Background
The weekend’s highlight of the 2023 “Motul Course de Monterey” was round four of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. Following the recent “street fight” at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, it was anybody’s guess what this season’s first natural road course race would yield. WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway opened in 1957 and ranks among the most challenging, scenic, and, yes, loved venues on the IMSA calendar. From the iconic Corkscrew plummeting 59 feet in a quarter mile to the Andretti Hairpin, its 11 turns over 2.238 miles never disappoint.
Four races within a race
The WeatherTech Championship consists of four classes that race simultaneously. Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) are cutting-edge technological wonders that feature hybrid electrified powertrains paired with internal combustion engines. The older and slower Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class resembles the GTP cars, and they are built by ORECA to FIA specifications. Based on production cars, the GT Daytona (GTD) and GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) always produce intense racing where Porsches, BMWs, Ferraris, and Mercedes constantly lean on each other in highly engaging battles.
Pre-Race gossip
Addressing the elephant(s) in the room was Acura and the driver combination of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. Case in point: an Acura won Sunday’s main feature four years in a row. Ricky Taylor was part of the last three wins with Team Penske in 2020 and co-driving with Filipe Albuquerque for Wayne Taylor Racing in 2021 and 2022. But now that the premier class has turned to hybrid power, would the past be any indication of the future? Don’t forget the last 4 winners have come from the front row!
Porsche’s first customer GTP entry
Also making headlines this weekend was the first Porsche “customer” 963 entry; the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963. With veteran Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm at the wheel, Porsche fans wondered how competitive this non-factory entry would be.
BMW seeks “top of the box” in GTP
Entering round four, Acura, Cadillac, and Porsche have all visited victory lane—all but BMW. Last month at Long Beach, BMW pilot Connor De Phillippi earned the fastest lap of the race, and the BMW M Hybrid V8 GTP entries scored second and fourth overall. With proven speed, reaching the podium at Weathertech raceway was “priority one” for BMW this weekend.
Porsche winless in GTD
The last pre-race whispers centered around Porsche’s failure to reach the podium in GTD. Has it been a streak of bad luck or a case of faster competition? On the bright side, Wright Motorsports is the defending class winner at WeatherTech Raceway and will be joined by the Kellymoss/Riley and AO Racing team entries. After recent Long Beach, the current GTD points leaders are the BMW of Paul Miller Racing, the Aston Martin of Heart of Racing Team, and the Lexus of Vasser Sullivan.
Qualifying
Porsche Penske Motorsport wasted no time in marking their front-row territory with driver Matt Campbell steering the No. 7 Porsche 963 to the Motul Pole Award for the Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai. Mathieu Jaminet completed a front-row sweep for Porsche in the No. 6 entry that as you may recall, earned the car’s first win four weeks ago at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. After two practice sessions, Matt Campbell found another seven-tenths of a second in qualifying to lap the 2.238-mile road course in 1 minute, 14.774 seconds (107.748 mph). “Seven-tenths (improvement) I didn’t expect, that’s for sure,” said Campbell, who earned his second WeatherTech Championship pole position, and first in prototypes. “It came from just digging a little deeper and fine-tuning the car a little more,” added the 28-year-old Australian. The 963 has garnered a reputation as the most complex of the four sophisticated new hybrid-powered prototypes that made their debut in the GTP class in 2023.
GTD PRO Qualifying
In GTD Pro, 31 years-old Austrian driver Klaus Bachler, a stranger to Laguna Seca, won the pole position with a lap of 1 minute, 24.529 seconds (95.313 mph) in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) he shares with Patrick Pilet. “It’s just amazing,” he said. “First time here at Laguna and to finish with the pole position. Thanks to my team and to Patrick. We pushed each other quite hard. Everything is new for me this season.” The Pfaff team has won the class championship the past two seasons – GTD PRO in 2022 and GTD in 2021.
GTD Qualifying
Driving for team Kellymoss with Riley, Alex Udell drove the No. 92 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) to the GTD pole with a lap of 1:24.539 (95.302 mph). This was his first GTD pole. “It’s been awesome,” Udell said. “We’ve been coming to grips with a couple of things here and there. We’re just learning as we go. I’m just happy to get a little bit of boost going into the race. It’s always great to start from the front.” Roman De Angelis was close behind in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 he co-drives with Marco Sorensen. Seb Priaulx took third in the No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) that he shares with Gunnar Jeannette.
Full qualifying results HERE
The Race
As the green flag waved, chaos ensued immediately as the GTP hybrids crested turn 1 with Colin Braun (starting from P3 in the Acura) getting past the Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet in P2 and applying pressure to pole-sitter Matt Campbell. Campbell slid wide in turn 2 as he locked up his brakes allowing Braun to take the lead. The Whelen Engineering Cadillac driven by Pipo Derani immediately moved up into second punctuating the first lap disaster for both front row Porsches. Back in the GT pack that started separately, Sheena Monk in the lone Acura NSX had contact in turn 6 resulting in rear suspension damage and a full-course yellow for bodywork on track. And this was all before lap one was complete!
Porsche’s bad luck continued with both a 60-second penalty for Klaus Bachler in the PFAFF GTD-PRO Porsche 911 and a drive-through for Matt Campbell who IMSA declared partially responsible for nudging Jaren Andretti off course into the tires at pit entry, again causing a full-course caution. Later after Felipe Nasr took over for Campbell, he ran wide exiting turn 9, and hit the concrete wall. Would the pair of Kelly Moss Porsche 911s in GTD be the only hope for the German marque?
Last stint
A fourth full-course yellow started on lap 63 that lasted for 6 laps. During this time, most of the entire field came in for their final fuel and tire changes. Starting with lap 70 and ending with the checkered on lap 102, the race “calmed down” without much drama other than some position changes. The Cadillac Racing GTP V-Series.R driven by Renger van der Zande in the last stint exited the pit lane in P1 and led the race until the checkered flag fell. The two Kellymoss with Riley GTD Porsches (#91 & #92) stayed among the front runners in GTD for the remainder of the race. At the flag, it was #92 (driven by Alec Udell and Julien Andlauer) taking 3rd and their sister car #91 (driven by Alan Metni and Kay van Berlo) earning 1st in class.
Conclusion
The two-hour and forty-minute race provided plenty of unexpected results, not to mention full-course cautions and penalties. The Penske Porsches in GTP looked to dominate with their front-row qualifying positions, yet only salvaged a second place. Porsche finally earned a podium in a GT class, while Lexus retains its points dominance in GTD PRO. The next round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship is June 6th with the 6 Hours of Watkin’s Glen in New York.
For full results, please go HERE
Qualifying video
