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The
American Le Mans Series headed to Braselton, GA this past weekend for the 15th annual
Petit Le Mans and the conclusion of its 2012 season. While some of the championships had already been decided earlier in the season - the Corvette team had already captured the manufacturer, team and driver championships for the GT class prior to the race, for example - there were still several titles up for grabs. The Muscle Milk Pickett Racing team, having dominated much of the ALMS season in the fastest P1 class, needed to finish just 70 percent of the race distance to take home the crown, as did the Level 5 Motorsports team in P2.
While Petit Le Mans remains one of the most important events on the North American motorsports calendar, there were some big names absent from the field at Road Atlanta.
Peugeot, having dropped funding for its Le Mans program, wouldn't be around to defend their overall wins from the past three years.
Audi, with the
World Endurance Championship dropping Petit Le Mans from their calendar and no Peugeot to battle, decided to forgo the trip across the Atlantic as well.
Even so, the field of cars for Petit Le Mans remained strong thanks to the European Le Mans series making the 1,000 mile endurance race their season finale as well. The Europeans proved to be quick, with the Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota
taking the overall pole position and the Morgan-Nissan of Oak Racing took the top qualifying spot in P2.
Adding some extra flair to this year's race was the addition of the
Nissan DeltaWing, making its first competition appearance in North America. Despite having a
scary crash on Wednesday and undergoing extensive repairs, the DeltaWing proved to have significant pace throughout practice and qualifying.
Scroll down for a full race report from the 2012 Petit Le Mans, and check out our exhaustive gallery of high-res images above.
Continue reading 2012 ALMS champions crowned at Petit Le Mans
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Motorsports: 2012 ALMS champions crowned at Petit Le Mans
