BRASELTON, Ga. (November 10, 2021) – As is tradition, the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season will come to a close with Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. There, CORE autosport will seek its sixth team championship in IMSA’s premier series.
CORE comes into the season finale 50 points behind the No. 74 Riley Motorsports team—a small difference considering a race win comes with 350 points, and up to 35 points can be earned in qualifying. It does mean that even if CORE were to win the race, they’d need their rivals to finish fourth or worse in order to claim the LMP3 team championship and the driver championship for Jon Bennett and Colin Braun.
The team is riding high after its win at Road America in August, the most recent round for LMP3 teams. It was the second victory of the 2021 season for CORE, the 12 Hours of Sebring being the first.
Petit Le Mans is a 10-hour race with approximately half of it taking place at night. To tackle this challenge, CORE once again brings in George Kurtz to join full-season drivers Bennett and Braun behind the wheel.
Noteworthy
- CORE autosport has finished on the podium at Petit Le Mans four times including a win in 2012 within the ALMS Prototype Challenge class
- George Kurtz last raced at Road Atlanta in 2013
- This is the latest in the year Petit Le Mans has taken place, which is why there will be more night racing than usual
- The Petit Le Mans date was changed to November when the 24 Hours of Le Mans was rescheduled for August, pushing all IMSA dates back
Jon Bennett
Driver: No. 54 Composite Resources / CrowdStrike Ligier LM P320
“We’re pretty experienced with championships coming down to the last race, so we know how to handle that pressure and how to stay focused on hitting all our marks and not get caught up in calculating points. That’s the important thing: for each of us to execute our jobs the best we can. If we do that, we’ve done everything in our control and the rest is out of our hands. We may need some luck in the way of traffic and yellows, but if we can adapt our strategy and have flawless pit stops, then we’ll be on course for a good result. We’ve tested at Road Atlanta and done all the prep work we can, now it’s time to take the green flag and go after another championship.”
Colin Braun
Driver: No. 54 Composite Resources / CrowdStrike Ligier LM P320
“I’m really excited about getting to Petit. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve had an IMSA LMP3 race. We had a really good test at Road Atlanta a couple weeks ago and we learned a lot. Jon and George both did a really good job behind the wheel and we worked hard on car setup in a range of different conditions.
“I feel like we’ve got a shot to go down there and win the race. I know our team loves the longer format races. The guys always do such a great job on pit road and we always have great strategy. It’s a tough race from a traffic standpoint and I think we’re going to have a lot more darkness than in the past, so that will be a factor as well. We’re prepared and I’m looking forward to getting there and doing what we do.”
George Kurtz
Driver: No. 54 Composite Resources / CrowdStrike Ligier LM P320
“I am ready to get back in the No. 54 machine with Colin and Jon and help them win a championship. We tested at Road Atlanta recently and have a good playbook on what we need from the car. The CORE team knows exactly how to prepare for Petit Le Mans and I feel confident we will be in contention for the win.”