The second half of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship’s West Coast Swing brings the championship to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca has been a sportscar staple since the track’s inception since 1957. IMSA’s series have a staple of the track’s schedule since 1974 (with a few exceptions). With this history in mind, what better place to host “throwback weekend” saluting the history of American sportscar racing. GTP, GTD PRO and GTD are set to do battle on the iconic Northern California circuit. The racing has been some of the best on the calendar (YouTube last year’s finish) and this weekend hopes to be no exception. So what can we expect from the StubHub Monterey Sportscar Championship?
Acura emphatically got in the winner’s column in Long Beach. Now they look to “sweep the swing” Photo Courtesy: HRC US
GTP: Floodgates Open?
Long Beach lived up to its reputation of being a street fight. Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) Acura and Whelen (Action Express) Cadillac Racing entertaining spectators with a duel to the finish. Acura prevailed (only to drop their bombshell days later) to keep their recent streak of street race success alive. They want to bring their momentum to Laguna Seca. The brand has been dominant at the track…in the DPi era. Acura won four straight from 2019-22, but the success did not translate over to the GTP/LMDh regulations.
Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande look to sweep the California Road Trip while Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun are hoping to keep pace. The latter crew is looking for their first podium of the season after another underwhelming performance at Long Beach. The BoP did help Acura with a 3kg weight break and a power increase. Let’s see if the ARX-06 can shine in its final trip (for now) to the Monterey Peninsula.
Close but No Cigar
As mentioned, Whelen Cadillac came out on the losing end of an amazing battle at Long Beach. If you are Jack Aitken, you have to be wondering what you got to do to a win a race. But there are plenty of positives to take away. Three straight podiums to start the season and the #7 had a subpar (to their standards) day. After Long Beach, Aitken (and Frederik Vesti – who is not at Laguna this weekend) are just 38 points adrift of the lead. Consistency will be key to a championship. Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet proved as much last year to their title win. And it’s a mantra Whelen Cadillac must maintain.
Aitken will seek his sixth consecutive podium with a lighter V.Series-R this weekend. Cadillac recieved a 15kg weight break through the BoP, but they will have less power and stint energy at their disposal. Considering how tight and concise Laguna Seca is, less power may not be as much of a bad thing.
Still Looking for Answers
What is a bad thing right now is Wayne Taylor Racing’s performance. As the team continues to seek the right balance since reuniting with Cadillac, results are still lacking. There is no sugar coating – both cars were non-factors at Long Beach. Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor can’t seem to buy a break. For Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz, their results continue to regress. Deletraz has mentioned there are evo updates to the Caddy in addition to new engineering talent at WTR. But the question now becomes how long until the results start coming?
Reacclimation
The #6 duo of Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor are fresh off back-to-back podiums. Keeping the momentum will be interesting for Laguna Seca. Both drivers have not been at the track in a while. Kevin is back for the first time since (yea…this is correct) 2014. Laurens has not been gone that long with 2021 being his last (and a victorious) visit. But he says the length of time away isn’t really a factor. “Whatever I learned those five years ago is still valid today,” Vanthoor says. Seeing the track recently, albeit privately, always helps. “I don’t see it as any negative especially as I have been testing there nowadays,” Laurens states. “Even when we went testing, it took two-three laps to get back used to it, and it instantly comes back.”
That helps when you also consider Laurens was in a 911 GT3R in 2021. The adjustment to the 963, contrarily, is not as big as one may think. “Once you’ve got used to both cars, obviously, is not that terribly different,” Laurens states. “Like whenever I jump between cars, it’s not that I need five laps to get used to it.” Indeed, Vanthoor knows the big differences, “Obviously, the 963 is a lot more complicated. With all the software, systems, the ability to tune the car, tire degradation and so on. It will be more complex, and you need a bit more ‘brain capacity’ to get around everything.”
So Larry now that you have tested, what is the key to winning? “Get the basics right,” Vanthoor stated. “There’s nothing extremely special or way different on Laguna than maybe other standard tracks. Getting the basic ride of setup, long runs and tire degradation strategy is the most important.”
Redemption
Remember last year’s finish? I am pretty sure BMW does. They are out to upgrade last year’s result albeit with a different team running the cars. WRT are still learning their way through IMSA racing and getting their first taste of sprint prototype racing is an adjustment. Still, another top-5 result from Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor is welcome progress. I know the drivers and team are still finding performance in the evo upgrades for the M Hybrid V8. But three straight top-5 in a competitive series like IMSA is nothing to sneeze at. Furthermore, it was Vanthoor in the mix late that got sent in the dirt at Turn 11 on the final lap. Don’t think he has forgetten. And don’t let it be Dries vs Laurens in that scenario this year. My imagination is running wild just thinking about it.
The other car, however, of Phillip Eng and Marco Wittman cannot catch a break. Last in the pack at Long Beach to go with mechanical issues at Daytona and Sebring. Laguna Seca would a welcomed, desperately needed reset for this duo. Maybe the 17kg weight break in BoP for the BMW will do some good.
Development Gains
Roman de Angelis and Ross Gunn appear to be more confident with the Valkyrie this season. This is evident in the increase in pace. At Sebring and Long Beach, the car has cut the gap in qualifying at both tracks in half compared to 2025. But there are no illusions the car is still being developed race-by-race. Getting the race will be key for the team to improve their results. The commitment to the program and yearning for the car to succeed shows Aston Martin and Heart of Racing are in it for the long haul. Let’s hope the improvements turn to results very soon.
Winning Time (Race Predictions)
Time for our GT REPORT race predictions and who we think will be victorious at Laguna Seca.
Miguel Bosch, GT REPORT Editor-In-Chief: At Long Beach, Porsche’s hold over GTP was finally broken. Still, I like their chances at Laguna Seca. They won here last year with the #6 leading a 1-2 finish. They got the podium at Long Beach and I think the momentum stays in this camp. Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor for the win on Sunday.
David Lawrence, GT REPORT IMSA Writer: They have knocking on the door the first three races. Sunday, Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber are going to knock down the door. There are only so many opportunities until this team finally answers the call. They know consistency will win them an IMSA championship. But a win never hurts. Whelen Action Express Cadillac takes the flag on the Monterey Peninsula.
With six weeks to rest after the opening enduros, GTD PRO returns for the regular distance rounds
GTD PRO: Mindset Shift
GTD PRO teams are back after sitting out the month of April. The season begins in earnest for them this weekend. Tommy Milner is looking forward to he and his Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports team tackling the remainder of the season. “Since day one,
with this team that I feel like every time I’m at the racetrack, I have a chance to win the race,” he says. Corvette are always competitive at Laguna Seca, but have had trouble finishing the deal as of late. Corvette has not won at Laguna since 2021 in GTLM.
But Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller are the defending champions of GTD PRO. Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia netted Corvette the team’s only race win at VIR. I bring that up because consistency in IMSA is very key. Sims and Garcia only finished outside the top 4 once all last season. Tommy knows races like this will make the difference come October. Simultaneously, all the pieces will need to come together to make that happen. “We just focus on ourselves, figure out what our strengths and weaknesses are,” Milner remarks. “Build a plan for the
race that we think is going to keep us up front if that’s where we are pace-wise. If we’re not quite the quickest, then looking for a strategy for the race that’ll provide us a chance to be more towards the front as well.”
The Edge
Laguna Seca’s twisty nature may favor the Corvette. “Our braking performance is quite strong,” praises Milner. “Turn 5, Turn 6…Rainey Corner they’ve been good.” As we alluded to its cornering, Laguna Seca is not necessarily a power track. “Laguna is not a very fast
racetrack in the sense there’s not a long straight away there. We barely get into sixth gear there.” Nonetheless, despite the elevations, his car is still well equipped to handle this circuit with ease. “The drive up the hill at Laguna is tricky,” he said. “Having that hill from 5 all the way to the Corkscrew still requires a pretty, pretty powerful engine, um, to find lap time there.”
Well-Positioned
Milner and teammate Nicky Catsburg come into Laguna Seca 30 points behind points leaders Neil Verhagen and Connor de Philippi. (We should note there is a tie in the points lead with the Manthey trio of Klaus Bachler, Thomas Prening and Ricardo Feller. Obviously, they will not be at Laguna as they are only running the endurance races.) The Paul Miller BMW team looks to carry their strong start from the enduros into the regular rounds. It would help as Laguna Seca has not been the team’s best track historically. BMW has had modest results in last few years, but not from Paul Miller.
Contrarily, AO Racing and “Rexy” are also well-positioned, returning to happy hunting ground. The team has won the race the last two years. Both years, they had the rising star Laurin Heinrich behind the wheel (if you are JDC-Miller that must make you feel better). This year, Harry King and Nick Tandy will pilot the Porsche around Laguna Seca. The team rebounded from a rough Daytona with a much-needed Sebring runner-up finish. Coming into the first sprint of the season, King and Tandy are within 100 points of the lead. With Sebring momentum and recent Laguna success, are the stars aligning for AO?
Rebound Needed
Speaking of rebounds, Multimatic is in desperate need of a rebound right now. A competitive Rolex 24 yielded little fruit in terms of results. Sebring was quiet with both cars finishing outside the top-5. For a program that won both short and long races in 2025, the start of 2026 has not met their high expectations. The good news is that there is plenty of time left to get on track. The bad news is, looking at the team’s short history, Laguna has been a place where they have struggled. However, there is a silver lining (more on that in a minute).
Another team who could use a rebound result is Vasser Sullivan Racing. The GTD PRO team could use some of the mojo on the GTD side of the garage (again, more on that later). The start of the season saw the team unable to catch a break. Yes, this is the final season for their venerable Lexus RC F GT3 before the Toyota GR GT3 arrives. Significantly, no team in the garage knows their car better than Vasser Sullivan. They know their strengths and weaknesses. They know where they can find speed. It may come down to the BoP and the track. Recent trends show Laguna bodes well for Lexus as the car has shown pace and a couple of GTD PRO podiums recently should give the team optimism.
Still Learning
Pfaff Motorsports is still putting this new Lamborghini Temerario through its paces. For Andrea Calderelli and Sandy Mitchell, the goal is to learn this car and extract pace. You can say the goal was met at Sebring – finishing the race with a respectable performance, no major issues finishing only a lap off the class winners. Pfaff made the trip to Long Beach to get more race experience with the car. I do feel in this case the results did not matter as much as the data gathering. Going the race distance albeit finishing a lap down definitely ticks that box. Expectations can’t be enormously high for Laguna Seca but you never know.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan is also still learning their McLaren. Whereas Daytona the team had their expected hiccups, Sebring was a much cleaner run finishing only a lap off the class pace. But don’t be surprised if this team can catch a top-5 in the next couple of rounds. Call me crazy, but a young duo of Nikita Johnson and Max Esterson could be built to shine for the shorter races. I am interested to see if the 720S GT3 will be up to the task. The McLaren did score a podium with Pfaff here in GTD PRO two years ago. Let’s see if RLL can replicate the success…no pressure guys.
BoP Updates
Ah yes, the good ol’ Balance of Performance. Let’s see what IMSA has up their bag of tricks. Since we last saw GTD PRO in Sebring, the Ford will get a (very) nice 47kg weight break. Lamborghini (14kg), BMW (10kg) and McLaren (3kg) will all see smaller weight breaks. Conversely, Porsche will come to Laguna Seca 11kg heavier than at Sebring. Additionally, Porsche will have no rear wing adjustment as other manufacturers will get some rear wing flexibility. McLaren and Corvette will have the greatest rear wing flexibility amongst the GTD PRO field this weekend. Finally, in the power stages Corvette (+6.4%) and Lamborghini (+3.2%) saw upticks in Stage 2. Conversely, Porsche saw a 2% increase in Stage 1, but a 5% decrease in Stage 2.
Winning Time
MB: Laguna Seca should suit Porsche well. So, once again, I’m putting my money on Stuttgart. They have won the last two years. And even though they have different drivers this year, AO Racing make it three straight. Harry King and Nick Tandy in the #77 take the victory.
DL: My vote will be for the #4 Corvette. Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg have started the season quietly strong. Plus, I didn’t realize Milner’s win with Tandy here in 2021 was his last IMSA win. Yea…I think he changes that statistic on Sunday.
The Lexus RC F GT3 is still finding success in its tenth (and final) season on the track
GTD: The Old Warriors
Three races down in GTD and two of the races have been won by two of the oldest cars in service. Daytona was won by Winward Racing with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 that has been in use since 2016 and last evo’d in 2020. In Long Beach, Vasser Sullivan won with their Lexus RC F GT3, racing since 2017. I know fans despise BoP, but these two cars are evidence that the system is working as it should. BoP in a way helps to keep cars that are usually long in the tooth to be competitive even past “shelf life.”
Aaron Telitz reminds us that age brings repetition. “We’ve been in the mind frame of ‘We know what this car is capable of’,” says the Vasser Sullivan Lexus driver. Furthermore, that knowledge brings anticipation. “We thought we’d have a great shot at it this year,” Aaron remarked. “Vasser Sullivan has so many great guys…the core group is still there from when we won the championship in 2023. Everybody’s still here and everyone’s ready to make it happen. So, we’re gonna try to get the old girl another championship, that’s for sure.”
Ironically, both cars have replacements on the way. The second generation AMG GT3 and the Toyota GR GT3 should be ready to hit the track for 2027. If both make it to Daytona is a story for another day. But 2026 could be written by these two cars and their championship-winning pedigree teams that run them. I mean, they have won the last three GTD championships between them. What’s to say they don’t keep the streak going.
More Good News
Speaking of keeping streaks going, Laguna Seca looks very favorable to both cars. As mentioned earlier, Lexus has shown to have strong pace at Laguna. But Mercedes may be the car to have. Mercedes has won one of the GTD class each of the last three years and Winward has won the last two years in GTD. Continuity really does count for something after all.
A Little New Surrounding the Familiar
While there is plenty continuity at Vasser Sullivan, conversely there is some change. Telitz has a new full-season partner in the form of Denmark’s Benjamin Pederson. A win at Long Beach in only their third race together seems like the new arrangement is going quite well. Aaron shed some light on the dynamic. “I haven’t known Benjamin very long really,” he recalls. “I knew of him when he was coming up through the IndyCar ladder system, just like I did. We’ve got a really similar background there, but I never worked with him until this year. We just hit it off. He’s really similar to me in a lot of ways.”
That speaks volumes for someone like Pederson, who is competing in GT machinery for the first time in his career. “Anytime he had a question with something or was struggling with something, I knew exactly where he was coming from,” says Telitz. The chemistry looks to already be paying dividends and there could be more.
Back on Track?
I mentioned earlier Winward has won Laguna Seca the last two years. They could desperately use a win right now. Yes, this sounds odd talking about a team that started a quest for a third straight championship with a win. But then Sebring and Long Beach happened. A crash at Sebring three hours in the race had them finish last. Long Beach was a quiet race not up to their lofty championship standards. So Laguna Seca may be just what the doctor ordered to keep hopes of a third straight championship alive.
Sleeper of the Weekend
Dudu Barichello maintained his points lead through Long Beach. But he better watch out because Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher, I think, are for real. This duo has progressively improved with each race. As I wrote two weeks ago, the team showed pace at Daytona and Sebring. The pace stayed at Long Beach and they were rewarded with a nice runner-up finish. And history favors them at Laguna as well. The team has scored podiums in GTD three of the last four years. There must a lot of pep in the step around Will Turner’s New Hampshire shop these days.
BoP
Compared to Long Beach, Aston Martin (-41kg), Ford (-15kg), Porsche (-11kg) and BMW (-10kg) receive weight breaks. Ferrari (+10kg) and Corvette (+4kg) will see weight increases. IMSA has decided to keep rear wings in place from Long Beach to Laguna. In power, Aston Martin will see decreases in both power stages. Porsche and Ford will see gains in stage one while decreases in stage two. Finally, Corvette, Ferrari, BMW and Lamborghini will see gains in both power stages.
Driver News
Meanwhile, on the driver front, we have already chronicled Lorenzo Patrese in at Conquest. Here are a couple of other notes.
- Scott Andrews trades in Mercedes for Aston Martin. He will partner Rory van der Steur in the #19 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin.
- Tom Gamble is back in the #27 Aston Martin with Dudu Barichello after being on WEC duty at Imola during the Long Beach weekend.
Winning Time
MB: So far, no brand has won more than one race this year. That continues this weekend. I feel Turner Motorsport will take the flag this weekend in their #96 BMW. They were close at Long Beach and Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley continue to improve.
DL: With his regular partner in crime back, Dudu Barichello will pad his championship lead with his first win of the season. Like Whelen Cadillac in GTP, Heart of Racing had a strong start in Florida. Long Beach was an off day, but hopefully its a small blip on the radar. Heart of Racing’s #27 returns to winning ways on Sunday with Barichello and Tom Gamble.
On-Track Schedule (all times PT US)
Friday
- Free Practice 1 – 3:20-4:50pm
Saturday
- Free Practice 2 – 9:55-11:25am
- Qualifying – 3:15-4:10pm
Sunday
- Race – 1:10-3:50pm
Radio & TV Schedule
IMSA Radio will broadcast all sessions on IMSAradio.com and Radio Show Limited (RS2). Friday Free Practice coverage starts at 6pm ET/3pm PT. Saturday broadcast goes live at 12:45pm ET/9:45am PT for Free Practice 2 and 6:10pm ET/3:10pm PT for Qualifying. Sunday Race Coverage starts at 3pm ET/12pm PT. The SiriusXM Simulcast of the IMSA Radio feed will go live on Channels 206 (Vehicles) and 996 (SXM App) at 4pm ET/1pm PT.
Qualifying & Race will be streamed live via Peacock (USA Only) alongside IMSA.tv and IMSA YouTube (International). Live qualifying coverage on Saturday starts at 6:10pm ET/3:10pm PT. Live race coverage on Sunday starts at 4pm ET/1pm PT on both platforms. In the United States, the race will be simulcast on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN).
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Headline Photo: Start of the 2025 Race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Photo Courtesy: Porsche Newsroom
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