iRacing Petit Le Mans 2026: Blue Mercure Esport dominate top split with two class victories

That lead would hold for another 90 minutes, but meanwhile strategy games had begun in GTP. Blue Mercure Esport had extended their overall lead, but Grid and Go short-filled in their first stop to gain some time, something which would set the tone for the race. 

Grid and Go would take the lead during the next stint, as Spetz drove into the side of an LMP2 which had irked him on the back straight. The same short fuelling was happening in GT3 too, where Bleu Mercure gained a large lead over their competitors. 

Connor Jupp would jump out of the LMP2 leading car to hand over to Zachery Lewis, who would lose the lead to David Sobreiro with just over eight hours to go. And things would get worse when Lewis disconnected an hour later, forcing a recovery that would last another seven hours.  

It took until six hours to go for Bleu Mercure to resecure their lead, passing Grid and Go as the strategies evened out. The same was expected to happen in GT3 too, but Bleu Mercure were never really caught – despite their other two cars falling back – only extending their lead to more than a minute by the checkered flag. 

In LMP2, Deletraz Automotive’s chase was a valiant effort, but they fell just 8.5 seconds short by the end, giving Margem D Arada a famous win. But out front, it was all about Bleu Mercure Esport, who were under a bit of pressure from the strategy of longer stints from Verstappen Sim Racing, to take their first ever iRacing Petit Le Mans by around 30 seconds. 

The pace of Alxander Spetz and Atte Kaupinen was supreme, and enough to win by a large margin despite the damage for their entire second stint. The double delight for Bleu Mercure has really announced them on the world stage, and they’ll be one of the teams to beat coming into 2027.