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International Motor Sports Association    Lamborghini Super Trofeo series

International Motor Sports Association 

 

www.imsa.com

 

About the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)

International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 and owns a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, as well as four one-make series: Ferrari Challenge North America, Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Porsche Carrera Cup North America. IMSA – a company within the NASCAR family – is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

 

Yelloly Scrapes To Detroit Pole for Acura

Pair of Acuras Lead Pair of BMWs Ahead of Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic


 

May 30, 2025

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Starting Grid

 

DETROIT – BMW and Porsche dominated the headlines for the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class in the first four races of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. But Acura stole the limelight in qualifying for Round 5 - the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.


 

Nick Yelloly uncorked a series of laps that would have been good enough for the Motul Pole Award in the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06, culminating in a 1 minute, 5.762 second (90.052 mph) effort. That earned the 34-year-old Englishman his first career pole in WeatherTech Championship competition and puts him and co-driver Renger van der Zande in the absolute best starting spot for Saturday’s 100-minute race on the 1.645-mile street course.


 

Tom Blomqvist added to the joy for Acura and MSR by placing the team’s No. 60 Acura ARX-06 entry he shares with Colin Braun on the outside of the front row with the only other sub-66-second lap in the 15-minute qualifying session (1:05.908, 89.852 mph). 


 

BMW M Team RLL, which took pole position for all four WeatherTech Championship races this year, swept the second row, with Sheldon van der Linde in the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 outqualifying Dries Vanthoor in the identical No. 24 car for the first time in 2025. 


 

Yelloly is the only one of the top four qualifying drivers who raced at Detroit in 2024, with Blomqvist, van der Linde and Vanthoor all making their downtown Detroit debuts. 


 

With passing expected to be difficult within the track’s narrow confines, qualifying might have been the most important aspect of the Detroit weekend. The pole boosted Yelloly’s confidence that he and Acura can break Porsche Penske Motorsport’s four-race win streak.


 

“Pole is the best place to start at any street circuit; it usually makes your life quite a bit easier,” Yelloly remarked. “Super happy to get my first pole in IMSA. We’ve been working very hard as a team to make sure we get everything right, chipping away week after week. We go from strength to strength every weekend, and it just keeps getting better and better. 


 

“At a street circuit, you can’t just bang in one lap, because you’ll probably make a mistake,” he added. “You kind of need to edge closer to the limit. I knew I’d done a relatively good lap already and knew I had two laps to go at the end. I put it, let’s say, all on the line and rubbed the wall a few times, but it was just enough to get that pole.”


 

It was the first pole for the Meyer Shank team since the WeatherTech Championship race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July 2023. That was also the last time the polesitter won the GTP class race. 


 

Meyer Shank Racing’s last front row sweep in IMSA’s top class came at the 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona. 


 

Yelloly took pride on the light scrape marks on the side of the No. 93 Acura and the sidewalls of its Michelin tires.


 

“Every lap here you’re edging to the limit, and if you get the limit just right, you’ll rub the wall,” he said. “I checked the bodywork, and it’s literally just a scrape, and there’s a little mark on the tire. That usually means you’ve done a decent lap, so I’m happy with my little painting on the side of the car.”


 

Porsche Penske Motorsport continued the team-by-team aspect of the Detroit grid by sweeping the third row, with GTP points leaders Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr lining up sixth. Cadillacs filled the next three positions. Tandy and Nasr’s No. 7 Porsche and both Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing entries went into qualifying knowing they’d lose their fastest qualifying laps after bringing out red flags in the two practice sessions held earlier Friday.


 

Strategic variations are likely to be few in the 100-minute “sprint” race, with most teams expected to run the event with a single pit stop for energy and a driver change, only taking tires if circumstances permit.


 

“It’s going to be important to pull out a gap, whether through traffic or just on pace, and nail that driver change,” Yelloly said. “The people starting further back will probably roll the dice more than the people starting at the front.”


 

A final 20-minute practice session is available to WeatherTech Championship competitors Saturday morning. Flag-to-flag coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic starts at 3:30 p.m. ET on Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel (international). 

Ford Sweeps GTD PRO Front Row for Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Priaulx Leads Mies in Mustang 1-2, Team’s Second of Season


 

May 30, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Starting Grid

 

DETROIT – In a race where Chevrolet’s “Bowtie” looms large atop GM’s Renaissance Center situated in the middle of the downtown street circuit, crosstown rivals Ford’s “Blue Oval” have the best Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) starting positions for Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic. The pair of Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3s swept the front row in qualifying for the fourth round of the 2025 GTD PRO season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the only 100-minute street course sprint race for the class.

 

Seb Priaulx fired his No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 around Detroit’s tricky but short 1.654-mile street course with a best time of 1 minute, 10.922 seconds (83.500 mph). Priaulx led teammate Christopher Mies by 0.329 of a second as times began to tumble in the 15-minute qualifying session, with most of the 10-car field steadily improving every lap.

 

However, the gains came to an end for most following an incident for the No. 81 car that lost control exiting Turn 3, hitting the Turn 4 concrete barrier. IMSA officials red-flagged the session with less than one minute remaining of the 10-minute guaranteed green flag time, bringing the field to the pits before an ultimate restart for a singular lap to fulfill that time. With no one able to improve, the grid was essentially set by what occurred before the red flag.

 

Pole and a front-row lockout for Ford – their second of the season after also doing so at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January, also with the No. 64 car on pole – was particularly important to Priaulx and the Dearborn-based manufacturer. Priaulx will share his car with Mike Rockenfeller.

 

“For sure, you know Flat Rock (Michigan, where the Mustang assembly plant is located) is just down the road so it feels like I’m on my home soil here,” said Priaulx, who won his second career WeatherTech Championship pole (2024 Rolex 24, also in GTD PRO) and was part of the winning GTD PRO entry in Detroit last year (aboard the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R).

 

“It’s amazing. I’m really happy, the team gave me a great car today. It’s a great start to hopefully a great weekend. I know around here, a street track, you have to be aware that it’s going to go red at some point. I was really pushing hard. I knew I had to get past the Ferrari. That lap, I felt like I had to get it in.

 

“I mean ‘round here, we have a big car so hopefully we can keep our doors wide open. I felt like our race pace was really strong, so it’s just head down and look forward and we’re in the best space to win. We just need to get the flag now.”

 

Mies and co-driver Frederic Vervisch will roll off second in the No. 65 Mustang. Entering the weekend, the No. 65 pair sat fourth in the GTD PRO championship standings (107 points behind leading entry) and the No. 64 duo were seventh (156 points back).

 

The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 qualified third, but will be moved to the rear of the field following post-qualifying technical inspection which found the car to have ground clearance less than the minimum allowed. That brings the pair of Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVOs – the No. 1 of Neil Verhagen qualifying ahead of the No. 48 of Dan Harper – up to third and fourth, with the best of the Corvettes, Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R, in fifth.

 

The championship-leading No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, qualified by Klaus Bachler, will start seventh – one spot ahead of their closest championship rivals, the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Antonio Garcia, in eighth. The AO Porsche, the defending Detroit winners and winners of three straight WeatherTech Championship races across both GT classes, leads the No. 3 Corvette by 70 points entering the weekend.

 

Teams have a 20-minute final practice session at 10:35 a.m. ET Saturday before flag-to-flag coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic begins at 3:30 p.m. on Peacock (internationally via IMSA.TV and IMSA Official YouTube channel).


 

Teams have a 20-minute Practice 3 at 10:35 a.m. ET Saturday before flag-to-flag coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic begins at 3:30 p.m. on Peacock (internationally via IMSA.TV and IMSA Official YouTube channel).

 

Qualifying Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course - Friday, May 30, 2025

Qualifying Results


 

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course - Friday, May 30, 2025

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1 Results

 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course - Friday, May 30, 2025

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

What to Watch For: Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Practice, Performance and Preparation Paramount for GTP, GTD PRO Competitors in Detroit

 

May 29, 2025

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule is nothing if not diverse. The second weekend in May found competitors tackling California’s flowing and bucolic WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca road course. Now the final weekend in the merry month of May finds competitors in Michigan taking to the confined, urban streets of the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.


 

If NASCAR and IndyCar have their oval “bull rings” in Martinsville Speedway and Iowa Speedway, respectively, then IMSA’s version of a street course bull ring is the 1.654-mile, nine-turn Motown circuit where paint is often traded during overtakes and the omni-present concrete walls await the slightest mistake from the field of 22 cars, split 11 apiece between Grand Touring Prototypes (GTP) and Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO). 


 

A “Street Course” BoP: Balance of Practice


 

Given the track’s tight confines and a schedule that shoehorns a couple of practice sessions and qualifying into a single day on Friday, competitors must walk a fine line. If Job No. 1 is to extract the ultimate performance from drivers and machines, Job No. 1a is to keep those machines intact throughout practice and qualifying. 


 

Any incident in Detroit could create a snowball effect for drivers and mechanics in terms of repairs and tip-top car prep for Saturday’s 100-minute race. Additionally, any significant loss of track time will limit the ability of drivers and their race engineers to determine their car’s optimum mechanical and aerodynamic set-ups, let alone gather data on the performance and wear of their Michelin tires. 


 

“It’s a short weekend, so Friday is really busy with two free practices and qualifying,” says Klaus Bachler who, together with defending GTD PRO champion Laurin Heinrich, will co-drive AO Racing’s No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R. “You need to bring it at some point, because there’s no room for any mistakes. Otherwise the weekend can be over quite early. It will be difficult because I think qualifying and starting position is very important. It’s half of the race, maybe.” 

Drivers need to be extra careful to avoid triggering a red flag in practice, given the ramifications that causing a red flag automatically forfeits a car’s fastest qualifying lap per IMSA’s rule book. 


 

“There’s probably only two places that are good to pass or possible to pass without a big amount of risk,” says Nick Yelloly, who will co-drive the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian’s Acura ARX-06 GTP car with Renger van der Zande. “There’s probably another two that I would try and have done on opening laps, but they’re very high risk . . . So clearly our aim is start on pole and drive away into the distance. That makes our life a lot easier on the street circuit. But IMSA racing and how everything is going, you never know what’s going on and what it’s going to throw you that weekend.”


 

Of course, there’s always the chance a team can steal a march on the competition by gambling on tire, fuel and/or pit stop strategy, especially in the event of a full-course caution. As well, crews can also gain track position with sterling pit stop execution. Detroit’s split pit lane has GTP cars on one side, GTD PRO cars on the other. The fact remains that chances of standing on the podium on Saturday are greatly enhanced by fast – and clean – performances throughout practice and qualifying. 


 

The “Traditional” BoP: Balance of Performance


 

The GTP and GTD PRO pecking orders may get shaken up this weekend, following IMSA’s detailed look at various cars’ performance in the early rounds of the season after a detailed, data-driven process by the IMSA Technical Committee. 


 

Weight has been added and power taken away from the Porsche 963 and the BMW M Hybrid V8 GTP cars. Conversely, minimum weight has been reduced and power added to their Acura ARX-06 and Cadillac V-Series.R competitors. As for GTD PRO, minimum weights on seven of the nine manufacturers were modified along with power adjustments to all cars.


 

The adjustments come ahead of the fifth race weekend of the WeatherTech Championship season, slightly ahead of IMSA’s typical five-race “rolling average,” following a deeper dive post-Monterey and the continuation of noteworthy streaks across multiple classes.


 

“All of these changes are based on a data-driven process,” IMSA President John Doonan explained in a wide-ranging conversation last week, while also highlighting many of IMSA’s first quarter achievements in 2025. “We’ve realized that the rolling process hasn’t reacted fast enough in equal and fair competition.


 

“You want to do the right thing and make adjustments that are based on a process, but also when things are somewhat diverging in terms of competition, when you have got a couple of cars outside the performance base band and a couple of cars below it on the low side, you want to bring everybody together. And I think anybody that wants to see exciting competition would want what we’re trying to do here in both GTP and GTD PRO as we head to Detroit.” 


 

A “Travel” BoP: Balance of Preparation

Drivers, start your air miles. While Detroit runs before the WeatherTech Championship’s brief pre-summer break, many IMSA regulars will contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans, June 14-15, while all four WeatherTech Championship classes are back in action at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen from June 19-22. 


 

For Cadillac in particular, going from “home soil” in Detroit against the backdrop of the Renaissance Center then across the ocean to Le Mans, the next month is going to be hectic. Some team members will spend 27 days away from home between IMSA rounds at Detroit and Watkins Glen, and travel more than 8,700 air miles.


 

Both its IMSA GTP teams – Cadillac Whelen Racing (prepared by Action Express Racing) and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing – will head from Detroit to Le Mans, albeit with different chassis. 


 

All four of their full-season IMSA drivers will race at Le Mans, but Whelen’s Earl Bamber shifts to his full-season FIA WEC entry for Le Mans with Cadillac Hertz Team Jota and WTR’s Louis Deletraz will be in an AO by TF Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class entry. The Taylor family’s effort sees Jordan and Ricky Taylor racing together with Filipe Albuquerque at Le Mans. 


 

Indeed, virtually the entire cast of IMSA GTP regulars will be in action at Le Mans, with 18 of the 22 full-season GTP drivers competing at Detroit also competing at Le Mans. It’s easier to note the four that aren’t. BMW M Team RLL’s Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng and JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Gianmaria Bruni and Tijmen van der Helm are the quartet that aren’t adding another French stamp to their passports in the next two weeks. We’ll have more on where the rest of the GTP field is at for Le Mans in the coming days. 


 

But first, there’s a 100-minute Detroit battle to watch. Be sure to follow all the action from the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic this weekend on Peacock, the IMSA Official YouTube channel and, internationally, on IMSA.TV as well as IMSA Radio (XM 206, Web/App 966).

 

 

Back in IMSA, Bachler Enjoying Breakout Season

Klaus Bachler Has Reminded Paddock of His GT Prowess Joining AO Racing


 

May 28, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – AO Racing has, deservedly, gotten a lot of ink both physically and digitally for its performance both on- and off-track in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship the last 12 months. Driving-wise, 2024 Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) Laurin Heinrich has received equal plaudits. And marketing-wise, an AO story isn’t complete without a mention of either “Rexy,” the primary green dinosaur livery on the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (“Rawr”), or “Roxy,” his pink dinosaur sister that has now won its first race at the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship.


 

What hasn’t necessarily gotten the attention is AO’s second full-time driver, which became an inadvertent revolving door last season after the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.


 

Enter Klaus Bachler, an IMSA veteran for parts of several years, but one who may be on the verge of a breakthrough first title after an on-and-off presence within the WeatherTech Championship for more than a decade. 


 

Heinrich and Seb Priaulx won their first two races back-to-back in 2024 in Monterey and Detroit, but roughly a month later Priaulx’s Multimatic commitments took him out of the AO seat for the rest of the season. That opened the door to a round robin of second drivers alongside Heinrich. 


 

Bachler, Julien Andlauer and Michael Christensen all sat in alongside Heinrich at various points. Following his first race at VIRginia International Raceway, Bachler made a positive impact with AO Racing and was brought on full-time as the second driver in 2025.

“I really like those guys,” Bachler said of the AO contingent. “I’ve known Alessio (Picariello, third driver) and Laurin for quite a bit, and I really like to enjoy it with them and work together. We push each other and we also trust each other, and I think it's one of the most important points. Because in the end somebody is better in some situation or he’s better in one corner and in the end if we work together, the whole car will be also faster and more successful.”


 

Bachler’s IMSA career has been, as noted, somewhat of a stop-and-start ride. He made his Rolex 24 At Daytona debut as part of a combination Wright Motorsports/Snow Racing Porsche in the 2013 race, the last year of the split between the GRAND-AM Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series. 


 

He’s accumulated 26 WeatherTech Championship starts since from 2014 through Monterey in 2025, but he’s only driven a full season once. In 2023 he raced with Pfaff Motorsports in that team’s last year with Porsche before subsequent campaigns fielding a McLaren and now, a Lamborghini.


 

After winning the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 title with two wins and six podiums in eight races in a Manthey-run Porsche, Bachler is back on U.S. soil in 2025. He’ll also saddle up in a Manthey Porsche at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 


 

“After 2023, it’s so good to come back here for a full season,” he said. “I did the WEC last year with the LMGT3 championship. This is something I was feeling and was managing it last year. It’s so good to be here… I wanted to come back to IMSA; 2023 was rough… We won Sebring, but the rest was quite tricky. I’m fully motivated and Laurin and AO want to repeat the championship from last year.” 

He’s already won more in three GTD PRO races in 2025 – twice – than he had in IMSA the rest of his career prior. The 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring GTD PRO class triumph was his first IMSA victory. 


 

“Daytona was a bit of an unlucky situation before the end when we lost the front bumper,” Bachler said. “But that’s how it is in racing, especially in IMSA as the competition is hard. I would say this situation made us just stronger as a group, as a team. We really started to feel fresh, fully motivated and so positive. We also know it’s still seven races to go and every weekend is a new start.” 


 

Bachler heads to Detroit as a fan of street circuits. His street course debut came at the Norisring in 2012. He said he loves the pressure cooker that comes with these tracks.


 

“Honestly I fell in love with them when I went to Monaco for Porsche Supercup,” he explained. “For me, I’d love to have more street circuits. We have Long Beach and Detroit. Monaco and Macau are hard ones. On these tracks, you go to the limit. If you make a mistake, the weekend is done.”


 

Heinrich and Bachler have won two straight GTD PRO races and lead Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims by 70 points in the championship. Each of Garcia, Sims and Heinrich has won an IMSA championship and if “Rexy” – or “Roxy” – keeps up current form, Bachler may well win one too.


 

Watch the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on Peacock, with global streaming via the IMSA Official YouTube channel and IMSA.TV.

 

 

IMSA Original Digital Content Wins Two 2025 Telly Awards

‘Win The Weekend’ Wins Silver, ‘Sights and Sounds’ Secures Bronze


 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 27, 2025) – Two pieces of IMSA original digital content have taken home prestigious wins at the 46th Telly Awards for 2025. Both IMSA’s “Win the Weekend,” the original docuseries on YouTube and “Sights and Sounds” have been recognized as among the best video projects in the sports field. 


 

IMSA won with “Win the Weekend” within Campaign Sports, which covers branded content campaign or series pertaining to sports. For “Sights and Sounds,” IMSA won within the General Sports category, Branded Content pertaining to Sports.


 

The Telly Awards honors excellence in video and television across all screens and is judged by leaders from video platforms, television, streaming networks and production companies. These two projects have been honored from a field of more than 13,000 exceptional entries with these two among the most innovative stories told across all screens.


 

“Win the Weekend” presented by Michelin won a Silver Telly Award for covering the encore season of “Win the Weekend,” Season 2, which focused on the GT field of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It won a Silver for the second straight year, as it also took home honors for Episode 4 of the 2023 season titled “Shock and Surprise at Sebring.” You can see the full playlist of “Win the Weekend” here, the TangentVector-produced series for IMSA, via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel. 


 

“IMSA Sights and Sounds: A Celebration of the 2024 Season” took home a Bronze Telly Award thanks to the efforts of CoForce, LLC and its crew of talented staff. You can see that video here, via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.


 

The back-to-back years of Telly Award wins in 2024 and 2025 for IMSA join 11 combined Telly Awards won by IMSA Productions in 2016 and 2017, spanning television coverage of Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA (now Porsche Carrera Cup North America) races as well as IMSA Sights and Sounds for “Documentary Web Series” and “General Web Series.” IMSA content has also been featured among a handful of other Telly Award winners, most recently Caterpillar’s Daytona IMSA: International Women’s Day submission that won a Silver Telly Award in 2020. 


 

About The Telly Awards


 

The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring video and television across all screens. Established in 1979, The Telly Awards receives over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents. Entrants are judged by The Telly Awards Judging Council—an industry body of over 200 leading experts including advertising agencies, production companies, and major television networks, reflective of the multi-screen industry The Telly Awards celebrates. Partners of The Telly Awards include NAB, RunwayML AIFF, ReelAbilities Film Festival, Film Fatales, FWD-Doc, Stash, Production Hub, Ghetto Film School, Future of Film, We Are Parable, Video Consortium, SeriesFest and Green The Bid.

 

Fresh from the Sim, Sims Likes Where No. 3 Corvette Sits Heading to Detroit

Consistent Weekends Have Kept Team in GTD PRO Hunt


 

May 27, 2025

By Mark Robinson

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Considering the iconic appeal and noticeably bright yellow livery, it’s hard to picture a Chevrolet Corvette flying “under the radar” in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Yet that’s precisely where the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R is heading to this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.


 

The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, running as either “Rexy” or “Roxy,” has garnered the headlines in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class with back-to-back wins to lead the standings in a bid to repeat as champion. But the No. 3 Corvette shared by Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia is second, just 70 points behind. That’s miles closer than where they were a year ago at this time, mired in fifth place and 169 markers in arrears.


 

Taking a pause from General Motors’ driver-in-loop simulator last week in Charlotte, Sims admitted that the No. 3 lacks some pace compared to the Porsches and Ferraris in the GTD PRO class. Still, he and Garcia have remained in contention with consistent performances yielding two podium results in the first three races. They could be three-for-three in top-three finishes had a rear suspension part not failed in the final hour over the unforgiving Sebring International Raceway circuit at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

“It's been a good start to the year, I'd say,” Sims said during the break from sim testing. “Not perfect, but good.


 

“Whereas last year, it felt like the peaks were a bit higher but the lows were a bit lower, as it were, over the first few races,” he added, “it feels like we've been able to smooth that out a little bit. It feels like this year we're doing a solid job, and yes, to be second in the standings is nice.”


 

Sims, Garcia and endurance driver Daniel Juncadella opened the season with a runner-up showing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The suspension issue led to a seventh-place finish at Sebring, but Sims and Garcia rebounded to finish third earlier this month in the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship.


 

“We haven't had the fastest car just yet, but nevertheless the car has felt nice to drive,” Sims explained. “I think, bar Sebring, the two results we had were as good as we could have hoped. Daytona probably exceeded it a little bit the way the race panned out at the end. It was a super-hard race but I was able to move forward in the last hour and a half through just hard racing and being close to other people and being opportunistic rather than on pure pace.


 

“It just feels like we've been able to execute clean race weekends pretty well so far.”

Now they head to Detroit which, while tied with Long Beach for the shortest race on the schedule at 100 minutes, is one of the most important since it’s the home event for both team and manufacturer. The 1.654-mile downtown street circuit was new to WeatherTech Championship competitors last year and Sims was instantly taken by it.


 

“It's a really cool track to drive on your own in practice,” he said. “I really couldn't wipe the smile off my face because it was great to just do laps, and it's not that often that you have that at a track where simply driving is enough to just put a smile on your face.”


 

The smiles remained through qualifying, when Garcia won the Motul Pole Award and the sister No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner qualified second. Those smiles turned quickly upside down in the race, though, when Garcia was forced to pit on the opening lap with a mechanical issue. He and Sims wound up finishing 10th.


 

With limited passing opportunities on the narrow track, Sims emphasized the importance of qualifying again on Friday.


 

“We'll need to qualify well to have much of a chance,” he said. “It's a short race so not many options on the pit stops – or the pit stop, as it were. If someone gets lucky and goes long and there's a yellow or something, then they'll benefit hugely.”


 

Another strong race result, he added, keeps the No. 3 Corvette in the hunt for the GTD PRO crown. Detroit is the first of three races in a six-week span that could determine whether Sims and Garcia are in contention when they reach the season finale in October. ‘Steady as she goes’ is the operative phrase.


 

“Relative to last year, it feels like we're executing good weekends,” Sims said. “It's probably going to be through consistency that we might be able to challenge for the championship. That's really the hope that it can evolve over the next couple of races so that we can fight at the front. We'll know more over the next race or two and then see whether we're going to be in the fight for the championship or not.”


 

Practice and qualifying for the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic take place Friday. The race streams live at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on Peacock in the U.S., as well as on IMSA.tv and the IMSA YouTube channel globally.

 

Entry List Notebook – Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

GTP, GTD PRO Field Set for Second WeatherTech Championship 100-Minute Street Race of 2025


 

May 21, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship caps off the first five months of the 2025 calendar on the streets of Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, with a second visit to the new downtown circuit that premiered in 2023 and where WeatherTech Championship competitors raced for the first time in 2024. 


 

While Porsche has started strongly across both Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), the rest of the field looks to stop the win streaks in their respective classes. A total of 22 cars, split evenly with 11 cars in each class, will take to Detroit for the 100-minute sprint race on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on Peacock, IMSA Radio and globally via the IMSA Official YouTube channel.


 

The only changes among those 22 cars come at Vasser Sullivan Racing. Jack Hawksworth returns to the GTD PRO class for a one-off cameo filling in for Ben Barnicoat in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 alongside Aaron Telitz, as Barnicoat continues his recovery. Parker Thompson and Frankie Montecalvo also step up from GTD in a second Vasser Sullivan Racing GTD PRO Lexus, renumbered No. 15 for the one-off appearance. 

 

Fast Facts

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course – Detroit, Michigan

May 30-31, 2025

 

Race Day/Time: Saturday, May 31 – 3:40 p.m. ET

Peacock Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 3:30 p.m. (internationally via IMSA.TV and IMSA Official YouTube channel) 

Live Qualifying Stream: Friday, May 30 – 4:50 p.m. (Peacock in the U.S., globally via IMSA.TV and IMSA Official YouTube channel) 

IMSA Radio: Selected sessions on XM 206, Web/App 996

Circuit Type: 1.654-mile, nine-turn temporary street course

Classes Competing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO)

Race Length: 100 minutes


 

Event Social Media: 


 

Event Hashtags: #IMSA, #DetroitGP

 

WeatherTech Championship Track Records

GTP: Nick Tandy, Porsche 963, 1:05.390 / 90.564 mph, May 2024

GTD PRO: Antonio Garcia, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, 1:09.092 / 85.711 mph, May 2024

 

2024 Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic Winners

GTP: Filipe Albuquerque/Ricky Taylor, No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06

GTD PRO: Laurin Heinrich/Seb Priaulx, No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)


 

2024 Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic Motul Pole Award Winners

GTP: Nick Tandy, No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963

GTD PRO: Antonio Garcia, No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R


 

Storylines

  • Hometown Manufacturer Battle: “Cadillac kind of prioritizes this race and Daytona as the two big ones on the IMSA schedule, and then obviously Le Mans. We know the pressure's always on when we go to Detroit,” said Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing’s Jordan Taylor. Cadillac is one of three Motown-centric brands along with fellow General Motors brand Chevrolet and crosstown rivals Ford that place extra importance on racing in Detroit. However, German brands have been atop the charts this year; Porsche has four GTP and two GTD PRO wins, BMW has four GTP poles and Mercedes-AMG has two GTD wins. 
  • Final Street Sprint: After Long Beach, the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic marks the second of two 100-minute sprint races and second street course race of the year. 
  • Repeat Championship Leaders: Entering Detroit in 2024, the No. 7 Porsche led the GTP championship by 50 points (No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R was second) and the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche led in GTD PRO by 56 points (No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 was second). Twelve months later, the same two cars lead GTP and GTD PRO heading into Detroit. This time the No. 7 Porsche leads teammates in the No. 6 car by 91 points, with AO’s No. 77 car atop GTD PRO by 70 ahead of the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. 
  • CrowdStrike Endurance, Teamwork and Speed Award: The No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 was awarded the CrowdStrike Endurance, Teamwork and Speed Award at the most recent IMSA race, the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship. This entry will be presented with the award during prerace ceremonies. Click here for a list of the 2025 winners and award criteria.


 

Who’s Hot? 

  • Porsche in both GTP and GTD PRO: Porsche Penske Motorsport is a perfect four-for-four in GTP this season and seeks to emulate Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing in winning each of the first five top prototype class races (2017). Similarly, AO Racing is riding a three-race win streak across both GT classes, in GTD PRO at Sebring and Monterey and also in a one-off GTD outing at Long Beach. 

 

Who’s Good Here?

  • Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing: Good at two Detroit layouts (Belle Isle and downtown Detroit) with three different cars, this team has won five races with Corvette DP, Cadillac DPi and Acura GTP cars in the past 13 years with either Taylor brother and Filipe Albuquerque. A win with its Cadillac V-Series.R GTP car would give the WTR crew a “six-pack” of wins in the Motor City.
  • Renger van der Zande: Beyond the two Taylor brothers, the Dutchman has been a street course master throughout his IMSA career, scoring four wins on Detroit’s previous Belle Isle layout. 


 

Previous Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic Winners in 2025 Field (9)

  • Jordan Taylor (5): GT – 2012; DP – 2013; P – 2014, 2016, 2017 
  • Renger van der Zande (4): PC – 2015, 2016; DPi – 2021, 2022
  • Ricky Taylor (4): P – 2014, 2016, 2017; GTP – 2024 
  • Filipe Albuquerque (1): GTP – 2024 
  • Ross Gunn (1): GTD – 2021
  • Jack Hawksworth (1): GTD – 2019
  • Laurin Heinrich (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Felipe Nasr (1): P – 2018 
  • Seb Priaulx (1): GTD PRO – 2024 

 

Previous Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic Pole Winners in 2025 Field (4)

  • Gianmaria Bruni (1): GT2 – 2007 
  • Antonio Garcia (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Jordan Taylor (1): DP – 2013 
  • Nick Tandy (1): GTP – 2024 

 

Previous Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic Winning Teams in 2025 Field (8)

  • Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing (5): DP –2013; P – 2014, 2016, 2017; GTP – 2024 
  • Action Express Racing (3): DP – 2012; P – 2015, 2018
  • Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports (2): GT1 – 2007, 2008 
  • Team Penske (2): P2 – 2007; DPi – 2019
  • Acura Meyer Shank Racing (2): GTD – 2017, 2018 
  • Vasser Sullivan Racing (2): GTD – 2019, 2022
  • AO Racing (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Heart of Racing Team (1): GTD – 2021

 

Previous Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic Winning Manufacturers in 2025 Field (7)

  • Chevrolet – 9 
  • Acura – 5
  • Cadillac – 4
  • Porsche – 4
  • Ferrari – 2 
  • Lexus – 2
  • Aston Martin – 1

A New Tale of the DragonSpeed

DragonSpeed, Risi Ferrari Blend Coming Together Quickly


 

May 20, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – DragonSpeed has had a race-winning pedigree in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for many years, but it hasn’t recently had a consistent full-season presence. The team has primarily focused its efforts in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class and won three Rolex 24 At Daytona races in class in a four-year run from 2019 to 2022 (2019, 2020, 2022). 


 

Late last year, however, the DragonSpeed program shifted with a dip into IMSA’s highly competitive GT ranks. It debuted in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class at the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks and shifted up to the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class for the Motul Petit Le Mans. 


 

Immediately after Motul Petit Le Mans, the tale of DragonSpeed’s IMSA presence grew with a new collaboration with Ferrari GT stalwarts Risi Competizione, whose singular presence was beginning to wind down.


 

It escalated quickly and as DragonSpeed Team Principal Elton Julian explained, made immediate sense to both parties.

“We believed in the GT transition project for DragonSpeed,” Julian said. “Understanding the future prototype landscape, GT made the most sense based on our targets and our situation. Henrik (Hedman, car owner and longtime DragonSpeed driver) picks and chooses the races he does now. So, we went this way. 


 

“We entered the Pro car at Petit with no expectations after a good start in Indy. When we decided to seriously look at Pro, we filed and guaranteed an entry. Then it came to fruition, and some things we heard over the weekend where Risi may or may not enter. So that was interesting and noted.


 

“The race finishes. We’re pitted next to each other, we say goodbye to some of their longtime guys, and it was noticeably kind of somber. And it’s, ‘We’re not going racing’ somber, not race result somber. It clicked in my head what I wanted to do and maybe 30 seconds later we start having some conversations. Giuseppe (Risi), Henrik and I sat down and we quickly hashed it out where we could go forward and enjoy it.”

A fresh blend of DragonSpeed and Risi crew came together quickly to best prepare and maximize performance of the team’s striking yellow No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3, in what’s been a rapid new relationship.


 

“Everything has been done in practicality,” Julian said. “It’s an interesting mix. It’s probably close to 50/50, but there’s overlap in different areas. At the end of the day, they’re all experts and they know what it takes to make a Ferrari go fast. And they’re ready with a hand to help to just get the job done.”


 

Drivers were a harder puzzle to solve. Given relatively late timing, DragonSpeed sought who was available both in the IMSA paddock and from Ferrari’s arsenal of factory drivers. Julian found a solution with the best of both worlds in Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoe for the full season, with Altoe starting at Sebring.


 

“Everyone’s plate at Ferrari was pretty full, which you get when they have 28-30 races a year they’re driving,” Julian explained. “But we got (Miguel) Molina for Rolex, and I’m not gonna say no to that. Thanks to Giuseppe’s relationship with Ferrari and Davide Rigon, we got him for the long races. He brings that experience of the 30 races a year and the car development. 


 

“The first driver I spoke to for this season in earnest was Albert at Petit Le Mans when it was evident he wasn’t re-signed. We had two conversations because I don’t speak until it’s real. He was first to know. We were so happy to sign him as our primary driver. Then given the variations, we landed with Giacomo as well, who’s been great so far. You have to play your cards the right way. My job is to put together the best possible non-factory lineup, and I feel I have achieved my goal.” 

Through three races, DragonSpeed has impressed quickly within GTD PRO, on the heels of a very strong start with its No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3. Costa and Altoe have scored back-to-back Motul Pole Awards, and the pair finished second at the most recent race, the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Beyond the results, Julian has hailed the rapid integration of all the newness.


 

“Albert put in a mega lap at Sebring as did Giacomo in Laguna,” he said. “Where things have gone extraordinarily well other than obvious on screen and timing sheets, is incorporating two different teams into one target. It’s gone way better than we could have ever hoped for. 


 

“There’s a mutual respect and knowledge shared between the two. The desire to put the result above all else. We hit the ground running and immediately after Daytona it felt like we’d worked together for a long time. Everyone knows what to do and their job. Culturally we meshed really well. It’s been really good; we felt we hit the ground running.”


 

There’s been one other intriguing element too with the team’s Ferrari taking on a fresh livery at WeatherTech Raceway owing to a collaboration with the Anti Social Social Club. The luxury apparel/streetwear brand has more than 2.4 million Instagram followers with the partnership growing out of an introductory meeting among Julian, past DragonSpeed driver Juan Pablo Montoya and Montoya’s cousin Ian Coates, a co-founder of the company. 


 

“Traditionally I haven’t done things the normal way,” Julian laughed. “We met several years ago with JPM and hit it off. They’re brilliant at what they do. The thing I was most excited about was making IMSA cool; making it appealing to different types of people who buy expensive cars and garments. The response from their side was awesome; they thought it was every bit as cool as we did.” 


 

As GTD PRO prepares to hit a busy summer stretch of five races from the end of May on the streets of Detroit through mid-August at VIRginia International Raceway, preparation is paramount for DragonSpeed to keep up the early season form. Costa sits third in GTD points on his own, 75 off the championship leaders.


 

“You manage the mileage from Lap 1, Day 1 and you work ahead to package as best you can,” Julian said. 


 

“But we’re here. And Mr. Risi is here. It’s important to be said that he’s run such a quality outfit for years. He’s stood the test of time, and when he chooses to do something, he will do it.”

 

 

Detroit’s Victory Lane Has Been “Taylor” Made

At Both Belle Isle and New Downtown Circuit, Taylors Know the Way to Win in Motor City


 

May 19, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Through various types of cars and automotive brands, the Taylor family has enjoyed a lot of success in Detroit. And upon its return to General Motors in 2025 after a four-year hiatus, the mission heading into the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on May 31 is clear: keep it up.


 

Jordan Taylor is a five-time winner and Ricky Taylor a four-time winner in Detroit, including last season with Filipe Albuquerque in the team’s No. 10 car, then an Acura ARX-06. Ricky Taylor and Albuquerque now co-drive the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.


 

“It's obviously one of the biggest races of the year for us,” explained Jordan Taylor, who shares the No. 40 Cadillac V-Series.R with Louis Deletraz. “Cadillac kind of prioritizes this race and Daytona as the two big ones on the IMSA schedule, and then obviously Le Mans. 


 

“We know the pressure's always on when we go to Detroit. All the big bosses are there, all the eyes are on us, and it's a super intense race -- only 100 minutes and the track is very unique.”


 

The current 1.645-mile, heavily 90-degree-turn laden downtown nine-corner circuit posed a different challenge than the faster, more flowing 2.3-mile Belle Isle Street Course that hosted IMSA races through 2022. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship made its first visit to the new track last year, where Ricky Taylor pulled off the ultimate winning move on Mathieu Jaminet into and out of the Turn 3 hairpin with 26 minutes remaining. 

Its previous Detroit win at Belle Isle in 2017 was, in many respects, one of the most important within the Wayne Taylor Racing and GM history. In the first year of Daytona Prototype international (DPi), the No. 10 Cadillac DPi-V.R won the first four races across the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, streets of Long Beach and Circuit of The Americas. 


 

Then Detroit happened, the first time the WTR crew was racing a Cadillac on these streets. The degree of difficulty became inadvertently ratcheted up after qualifying. Ricky Taylor picks up the story from here.


 

“I started that race. That year was just amazing,” he reflected. “But like Jordan said earlier, the biggest two races by far on the schedule are Daytona and Detroit as far as GM are concerned. These are the two big races of the season that we just put so much effort into. 


 

“So even if we had won the first four, not winning Detroit would have been a letdown. So, we were really motivated at the time, or always motivated when we come here, racing for GM. 


 

“And I actually crashed in qualifying and lost my best lap time. I had to start at the back, and so we thought it wasn't going to happen. But it had a happy ending.”


 

Wayne Taylor watched as the incident occurred and immediately shifted the mindset towards how quickly they could exact a fix.


 

“I actually watched Ricky in qualifying and saw him crash,” Wayne Taylor said. “The car looked like it was sliding and hit the wall sideways. And whenever you hit the wall sideways with that kind of speed, there's going to be a lot of damage. And when we went back to the pits and looked at it, there was clearly a lot of damage.”


 

Jordan Taylor explained the development process and synced relationship across Wayne Taylor Racing, Cadillac and Dallara made a rebound easier than it might have been otherwise. 


 

“I think after the qualifying crash we thought that our win streak was going to be over, but I think that year we were so strong,” he said. “It was the first year of DPi back then, and I felt like as a team working with Cadillac and Dallara developing the car and we felt like we were in such a good position performance-wise all through those races.”

Ricky Taylor started strong to get up to seventh, and the car made it up to second place by Lap 37 of what was a 65-lap race over 100 minutes courtesy of strong pit strategy. 


 

“Ricky made a couple positions on track and then the guys made a good strategy late in the race,” Jordan Taylor said. “We stayed out and the (No.) 31 (Whelen Cadillac DPi-V.R) stayed out a long time as well. And we did our last stop a little bit earlier, and we were able to jump them in that last cycle. 


 

“I think the team often liked to brag that we didn't make many on-track passes as drivers and most of the positions were made in the pits. Those years that we won championships I think we were happy to rely on them to make those calls.”


 

Wayne Taylor added, “Between him and Jordan and the team we just made up those places and won the race, which was actually a perfect ending for us.”

Winning would be a nice tonic for Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing in 2025 after a less-than-desirable start to the season with only a single top-five finish across its two Cadillac V-Series.R cars (a fifth-place finish at Daytona by the No. 10). 


 

Perhaps it’d be fitting for the team that last won five races in a row to start that championship-winning 2017 campaign in IMSA’s Prototype class with the then-new DPi formula to stop this year’s singular winning Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class team, Porsche Penske Motorsport, from equalizing that streak.


 

Even if the results haven’t shown it, Jordan Taylor believes the team is turning a corner as he prepares for his 180th IMSA career start in Detroit.


 

“I think we knew it was going to be kind of a tough start of the year, no matter what,” he said. “These cars are very complicated with all the different systems and every car is different, obviously. Every manufacturer builds a car to the homologation, into the ruleset, but there's so many different ways of doing it. 


 

“From a driver's perspective, you've got to kind of learn that from an engineering side. You have to learn how to set up the car around that. We're learning. I think we were a little bit behind the Action Express car the first couple of races, and then this weekend (at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca) seemed a little bit stronger.”


 

The Taylor Cadillacs and the rest of the GTP and Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) field will race the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, Saturday, May 31, streaming on Peacock at 3:30 p.m. ET and globally via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel. 

 

 

Sands of Change Blow Through GT Standings Post-WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Porsche Penske Extends GTP Lead Over Rivals, but Tightens Between its Two Cars


 

May 16, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Official Points


 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – While the Porsche Penske Motorsport points battle between its two Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) cars intensified, the overriding championship theme leaving the sandy WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca natural terrain course was a shift in both IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT classes, Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GTD.


 

The top seven spots in GTD PRO all changed from Round 2, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring to Round 3 at TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship. The new top three in points each gained at least one and as many as three spots, while three other cars fell at least three spots race-to-race.


 

In GTD, three of the top five positions changed hands from the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to its second straight California race, although the top two pairs in the standings remained the same since they finished first and second. 


 

Expanded points gaps across all three classes in Monterey present an interesting scenario before the end of May and start of a busy summer stretch from June through August. For some, the phrase “it’s getting late, early” may apply for championship contention.

 

GTP: Porsche Penske Pair In Lockstep


 

The top three in points entering Monterey left it in the same order. Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 now have 1,490 points; they’re 91 clear of teammates Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, who scored their first 2025 victory Sunday in the No. 6 Porsche 963. Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng remain third in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, now 280 points in arrears. Leaving Long Beach, those gaps were 123 and 265, respectively. 


 

Had Tandy passed Jaminet, the gap would have been 151 points between the two instead of the 91-point gap between first and second place. 


 

The No. 25 BMW entry of Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann has quietly ascended to fourth, courtesy of that pair’s third straight top-five finish. Jack Aitken in the Action Express Racing-prepared, No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R completes the top five solo as Earl Bamber missed the Monterey race and Frederik Vesti filled in. The first entries from Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian (No. 93 Acura ARX-06) and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing (No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R) are sixth and seventh.

 

GTD PRO: Jumbled Round 3 Resets the Pecking Order

Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Seb Priaulx downplayed the chances for the Ford Mustang GT3 in Monterey, with his pre-race assessment proving correct as that pair of cars finished eighth and ninth. Priaulx’s 2024 Monterey-winning co-driver Laurin Heinrich, however, recaptured the magic that took AO Racing to its first WeatherTech Championship victory 12 months earlier.


 

Now co-driving “Roxy,” the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R last weekend, Heinrich and Klaus Bachler took their second straight GTD PRO win, and the AO team’s third straight win across both GT classes this season. That win moved this car from 17 behind Rolex 24 At Daytona winners Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch in the No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 to 70 (1,014 to 944) clear of new second-placed drivers Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. “Three” was the magic number for Garcia and Sims, whose third-place finish in Round 3 leapt them three spots.


 

The other big weekend winner in the standings was Albert Costa, who co-drove the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 to a runner-up finish with Motul Pole Award-winning teammate Giacomo Altoè. They’re now third, 75 points in arrears. 


 

Here’s the shakeup from Sebring to Monterey:


 

Post-Sebring: 1. 65 Christopher Mies/Frederic Vervisch 653, 2. 77 Laurin Heinrich/Klaus Bachler -17, 3. 1 Madison Snow/Neil Verhagen -25, 4. 64 Mike Rockenfeller/Seb Priaulx -36, 5. 3 Antonio Garcia/Alexander Sims -39, 6. 81 Albert Costa -69, 7. 48 Dan Harper/Max Hesse -85


 

Post-Monterey: 1. 77 Heinrich/Bachler 1014 (+1 spot), 2. 3 Garcia/Sims -70 (+3), 3. 81 Costa -75 (+3), 4. 65 Mies/Vervisch -107 (-3), 5. 48 Harper/Hesse -154 (+2), 6. 1 Snow/Verhagen -154 (-3), 7. 64 Rockenfeller/Priaulx -156 (-3)

 

GTD: Winward, Vasser Sullivan Consolidate Lead Battle 

The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward and No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson have a trio of 1-2s achieved thus far in 2025. They finished first and second at both Sebring and Monterey and sit 1-2 in the point standings. They’re now separated by 124 points (1,372 to 1,248).


 

A fourth top-seven finish in as many races keeps Wright Motorsports third with its No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer, albeit now 206 points back. Heart of Racing Team’s Casper Stevenson now sits fourth, solo, in his No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo ahead of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO. The big movers last weekend are Daniel Serra and Manny Franco, up four spots to seventh courtesy of their first 2025 podium finish aboard the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, just one spot and eight points ahead of the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca-polesitting No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Kenton Koch and Seth Lucas. 


 

Also of note, although Sheena Monk and Stevan McAleer were the top Bronze-rated GTD entry at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in their No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, Rolex 24 winners AWA still lead the Bob Akin Award for Bronze-rated drivers in GTD. Orey Fidani holds a 50-point lead in his No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R ahead of Brendan Iribe in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, with Monk third, 170 back.


 

The standings aren’t as notable for position changes as points gap expansions after Round 4 of the GTD season, with a little over a month before its next race at Watkins Glen International in June. 


 

Post-Long Beach: 1. 57 Russell Ward/Philip Ellis 994, 2. 12 Jack Hawksworth/Parker Thompson -91, 3. 27 Casper Stevenson/Tom Gamble -95, 4. 120 Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer -99, 5. 12/89 Frankie Montecalvo -121, 6. 96 Robby Foley/Patrick Gallagher -159, 7. 13 Orey Fidani/Matthew Bell -204


 

Post-Monterey: 1. 57 Ward/Ellis 1372, 2. 12 Hawksworth/Thompson -124, 3. 120 Adelson/Skeer -206 (+1 spot), 4. 27 Stevenson -267 (-1 spot), 5. 96 Foley/Gallagher -294 (+1 spot), 6. 13-Fidani/Bell -385 (+1 spot), 7. 34 Daniel Serra/Manny Franco -386 (+4 spots)


 

IMSA’s GTP and GTD PRO classes resume their season with the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, May 30-31, with all classes back in action for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen June 20-22.

 

 

BMW’s Burgeoning American Driver GT Workhorses

Snow, Foley Have Significantly Progressed in Their Careers


 

May 14, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the better part of five-plus years at Turner Motorsport, Robby Foley learned from IMSA’s winningest all-time driver, Bill Auberlen. And for nearly a decade, Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers served as Paul Miller Racing’s inseparable pairing separated only by a notable height gap.


 

Now, two of the longest serving “second drivers” have since ascended to de facto “lead roles” in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, spearheading their respective BMW M4 GT3 EVO entries in IMSA’s two GT classes.


 

Snow, 29, and Foley, 28, have been part of the IMSA fabric for years but haven’t been recognized fully among the leading GT drivers of their generation, even as they’ve quietly accumulated accolades. Both are now BMW M Motorsport works drivers, the culmination of years of development and preparation.


 

Snow Starring in a Post-Sellers Situation

The co-driver of the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO with new full-season co-driver Neil Verhagen, Snow is a two-time champion in the WeatherTech Championship, sharing his 2018 and 2023 Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class titles with Sellers. He’s a 15-time winner in over 100 IMSA starts dating to 2013. 


 

After a year away in 2019, and with Paul Miller Racing only running a partial 2020 season, the team returned in full for 2021 for its ultimately final season with Lamborghini and then shifted to run the new BMW M4 GT3 in 2022. The team won the first race for the new car at Long Beach, with Snow’s qualifying integral to their success. 


 

PMR’s evolution has paralleled Snow’s to a degree. From the second driver in a one-car GTD program, Snow is now the most experienced driver and lone returning full-season driver as part of its expanded two-car Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) lineup. The team’s second car, the No. 48 BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by Dan Harper and Max Hesse, sees those two embark on their first full season. The team is in its second year in GTD PRO after advancing in 2024. 


 

Quite how Snow has progressed is interesting, and in a way, like his fellow American counterpart Foley. 


 

“I’ve had Bryan (Sellers) for a number of years mentoring me,” Snow said. “That's been great, and I've been in the starting driver role and he was the finishing driver. 


 

“But then now you look at it and now I think in the pro class, there isn't really a ‘starting’ driver or ‘finishing’ driver. A lot of the time you switch it up depending on who you think it can be better at that track or at that situation or depending on how you're going to play strategy that race.” 


 

Snow was quick to hail Verhagen’s accolades, too. The Charlotte native was part of PMR’s GTD PRO title in the 2024 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup and now he expands to racing his first full IMSA campaign. 


 

“Neil got the seat at Paul Miller for a reason; he’s more than good. I’ll be learning from him now, too,” Snow explained. “I hope I get to finish a couple of races. We haven't laid out who will start or finish every race yet. It’s new for all of us.” 


 

Foley Mixing It Up with the Big Boys

Foley’s got eight wins as he nears 80 WeatherTech Championship career starts since 2018, all with Turner Motorsport. 


 

Turner shifted its lineup from the Auberlen/Foley pairing after 2022 to the current Foley and Patrick Gallagher duo in 2023 aboard its No. 96 BMW M4 GT3, while adding a second car that year only for Auberlen and Chandler Hull. Foley has also regularly raced with Turner’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) program, running either or sometimes both of its GT4-spec M4s and sharing the 2023 GS title with Vin Barletta.


 

“It’s been an interesting process for sure and in some ways a little bit weird,” Foley reflected. “I came in as the young guy with very, very little experience. I had the great privilege to drive with Bill Auberlen for five years, who's obviously been an IMSA legend and has so many wins, so many historic races driven and achievements which are obviously very impressive.”


 

That duality has helped Foley become both a driver and a Swiss army knife within the organization, where he shifted from student to teacher across multiple Turner programs, filling multiple roles beyond driving.


 

“Just being a sponge from him was a big part of what brought me here today,” he said. “Then kind of overnight in a way, it felt like I became the more experienced driver with helping out Patrick and my other young teammates like Jake Walker. It's a fun process just to really teach everyone the little things. 


 

“We've been lucky within Turner to have so many talented drivers. From my perspective, I'm just trying to teach them, what they don't know. Coming into a competitive series like IMSA, you don't know what you don't know, and little things really matter whether that's saving fuel or now we call it energy, tire management, all little stuff that you can't really wrap your head around until you can do it. 

“I think that's where someone with more veteran experience comes in. So, it's been a fun process for sure. I'm definitely grateful to have had those five or so years of Bill to learn off of him and yeah, try to just keep that going with the young drivers we have now within the team.”


 

Team owner Turner added what it’s meant to have Foley become a new bedrock of the program as an additional strategist, coach and engineer.


 

“When I first met him, I knew he was a talented driver,” Turner explained. “Knowing him for a bit, he went to school for engineering skills. He has amazing coaching skills. He’s a super smart, talented guy. He keeps surprising me with some of his skills that he has. It really helps the team out. It allows me to hand off some responsibilities, and it’s a driver/coach/engineer rolled into one.


 

“You don’t get that often. Not every engineer has been a driver. That’s a huge benefit to the other people on the team. He knows what he’s talking about. Him being part of the BMW family, a big part of every Turner program now, it’ll be cool to see him on the box calling other stuff.”


 

The pair of BMW drivers will continue to seek success throughout the rest of the season. Snow’s next start comes in the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit on Saturday, May 31, 3:30 p.m. ET on Peacock. Foley’s next WeatherTech Championship start is at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, Sunday, June 22 at noon ET on NBC. Both races stream on Peacock and globally via the official IMSA YouTube channel.

 

 

Downforce of Nature: 9-Year-Old Wows with Wind Tunnel GTD Scale Model

‘Science Made Simple’ Shows Appeal of new IMSA STEM Program Powered by Gainbridge and Konica Minolta


 

May 13, 2025

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

MONTEREY, Calif. - Vehicular aerodynamics and the wind tunnel research that goes into shaping the bodies and floors of racing cars is sometimes thought of as a black art. Yet the basic concepts of utilizing airflow to create downforce – the effect of pressing a car down onto the track to increase cornering speeds – are very simple.


 

Especially when explained by a 9-year-old.


 

Aaron Seneviratne is the son of Forte Racing owner Shane Seneviratne. He’s an extraordinarily bright and polished young man, right down to his form-fitting team shirt sporting the sponsor logos seen on Forte’s No. 78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 that competes in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.


 

Aaron has been surrounded by racing his entire life; Shane Seneviratne has been involved at a managerial or ownership level since 2005, and his son’s intelligence and enthusiasm for the sport were clear for all to see - including IMSA President John Doonan.


 

A passionate supporter of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, Doonan concocted a unique challenge.


 

“I said to Aaron that if his mom and dad would support it, I would like to commission him to build a wind tunnel for a 1/18-scale model car that we could use in our STEM program,” said Doonan. “It was one of the most gratifying moments to see his eyes light up. And off we went.”

Fast forward to a Friday in early May at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where Aaron was gleefully enjoying an excused absence from his fourth-grade classes to demonstrate the functioning wind tunnel he designed and constructed using Autodesk Fusion 360 computer-aided design software and a Bambu Lab X1C 3-D printer. 


 

His audience was a group of 30 high school students from the greater Monterey area who are part of the Mission Trails Regional Occupational Program (ROP).


 

Aerodynamics are just one aspect of engineering that form the very core of the automotive and racing industry. New for 2025, IMSA STEM Powered by Gainbridge and Konica Minolta is an immersive program dedicated to showcasing the science of racing to attract a new generation of engineers.  


 

WeatherTech Raceway was the third of at least six race venues planned for IMSA STEM in 2025. IMSA STEM’s launch event was held in January in conjunction with Volusia County Schools during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.


 

The Mission Trails ROP students experienced an interactive day at the racetrack that featured presentations from Michelin, Bosch, Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing, and IMSA technical officials, as well as Aaron Seneviratne demonstrating his replica wind tunnel.

Aaron explained how he used ice and glycerin precisely directed by a fan to create the wafts of ‘smoke’ that visually illustrate how air flows over and under a racing car. The walls are created from clear acrylic to vividly showcase how a real wind tunnel functions.


 

He said his biggest challenge was eliminating air leakage due to tolerances between the multiple printed components necessary to make the tunnel large enough for a 1/18-scale model.


 

The students were fully engaged as Aaron described the effect of changing the rear wing angle of a replica Lamborghini Huracan featuring full Forte Racing branding. 


 

“You can see there is a bit of stalling here from the airflow,” he pointed out. “You can also see the disturbance from the wing on the airflow, and how the air directs under the tire and the wing.”


 

Aaron’s presentation wasn’t limited to just the kickoff of the STEM event. He also gave a quick overview of the wind tunnel during Sunday’s race broadcast live on network NBC, which you can see here. 

For Doonan, the payoff is seeing high school students like the ones IMSA STEM has hosted at Daytona, Long Beach, and Monterey show a high level of interest in engineering, technology, and racing. 


 

And if Aaron Seneviratne is any indication, that kind of fascination and excitement can be sparked much earlier. 


 

“I’ve been so thankful for the investment that companies like Konica Minolta and Gainbridge have made in the STEM program that we kicked off here in 2025,” Doonan said. “It’s something that I think is incredibly important for the entire sport. I have a personal interest and fascination with it - a much deeper experience, where students can absolutely make real-world parallels to what they are learning in the classroom. That gives me and all my IMSA teammates a lot of satisfaction.


 

“At the end of the day, my blue-sky dream would be to host the largest motorsports and auto industry job fair in the name of IMSA,” he added. “You don’t get it done unless you dream it up, and for me, that’s this pathway for empowering the next generation for our sport - and also for the automotive industry.”

Three Takeaways: TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship

BMW’s Time Is Coming, the Rare Triple Repeat and a Notable Runner-up Finish


 

May 13, 2025

By Mark Robinson

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After opening the 2025 season with the two longest races of the season followed by one of the short 100-minute sprints, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship settled into its first “standard-length” race this weekend.


 

Sunday’s TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship was anything but standard for a number of reasons, though. Let’s delve into a few of those as takeaways from another stellar show at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.


 

BMW Getting Closer to Kicking Down the GTP Door


 

Yes, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s two Porsche 963s have won every Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) race thus far in 2025. There’s no arguing they’ve executed flawlessly.


 

But who’d have guessed coming into the season that the strongest competition would come from BMW M Team RLL and its pair of BMW M Hybrid V8s? BMW once again grew closer to halting the Penske streak at WeatherTech Raceway, particularly the No. 24 BMW shared by Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng. 


 

Vanthoor put the No. 24 on pole for the fourth straight race, and while he fell behind the Penske Porsches at the end of his opening stint, he and Eng remained within reach – no easy task in the two-hour, 40-minute race that ran caution-free for the first time in six years at the track. 


 

Back in the car as the closing driver, Vanthoor nearly pulled off a dramatic pass of the No. 7 Penske Porsche for second place as they headed to the last turn on the last lap. But side-to-side contact sent the BMW off track while the No. 7 Porsche escaped unscathed to finish second to its sister No. 6.


 

Vanthoor recovered to take the final podium spot, which is noteworthy. Last year, BMW’s only podiums of the year came when the Nos. 24 and 25 finished 1-2 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September. While there are no wins yet in 2025, the No. 24 has shown great pace and has a pair of third-place finishes as well as a fourth. The No. 25 with co-drivers Marco Wittman and Sheldon van der Linde already has more top-five finishes (three) than the car recorded all last season (two).


 

What’s more, the BMWs sit third and fourth in GTP points, boosting BMW to second in the ever-important manufacturer standings – strides better than the marque’s fourth-place finishes of the past two years.


 

Déjà vu All Over Again


 

The same three cars that won their classes at WeatherTech Raceway a year ago did it again Sunday. How often does that happen in IMSA, you ask? Rarely, at best. 


 

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 repeated in GTP, as did the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in GTD. Only the Winward Mercedes-AMG accomplished the feat with the same driver duo (Russell Ward and Philip Ellis) both years, although Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche and Laurin Heinrich in the No. 77 Porsche added their own pair of back-to-back jacks in Monterey. 


 

According to our crackerjack research team, the closest, most recent example of this occurring came at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course from 2018-20 … and it’s still not a mirror image of a perfect triple repeat.


 

In 2018, the No. 7 Acura Team Penske with its Acura ARX-05 won in the top prototype class, then called “Prototype.” The following year it was the No. 6 Penske Acura in the rebranded Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, with the No. 7 returning atop the DPi podium in 2020.


 

Meanwhile, in Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM), Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor won for the Porsche GT Team back-to-back in 2018 and ‘19. Lexus recorded three straight GTD wins from 2018-20 with its Lexus RC F GT3, with 3GT Racing the first year before what was then called “AIM Vasser Sullivan,” now Vasser Sullivan Racing, took class honors in ’19 and ’20.


 

Again, not an exact repeat for those years, but it may be about as close as we’ll find.


 

Drive of the Day? No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus


 

Somewhat overlooked in the triple repeat of winners Sunday was the performance from the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. Parker Thompson started sixth in class but vaulted to second on the opening lap with a daring move around the Andretti Hairpin.


 

While he led 22 laps midway through the race, Thompson stayed predominantly in second place, which is where co-driver Jack Hawksworth brought it home. 


 

“Most of my race was there in Turns 1 and 2, to be honest,” Thompson said of the start, “which is famous here at Laguna Seca. It was kind of funny because we talked about the difference between the inside and the outside lanes. I was pretty solid on going to the inside, but when I saw it open up, I decided to send it on the outside and it worked out pretty well. … It’s not been our strongest track. To leave here with a good points day and now head to some tracks that are really good for us, it was a good day for our team.”


 

The runner-up finish could prove pivotal if Hawksworth and Thompson hope to overtake the Winward Racing drivers for the GTD title. A year ago at this time, the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG boasted a 213-point lead in the class and the No. 12 Lexus was mired in 10th place. Now, Thompson and Hawksworth sit just 124 points back in second place with six races to go.

 

 

Jan’s Juggling Act

Heylen Balancing Racing with RS1 Porsche, Business, New Twins and New Home


 

May 9, 2025

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

MONTEREY, Calif. - It’s been a busy stretch for Jan Heylen. To say the least. 


 

In addition to his “day” job piloting RS1’s No. 28 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class (and a separate RS1 GT3-specification Porsche in another series), he and wife Margaret run their own line of cycling and lifestyle apparel (MuMu). On the one hand, they have more time to spend on their clothing business since selling their Clearwater, Florida bicycle shop (Kafe Racer). On the other hand, they are rebounding from a devastating encounter with Mother Nature that saw Hurricane Milton destroy their home last fall. 


 

Oh and did we mention the Heylens welcomed twin boys into their life in December and, along with their two-year-old daughter, are now a family of five? And moved into their new home this spring?  


 

Given all that’s happened lately, as much or even more than ever, Heylen appreciates his time at the wheel of a race car.


 

So far this year, that’s been in an RS1 Porsche or in Conquest Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3, a Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class entry in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, during an IMSA-sanctioned test at Sebring International Raceway in February where he topped the timesheets filling in behind the wheel of the No. 34 Ferrari following a late call from longtime friend Eric Bachelart of Conquest Racing. 


 

“It’s what I absolutely love doing,” Heylen said. “With everything that has happened to us in the last six months, it’s nice to be at the track doing what you love doing. It’s something that takes 100 percent of your focus when you’re at the track doing your job and there’s not the time to think of other things. And that’s nice.”


 

Suffice to say Heylen is good at his job. Heylen, co-driver Luca Mars, RS1 and Porsche stand atop the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS respective driver, team and manufacturer standings thanks to podium finishes in both the BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Speedway and the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring International Raceway.


 

“We need to focus on extracting the most out of every weekend, and I think so far this season we’ve done exactly that,” said the 2021 GS champion, who drove that year with Wright Motorsports. 


 

“At Daytona and Sebring, but especially at Daytona, there were cars at the specific track that were just faster than us. But that just shows that we did do a good job because there were cars out there that were, let’s say, a little better than us (Balance of Performance)-wise. But we did what we could with the package we have and that’s put us in the lead in the championship so far.


 

“I would say that’s our primary goal: to get in the lead and build a nice gap so we can drive a different race at the end of the season . . . it’s absolutely right now about scoring points and being consistent. We’re really not worried about winning a race. We’re here to win the championship and all the decisions we make are geared towards that. 


 

“But the competition is really strong. There’s a lot of good drivers and cars out there. But we like our chances. We have a good team. We have a good driver pairing.”


 

Indeed, Heylen’s “job” at RS1 goes far beyond “just” maximizing the Porsche’s speed when he’s at the wheel. When he’s not driving, of course he’s pouring over data with his teammates and Michelin tire technicians in search of the optimum chassis set-up. 


 

But he’s also mentoring Mars, the 2024 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport X (GSX) champion who was born a year before Heylen scored a runner-up finish for Bachelart and Conquest Racing in the Champ Car World Series race at TT Circuit Assen in 2007.


 

“That’s very much why I’m there,” Heylen says. “I think everybody’s relying on me to take (Luca) under my wing and share some of my experiences with him and teach him everything there is to teach. That’s absolutely my responsibility and I love doing it. And all of that comes more naturally and easy when you’re surrounded by good people.


 

“He’s fast. He’s also just a really good guy; a nice person. I think for Luca, given his age, there’s a lot of learning to do. Especially I would say being at the sharp end of the field and constantly being up there with us. I would say he’s done a really, really good job. I can’t say enough about his attitude and how easy he is to be around, and it’s nice to start to get to know his family a bit. They all seem to be really nice people.”


 

Heylen is cautiously optimistic that he, Mars and RS1 will again find themselves at the sharp end of the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS field during the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship event weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, if not during qualifying on Friday then during Saturday afternoon’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 (3:40 p.m. ET, Peacock and globally, ad-free courtesy of Michelin on IMSA’s Official YouTube channel).  


 

“I would say it’s a good Porsche track as far as what the car likes,” Heylen says. “The way we’re going to Laguna BoP-wise, how to say it nicely, we’ve got the least amount of power going to Laguna that we’ve ever had. And coming out of Turn 5-6 going uphill at Laguna that’s always tough for us. And it’s going to be tougher this year, so we’ll see. But I still like our chances to do well. I think if you look at sheer lap time I don’t think we’re going to be that strong. But that doesn’t mean that we still can’t race strong.”


 

As is so often the case these days, Heylen will be a busy man at WeatherTech Raceway, temporarily exchanging his husband, father and clothing entrepreneur hats for his driver helmet and mentoring hat. And reveling in every moment of it. For as the saying goes, “If you want a job done right, ask a busy person to do it.” 

 

 

What to Watch For: TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship

Triple Streaks, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Legacies and New Pairings

 

May 8, 2025

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – This week’s TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship is the fourth race weekend of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Following 24-hour, 12-hour, and 100-minute races across a “roval,” rough-and-tumble former airfield and a “pure” street circuit, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca provides the first natural terrain road course on the IMSA calendar. Its unique combination of flowing turns and dramatic elevation changes has tested the world’s top sports car manufacturers, teams and drivers since 1957.

 

The 36 entries split among 11 Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), 10 Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and 15 Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class cars and their inherent speed differentials will play a pivotal role in the two-hour, 40-minute proceedings. 

 

Triple Plays

 

“Three” has thus far been the magic number for the two German GTP brands in 2025. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 7 Porsche 963 of Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr arrives on the Monterey Peninsula having won the first three races of the year. Meanwhile, BMW M Team RLL’s Dries Vanthoor has won the first three Motul Pole Awards of the season in his No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8. 

 

Porsche’s only “blot” so far in 2025 was… a third place at the Rolex 24 At Daytona with its No. 6 car. So far, the combination of the team’s speed and strategic execution has been unbeatable in races.

 

That’s where the question of “who will snap the streaks” comes in. Acura has nine Monterey wins and Cadillac is a recent Monterey winner, but BMW has appeared on the doorstep of breaking through given its early season pace.

 

Bobby Rahal celebrates 50 years of visits to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca this year since his 1976 debut in Formula Atlantic. He’ll serve as Grand Marshal and would like to add another track win to both his personal and team rolodex of victories. But more than anyone, he knows it will take more than turning fast qualifying laps to get there.

 

“We were pretty quick at Laguna last year, so I feel we have a reasonable chance. We just have to complete the job,” said the BMW M Team RLL co-owner. 


 

Speaking of Streaks

Porsche has a remarkable sports car history at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It’s scored at least one GT class victory there each of the last five years. The brand has celebrated its legacy with several Rennsport Reunions at the track. Just this week, it was announced as the official car of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

 

The two cars tasked with extending the GT streak are AO Racing’s No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (aka “Roxy,” who is standing in this weekend for “Rexy”) in GTD PRO and the similar No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche in GTD. Suffice to say they are in good hands. 

 

AO Racing comes into Monterey with a two-race win streak split across both GT classes at Sebring and Long Beach and arrives one year on from its first GTD PRO win in 2024 with Laurin Heinrich and Seb Priaulx. Wright, currently fourth in GTD points, also has a recent win last fall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks. 


 

Not that Porsche has a monopoly on GT success at WeatherTech Raceway, witness the fact that Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ lineup boasts seven wins. Antonio Garcia (three) leads the way over Tommy Milner (three, two with Corvette) and Alexander Sims (one) while Garcia and Nicky Catsburg each have a pole position to their credit. The team has eight class wins here as the first of three tracks in 2025 where they’ve competed annually since the program’s debut in 1999. 

Catsburg and Garcia qualified first and second in GTD PRO last year at WeatherTech Raceway in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R’s first visit to the circuit and finished third and fifth. Corvette subsequently earned four more poles and a win last year but are seeking this year’s first GTD PRO victory. 

 

“Last year the race went away from us pretty early,” said Sims. “But I think we showed good pace, which was encouraging given that this is a tough track to get right, especially with a new car. Hopefully we can put what we learned last year to good use.”

 

Both of Corvette Racing’s customer programs seek success in Monterey as well. AWA seeks to recapture its Rolex 24-winning ways in its final outing before heading to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

 

“This is a track I really enjoy. It’s got so much character and it always makes for a good race,” said Orey Fidani, who earned the AWA squad’s Le Mans berth by winning the Bob Akin Award as GTD’s top points-scoring Bronze-rated driver last year. 

 

“We’ve got a great car in the Corvette and I’m feeling more and more confident and comfortable with it after each session. We are ready to fight for a result that reflects the efforts everyone’s putting in.”

 

Additionally, Robert Wickens will make his second start in the No. 36 DXDT Corvette after teaming with Milner at Long Beach. Alec Udell will drive the DXDT entry for the remainder of the schedule, including the slate of sprint races in which Wickens is expected to compete.

  

New Pairings

 

There are four new pairings this week – one in GTP and three in the two GT classes. Frederik Vesti deputizes for Earl Bamber in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in GTP. The Whelen team was one of several IMSA teams that tested in Monterey.

 

“We had planned to go to Watkins Glen in May, but with our Le Mans invitation we had to move that around,” explained Peter Baron, race strategist for the Action Express Racing-prepared Cadillac. “Laguna Seca is a critical track for us with understanding the newer surface, so we're curious what happens with the track with another year of seasoning on it.”

 

In GTD, the Wickens/Udell lineup is one of two new pairings. The other comes as three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and 2023 Rolex 24 At Daytona GTD winner Darren Turner rejoins the Heart of Racing Team, sharing the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo with Casper Stevenson. 

 

“IMSA is a championship that I love, it’s super impressive and it will be my first time out with the GTD class,” Turner said. “I’ll be teamed up with Casper for the first time, he’s a super talented driver and it’s exciting to be teamed up with a youngster that’s already doing a great job in the championship.”


 

In GTD PRO meanwhile, Marvin Kirchhoefer will co-pilot Vasser Sullivan Racing’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 alongside full-time driver Aaron Telitz. Kirchhoefer, who teamed with Fidani, Matthew Bell and Lars Kern co-driving the No. 13 AWA Corvette to the GTD win in the Rolex 24, is the latest driver to fill in for Lexus factory driver Ben Barnicoat as he continues recovering from injuries sustained from a mountain biking accident.


 

How will the new pairings fare? Will Porsche’s GTP streak continue and, if not, who will break it? Will Porsche and/or Corvette add another GT win to their WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca legacies? Which other manufacturer could break through? 


 

Be sure to follow all the action of the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship live on NBC at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, May 11, as well as streaming domestically via Peacock and internationally on IMSA’s Official YouTube channel to find out.

HRC debuts ‘Racing the Dream’ Acura ARX-06 Docuseries

New Five-Part Series Covers Expanded Engineering, Strategic Role With Two-Car Acura Meyer Shank Racing Program


 

May 8, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) premieres its five-part docuseries today, called “Racing the Dream.” The first episode sets the stage for a season-long look at how the HRC US entity is taking on an enhanced role as part of the greater two-car Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian team within the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s top class, Grand Touring Prototype (GTP).


 

Part 1 is live now at the Honda Racing US YouTube channel, and subsequent episodes will be posted throughout the 2025 season.


 

HRC US’s presence shifts up from chassis, engine and vehicle dynamics to full strategy and engineering for the No. 93 Acura ARX-06, the second car as part of the Acura MSR program. The team has added Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly as full-season drivers, with IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup support in the form of three-time IndyCar series champion Alex Palou and rising Japanese Honda driver, Kakunoshin “Kaku” Ohta. Acura MSR will continue to provide engineering and strategy to the No. 60 Acura ARX-06, driven by multi-time IMSA champion Colin Braun and two-time Rolex 24 winner Tom Blomqvist for the full season with six-time IndyCar series champion Scott Dixon and IndyCar race winner Felix Rosenqvist supporting in endurance races. 


 

In the opening episode, “Prologue,” viewers are introduced to key HRC personnel, including David Salters, President, HRC US, Kelvin Fu, Vice President, HRC US, and Wayne Gross, Trackside Support Manager, HRC US, in addition to team co-owner Mike Shank and the eight drivers who raced the two cars in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. 


 

"Racing is all about people and building a strong team,” Salters said. “We engage in this sport to develop our people, technology, and tools, both at the track and back at our facilities in California and Indianapolis. It's incredibly exciting to go behind the scenes and share this new challenge and adventure for HRC US with our fans. It’s great to show the human side of what we do, the lows and highs, delight and despair, the fun of what we do!"


 

“Prologue” reveals the timeline of when the work started from the formal announcement of the HRC US and Acura MSR reunion in June 2024 through to the fall and the first official time on-track, the November 2024 IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway. Preparation continues as the team heads back to Daytona for the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test and concludes just after qualifying for the Rolex 24 At Daytona.  


 

The two Acura ARX-06 entries are part of an 11-car GTP grid set to compete in this week’s TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Live coverage starts Sunday, May 11, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC with domestic streaming on Peacock and international streaming on IMSA’s Official YouTube channel. 

 

 

Heart of Racing Team Reignites Turner’s Love of Motorsport

Twenty-Year Aston Martin Racing Veteran Thrilled with IMSA Cameo Appearance at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca


 

May 7, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bringing up past eras can be helpful in the context of how far something has come. Global GT racing has, in the first quarter century of the 2000s, run the gamut from GT1 to GT2 (later known as either GTE or GTLM depending on the series) and now solidified under the GT3 and GT4-specifications of cars for roughly the last decade.


 

It makes the perspective of Darren Turner stand out even more, as someone whose tenure has withstood the test of time, series and GT categories all with Aston Martin Racing for more than two decades. 


 

The Englishman makes a cameo IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship appearance at this weekend’s TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. He’ll deputize for Tom Gamble alongside Casper Stevenson in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class. 


 

GT1 to GTE to GT3

It also means he gets to add a GT3-specification Aston Martin to both GT1 and GTE-spec cars he’s driven at the track. Turner has four past IMSA starts at WeatherTech Raceway, with a best finish of fourth twice (2006 in GT1 his most recent) and a pole in the American Le Mans Series’ GT class, in a GTE-spec Vantage, in 2012 (the GTE-spec Vantage is pictured at Sebring in 2015, right). He’s been through so many different eras of GT racing that he provides strong perspective on where it’s at now.


 

“It was nice to be part of GT1 because the cars were fantastic to drive; different from sort of the current GT3 cars,” he said. “Maybe to me, maybe the GT1 era was just a little bit more special in terms of the pure enjoyment of driving a GT1 car. 


 

“Actually, the racing now is more competitive with greater manufacturer involvement. There are certainly more drivers involved now with GT racing than there ever was during the GT1 period. So maybe I look back with rose-tinted glasses and look at GT1 just because of the type of cars they were and how amazing they were to drive. 


 

“I do love racing GT3 cars, you know, it's different, with ABS and traction control and there's more refinement in the car, but I think maybe some of the raw driving experiences I miss. But ultimately the racing is better because of the level of competition throughout the drivers and through the manufacturers as well. 


 

“Would I change anything? Not at all. I mean, GT1 was fantastic when it was around and GT3 is just amazing that we have such a competitive platform that's globally accepted by everyone, and it's made for great racing.”


 

Turner also reflected how far Aston Martin, as a brand, has come over that timeframe while also appreciating the types of cars – both race and road – he’s driven. 


 

“It’s pretty incredible to think about the early days with the DBR9, the first tests in 2004 and started pretty much out of the box with a win at Sebring in 2005,” he said. “We’ve only had one bad year with the AMR-ONE, but from GT1 through LMP1 and the Lola Aston Martin to then GTE, GT2, GT3, GT4 is incredible. 


 

“We started with two cars and now look at how many Astons are racing across the board throughout the world in a relatively short 21 years. I’m very proud to be a British driver driving for a British manufacturer on the global scale. It’s not just Aston Martin Racing on the GT side, but also the Valkyrie and Formula 1 programs as well. I could have never imagined it from our first test day in November 2004 at Donington Park."


 

Driving Revival at Heart of Racing Team

Turner has made 37 career IMSA starts and 18 podiums; this week marks his first IMSA start since the 2023 Rolex 24 At Daytona, which he won with Heart of Racing Team in the GTD class.


 

Having driven for the Ian James-led team on-and-off since its current incarnation debuted in 2020, he’s also witnessed its growth and expansion. It’s given something back to him, too.


 

“That team's just gone up every year,” Turner explained. “You know, Ian's led a very small team to begin with and he's just increased the level of ability from everyone within that team and then just bringing in really good guys as well as they keep increasing what that team can do and the number of championships they're doing as well. If you look at GT4, GT3 and obviously what they're doing with the Valkyrie GTP car as well. 


 

“You know, it's a team that I have to say, if I think about my career and I've been going on a chunk of time now, it was coming back with Heart of Racing that got me back into really loving going racing again. 


 

“That might sound a bit weird, but, you know, there's a period when you're sort of a ‘top dog’ and you you're the guy that's sort of at the front of the team. Then the next generation wave of drivers come through and it's quite a hard transition for drivers to get their head around. 


 

“Going out and having no pressure that I had when I joined at Heart of Racing was a really good thing. It just reinvigorated myself and I've not looked back since then. So, I'm really thankful for that that opportunity of Heart of Racing that first time out.”


 

Turner noted his job is to maintain the momentum Stevenson and Gamble have had to start the season; they rank third in points heading into WeatherTech Raceway. They’re part of a 15-car GTD field that will run as part of the TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship; the race airs live Sunday, May 11 on NBC at 3 p.m. ET with domestic streaming coverage on Peacock and internationally via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.

 

 

Forty-Plus Car Lamborghini Super Trofeo Field Heads West to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Wayne Taylor Racing Looks To Build off Five-Win Opener in Sebring


 

May 6, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Some 41 cars across four Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America classes are set to take part in the second stop of the season in Monterey, Calif. at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, part of IMSA's TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship weekend. With ProAm (12 cars), Am (11) and LB Cup (10) all at double-digit entries and Pro with the same eight as in Sebring, the field is set for Rounds 3 and 4 of the season. 


 

The team that enjoyed a stellar Sebring looks to build on its strong start, while others seek to topple them. Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, opened the year with five of a possible six race wins across three Lamborghini Super Trofeo classes – Pro, ProAm and Am – in Sebring. The team only lost the ProAm class win in Round 2 in the final laps. 


 

The Pro class pair of Danny Formal and Hampus Ericsson enjoyed a perfect weekend in their No. 1 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, leading both practice sessions, scoring both poles, winning both 50-minute races and achieving the maximum 32 points (16 per race, split 15 per win, 1 per pole). The Am class pair of Graham Doyle and Glenn McGee nearly equaled them in their No. 10 Huracán with 31 points, two wins and one pole to speak of. Anthony McIntosh and Brendon Leitch also started strong with the Round 1 ProAm win in their No. 69 Huracán, before a late-race incident took them out of Round 2.


 

Ericsson, younger brother of 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus, was the only one of this group of six making his Super Trofeo North America debut. And he enjoyed the debut in style, embracing both the North American racing aspect, pit stops and Florida vibes as he celebrated his birthday. 


 

“Sebring was my first pit stop ever as I was solo driving last year in Europe,” Ericsson said in Sebring victory lane. “Danny had done a great job saving the tires, so I could do whatever I wanted, basically.


 

“Sebring was very bumpy, obviously. It’s a challenge! It’s like nothing else compared to Europe. But I love it because it has so much character, it’s so rough, and you need a lot of confidence and think about what you’re doing out there.” 


 

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca used to be known for its dusty, abrasive, tire-eating surface, but a repaving prior to 2024 significantly smoothed the track out as the Lamborghini Super Trofeo field headed there last year. It’ll mark a significant difference for Ericsson, who may reference his brother’s IndyCar race visuals.


 

ANSA Motorsports, not Wayne Taylor Racing, swept Monterey last year with the “Nico and Kiko Show” of Nico Jamin and Kiko Porto. ANSA’s new pro pair of Colin Queen and Enzo Geraci will look to improve on a pair of fifths at Sebring in their No. 4 ANSA, Lamborghini Broward, Huracán.


 

After a quietly impressive pair of runner-up finishes in Sebring, Will Bamber and Elias de la Torre IV seek their first Pro win in their No. 29 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Miami, Huracán. World Speed Motorsports – based in nearby Sonoma, California – is also keen to succeed on home soil with its No. 22 Huracán, representing Lamborghini Hawaii. Wayne Taylor Racing’s fourth car, Nick Persing (No. 8 Huracán), won here in ProAm last year.


 

Others to watch at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca include: 


 

  • ProAm: Championship leaders Darius Trinka and Tadas Karlinskas, a pair of Lithuanian cousins who were late entrants into Super Trofeo and delivered a third and first in Sebring, are now in the No. 11 Kaizen Autosport, Lamborghini Charlotte Huracán. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Lamborghini Newport Beach, is a several-time WeatherTech Raceway winner, including in ProAm last year with Andy Lee and Slade Stewart. 
  • Am: RAFA Racing, whose best result among four cars in four classes at Sebring came via the all-female lineup of Jem Hepworth and Lindsay Brewer, third in Am Round 2 in the No. 2 RAFA, Lamborghini Austin, Huracán and additional Sebring Am podium finishers David Staab (No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán) and Jackson Lee and series returnee AJ Muss (No. 88 Forty7 Motorsports, Lamborghini Greenwich, Huracán).
  • LB Cup: Championship leader Nick Groat swept Sebring in the No. 57 One Motorsports, Lamborghini Newport Beach, Huracán. He leads the increased 10-car entry at WeatherTech Raceway, which shows significant growth over the six LB Cup cars that raced at Sebring.


 

Teams have two 45-minute practice sessions Friday before qualifying Saturday morning. Races are at 7:45 p.m. ET (4:45 p.m. PT and local time) Saturday and 12:35 p.m. ET (9:35 a.m. PT) Sunday, streaming on Peacock, IMSA.TV, the IMSA Official YouTube channel and Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel. 


 

2024 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America WeatherTech Raceway Race 1 Winners:

  • Pro: Kiko Porto/Nico Jamin, No. 4 ANSA Motorsports
  • ProAm: Andy Lee/Slade Stewart, No. 14 Flying Lizard Motorsports
  • Am: Cole Kleck/Al Morey, No. 17 Topp Racing
  • LB Cup: Michael Staab, No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports


 

2024 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America WeatherTech Raceway Race 2 Winners:

  • Pro: Kiko Porto/Nico Jamin, No. 4 ANSA Motorsports
  • ProAm: Nate Stacy/Nick Persing, No. 8 Wayne Taylor Racing
  • Am: Anthony McIntosh/Glenn McGee, No. 69 Wayne Taylor Racing
  • LB Cup: Michael Staab, No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports

 

Rahal Straight: Bobby Loves WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Memories and Wins Have Abounded Over 50 Years for Bobby Rahal in Monterey


 

May 6, 2025

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – To paraphrase Chico Escuela, a fictional baseball star played by Garrett Morris on Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca has been very, very good to Bobby Rahal. 


 

Beyond his Indianapolis 500 victory and three IndyCar championships, Rahal is feted for his four consecutive IndyCar wins at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca from 1984-87. His IndyCar team then claimed victory three times in a four-year stretch at the famous road racing venue near Monterey, California from 1998-2001; that prompted the track to rename the uphill stretch linking Turn 6 to the iconic “Corkscrew” sequence the Rahal Straight.


 

But Rahal’s competitive history at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca dates to 1976 – when he drove a March Formula Atlantic car fielded by Doug Shierson Racing during the first season IMSA sanctioned a series of races for compact open-wheel cars. 


 

That May weekend got off to a tough start, as Bobby failed to set a qualifying time and dropped out of his heat after just five laps. But it all came together in the main event; Rahal worked through the 32-car field to finish fifth in a race won by Gilles Villeneuve over Elliott Forbes-Robinson, who was recently announced as a 2025 inductee for the IMSA Hall of Fame. 


 

In a second IMSA-sanctioned Atlantic weekend in October ‘76, Rahal won his heat from the pole over EFR, but finished the feature 14th, a lap behind winner Price Cobb (another future sports car star).


 

“Going out to race my first race in 1976 in Formula Atlantic, Laguna was everything I had hoped it would be,” Rahal recalled. “You know, I’d read about it as a kid, back in the Midwest, and I thought it was one of the crown jewels of American road racing circuits. It was a thrill then, and it’s a thrill even today to continue to come back there.”


 

After a stint racing in Europe in Formula 3 and Formula 2, Bobby returned to America and scored his first major sports car victory in a 1979 SCCA CanAm race at…you guessed it, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. In 1983, he coaxed a rare finish out of the fast-but-finicky Ford Mustang GTP to claim a trip to IMSA’s Monterey podium. 

Those achievements, when combined with Bobby’s success at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca as a team owner (which includes a run of three WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans class wins for BMW M Team RLL in four years from 2015 to 2018; 2015 pictured right) inspired WeatherTech Raceway to name Rahal as Grand Marshal for this weekend’s TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship. 


 

“It’s a great honor and privilege to be the Grand Marshal at obviously what is one of my favorite tracks,” Rahal remarked. “There’s been a lot of success there, both as a driver and as an owner. It’s a real thrill to have part of the racetrack named after you, I have to say. I’m excited about the upcoming week and looking forward to good things.”


 

BMW M Team RLL fields the Nos. 24 and 25 entries in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class of the WeatherTech Championship, and three races into the 2025 season, it has consistently been Porsche Penske Motorsport’s closest competitor. Dries Vanthoor has earned the Motul Pole Award at all three events, and he and No. 24 co-driver Philipp Eng rank third in the standings behind the No. 7 and No. 6 Porsche driver pairings.


 

Rahal is optimistic that his WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca karma and the single-lap speed of the BMW M Hybrid V8 can combine for yet another memorable Monterey moment.

“We’ve had three poles with the GTP program this year, which is exciting, and that’s all credit to Dries and the team,” Rahal said. “Dries’ pace in qualifying…he’s obviously the fastest guy out there. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to quite put it all together come race day. Lapped traffic at Daytona and Sebring hurt our chances at the end of the race, and looking at Long Beach, we got held up in the pits a little bit and that’s all it took, I’m afraid. 


 

“We’ve got to hopefully complete the job this time around,” he added. “We were pretty quick at Laguna last year, so I feel that we have a reasonable chance. We just have to complete the job.”


 

Like all GTP competitors, BMW M Team RLL recognizes Porsche has done an excellent job extracting speed from its cars in race conditions. Rahal believes that BMW is right with Porsche on pace and could have translated the Long Beach pole into a win with a quicker pit stop. 


 

“Long Beach highlighted some areas maybe where we need to focus a bit more of our efforts - pit lane in particular,” said Rahal. “I think we’re going to come into Laguna with some new things on that front. It’s a constant state of trying to improve not just the car, but ourselves. And I think the Laguna track, especially since they repaved it, has kind of come into our wheelhouse a bit. Our car has been fast since they’ve done that.”


 

WeatherTech Raceway’s original 1.9-mile layout grew to the current 2.238 miles after 1987. That extension added what is now called the Andretti Hairpin and the Turn 3-4-5 run through the dry lakebed. All four of Rahal’s IndyCar wins therefore came on the original layout, which featured a very fast stretch linking the lap’s traditional final corner to the exit of Turn 5 and up the Rahal Straight.


 

“I liked the original circuit for obvious reasons, but I think the new circuit is great,” Rahal said with a laugh. “It’s like it’s more of a circuit, for sure. You know, the old one really tested your courage in a couple places. The new one still does and of course, now that they’ve repaved it (for the first time since 2007, completed prior to the 2024 IMSA weekend), it’s much faster than it was before. So, courage is a good, valuable talent or aspect to have.”


 

Like many in the racing industry, Rahal is enthusiastic about the stability and positive energy that the Friends of Laguna Seca management group have finally secured for the track after decades of conflict with local government and residents about the future of the facility. WeatherTech Raceway is located within the Laguna Seca Recreation Area, on the grounds of the former Fort Ord Army base.  


 

“I’m so pleased with the new management, because these people are committed to the circuit,” observed Rahal. “They’re go-getters. They’re committed to growing the public acceptance of the events to get back to the kinds of crowds that we had back in the glory days of the 1980s and ‘90s.  I think that there’s really a clear mandate by the county and everybody involved with the track to really take it to the next level. 


 

“As I mentioned earlier, I call it one of the crown jewels of American road racing circuits,” he added. “It’s been around a long, long time and the world’s greatest drivers and motorcycle riders have raced there over the years. I’m super supportive of anything that can take the circuit to a higher level, and I know so many people in the organization have that passion for Laguna Seca and for motor racing. I think it’s in pretty good hands right now.”


 

The TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is highlighted by a 2-hour, 40-minute “sprint” race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. NBC will host the live television broadcast from 3-6 p.m. ET Sunday, May 11, with domestic streaming available on Peacock. International viewers can view flag-to-flag action on IMSA’s YouTube channel.

 

Entry List Notebook – IMPC WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120

Annual IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Trip to California Has Produced a Run of Eclectic Results


 

May 5, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Sometimes curious trends emerge at a venue, and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California has one of the quirkiest ones on the schedule as it prepares to be part of IMSA's TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship weekend. 


 

None of the last four GS teams that have won at WeatherTech Raceway are entered in GS in 2025. Two GS teams, Winward Racing and RS1, have captured a combined seven of the last 12 GS podiums in Monterey, but not won.  


 

Wright Motorsports won the 2021 race with a Porsche, with Jan Heylen and Max Root driving. The team won again in 2022, entered instead as VOLT Racing, with an Aston Martin and drivers Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman. Both Heylen (2021) and Brynjolfsson and Hindman (2022) went on to secure the GS class title at year’s end. Murillo Racing’s Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak won with Mercedes-AMG in 2023, and Motorsports In Action’s Michael de Quesada and Jesse Lazare won with McLaren in 2024. Neither team returned to the series the following year.


 

It leaves the GS class in a peculiar spot heading into WeatherTech Raceway for Round 3 of the 2025 season. The last team to win a GS race at the venue entered this year is CarBahn with Peregrine Racing, which won the October 2020 Monterey race, and which conveniently won the most recent Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Sebring in March with Jeff Westphal and Sean McAlister sharing the No. 39 BMW M4 GT4 EVO.


 

RS1 enters WeatherTech Raceway on the doorstep of breaking through, as the Porsche team has three straight Monterey runner-up finishes at the venue (Stevan McAleer and Alexandre Premat in 2022, McAleer and Eric Filgueiras in 2023, McAleer and Hindman in 2024). Its new pairing of Heylen and Luca Mars have delivered two straight runner-up finishes to start 2025 in their No. 28 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS. 


 

Winward Racing, the 2019 GS winners, has scored four podiums in the last four years at this track. The team banked a second-and-third in 2021, and successive third places for Bryce Ward and Daniel Morad in 2023 and 2024 in its No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4. 


 

Leaving Sebring, the RS1 Heylen/Mars pairing holds a 50-point lead on Daytona winners Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky, who share the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4, the 2024 Monterey GS-winning manufacturer. 


 

The 24 GS cars include two new and one returning entries. CSM adds a third No. 3 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS for Nikita Lastochkin and Chase Jones, AR Motorsports debuts its No. 14 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS of David Hampton and Salinas native Thomas Merrill, a WeatherTech Raceway track veteran who has a Rolex 24 At Daytona Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class win on his resume, and Kingpin Racing’s No. 53 Toyota GR Supra EVO2 of Rob Walker and Satakal Khalsa returns for the first time since the BMW M Endurance Challenge in Daytona. BGB Motorsports’ No. 38 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS and KohR Motorsports’ No. 60 Ford Mustang GT4 drop off for this race. 


 

Touring Car (TCR) is a little more straightforward, with Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian having won both races to start the year and three of the last five at WeatherTech Raceway (2020, 2021, 2023) in a resurgent start to the team’s renewed championship push. Daytona winners Denis Dupont and Preston Brown (No. 76 Hyundai Elantra N TCR) lead Mason Filippi and Harry Gottsacker (No. 98 Hyundai Elantra N TCR) by just 10 points. 


 

With third-placed HART Honda (Chad Gilsinger and Ryan Chambers) absent this race, fourth-placed Precision Racing LA Audi (IMSA 3D Scholarship recipient Celso Neto and multi-time Pilot Challenge race winner Ryan Eversley) is poised to move up. 


 

Among the 16 TCR entries, two Audi RS3 LMS TCR cars return. WeatherTech Raceway 2019 TCR winners Roadshagger Racing are back for the first time in 2025 with the pair of Gavin Ernstone and Jon Morley in their No. 61 Audi, while Eric Rockwell and Bruno Colombo share the No. 10 Rockwell Autosport Development Audi for the first time since Daytona. Monterey native Nick Galante also returns, as part of the Racing to End Alzheimer’s supported-entry in the No. 31 RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate Audi. 


 

Pilot Challenge competitors have two one-hour practice sessions, Friday at 9:10 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. PT and local time and qualifying Friday evening at 5:40 p.m. The green flag of the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 flies on Saturday afternoon at 12:45 p.m PT/3:45 p.m. ET, streaming on Peacock in the U.S. and also IMSA's Official YouTube channel globally, ad-free, courtesy of Michelin.

 

Fast Facts

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Monterey, Calif. 

May 9-10, 2025


 

Race Day/Time: Saturday, May 10, 3:45 p.m. ET

Peacock Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET (globally, ad-free, courtesy of Michelin via IMSA's Official YouTube channel)

Circuit Type: 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course

Classes Competing: Grand Sport (GS), Touring Car (TCR)

Race Length: Two hours

 

Michelin Pilot Challenge Track Records

  • GS: Michael de Quesada, McLaren Artura GT4, 1:27.455 / 92.455 mph, May 2024 (Qualifying)
  • TCR: Bryan Ortiz, Honda Civic FL5 TCR, 1:29.175 / 90.347 mph, May 2024 (Qualifying) 


 

2024 WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 Winners

  • GS: Michael de Quesada/Jesse Lazare, No. 69 Motorsports In Action McLaren Artura GT4
  • TCR: Mikey Taylor/Chris Miller, No. 17 UniTronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR

 

Storylines

  • California Ties: Nikita Lastochkin (Los Angeles), Thomas Merrill (Salinas), Sean Quinlan (Palo Alto), Greg Liefooghe (San Francisco), Sean McAlister (Beverly Hills), Rob Walker (San Diego), Satakal Khalsa (San Diego), Bob Michaelian (Seal Beach), Brian Lock (Santa Cruz), Jon Miller (Orange), Nick Galante (Monterey) and Jon Morley (San Francisco) live in California and get to race in their home state. 
  • IMPC Hits the Pacific Coast: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca marks the Michelin Pilot Challenge series’ lone annual trip out west to the Pacific Coast. The resurfaced WeatherTech Raceway produced record laps last year and also a pole-to-flag win for Motorsports In Action’s McLaren Artura GT4, the first for the new model in Pilot Challenge. 


 

Who’s Hot?

  • RS1: Back-to-back runner-up finishes have positioned RS1 first in the GS championship standings.  
  • Bryan Herta Autosport: With two wins in TCR this year, Bryan Herta Autosport comes to WeatherTech Raceway in search of a three-peat this season and a fourth in six years at the track. 


 

Who’s Good Here?

  • Harry Gottsacker and Mark Wilkins: Wilkins (No. 33) is a two-time TCR winner in Monterey; Gottsacker (No. 98) is the lone active polesitter racing here and a 2021 race winner. They split a pair of Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars.  

 

Previous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 Winners in 2025 Field (14)

  • Mark Wilkins (2): TCR – 2021, 2023 
  • Gavin Ernstone (1): TCR – 2019 
  • Mason Filippi (1): TCR – 2023 
  • Nick Galante (1): ST – 2018 
  • Harry Gottsacker (1): TCR – 2021 
  • Billy Johnson (1): ST – 2007 
  • Jan Heylen (1): GS – 2021 
  • Stevan McAleer (1): ST – 2016 
  • Tim Lewis (1): TCR – 2022
  • Robin Liddell (1): GS – 2015
  • Chris Miller (1): TCR – 2024 
  • Jon Morley (1): TCR – 2019 
  • Mikey Taylor (1): TCR – 2024 
  • Jeff Westphal (1): GS – 2020

 

Previous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 Pole Winners in 2025 Field (1)

  • Harry Gottsacker (2): TCR – 2020, 2022

 

Previous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 Winning Teams in 2025 Field (8)

  • Bryan Herta Autosport (3): TCR – 2020, 2021, 2023
  • CarBahn (1): GS – 2020 
  • Turner Motorsport (1): ST – 2008 
  • JDC-Miller MotorSports (1): TCR – 2024 
  • KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering (1): TCR – 2022
  • Roadshagger Racing (1): TCR – 2019 
  • Team TGM (1): GS – 2018 
  • Winward Racing (1): GS – 2019 

 

Previous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 Winning Manufacturers in 2025 Field (8)

  • Audi – 5
  • Porsche – 5
  • BMW – 3
  • Hyundai – 3
  • Mercedes-AMG – 3 
  • Aston Martin – 2
  • Ford – 2
  • McLaren – 1 

entry List Notebook – TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship

Lots of Streaks on the Line Ahead of Second Straight WeatherTech Championship California Race


 

April 30, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca serves as the first two-hour, 40-minute standard length sprint race of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.


 

A total of 36 cars are set to compete across Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and the two GT classes, Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD). The GTP car count stays at 11 for a second straight race, alongside 10 GTD PRO and 15 GTD cars. The race is Round 4 of the year for GTP and GTD, while GTD PRO is back for Round 3 for the first time since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.


 

Triarsi Competizione’s No. 023 Ferrari 296 GT3 makes its first GTD sprint start of the year with Onofrio Triarsi and Riccardo Agostini, joining 14 full-season entries. The one-off Nos. 177 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, both of which finished on the Long Beach podium, drop off at WeatherTech Raceway. Three other GTD PRO or GTD cars, the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 (Marvin Kirchhoefer substituting for Ben Barnicoat), the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (Darren Turner substituting for Tom Gamble) and the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R (Alec Udell returns, now alongside Robert Wickens), have changed lineups since the last race.


 

Porsche’s win streak to start 2025 both overall and in GT headlines the stories heading into WeatherTech Raceway. Additionally, the 30-time winning manufacturer at WeatherTech Raceway has a track-specific streak of five years straight with at least one GT class win in Monterey.


 

Weekend fast facts and entry notes are below: 


 

Fast Facts

TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Monterey, California

May 9-11, 2025


 

Race Day/Time: Sunday, May 11 – 3:10 p.m. ET

NBC Network Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 3 p.m. (streaming on Peacock in the U.S., IMSA TV Live and IMSA YouTube outside the U.S.)

Live Qualifying Stream: Saturday, May 10 – 7:10 p.m. ET (streaming on Peacock in the U.S., IMSA TV Live and IMSA YouTube outside the U.S.)

IMSA Radio: Selected sessions with race coverage at 3 p.m. on Sunday on XM 206, Web/App 996

Circuit Type: 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course

Race Length: Two hours, 40 minutes

Classes Competing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), GT Daytona (GTD)


 

Track Social Media: 


 

Event Hashtags: #IMSA, #WeatherTechRaceway, #LagunaSeca


 

WeatherTech Championship Track Records

GTP: Sebastien Bourdais, Cadillac V-Series.R, 1:12.445 / 111.212 mph, May 2024

GTD PRO: Nicky Catsburg, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, 1:19.727 / 101.054 mph, May 2024

GTD: Danny Formal, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, 1:20.866 / 99.631 mph, May 2024

 

2024 TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Winners

GTP: Nick Tandy/Mathieu Jaminet, No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963

GTD PRO: Laurin Heinrich/Seb Priaulx, No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

GTD: Russell Ward/Philip Ellis, No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3


 

2024 TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Motul Pole Award Winners

GTP: Sebastien Bourdais, No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R

GTD PRO: Nicky Catsburg, No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R 

GTD: Danny Formal, No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2


 

Storylines

  • Porsche, Porsche, Porsche: Porsche Penske Motorsport has won three straight GTP races. AO Racing’s “Rexy” Porsche has won two straight, one apiece in GTD PRO and GTD, although the team trades it in for “Roxy” at this race. Both teams won at WeatherTech Raceway last year. Can their aligned win streaks continue? 
  • Magic 8 Ball of Manufacturer Wins: Eight automotive brands have won races in IMSA-sanctioned series with multiple manufacturers (BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche, Toyota) through April, with that number expanding to 11 once single-make race winners in Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin are added. Seven of the 18 brands in IMSA seek their first 2025 wins next weekend. 
  • California Dreaming… Again: Continuing the theme of streaks, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship completes its back-to-back run of California races with the trip up the coast to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey after the 100-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 12. The two-hour, 40-minute race is the first standard length sprint race of the year. IMSA has raced at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca every year since 1999.
  • Golden State Valkyrie: Who knew an IMSA car and a WNBA basketball team could be linked together on the same weekend? The WNBA’s newest expansion team, Oakland-based Golden State Valkyries, will premiere on May 6 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, with its second game on the road in Phoenix Saturday, May 11. And after its first IMSA race and first street race, the Aston Martin THOR Team’s Valkyrie prototype will now make its first WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca start in the “Golden State” itself. 
  • Comeback Challengers: Both Whelen Cadillac (GTP) and Turner Motorsport (GTD) suffered gut-wrenching, late-race defeats at WeatherTech Raceway last year when poised for victory. Surprisingly, the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R’s runner-up finish in Monterey in 2024 is the team’s most recent podium finish. Turner’s pair of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher have opened 2025 with three straight top-six finishes in their No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO. 
  • CrowdStrike Endurance, Teamwork and Speed Award: The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 (IMSA WeatherTech Championship, Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach) and No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO (IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring International Raceway) were awarded the CrowdStrike Endurance, Teamwork and Speed Award at the most recent IMSA races. Both will be presented with the award during prerace ceremonies. Click here for a list of the 2025 winners and award criteria.


 

Who’s Hot?

  • Porsche Penske Motorsport: The team’s No. 7 Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy has won each of the first three races and leads the sister No. 6 Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, which has scored two runner-up finishes and a third, by 123 points. It’s been a near statistically perfect start to 2025 for the team, which won overall in Monterey last year with Jaminet and Tandy. 
  • AO Racing: AO Racing has won the last two GT races in both GT classes with five different drivers. Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello took the full-season No. 77 “Rexy” Porsche 911 GT3 R to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring GTD PRO win, then Laurens Vanthoor and Jonny Edgar won a one-off start in GTD at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in the renumbered No. 177 car. Heinrich and Seb Priaulx won AO’s first IMSA race in Monterey in 2024. “Roxy” hasn’t won yet and looks for its first win this go-around.
  • No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3: Though they haven’t won yet, back-to-back runner-up finishes by Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth have moved this car to second in GTD points, just 91 behind the Winward Racing leaders of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

 

Who’s Good Here?

  • Porsche in GT: A Porsche has won at least one GT class at WeatherTech Raceway for five straight years. The factory Porsche 911 RSR won in GTLM in 2020 and then among GT3-specification Porsches entered by customer teams, Pfaff won GTD in 2021 and GTD PRO in 2022; Wright added a GTD win in 2022; Kellymoss with Riley won GTD in 2023 and AO scored the GTD win in 2024. 
  • Acura: The brand has nine wins here, including four in a row overall from 2019 to 2022 with the previous generation Acura ARX-05 in Daytona Prototype international (DPi). 
  • Corvette Racing: Corvette appeared poised to win its first race with the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R last year after Nicky Catsburg secured the Motul Pole Award but fell back to third at the finish. Still, the team has a series-high eight wins at the track in four different GT classes, although none since 2021 in the last year of the former GT Le Mans class. A win in GTD PRO with either of the two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entries or in GTD with either AWA or DXDT Racing could give the brand a fifth and potentially a sixth different GT class win at WeatherTech Raceway.


 

Previous TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Winners in 2025 Field (17)

  • Antonio Garcia (3): DP – 2012; GT – 2013; GTLM – 2014 
  • Tommy Milner (3): GT – 2005, 2012; GTLM – 2021 
  • Nick Tandy (3): GTC – 2013; GTLM – 2021, GTP – 2024 
  • Ricky Taylor (3): DPi – 2020, 2021, 2022
  • Renger van der Zande (3): PC – 2014; P – 2017; GTP – 2023 
  • Filipe Albuquerque (2): DPi – 2021, 2022
  • Mario Farnbacher (2): GTD – 2016, 2020 
  • Mathieu Jaminet (2): GTD PRO – 2022, GTP – 2024 
  • Colin Braun (1): PC – 2012 
  • Matt Campbell (1): GTD PRO – 2022 
  • Louis Deletraz (1): LMP2 – 2022
  • Philip Ellis (1): GTD – 2024 
  • Laurin Heinrich (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Seb Priaulx (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Alexander Sims (1): GTLM – 2018 
  • Jordan Taylor (1): DP – 2013 
  • Russell Ward (1): GTD – 2024


 

Previous TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Pole Winners in 2025 Field (10)

  • Jordan Taylor (4): P – 2015, 2018; GTLM – 2020, 2021 
  • Ricky Taylor (4): DP – 2011; P – 2017; DPi – 2019, 2022
  • Filipe Albuquerque (1): DPi – 2021
  • Nicky Catsburg (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Danny Formal (1): GTD – 2024 
  • Antonio Garcia (1): GTLM – 2014 
  • Mathieu Jaminet (1): GTD PRO – 2022 
  • Madison Snow (1): GTD – 2017 
  • Darren Turner (1): GT – 2012 
  • Russell Ward (1): GTD – 2022


 

Previous TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Winning Teams in 2025 Field (11)

  • Corvette Racing (8): GTS – 2004; GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; GT – 2012, 2013; GTLM – 2014, 2021 
  • Team Penske (6): P2 – 2005, 2006, 2007; DPi – 2019, 2020; GTP – 2024 
  • Wayne Taylor Racing (4): DP – 2006, 2013; DPi – 2021, 2022
  • Acura Meyer Shank Racing (3): P – 2016; GTD – 2018, 2020
  • BMW M Team RLL (3): GTLM – 2015, 2017, 2018
  • Pfaff Motorsports (2): GTD – 2021; GTD PRO – 2022
  • AO Racing (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Paul Miller Racing (1): GTD – 2019
  • Turner Motorsport (1): GTD – 2014 
  • Winward Racing (1): GTD – 2024 
  • Wright Motorsports (1): GTD – 2022 


 

Previous TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Winning Manufacturers in 2025 Field (11)

  • Porsche – 30
  • Chevrolet – 12
  • Acura – 9
  • BMW – 9
  • Ferrari – 6 
  • Ford – 3 
  • Aston Martin – 2
  • Mercedes-AMG – 2
  • Cadillac – 1 
  • Lamborghini – 1 
  • Lexus – 1 
 

 

Genesis Building Racing Future to Add To Road Car Brand

Future Genesis GMR-001 GTP Set to Build on Luxury Brand's First Decade


 

April 29, 2025

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Since the very start of the automotive age, manufacturers have used racing as a platform to develop, prove, and promote their cars and technology.  


 

Racing was an important engineering and marketing tool from Henry Ford’s 1901 “Sweepstakes” through the “Silver Arrows” raced by Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union in the 1930s. Marques like Porsche and Ferrari established their identity and core values as much through on-track competition as their sports cars for the street. Honda is a mainstream car and motorcycle manufacturer with racing in its DNA, an attribute now shared with its upscale Acura nameplate. 


 

Celebrating 50 years since it built its first car in 1975, Hyundai is comparatively young as an automotive manufacturer. Genesis, which is the Hyundai Motor Corporation’s flagship luxury brand, was not formally established until a decade ago in 2015. The Genesis lineup now includes an array of performance sedans and SUVs, several offering a choice of gasoline or electric power.


 

In December 2024, Genesis announced the formation of Genesis Magma Racing and the intent to create a prototype sports car based on the Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh) platform used in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship. On April 16 at the New York International Auto Show, GMR unveiled a full-scale version of the car, with a vivid livery and styling cues like twin slit headlight that are instantly recognizable from Genesis’ production vehicles.

Per LMDh rules, the Genesis GMR-001 is based on one of four homologated chassis – in this case, ORECA. Genesis Magma Racing is leaning heavily on Hyundai Motorsport for technical guidance, and the combustion engine for the GMR-001 is a V-8 that shares 60 percent of its internal parts with the four-cylinder engine utilized in Hyundai’s World Rally Championship contender.


 

“The inline-four engine is a very, very sophisticated, very efficient engine,” said Hyundai Motorsport Technical Director François-Xavier Demaison. “It’s a proper race engine, so it's a very good base for developing an engine for (endurance sports car racing).”


 

Design work on the V-8 engine started in June 2024, and GMR recently revealed that the powerplant fired to life for the first time in late February 2025. Every GTP class competitor building their car to the LMDh specification (the Aston Martin Valkyrie is the lone GTP entrant running the Le Mans Hypercar [LMH] specification) pairs their internal combustion engine with a standardized set of hybrid components, including a gearbox casing produced by Xtrac incorporating a Bosch electric motor/Motor Generator Unit (MGU), and batteries provided by Fortescue Zero.  


 

“The first part of the project was to extrapolate what we knew from the WRC engine into endurance racing,” said Hyundai Motorsport Head of Powertrain Julien Moncet. “Then we focused on making improvements to aspects like efficiency and reliability, design and simulation, working hand-in-hand to define the engine. 


 

“The assembly of the first engine always takes a bit more time, as we pay extra attention to the details because we don’t know the engine. We had to learn and build the documentation together. It took about three or four weeks, but we completed the first fire-up exactly as scheduled.” 

Genesis announced the Magma sub-brand for high performance versions of its street cars in March 2024, and since then it revealed a series of concept vehicles in development for production. Moving forward, all Genesis vehicles will include a driver-focused Magma version. The first set for production is a 641-horsepower version of the electrified compact GV60 SUV, which in concept form took a class win at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed. 


 

Another Genesis showcased at Goodwood ’24 was the GV80 Magma Coupe concept, essentially a fastback version of the GV80 midsize SUV. The street version of the GV80 Coupe debuted in limited production for the 2025 model year; Genesis calls it “the perfect blend of coupe DNA and SUV prowess.”


 

Genesis kindly provided a GV80 Coupe E-Supercharged for evaluation during the week of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The E-Supercharged package adds an electric supercharger to the standard GV80’s 3.5-liter, twin turbo V-6. That bumps power from 375 to 409 horsepower and adds $5,800 to the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, bringing it to $85,750. 


 

The E-SC upgrades also includes larger 22-inch wheels, dark chrome exterior trim and carbon fiber for the interior, and ambient lighting and seatbelts in a reddish-orange hue that looks straight off a Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001.

The GV80 Coupe is right-sized for Southern California’s mix of freeways, surface streets, and canyon roads, with sure-footed handling and excellent visibility. The turbo- and supercharged engine unobtrusively provides plenty of power for cut-and-thrust traffic maneuvers or coastal cruising. It’s also a vehicle with presence, highlighted by the distinctive trademark Genesis grille and cat-eye headlights.


 

In the production car world, it took Hyundai roughly half the time it took for Japanese manufacturers like Toyota and Honda to establish themselves as serious mainstream players. Genesis has been on a similar fast track in the premium luxury segment, with its cars and SUVs already frequently rated as class leaders.


 

How long will it take Genesis Magma Racing to make a mark? If the company’s production car performance is any indication, not long at all…


 

Top Photo Courtesy IMSA; GMR-001 Engine, GV60, GV80 Photos Courtesy Genesis

 

Rotation Rise: When GTP Third Drivers Ascend to Full-Time Seats

Aitken, Deletraz Impressed Early Before Becoming IMSA Full-Timers


 

April 28, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There’s something special about being “the starter.” Whether that’s the starting quarterback or starting point guard, you’re the facilitator of the offense.


 

Sports car racing works slightly differently in that “the starter” can be any of two full-season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers or, occasionally, the third driver who competes at IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events.


 

It’s become increasingly common in the series’ top class, Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), for drivers who’ve impressed in sporadic appearances as third driver to have the chance to become a more regular part of a team’s rotation. 


 

As the progression in GTP talent has seen an increase of younger drivers with primarily formula car backgrounds stepping into the spotlight, so too have the third drivers become potential to emerge as full-season talents.


 

Two such drivers are a pair of Cadillac Racing’s aces, Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Action Express Racing-prepared Cadillac V-Series.R and Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing-prepared entry. Both are ex-Formula 2 drivers, now in their second full-time season in GTP, after previous appearances as GTP third drivers in 2023.

Aitken has, quietly but quickly, ascended to the most senior driving member of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac in his third year. Initially, he served as third driver alongside the championship-winning pair of Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims in 2023. In 2024 as Sims moved back to Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class action with Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, Aitken naturally stepped up to the full-time seat. 


 

Then when Derani surprised the paddock with his departure from the team after six years – eventually joining the new Genesis Magma Racing program – Aitken slotted into the de facto lead role alongside new full-season co-driver Earl Bamber and new endurance extras Frederik Vesti and Felipe Drugovich. 


 

Vesti is set to fill in for Bamber next time out at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, since Bamber has a schedule conflict. It’ll run shortly after his first weekend doing a Formula 1 free practice session at Bahrain for Mercedes-AMG Petronas. For Aitken, a one-time F1 race starter himself at Bahrain in 2020, being part of the multi-time IMSA championship winning outfit gave him the confidence to expand his team role. 


 

“They’ve done it all before and they’re pretty steady in their approach and self-confidence,” Aitken explained. “We’re prepared as a team to win and that doesn’t mean the work stops. We do everything we can to improve year-on-year, which I’ve seen, and that means bringing in new techniques, people and ideas. That fosters a lot of success in the future.” 


 

Deletraz’s rise to a full-time seat came when Wayne Taylor Racing added a second car, initially an Acura ARX-06 in 2024 before the team’s return to Cadillac and General Motors for 2025. 


 

It was his qualifying run at Motul Petit Le Mans in 2023 that really established Deletraz on the GTP map, even as he’d had some prior IMSA success in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2). With teammates Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque contending for the 2023 GTP title, WTR, Taylor and Albuquerque entrusted Deletraz to qualify the No. 10 car at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. He promptly qualified on pole. 


 

“It was awesome to get the pole on my first try and especially given the No. 10 was fighting for the championship,” Deletraz said. “I felt fast and the team came up with it I was like, ‘Well, I’ll do it because I like it, but it’s their championship!’ I got full support from everyone; the team wanted to do something different. I felt pressure but it helped build me up to what I am today.” 


 

Aitken reprised Deletraz in getting his first pole a year later at Petit Le Mans to cap off 2024.


 

“It’s always good to get the first one,” Aitken laughed. “I've enjoyed qualifying in other series and IMSA is no difference, so I'm hoping I can bank a few more this year. You just try and get the preparation right and then see how it goes on the day.”

Ironically, Deletraz reprised Aitken in winning his first GTP race at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring earlier in 2024. Aitken was the third driver as part of Cadillac Whelen’s 2023 win, although he finished driving the car after Derani and Sims had been in earlier. 


 

Deletraz finished driving in 2024… very famously so. A bold pass on Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 01 Cadillac on the inside into Turn 7 netted Deletraz the win alongside Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta. It’s a move that stood as one of IMSA’s best of 2024.


 

“That fight was insane,” Deletraz said. “It was probably the toughest fight I’ve ever had in a race car, especially because Seb was really good at defending.


 

“We had some pace advantage, and I knew I could do it, but I also didn’t want to crash. I just wanted to go for the gap, and I saw a space, so I went for it. That’s IMSA racing. I think it’s important to say you need to have two drivers to make this happen. We did there. Sometimes, there are drivers in the field you can’t race like this because you both wound up in the wall.” 


 

Both Aitken and Deletraz want to fight more frequently at the front in 2025 after sporadic times doing so in the last couple years. They’ve had tough starts to the season through the first three races – Aitken and Bamber have a best finish of fourth and Deletraz and Jordan Taylor’s best is seventh, both achieved at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. 


 

In Aitken’s case, he’s doing so alongside a new full-season co-driver in Bamber (except at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca). In Deletraz’s case, he’s doing it with a new car, the Cadillac instead of the Acura. 


 

Despite the team newness, Aitken quickly found his new teammates were quick adapters.


 

“I just have to drive fast and help out my teammates if they need it, but I don't think they need that much to be honest,” he said. “They're all talented. Earl’s obviously got a lot of success under his belt already, and Fred and Felipe are both fresh out of top-form programs. They don't need a lot of direction, so I think we're all working well together, already.”


 

Deletraz spoke about what it meant to ascend not only from a third driver to a full-season driver, but also what it means to be a greater part of a team and manufacturer program.


 

“It was great because I always wanted it to be full-time with a manufacturer, and obviously Wayne Taylor Racing gave me an opportunity,” Deletraz said. “It was the perfect place for me to be. Especially with Jordan, who has so much experience.


 

“Honestly, it's been very smooth, and I've been given an opportunity. They trust me, which I think as a driver can only help. When someone in a team trusts you, that helps a lot to build you up.” 

 

International Motor Sports Association    Lamborghini Super Trofeo series  
2025 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe calendar

11-13 April – Paul Ricard
30 May -1 June – Monza
27-29 June – Spa-Francorchamps
29-31 August – Nürburgring 
10-12 October – Barcelona 
6-7 November – Misano

2025 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia calendar

4-6 April – Sydney (Australia)
16-18 May – Shanghai (China) 
27-29 June – Fuji (Japan) 
18-20 July – Inje (South Korea)
5-7 September – Sepang (Malaysia) 
6-7 November – Misano

2025 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America calendar

12-14 March – Sebring (Florida)
9-11 May – Laguna Seca (California)
19-21 June – Watkins Glen (New York)
1-3 August – Road America (Wisconsin)
18-20 September – Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indiana)
6-7 November – Misano

2025 Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals

8-9 November - Misano

 

2025 international Motor Sports Association  schedule

Event Date  
 
The Roar Before The 24
Jan 17
11:00
 
Daytona 24 Hours
Jan 25
13:40
 
Sebring 12 Hours
* Mar 15
 
 
Long Beach
* Apr 12
 
 
Laguna Seca
* May 11
 
 
Detroit
* May 31
 
 
Watkins Glen
* Jun 22
 
 
Mosport
* Jul 13
 
 
Road America
* Aug 03
 
 
Virginia
* Aug 24
 
 
Indianapolis
* Sep 21
 
 
Petit Le Mans
* Oct 11
 

 
       

 

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