Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr will head into Petit Le Mans this weekend aiming to clinch the Prototype crown, with the duo sitting four points clear of CORE Autosport duo Jon Bennett and Colin Braun.
The 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is going down to the wire in the Prototype class and is an outright battle between the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Curran and, Nasr, and the #54 CORE Autosport Oreca 07 of Bennett and Braun. The latter has been the form team across the last four races with two wins and two runners-up spots, but the consistency of the former has kept them on top despite only one victory to their name this season.
Curran says that whilst winning the race would be nice, doing enough to take the title is the priority for him and for Nasr, with the pairing being joined for the ten-hour endurance race by Gabby Chaves this weekend.
“We’d love to win the race, but first we’ve got to make sure we do what we have to do for the championship,” said Curran on axracing.com. “And that will come down to executing as a team and not putting ourselves at risk.
“You have to be there at the end, and Road Atlanta is not a very forgiving place. It is a real driver’s track with how much speed you carry into the corners, but it is also a really challenging race. It is ten hours, and anything can happen in a race like Petit Le Mans.
“If we can execute on everything, hopefully we will be in a position to take the IMSA championship and the Tequila Patron Endurance Cup, which we’ve never done with the Whelen car, and go out with a win. What a way that would be to close out 2018.”
Former Formula 1 racer Nasr says the goal for the team remains the same, which is to win, and he hopes the test they had at Road Atlanta a few weeks ago can benefit their preparation for the final race of the season and the championship decider.
“Final race of the year already? – how quickly the season goes by!” said Nasr. “I’m heading to Petit Le Mans fully prepared. We had the opportunity to test at the circuit a few weeks ago with Whelen Engineering Racing and we were able to get ourselves ready for the final race.
“It’s a really fun track, with fast flowing corners, but it’s also very tricky for clearing traffic. It has all the ingredients to make it an exciting 10-hour race.
“I know we have the best team behind us in the paddock when it comes to endurance racing. Petit is very demanding and also physically challenging for us drivers. As a team, our goal remains the same: Expect to win!”
