The WeatherTech Sportscar Championship is ready to roll at Laguna Seca, minus one car.

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s GTP machines return to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in a strong position. The team cars finished first and second a year ago, and the no. 7 Porsche 963 piloted by Julian Andlauer and Felipe Nasr sits atop the 2026 leaderboard.

But the story coming into the StubHub Monterey Sportscar Championship involves a car that will not take part in Sunday’s race.

A fire broke out in the trailer hauling the No. 36 DXDT Corvette Z06 GT3.R as it passed on Interstate 5 north of Bakersfield on Wednesday, engulfing the car and much of the equipment. After briefly considering the option of bringing a backup from the shop in North Carolina, the team decided to withdraw from the race.

The car features a specially designed hand control system created by Bosch for driver Robert Wickens, who is without the use of his legs. Because the trailer has been impounded for an insurance investigation, the team is uncertain what—if anything—can be salvaged.

“It’s a situation that in my career I’ve never seen before,” Wickens says. “It’s crazy.”

Wickens was at home in Indiana, trying to put his daughter down for a nap when he received the call. He ignored the first, but when the phone rang a second time moments later, he picked up.

Because there was little news at first of the extent of the damage, Wickens took his flight from Indianapolis. “While I was in the air, I saw a news item on Twitter,” he says of how he learned of the withdrawal.

At Long Beach in April, Wickens put the car out front in the GTD class before handing it over to co-driver Mason Filippi. The pair battled for a podium finish before late-race damage dropped them to 5th.

“I knew we had good momentum,” Wickens says of their hopes coming into Laguna Seca. “This doesn’t stop a good team.”

GTP

While recent performance suggests the Porsche Penske Motorsports machines will challenge for the win, the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R piloted by Jack Aitken and joined at Laguna Seca by veteran Earl Bamber returns to a track where the team has had five consecutive podium finishes.

And Aitken’s Cadillac hybrid was on pace at Long Beach, taking second.

“We were in position to win,” he says. “I don’t think much more is going to change here.”

A team with new-found momentum is Acura Meyer Shank Racing/Curb Agajanian, particularly the no. 93 Acura ARX-06 in the hands of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly. At Long Beach the duo stormed to the lead and held off the field to take the checkered flag. 

However, Yelloly says the elation over the result two weeks ago has worn off.

“You’re only as good as your last race,” he observes. “You need to be consistently good.”

Question marks for the race weekend are limited to the degradation rate of the new tires used by the GTP class this year, as well as cooler temperatures, which may benefit some teams, including Acura.

There are 33 entries in GTP.

GTD Pro

The series skipped the tight confines of Long Beach, so teams haven't battled in anger since Sebring in March. A test at Laguna Seca in April, immediately following bicycling’s Sea Otter Classic provided some information, although the track was dirty and slow.

“At least we got some laps,” says Connor De Phillippi, driver of the no. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.

De Phillippi and co-driver Neil Verhagen top the field coming into Laguna Seca. Although tied in points on paper with a trio of drivers from the Manthey team running Porsche 911 GT3 Rs, that squad is only participating in endurance races.

“It doesn’t change our approach,” De Phillippi says of the standings. “We still have to learn as much as we can [in practice] and apply it.”

With Manthey bypassing the sprint races, that effectively puts the Corvette Racing/Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg in second coming into GTD Pro’s third round. And Catsburg says that makes the purpose clear.

“We are putting all our focus into scoring as many points as possible,” he says, "and maybe not taking that extra risk to finish P1. Of course, we're going to try to win when we can.”

Seven other vehicles fill out the pro grid.

GTD

While the cars are identical to the pro class, GTD includes drivers rated silver or bronze on the experience spectrum. After three races, the Lexus RC F GT3 prepared by Vasser Sullivan Racing, Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and the BMW M4 GT3 Evo from Turner Motorsports have proven the most consistent.

At Long Beach, the no. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe—a bronze-rated driver—put themselves into the mix, just missing a podium.

“It was good for the team,” Schandorff says. “There’s a lot of pressure being a bronze driver racing against silvers. He’s one of the fastest bronzes in the world.”

Thirteen cars make up the GTD field. All classes will be on track together at Laguna Seca.

The WeatherTech Sportscar Championship practice 2 takes place 9:55-11:25am Saturday, May 2. Qualifying is from 3:15-4:10pm Saturday. The race is 1:10-3:50pm Sunday, May 3.