Motorsports: Traffic proves challenging in Laguna Seca IMSA race
LAGUNA SECA >> And you thought the traffic was bad coming home from Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday.
A trio of relatively minor on-track mishaps had a major impact on two of the three classes in this weekend’s IMSA Motul Course de Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The race featured three classes of cars on the track simultaneously, complicating split-second decisions and making it hectic for drivers attempting to navigate position on an already difficult track.
Nick Tandy and co-driver Mathieu Jaminet saw this first hand as they piloted No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 to the checkered flag in the top-class Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) finishing 5.764 seconds ahead of Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac. Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron took third in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 to maintain a 50-point lead in the GTP standings over the No. 31 Cadillac.
The victory was Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 100th sports car win, and Porsche’s 600th IMSA win, taking place with racing icon Roger Penske on hand. But the nearly three-hour contest wasn’t settled until the final minutes.
Aitken, leading at the time, was the victim of the type of traffic mishap that happens in a crowded IMSA field when his move to pass two Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) cars with about 12 minutes left was inadvertently blocked, causing him to slip off the track coming out of Turn 4. Tandy capitalized, took the lead, and ultimately the first-place trophy. The win puts the No. 6 Porsche car in second place, 10 points behind Cadillac in GTP’s manufacturer points standings.
“I feel for Jack,” Tandy said. “It wasn’t obvious what was going to happen. He picked one side just as they started to go that way. I had a grandstand seat to see where they were going and managed to go the other way and take the lead.”
On lap 109 Tandy and Aitken attempted to split two GTD racers – Tandy down the inside and Aitken around the outside. Aitken guessed wrong and was pushed into the gravel as Tandy took the lead.
“Every time we would catch traffic, I knew I had to put pressure on (Aiken),” Tandy said. “If you have a 10-second gap, it’s easy to measure up the traffic. You can pick and choose; you can just wait and pass on the exit. But when somebody is pressuring you for 20 or 30 laps — the decisions have to get quicker and more off the cuff. Nine times out of 10, it’s pretty obvious.”
Initially it also seemed obvious that Sébastien Bourdais would have a great shot at capturing a GTP win. Bourdais produced a record-setting lap in Saturday’s qualifying putting his No. 1 Cadillac in the pole position with Tandy’s Porsche three spots behind.
Bourdais led for the first 40 laps until a collision saw Dane Cameron’s No. 7 Porsche Penske get hit from the back, scattering debris on track. A full-course yellow flag brought the field closer together behind a safety car, sabotaging Bourdais’ lead. Aitken overtook him and was in good position until the traffic tussle with the GTD cars handed the lead — and the win — to Tandy, Jaminet, Porsche and Penske.
“I can tell you there’s a lot of pressure coming from Porsche because they expect us to win,” Penske said postrace. “We’ve been through a lot of stuff this past couple of weeks, but hey, we’re on a roll.”
Turner Motorsports also had its own Sunday drama, impacted by the second traffic snafu. With less than five minutes to go, the No. 557 Turner Motorsports BMW driven by Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher was bumped off track. The collision opened the door for Russell Ward and Phillip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG to win the GTD race, their third win in four starts. It also ruined Turner Motorsports’ 557th start for BMW, the most for any team globally. Foley recovered for his team’s second consecutive second-place finish leaving them in second in overall points, providing a bittersweet ending for Turner Motorsports.
“It was shaping up to be a great day for our 55th race, and we wanted to make it count,” said team owner Will Turner. “Unfortunately, this was one of the worst second place finishes we’ve had. We got to the lead and everything was going great until a prototype ruined our day with some contact and we got passed. But that’s IMSA multi-class racing, and anything can happen.”
The day’s only incident-free victory came seconds after Tandy secured win 600 for Porsche. The manufacturer then got their 601st courtesy of Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich when the fan-favorite No. 77 AO Racing 911 GT3 R crossed the finish line ahead of the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD Pro) field. The iconic dinosaur-themed car captured both driver’s and the team’s first IMSA win and first at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
IMSA action will resume May 31-June 1 with the Detroit Grand Prix. The race will be held on a 1.7-mile circuit, carved out on the Detroit streets. IMSA will join Formula 1 and IndyCar in racing on the Michigan circuit.
