Porsche has led a pack of GTLM spec cars which have been dominant in wet conditions through to the half way point of today’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Le Mans winner Nick Tandy pulled off a barnstorming opening stint to charge through from the rear of the grid – not only passing all the GTD class cars but charging through to the class lead.

Once championship leader Patrick Pilet climbed aboard, he gradually worked his way through the entire field to become the overall race leader at the half race distance.

Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner and Jan Magnussen also had stints in the race lead as the race entered its fifth hour.

Remarkably, four of the six cars were GTLM spec machines at half race distance. The Michelin wets performed well in the Braselton rain despite the fact the GTLM cars have less power and less downforce than the Prototype machines.

The Prototype class was led by Action Express Racing Sebastien Bourdais at half race distance – putting his teammates Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa in a perfect position for the championship.

Richard Westbrook led early but both his teammates Michael Valiante and Mike Rockenfeller suffered spins exiting the final corner. The incidents put the VisitFlorida.com squad out of race contention.

Action Express Racing’s Dane Cameron also led the battle before handing over to teammate Eric Curran.

Other class leaders at the half way mark include Andrew Palmer in PC and Andy Lally in GTLM. CORE autosport’s Jon Bennett and Colin Braun have wrapped up the PC class championship but the GTD battle will continue with Danish female racer Christina Nielsen tied with Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler in points at half race distance.

While the race has been neutralized regularly under yellow flags so far – the worst is yet to come. Heavy is predicted to hit the area around 6:00pm.

I’m not dreaming My friend @PatrickPilet is leading #petitlemans in a #GTLM #comeon @PorscheNAracing #usccmotorstv pic.twitter.com/Qsxh1yZ9OM

— fabien gerard (@fabgerard) October 3, 2015

Overall and #GTLM leaders! @TommyMilner @janmagnussen #Corvette #C7R #PLM pic.twitter.com/31Y7zyL0FB

— Corvette Racing (@CorvetteRacing) October 3, 2015