Right from the start, the season-ending Petit Le Mans has been heavily impacted by the slippery conditions caused by rain that continues to fall at Braselton, Georgia's Road Atlanta.

First Hour

Leading the entirety of the opening hour of the race was the Corvette DP that leads the Prototype points entering this final race of the year, the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing car.

Just three minutes after the green flag, the Prototype Challenge car of Chris Cumming was stopped on track at the esses, perhaps distracting Ben Keating of the No. 33 Viper of Riley Motorsports, sending him spinning off track and going into the wall of the following corner. The car suffered a considerable amount of damage, but was able to return to the pits for some repairs. Shortly after the car was repaired and returned to the track, though, Keating couldn't get the Viper slowed down in time for Turns 10A and B, running through the gravel.

The GT Le Mans field made its way into the top-10 overall behind the Prototype leaders, with Nick Tandy leading in-class after starting from the back of the grid in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR of Porsche North America. Tandy pulled out to a 15-second lead after passing Lucas Luhr of the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE and Oliver Gavin of the No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R to take over the class on Lap 16.

Leading at the end of the hour in the Prototype Challenge and GT Daytona classes were the polesitting cars; Tom Kimber-Smith of the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA FLM09 and Cameron Lawrence, at the wheel of the No. 93 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R.

Second Hour

Richard Westbrook of the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP led overall from Christian Fittipaldi of the No. 5 Action Express Racing entry but the Brazilian driver Fittipaldi set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:28.420, which saw him catch up a bit to Westbrook of the No. 90.

Fittipaldi, though, ran off track at the exit of the esses as the third full-course caution of the race came out - but it wasn't a result of the No. 5 car being motionless in the gravel; IMSA threw the yellow for track conditions as the rain was only getting worse.

In the meantime, Nick Tandy continued his charge in the No. 911 Porsche, reaching second overall in the race behind Westbrook when Fittipaldi had his off in the No. 5. Tandy then brought the Porsche in for service and a driver change, handing it off to Patrick Pilet.

Leading the PC category for the majority of the second hour was Johnny Mowlem after he took over in the polesitting car from Kimber-Smith, but Alex Popow took over the class lead in the No. 88 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09.

Spencer Pumpelly led the GTD class, at the wheel of the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America, until 37 minutes into the second hour when he finally brought the car in for a pit stop. Cameron Lawrence, before handing the car over to Marc Goossens, took the class lead back in the No. 93 Viper.

The two GTLM Corvette C7.Rs had some troubles in this second hour, with Oliver Gavin running off and into the wall at Turn 1 in the No. 4 before reversing and returning to the track under a local yellow and the No. 3 of Antonio Garcia spending time in the pits to tape the windshield banner down and to switch out an alternator belt.

Leading overall into the second hour was the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Dane Cameron.

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Aaron Durant is the editor of the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @DoubleA291.