Uh-oh. This may take a while.
Chunks of Road Atlanta’s track surface started to come up during today’s Petit Le Mans race, leaving a gnarly pothole right on the racing line. Cars running over it kicked up enough hard chunks of pavement that officials made the call to repair it mid-event.
Race cars aren’t gentle on pavement, as the same high G-forces that can make your mother nauseous in the passenger seat on track also do a number on the surface they grab. Continued running over this particular spot by professional drivers who are really good at hammering the racing line repeatedly knocked the pavement loose.
So, here we sit, watching IMSA make repairs as cars crawl around under a yellow flag. They’re having to cut out part of the pavement and make repairs from there.
Some cars, such as the No. 25 BMW Team RLL M6, used the yellow flag period to make larger preventative repairs. We’re just under six hours into the race, so there’s plenty of grueling race time left, even with this lengthy slow period.
Oh geez. At least it’s not a rain delay like there is for NASCAR at Dover this afternoon, I guess.
At least Road Atlanta has a convenient space for the airing of grievances that appears to be alive and well. Per the broadcast, it’s good that they’re getting the repairs to the pavement out of the way during the heat of the day, as the Quikrete substance they’re using to repair the hole should dry faster.
UPDATE [3:12 p.m.]: Many of the vehicles around the repaired patch have now left, and a dryer truck is now attempting to cure the fresh pavement.
UPDATE [3:21 p.m.]: The race has finally restarted after 65 minutes of yellow flag time. Hey, at least it gave some of the pro-am teams a chance to send their amateur drivers out to turn slow laps.
Screencaps via IMSA