It’s IMSA’s own championship Saturday, with the traditional season finale in Atlanta set to serve up a stormer over the next 10 hours of action as we say farewell to Lamborghini’s SC63, set to be retired after this race.

With just four hours to go its all to play for and the hour started with a neutralised field. When the field went back to green, it was headed not by the #6, which lost time in the pit stops, but by the most consistent performer all day, the #31 Cadillac of Fred Vesti. Behind him was the #24 of Dries Vanthoor and Scott Dixon aboard the #60.

The other major order change was the #023 Triarsi that dropped from second to fifth under the yellow flags, as Alec Udell’s #36 DXDT Corvette was now second ahead of Van Der Steur Racing’s #19 Aston Martin. GTD Pro was unchanged in it’s leader, though the same couldn’t be said about the championship as Giacomo Altoe moved his #81 Dragonspeed Ferrari past both Corvettes and into the provisional championship lead.

With the race settling down once more and Vesti consolidating his lead, the focus turned towards the battle of the Vanthoors. Dries in the #24 BMW was fending off Laurens in the #6 Porsche trying to climb its way back into the lead. The sister #25 car continued to struggle was contact with the JDC-Miller #85 saw it hit with a drive through penalty.

The sun then set below the track, dousing the competitors in darkness. By this point Fred Vesti had completed his stint, Jack Aitken now back aboard the #31 as the light faded amid a pink sky.

Lamborghini’s #63 suffered damage to its left side headlight, eventually leaving it with just one functional, the car running quietly but consistently thus far in fifth

But the biggest news of the hour came ten minutes into the eighth hour as following an unattended tyre in pit lane the #81 Dragonspeed Ferrari was hit with a drive through penalty. At the same time, the car was turned round at the final chicane by Alessandro Pier Guidi’s #21 that was leading in GTD. It dropped the #81 – that was leading the championship as things stood – down a lap on the #3 and in eighth in class. Thus, the privateers would have a mountain to climb if they wanted to win the championship as the race hit its business end.

Another penalty came in for the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Robbey Foley for having too many crew over the wall on its latest pit stop as a fired up Albert Costa – who the penalty affected most since he is the one driver from the #81 who’s competing for the drivers title – set the fastest GTD Pro lap of the race.

Meanwhile more drama came for the LMP2 contending #11 – a black flag was waved as the car was judged to be running failed brake lights.

As the final two hours approached, the GTP field was once again closing up, most notably the Aston Martin which closed up to just six and a half seconds of Aitken’s Cadillac, the cooler temperatures favouring the Valkyrie in the hands of Ross Gunn.

Rexy had been running a skeletal livery this weekend as the team enjoyed the Halloween spirit but after an excursion off track the rear bodywork was ripped off, revealing the actual skeleton inside the Porsche with a gaping hole in its rear after contact with the #04 LMP2 of Crowdstrike Racing.

The drive through was swiftly delivered to the #04 with a slam dunk drive through for a team that had been struggling since the race began and never really hit the front.

Heading into the final two hours then it’s Cadillac that hold the lead with Aitken’s #31 ahead of Matt Campbell’s #6 and, incredibly, the #63 of Eduardo Mortara with Nick Yelloly’s #93 Acura.

LMP2 is held still by Paul Di Resta’s #22 ahead of Hunter McElrea’s #11 with AO Racing’s #99 Spike in third. GTD Pro is headed by Dan Harper’s #48 while Alessandro Pier Guidi leads GTD.

thumbnail credit – Osajus Photography from Oconee, SC, United States, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons