. “But there was this kind of lull for a few years. I never managed to convince my friends to go to the track with me; they were always saying how boring this racing thing was.

“But this year, four of us did Sebring for the first time. They had heard about the legendary parties and thought, “Hey, at least we can have fun.” »

He waved his phone at me, showing a notification for a text message that popped up during our conversation. Smiling, he said, “Now guess what? We have a group chat going on, and they’re losing it that I’m here and they’re not.

“What got them hooked?” I asked.

Jackson thought for a moment before answering, “That’s the problem.” We’re all car enthusiasts, but they’ve never really “got” racing. They were like, what’s the point, you’re just watching the cars go around in circles, and you keep telling me you already know who’s going to win.

“But you look at a race like (Petit Le Mans), and it’s like non-stop action. This year has been crazy with the number of GTPs won, you know? It’s cool. And then you can turn on the WEC and watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and it’s like I know these cars. I know these drivers. I still don’t know who will win.

“It’s just cool to be a part of something like this.” It’s really special.

As for the race itself, well, Petit Le Mans had excitement up until the very last moment. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the 10-hour race, the leading No. 01 Cadillac driven by Renger van der Zande, who had lost one of its headlights earlier in the race, lost the second. For half a lap, the rider piloted his Caddy in total darkness before the lights came back on.

Then I left again. Then a light returned, flickering. Whether they supported Cadillac or not, fans were on the edge of their seats as the seconds ticked away and van der Zande struggled with the faulty lighting, knowing all the time that if his lights went out for good, the IMSA would have no choice. but to give him a black flag – for the second time during the race.

With the competition only seconds behind, it was vital that van der Zande kept his car on the track and reached the checkered flag with at least one light intact.

It wasn’t enough for Cadillac to snatch the championship from Porsche, but it was a more than fitting end to one of the most compelling IMSA seasons to date. And in January, the Renaissance will begin again with a new edition of the Rolex 24.

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