In 2017, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Georgia, its founder Don Panoz served as the race Grand Marshal. This year, in addition to showings by a few of his cars (read Panoz GTR-1 from the 1998 24 Hours takes lap at Petit Le Mans as a tribute to Don Panoz), his entourage wanted to pay tribute to the recently deceased visionary. Inspired by the "For the fans" initiative the pharmaceutical magnate launched to attract people to endurance racing, a contest was created to choose a Grand Marshal from fans.

A diehard fan named Nick Calhoun has won the privilege of waving the starting flag on Saturday at 11:05 shortly after the French national anthem, the Marseillaise, plays in Georgia in honor of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the American anthem. Then the 37 competitors will be released, including five 24 Hours of Le Mans winners.

In theory, only two among them are actual contenders for the overall win this year, but history has shown that a GT can't be counted out thanks to the Porsche 911 RSR in 2015 (at the wheel Patrick Pilet, Richard Lietz and Nick Tandy, the latter the winner at the 24 Hours the same year with the Porsche 919 Hybrid) though it got an assist from the weather and setbacks incurred from the upper class prototypes. 

Tandy is once again in the running in GTLM, the equivalent of the LMGTE Pro class at Le Mans, with Porsche along with Patrick Pilet (once again) and Frédéric Makowiecki. The Brit (#911) will head off Earl Bamber (#912) his teammate in the win at Le Mans. Bamber will team up again with Laurens Vanthoor, the LMGTE Pro winner at the 24 Hours this year, and Porsche junior driver Mathieu Jaminet.

The six cars representing Porsche, two in vintage liveries (read Two 911 RSRs at Petit Le Mans decorated like the 1998 24 Hours Porsche GT1), are facing a three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner with Audi, Marcel Fässler, seeking a win for the American marque Corvette celebrating its 20 years in motorsport. Corvette is going after a trophy that has eluded it since 2010 when Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas claimed the top step on the 24 Hours podium.

The two friends, this time pitted against each other, are looking for the overall win. The German driver at the wheel of the #22 Nissan DPi fielded by ESM and the Frenchman in CORE autosport's #54 ORECA LMP2 as he's done in the past three championship races. How will this play out? We'll find out after the 10-hour race on Saturday 13 October that starts at 11:05 local time.

Entry List

 

PHOTO (Copyright - Phillip Abbott/IMSA): The #912 Porsche 911 in vintage livery for Petit Le Mans.