Something that never ceases to amaze me about endurance racing is how cars can run for six, 10 hours, 24 hours, and still be separated by mere seconds by the time they cross the checkered flag. Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta always manages to find a way to maintain that drama until the very end, and it did once again in 2025.
The race was won by the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series, driven by Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken, and Frederik Vesti, followed by The Heart Of Racing’s Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH, just 5.18 seconds behind, of Roman De Angelis, Ross Gunn, and Alex Riberas. This year marks Cadillac’s second Petit win in a row, but frankly, the better story is Aston’s sudden ascension after a tough start to the program’s maiden year, as Saturday brought the Valkyrie’s first global endurance racing podium ever.
The Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell, and Laurens Vanthoor—who was pulling double duty in two Porsche entries to cover for the ill Julien Andlauer—rounded out the top three, finishing ahead of Acura to clinch a hard-fought manufacturer’s title for Stuttgart.
Really, though, this isn’t a race recap report. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve probably already read one from another journalist more plugged into the IMSA world. This is about the sights and sounds of an event that certainly gets attention in the sports car racing universe, but deserves more outside of it. Perhaps that’s starting to happen, considering IMSA reported 20% higher attendance, year over year, for last weekend’s race.
This was my first visit to Road Atlanta. Oh, I was familiar with the track, having virtually driven it in many games, from 2001’s Le Mans 24 Hours on the PlayStation 2, to the Xbox 360 Forza Motorsport titles, to Gran Turismo 7 most recently, but I’d never been there. Before now, my in-person exposure to IMSA was limited to Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen. Much as I enjoy those circuits, particularly Lime Rock, Petit has a prestige all its own.
Part of that’s down to when this race happens: early October, when the leaves are in their full autumn coat where I’m from in the northeast, but down in Braselton, Georgia, the track is enshrouded chiefly in green. Still, the air was crisp and the weather was perfect for this year’s 10-hour gauntlet, never rising above 75 degrees all weekend.
Despite Road Atlanta being quite short at 2.54 miles, you practically walk through a forest to reach the top of the track’s iconic esses, as well as Turns 6 and 7 at the far end. Some fans enjoy speedways like Daytona; others are down to party in the infield all weekend long at Sebring. For me, though, the woods are exactly where I want to watch racing.
As with any other revered, old-school road course, the thing that strikes you most about Road Atlanta on first impression is just how damn hilly it is. Sure, I’ve always loved those esses, but TV and video games can’t communicate the scale of the drop after Turn 4 and the climb up to 5.
I was invited to attend this race by Acura, and as part of the trip, I was fortunate to get a hot lap in an Integra Type S in the morning hours before Saturday’s race. Tumbling into the esses, before the sun is all the way up and the depths of that first sector are all still blanketed in shadow, is just a beautiful feeling. I imagine that last corner must be thrilling too, but unfortunately, the hot laps send passengers back to the pit lane before that part.
Besides the course itself, now is just a wonderful time to go to an IMSA race—probably the best of my adult life. In the GTD class, you have Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche all duking it out for top honors. Lamborghini also had a prototype present, though Petit was its final race, as the brand is putting that program on ice for the foreseeable future. In 2027, the series will gain Ford and Genesis, while McLaren has said it’d “like to” field its upcoming WEC hypercar in IMSA in 2028, but hasn’t made a decision yet.
It’s not just about the diversity of brands; there’s also a diversity of sounds reverberating through those forest walls. You’ve got the boomy yet raspy Cadillac, with its naturally aspirated V8 that shakes you as it passes; the relatively smoother sounds of the BMW, Porsche, and Acura, the latter being the only prototype running a V6; and the wail of the Cosworth-built V12 inside the Aston. And that’s to say nothing of the GT field. They all sound good, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Valkyrie sounds truly great, and we should savor it as long as we have the chance.
I’m certainly not the first to say that sports car racing fans are enjoying a golden era right now; I hope that I’m far from the last to say it, too, and that the momentum of all this energy and participation carries for years to come. It’s rare to argue that anything in life—the good stuff, anyway—is experiencing a “golden era” in the year 2025, and sports, at their best, offer relief from the tension we carry every day. This was what I reflected on as I watched that lead Cadillac cross the finish line in the dark, chased by the Aston no more than five seconds behind, as fireworks lit the sky above a sellout crowd.
Acura provided The Drive with travel, accommodations, and access to Petit Le Mans.
Backed by a decade of covering cars and consumer tech, Adam Ismail is a Senior Editor at The Drive, focused on curating and producing the site’s slate of daily stories.
