Jr III Racing Brings New Lineup to Petit Le Mans

Braselton, Ga. (3 October 2023) – Jr III (“Junior-Three”) Racing will close out the IMSA WeatherTech LMP3 year with a revised driver lineup in the season-finale Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The No. 30 Airbnb Ligier JS P320 will have full season driver Garett Grist, Jr III Racing’s endurance driver Dakota Dickerson, and rounding out the lineup will be the VP Racing Sports Car Challenge LMP3 championship point standings leader Bijoy Garg.

Grist will be making his third start at Petit Le Mans under the Jr III Racing banner. In 2021, Grist was joined by Ari Balogh and Spencer Pigot to score the teams first IMSA WeatherTech podium with a second place finish. Grist and Balogh combined for a run to second place in 2022 with Nolan Siegel.

“We had a really good test at Road Atlanta last week,” said Grist. “We were able to try a couple different setups to see what we like and I think it will really benefit us for the race. I think we have a great lineup for Petit, though I will miss Ari. Him and I have driven together for the last two seasons together so it will be odd to not finish the season together. I love Road Atlanta, I love Petit, but it is bittersweet with it being the last LMP3 race in IMSA this year. We hope we can finish the year out with a strong finish.”

After competing with Jr III Racing at the Twelve Hours of Sebring and Six Hours at Watkins Glen, Dickerson will be making his Petit Le Mans debut. The promising young American talent has shone well in the big races for Jr III Racing. A strong battle for the lead in the final hour of the Sebring 12 hour went unfinished after the team suffered the terrible timing to have the No. 30 Ligier be taken out by an airborne tire from a wrecked LMP2 entry as he arrived at full speed in the dark with the wheel landing on the car and taking it out of the race.

The Six Hours at Watkins Glen saw another dose of bad luck as Bologh was first out in rapidly degenerating conditions as the Ligier went off and made hard contact with the wall in a session that was shortly canceled thereafter. Despite starting from the rear of the field, Dickerson, Grist and Balogh fill in Dylan Murry scored a second place finish.

“I’m very excited to be back with Jr III Racing for Petit Le Mans,” said Dickerson. “I’m going to miss having Ari with us for the race, but it is going to be a killer having Bijoy with us for the final round. We have an incredibly strong line up and we’re going to be pushing hard to get a win in the last race of the season. The team has been fighting for wins all year and I’m confident we will be doing the same again at Petit!”

Garg will be making his third IMSA WeatherTech start after having raced at Road America and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The California native will also pull double duty as he will also be competing for the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3 championship prior to Saturday’s race. Garg has won six VPRC races in the 2023 season as well as scoring a further three podium results.

Garg drove to a Motul Pole Award at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September earning the first pole award for Jr III Racing in WeatherTech competition.

“This weekend will be bittersweet,” said Billy Glavin, owner of Jr III Racing. “We have come so far as a team. We started out as an IMSA Prototype Challenge team and worked our way to compete for wins at IMSA’s top level in the WeatherTech Championship. The team has worked so hard to get us to this point and though we are excited for the next chapter of Jr III Racing, we are hopeful for a solid finish at Petit.”

Jr III Racing had a few days of productive testing last week at Road Atlanta ahead of the ten hour race on Saturday October 14th. The 26th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans will be covered live on the Peacock app before switching to USA Network at 6:30pm ET.