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.

The hour began with drama for the LMP2 leaders, as the #22 suffered suspension issues causing it to drop 10 laps on the LMP2 field and realistically losing any hope of a good result while the #11 that had been running second spun out after contact with the #73 Pratt Miller LMP2 which received a drive through penalty shortly after the incident.

Meanwhile Lamborghini fixed their headlight issue by changing the front bodywork during its latest pit stop.

Incredibly, the #7 Porsche that had been struggling all race was now up into third after the pit cycle while Ross Gunn moved up to fourth overall in his Aston Martin Valkyrie as Earl Bamber was now installed into the race leading #31 Cadillac.

In GTD, the lead was now in completely different hands as Jack Hawksworth’s #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus now led ahead of Tom Gamble’s #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage with Winward Racing’s #57 Mercedes in third.

Dragonspeed then received another drive through penalty as Antonio Garcia ran second in GTD Pro, looking now the much stronger contender to win the class championship while the #81 also stalled in pitlane.

Meanwhile the #60 Acura had slowly faded from contention since the end of Tom Blomqvist’s opening stint and now it faced mechanical issues that saw it drop further down the field. At the head though Matt Campbell had closed up on Earl Bamber and the gap was barely a second – while Ross Gunn continued to close.

Meanwhile in LMP2 United Autosports race went from bad to worse as the #2 went behind the wall with mechanical issues.

The #93 then had a hair-raising off down at turn one after a lunge from the #7, somehow avoiding the barriers as Ross Gunn pitted with an hour and eleven minutes to go for his penultimate stop. The #23 crew were forced to pit once more before the race ended with Roman De Angelis taking the car to the flag.

So too did the #6 Porsche and #31 Cadillac before the hour was up, meaning they too would need to make one more pit stop unless a full course yellow was called out and over the pit stops De Angelis closed on the Porsche, by now it was the fastest car on track. Bamber led in the #31 but the Aston looked the quickest as the final hour of the 2025 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship beckoned.

De Angelis took his final pit stop with 50 minutes left, while Jaminet and Bamber continued on and the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini took a drive through penalty.

Meanwhile the GTD Pro battle continued on, with the #81 leading the championship by just three points as they ran before heading into its final pit stop with just forty minutes to go to catch the #3 that ran third in class.

With half an hour left, the situation was entirely focused on fuel saving with the #6 Porsche looking unlikely to make it all the way to the flag and Earl Bambe’s #31 Cadillac in doubt too and both heavily lifting and coasting their way around Road Atlanta. The only car in the top five that was known to be able to make it was the #63 Lamborghini, raising the question of whether they could pull off a fairytale win in the programme’s last ever race.

With 20 minutes left the #81 hit yet more trouble through turn one after a close shave with the #7 Porsche as the title was slowly slipping away from their hands.

Meanwhile the big call was made both by Cadillac and Porsche who both pitted their leading duo for a splash and dash pit stop with thirteen minutes to go, allowing an amazing opportunity for a Lamborghini win. Absolute bedlam unfolded as Roman Grosjean and Roman De Angelis move up to second and third behind Earl Bamber as Mathieu Jaminet dropped behind both.

Twelve minutes remained for Bamber to hold off the Lamborghini as Rasmus Lindh had suspension issues for the #22 United Autosport but the track stayed green as Grosjean fought to get past Bamber. The gap was barely a second between the leading duo with two more seconds back to De Angelis’s Aston Martin.

But tragically for the Lamborghini, the programme would not bow out with a podium as the crew had fuelled it short by five minutes, allowing the #23 into second place on the track, the prospect of the Valkyrie’s first ever podium now absolutely nailed on.

A second place finish was what Aston Martin would more than settle for, their first podium with the Valkyrie in final race of it’s debut IMSA campaign. Maithieu Jaminet would take third place for Porsche #6, but it was Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken and Fred Vesti of the #31 Whelen Cadillac who won the 2025 Motul Petit Le Mans. The podium was enough for the #6 crew of Jaminet and Matt Campbell to claim the GTP title.

LMP2 ended up going the way of Mikkel Jensen, Hunter McElrea and Steven Thomas of the #11 TDS Racing crew for the race victory ahead of Inter Europol’s #43 and the Era Motorsport #18 who complete the podium. But the champions are that of #99 Spike as AO Racing claim their second title in two years with two different cars.

GTD Pro was set to serve up a cracker right to the end and though the #48 Paul Miller BMW of Max Hesse, Dan Harper and Connor Di Phillippi took class honours this time round ahead of both factory Corvettes – #4 ahead of the championship winning #3 crew of Alexander Sims, Dani Juncadella and Antonio Garcia.

GTD is where perhaps my favourite story is found as with victory for the #21 crew of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Simon Mann and Lilou Wadoux in this race they also take the GTD Michelin Endurance Cup title – meaning sportscar racing has a female champion in 2025. Ferrari finished 1-2 in this race as the Triarsi competition #023 of James Calado, Kenton Koch and team owner Onofrio Triarsi took second place followed by the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus.

So then, IMSA’s championship finale certainly delivered the drama in its droves and that’s not it for this weekend! The GT World Challenge Europe title is also up for grabs tomorrow in an action packed weekend, and of course there’s the WEC finale in November.

I’ll see you soon, and in the meantime keep you up to date with the world of sportscar racing.

– Thomas.

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