The Start Of The 20th Petit Le Mans Was Chaos With Penske Taken Out By Wreck

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It’s the 20th anniversary of the running of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, and not quite 20 minutes into the race, the overall leader, Team Penske’s not-Acura-yet prototype was taken out by the lead car in the GTD class, the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. The moist track was blamed, because moist things are always causing trouble.

It was a lousy way to start off a return to Petit Le Mans for Penske, who hasn’t been in the race for almost a decade.

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Later in the race, the No. 52 prototype driven by Jose Gutierrez used a gravel trap like a ramp and flew into the tire barrier:

Luckily, Gutierrez was fine.

Never a dull moment in racing, right?

CORRECTION [7/8]: Penske isn’t quite running their Acura yet. That’s still coming next year.