1998 Petit Le Mans sports car endurance race

3+ Hours of the 1998 Petit Le Mans sports car endurance race held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Founded by Road Atlanta owner, the late Don Panoz, and first run on October 10, 1998 as part of the IMSA season.

From RoadAtlanta.com: The inaugural Petit Le Mans attracted a 29-car field of world-class road racing teams, setting the stage for the American Le Mans Series which would debut the following year.

Allan McNish led qualifying in a Porsche 911 GT1, but this car was eliminated shortly after the mid-point of the race in a spectacular accident when it did a full back-flip while cresting the “hump” on the back straight with Yannick Dalmas at the wheel. A Panoz GT-1 then took the lead, but later retired with mechanical problems, giving the lead to the Ferrari 333SP driven by Wayne Taylor, Eric Van de Poele and Emmanuel Collard. They finished 72 seconds ahead of the Porsche LMP driven by Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson and Jorg Mueller.

The winning Ferrari covered the 1000 miles at an average speed of 102 mph. Seven different manufacturers finished in the top ten.

The Porsche 911 GT1 of Bob Wollek, Thierry Boutsen and Ralf Kelleners won the GT-1 class. The Freisinger Porsche won GT-2 honors with Lance Stewart and Michel Ligonnet at the wheel.

The first running of the Petit Le Mans will be remembered as one of the most important events in American sports car racing history. Not only did it instantly become a classic event, but it energized road racing in the United States.
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