Boulle, Fidani Punch Tickets to Le Mans with Trueman, Akin Honors

Nick Boulle entered the 2024 season not knowing whether he would compete in every race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He’ll start 2025 secure in the knowledge that he already has an entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Boulle earned the opportunity to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s keystone event next June by winning IMSA’s Jim Trueman Award, presented annually to the highest-placed Bronze-rated driver in the WeatherTech Championship’s Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class. Boulle and co-driver Tom Dillmann also won the class championship in the No. 52 ORECA LMP2 07 fielded by Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports.

“I guess we have a trip to France next year,” Boulle said with a smile after he, Dillmann and endurance driver Jakub Smiechowski finished fourth in the season-closing Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Their championship-winning campaign was highlighted by the LMP2 and overall victory in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July.

IMSA also presents the Bob Akin Award to the top-finishing Bronze driver in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class, which also includes a Le Mans invite. This year, the Akin prize was taken by Orey Fidani, who shared the No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R with Matt Bell. Fidani was the top Bronze finisher at three races on the way to the season-long achievement, with the No. 13 Corvette finishing a GTD season-best fifth at Road America and adding three sixth-place showings to boot.

The Akin and Trueman awards are named for successful “gentleman” racers who made a significant impact on the sport. Both awards shine the spotlight on Bronze-rated drivers, many of whom are like Trueman and Akin – businesspeople whose passion for racing drove their deep involvement in motorsport. 

Akin, the longtime president of Hudson Wire Co., was a standout driver and entrant in the IMSA championship in the 1970s and ‘80s. He won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in 1979 and 1986, a year in which he also won IMSA’s Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class and overall championship. Akin’s winning average speed at Sebring, achieved in a Porsche 962 with co-drivers Hans-Joachim Stuck and Jo Gartner, stood as the race record for 23 years. 

Trueman is best known as the founder of the Red Roof Inns hotel chain and former owner of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He was an enthusiastic amateur racer who formed Truesports Racing, the team that guided Bobby Rahal to victory in the 1986 Indianapolis 500. Trueman died of cancer just 11 days after Rahal’s emotional Indy triumph.

Once Boulle determined he was on board for the full seven-race LMP2 championship this season, that was naturally the primary focus for the 35-year-old, who is president of his family-owned deBoulle Diamond and Jewelry, with locations in Dallas and Houston. The Trueman Award – and the Le Mans invite – was an added bonus.

“Everybody has worked so hard with Inter Europol and PR1 Motorsports to make this year happen and to do it at such a high level,” he said. “Certainly, I was paying attention to (the Trueman Award) as the (Motul Petit Le Mans) race wound down. We knew it was close and would depend on our finishing position.” 

The fourth-place finish at Michelin Raceway by the No. 52 ORECA allowed Boulle to hold off Gar Robinson by just 30 points after Robinson’s No. 74 Riley ORECA placed second in the race.

Unlike Boulle and his team who were also pursuing an overall class championship, the Akin Award was almost the sole season-long focus for Fidani and AWA.

“This is the goal we set for ourselves at the very beginning of this program coming together, and we worked tirelessly to see it through,” said Fidani, a 35-year-old Canadian. “As I started coming up through IMSA and especially being with Corvette, it started to look like going to Le Mans might be an attainable goal. It’s a bucket-list race, for sure. I couldn’t be happier or more proud right now. 

“No matter what happened throughout this season, we were always focused on the Bob Akin championship, and we never lost sight of the big picture,” he added. “I can’t thank (AWA team principal) Andrew Wojteczko and the entire AWA crew enough for all they’ve done. I’m so excited and I can't wait to show what we can do in France!”