The Portuguese Filipe Albuquerque (Cadillac) finished this morning in the fourth position at 10 o'clock of Petit Le Mans, last race of the U.S. resistance championship (IMSA), being 636 milliseconds from the podium.
© Lusa
04/10/2026
by
Lusa
IMSA
O coimbra driver, who shared Wayne Taylor Racing's Cadillac V-Series.R with American Ricky Taylor and British Will Stevens, completed 368 laps, being 9,266 seconds away from the winners, Belgian Laurens Vanthoor, French Kevin Estre and Australian Matt Campbell (Porsche 963).
Dries Vanthoor's BMW, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns finished second, at 1.205 seconds, while Wayne Taylor Racing's other Cadillac, driven by Jordan Taylor, Louis Delétraz and Colton Herta, completed the podium at 8,630 seconds.
The race on the Atlanta Road circuit was marked by rain, 16 neutralization periods and a 27-minute interruption due to the occurrence of lightning nearby.
“ This race is simply crazy, I love the final hours and the amount of accidents shows just how far we go and how much we risk. Perhaps today was more than normal”, said Albuquerque, in a statement.
Portuguese regretted being so close to the first three, but valued the result in a season that it classified as complicated.
“Of course I wish I had finished on the podium to close up a complicated time, but the fourth place gives us some satisfaction,” he added.
Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor finished the championship in the 11th position of the main category driver rating, GTP, with 2,448 points. The British Jack Aitken (Cadillac) won the title with 3.020, ahead of the German Laurin Heinrich (Porsche), with 2.859.
Cadillac also held the builder championship, while Cadillac Whelen won the team championship.
“ I'm glad the season is over. We've improved and our Cadillac is on its way to the right point. I must also be pleased that Cadillac has won the title of builders and pilots,” Albuquerque said.
In the same race, Manuel Espírito Santo finished fifth in the LMP2 category and 11th in the absolute ranking, sharing the Oreca of Pratt Miller Motorsports with Pietro Fittipaldi and Chris Cumming.
This race marks the end of the season for Albuquerque which, however, plans to return to work in three weeks, to begin the preparation of 2027.
“ In three weeks we'll start preparing for the next season, we won't stop. And in less than anything we have a new era ahead of us. I love what I do,” he concluded.