Preview, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, at Laguna Seca

IMSA

May 11

Written By Car Racing Reporter

Acura going for a fifth win in a row

📷 © IMSA Courtesy. Felipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor took their Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 to victory last year at **Laguna Seca**.

📷 © IMSA Courtesy. Felipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor with Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 at **Laguna Seca**.

Acura is looking for a fifth consecutive vistory in a row this weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Felipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor took their Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 to victory last year, 30 years after Acura’s first win at Laguna Seca (1992), when Wayne Taylor – team owner of Wayne Taylor Racing and father to driver Ricky – and co-driver Ruggero Melgrati took their Comptech Acura Spice SE90P to the Camel Lights victory.

After three races in the championship, Albuquerque and Taylor are third in the Drivers Weathertech Sportscar Championship, 20 points behind Tandy and Jaminet (Porsche #6).

Porsche Penske Motorsport eager to climd the podium again

📷 © Porsche. Tandy and Jaminet in Porsche 963 #6 at Long Beach.

After its victory at Long Beach in mid-April, the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team is now eager to climb the podium again for the fourth round of the Weathertech Sportscar Championship.

Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet compete in the #6 Porsche 963 as the leaders of the drivers’ championship. Their team colleagues Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr currently rank fifth after achieving a hotly-contested third place in Long Beach.

📷 © Porsche. Porsche 963, JDC-Miller MotorSports #5, Mike Rockenfeller, Tijmen van der Helm

The customer squad JDC-Miller MotorSports celebrates its debut in the top GTP class on the legendary course close to the harbour of the City of Monterey. The former Porsche-Junior and ex-works driver Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm share the cockpit of the #5 Porsche 963.

📷 © Porsche. #7 Porsche 963 driven by Filipe Nasr and Matt Campbell.

“Our team goes racing in California for the second time in two months, however we’re in a different position than last time in Long Beach,” says Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. “We travel to Laguna Seca as the race winners and championship leaders. This doesn’t change our approach in the slightest, but we’ll do everything we can to keep the momentum up. As a globally active team, we can use the insights that our FIA WEC colleagues gained recently. The knowledge from Spa and Portimão is very helpful in developing a good baseline setup. There are very few chances to test in Laguna Seca so we don’t have any experience there. The drivers and all IMSA personnel are looking forward to taking on the special challenges that the circuit and the competition throw at us.” Source: Porsche

Cadillac leads manufacturers’ Championship

📷 © Cadillac Racing at Long Beach. Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims with #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R

Pipo Derani, co-driver of the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R, has stood on the third-place tier of the podium in each of the past four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This weekend, in the MOTUL Course de Monterey, Derani and Alexander Sims will seek to deliver the team’s second victory of the season in the Grand Touring Prototype class.

“It's always a very challenging track with the lack of grip and ups and downs, so it'll be interesting to see how the new cars react,” said Derani, who joined forces with Sims and Jack Aitken to win the Twelve Hours of Sebring in March. Source: Cadillac Racing

Cadillac leads the GTP Manufacturer Championship standings and the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R is one point out of the lead in the GTP Team and Driver Championship.

The sister#01 Cadillac V-Series.R, co-driven by Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, will aim to get untracked after disappointing outings at Sebring and Long Beach.

BMW M Team RLL looks to continue Laguna Seca success

In the three races been held in the 2023 season so far, BMW M Team RLL has scored two runner-up finishes at Sebring and Long Beach with the new BMW M Hybrid V8. That effort has BMW standing second in the IMSA GTP class manufacturer points. By benefit of two second-place finishes with the #25 car, Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly stand fourth in GTP driver points, only one point from third. Augusto Farfus and Philipp Eng stand seventh in driver points, with a season’s-best fourth-place finish at Long Beach in the #24 car.

📷 © BMW Group at Long Beach. De Philippi and Yelloly with BMW M Hybrid V8 #25.

Bobby Rahal (Team Principal BMW M Team RLL): “It’s easy to show that Laguna Seca has been a great circuit for me as a driver and a team owner. I won four Indy Car races in-a-row there among many other victories. BMW M Team RLL has three GT class wins in addition to quite a few seconds and thirds. If you are lucky enough to have good fortune at a circuit it tends to stay, so, yes, I am looking forward to the new era GTP debut at Laguna Seca. If we can continue to improve the BMW M Hybrid V8 the way we have been, I am feeling optimistic about our chances.” Source: BMW Group