BRASELTON, Ga. – The spoils for a year of hard work and dedication were distributed Sunday during the WeatherTech Celebration of Champions at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
The ceremony honored the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season’s champions and other special award winners. NBC Sports announcer Brian Till hosted the program inside Michelin Tower at the racetrack.
IMSA President John Doonan opened the event by thanking drivers, team members, series partners and fans alike for the overwhelmingly successful season that witnessed tremendous competition throughout the year and didn’t determine the final champions until the last turn of the last lap of the last race, Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans.
“What we as an IMSA family have accomplished over 18 to 20 months is absolutely remarkable,” Doonan said. “Despite all of the situations and challenging conditions around us, we’ve responded with growth in so many areas. Attendance is up, television viewership is up, social media following and engagements, grid size, commitments for the future, and on and on. We’re so proud of these things but also extremely grateful.
“To all of our teams and drivers, thank you for delivering so much excitement to our fans.”
Driver, team and manufacturer champions were recognized in all five WeatherTech Championship classes, with the drivers presented the Bishop-France Trophy and commemorative TUDOR championship watches:
Daytona Prototype international (DPi): No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, co-drivers Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr, and manufacturer Cadillac
Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2): No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 and co-drivers Ben Keating and Mikkel Jensen
Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3): No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 and driver Gar Robinson
GT Le Mans (GTLM): No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, co-drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, and manufacturer Chevrolet
GT Daytona (GTD): No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, co-drivers Zacharie Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor and manufacturer Porsche.
In addition to the series champions, special awards were bestowed in a number of other categories:
VP Racing Fuels Front Runner Award: No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, DPi; No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, LMP2; No. 74 Riley Motorsports, LMP3; No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette, GTLM; No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, GTD
Motul Pole Award: No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, DPi; No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, LMP2; No. 74 Riley Motorsports, LMP3; No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3, GTD
Michelin All Hands for the Win: No. 74 Riley Motorsports, LMP3; No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, GTD
Jim Trueman Award: Ben Keating
Bob Akin Award: Rob Ferriol
IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup: No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, co-drivers Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn, manufacturer Lamborghini.
Winners were also recognized in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, for those teams, drivers and manufacturers that shined in the four endurance races on the 2021 calendar.
DPi: No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05, drivers Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi and Ricky Taylor, and manufacturer Acura
LMP2: No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports and drivers Scott Huffaker, Mikkel Jensen and Ben Keating
LMP3: No. 74 Riley Motorsports and drivers Scott Andrews and Gar Robinson
GTLM: No. 4 Corvette Racing, drivers Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, and manufacturer Chevrolet
GTD: No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, drivers Jan Heylen, Trent Hindman and Patrick Long, and manufacturer Porsche.