Overturned cars, yellow flags and long-awaited returns to the top marked Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Day two of the StubHub Monterey Sportscar Championship featured races in the Mustang Challenge, Michelin Pilot Challenge and Lamborghini Super Trofeo, as well as qualifying for Sunday’s feature race.
And the main event–qualifying for the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Challenge–provided the least drama.
Louis Deletraz took pole for Wayne Taylor Racing in the GTP class no. 40 Cadillac V-Series.R prototype, which he will share with co-driver Jordan Taylor on Sunday, with a fast lap of 1:13.221 edging the no. 31 Whelen Cadillac of Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber by 0.2 of a second. It marks Deletraz’s first pole at the legendary track–and the first for WTR since the Road America round in 2024.
“It’s awesome to be P1, especially at a track like this,” Deletraz says. “I’m confident we can stay there and fight for it.”
GTP represents IMSA’s state-of-the-art hybrid racers, the fastest in North America. In GTD Pro, the purposed-built racers based on street cars, Jack Hawksworth qualified his no. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 ahead of the field–his 16th IMSA pole, but first at Laguna Seca. His lap of 1:21.228 topped the pro field by 0.26.
“It’s a track we’ve struggled at,” he says. “We managed to get the tires [warmed] in at the right time.”
Temperatures dropped dramatically before the GTD Pro drivers began their session, and the effect was apparent. GTD drivers qualified first, with fast laps coming midway through their runs. For GTD Pro and GTP classes, tires did not come up to temperature until the last two laps.
Although most of the pro ran slower than the GTD leaders, they will start ahead of the pro-am series on Sunday.
“It’s not the easiest track to pass on, so we’ll see how the race goes,” says Lorenzo Patrese, who shares the no. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo driving duties with Albert Costa. He took pole with a lap of 1:21.441
A bare 0.95 of a second separates the top seven GTD cars in qualifying. For Conquest, it is the first pole for the team since 2012.
In GTP, the team of Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber in the Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R will start on the outside on Sunday, with Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly’s Meyer Shank Racing/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 starting third.
Sunday’s race takes the green flag at 1:10pm.
Michelin Pilot Challenge
Yellow flags dominated the first half of Saturday’s race. Lucas Weisenberg rolled his no. 67 BSI Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo at the exit of turn 2 in the early going, ending up on his roof.
Twenty minutes later–which included trouble for the no. 37 CarBahn BMW M4 GT4 Evo; its passenger door kept swinging open–the no. 21 Victor Gonzalez Racing Cupra Leon VZ in the TCR class under the control of William Tally skidded off track heading into turn 2 after contact with another car and rolled, ending up back on its wheels.
The no. 95 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 Evo entry of Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars took the checkered flag in GS.
There was less drama in TCR, where the no. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N of Mason Filippi and Bryson Morris dominated.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
Race one had a familiar look, with the no. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing machine trying to chase down the no. 29 TR3 entry, to no avail. However, with 10 minutes remaining in the 50-minute race, Nick Persing, who took over the wheel of the no. 1 car after Hampus Ericsson's opening stint, dove for a gap at the top of the Corkscrew.
The two cars made contact and the no. 29 of Dennis Lind and Elias de la Torre spun. De la Torre, who had driving duties, recovered but dropped five seconds back.
Officials assessed a 10-second penalty on Persing, to be applied at the finish. With just eight minutes remaining, the no. 1 seemed destined for another second place behind the no. 29.
But Persing put in an epic effort and pulled out to an 11-second advantage, securing the win.