ALMS: 1998 Petit Le Mans Program
September 21, 2009 by GTP.com
Take a gander inside the program for the what’s recognized as the first (unofficial) race for the American Le Mans race, the inaugural Petit Le Mans event held at Road Atlanta in 1998. While the 1999 12 Hours of Sebring owns the distinction of being the first official ALMS event, the ‘Little Le Mans’ from the previous year set into motion the series we know today.
The newly renovated Braselton, Ga. track played host to the first event that married the cars and rules conforming to ACO regulations to the vision of Don Panoz for an American-based series for Le Mans-spec cars to have a home.
Run just five years after the close of the GTP era, the first ALMS race could be considered a bridge between IMSA’s past and future. Petit 1998 featured GTP’s replacement, World Sports Car (WSC), and the Le Mans Prototype (LMP1), and before long, WSC gave way to the LMP cars of today.
And as you’ll see inside, more than a decade later, many of the same faces are present for the 2009 edition of Petit Le Mans.
(Courtesy of the American Le Mans Series)
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