World’s best vie for Petit LeMans win

The entry list for the 10th running of Petit Le Mans sparkles with current and past stars from the American Le Mans Series. And this year’s event also is attracting some of the most renowned names from other forms of motorsport including Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Graham Rahal.

This year’s IRL champion and Indy 500 winner, Franchitti will return to the American Le Mans Series for his debut on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta circuit with Acura and Andretti Green Racing. The Scottish star has made an impact in his two previous 2007 starts in the Series. He scored a LMP2 victory for AGR with Bryan Herta and Kanaan at Sebring and also captured pole position in the Series’ first appearance at Long Beach in April. He led 39 of the first 46 laps and posted the race’s fast lap before finishing sixth overall with Herta.

Kanaan also will return to Series competition at Petit Le Mans, his first appearance at Road Atlanta and first sports car race since the Sebring victory. Kanaan finished third in points in the Indy Racing League this season with five wins and two pole positions. He posted the team’s fastest race lap in the Sebring class win at 1:48.335 (122.952 mph).

From the Champ Car World Series, Graham Rahal will rejoin the Rahal Letterman Racing team along with Tom Milner and Ralf Kelleners in GT2. The trio battled difficulties at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring but ran double stints for an impressive sixth-place finish in class. Rahal, son of team owner and former sports car and open-wheel legend Bobby Rahal, is currently fifth place in points with two events remaining in his debut season in Champ Car. With three podium finishes this season, Rahal Letterman Racing is looking for its first class win.

In addition, Team Cytosport has added sports car and open-wheel veteran Memo Gidley to the lineup for its AER-powered Lola in LMP1. Gidley was third overall in last year’s race for Highcroft Racing with Vitor Meira and team owner Duncan Dayton.

This cache of drivers combined with world-famous sports car racers such as Allan McNish, David Brabham, Timo Bernhard and Olivier Beretta and many more will add to this historic event.

The green flag for the 10th running of Petit Le Mans is scheduled to drop at 11:15 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 6. SPEED will provide live coverage of the annual 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 6:30 to 10 p.m. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA's Live Timing and Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.