Scott McLaughlin’s Petit Le Mans hopes suffered the earliest of setbacks when co-driver Ari Balogh crashed on the laps immediately before and after the field took the green flag.

Balogh was attempting to warm the tyres of the #8 Tower Motorsports ORECA LMP2 on the formation lap at Michelin Road Atlanta when he spun and made contact with the barriers.

He crashed again on the first lap proper at Turn 3 as he tried to catch the field, bringing about the first Caution period of the IMSA SportsCar Championship finale.

After repairs, Car #8 would resume 23 laps down, with McLaughlin clawing back some ground in his Petit Le Mans debut once he got behind the wheel.

With just under an hour to go in the 10-hour contest, Kyffin Simpson is behind the wheel of the Tower entry, which is running seventh in the eight-car LMP2 class.

Cadillac Racing was sitting one-two outright and in GTP under the latest Caution period, with leader Renger van der Zande staying out on-track in the #01 V-Series.R when the rest of the prototypes pitted once the lane opened.

McLaughlin and Tower had won their class and finished third outright in the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.

One race earlier at Daytona, the squad also suffered opening lap woes when a leaking water bottle caused electrical dramas which brought Car #8 to a halt.

UPDATE: Dixon second at Petit Le Mans as AXR wins IMSA title

My first Petit Le Mans stint was fun. Got a few laps back, car doesn’t feel to bad, sucks we aren’t in the fight! But we keep pushing!

— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) October 14, 2023