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Lots of Streaks on the Line Ahead of Second Straight WeatherTech Championship California Race
April 30, 2025
By Tony DiZinno IMSA Wire Service
Entry List (Click Here)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca serves as the first two-hour, 40-minute standard length sprint race of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
A total of 36 cars are set to compete across Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and the two GT classes, Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD). The GTP car count stays at 11 for a second straight race, alongside 10 GTD PRO and 15 GTD cars. The race is Round 4 of the year for GTP and GTD, while GTD PRO is back for Round 3 for the first time since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.
Triarsi Competizione’s No. 023 Ferrari 296 GT3 makes its first GTD sprint start of the year with Onofrio Triarsi and Riccardo Agostini, joining 14 full-season entries. The one-off Nos. 177 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, both of which finished on the Long Beach podium, drop off at WeatherTech Raceway. Three other GTD PRO or GTD cars, the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 (Marvin Kirchhoefer substituting for Ben Barnicoat), the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (Darren Turner substituting for Tom Gamble) and the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R (Alec Udell returns, now alongside Robert Wickens), have changed lineups since the last race.
Porsche’s win streak to start 2025 both overall and in GT headlines the stories heading into WeatherTech Raceway. Additionally, the 30-time winning manufacturer at WeatherTech Raceway has a track-specific streak of five years straight with at least one GT class win in Monterey.
Weekend fast facts and entry notes are below:
Fast Facts
TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Monterey, California
May 9-11, 2025
Race Day/Time: Sunday, May 11 – 3:10 p.m. ET
NBC Network Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 3 p.m. (streaming on Peacock in the U.S., IMSA TV Live and IMSA YouTube outside the U.S.)
Live Qualifying Stream: Saturday, May 10 – 7:10 p.m. ET (streaming on Peacock in the U.S., IMSA TV Live and IMSA YouTube outside the U.S.)
IMSA Radio: Selected sessions with race coverage at 3 p.m. on Sunday on XM 206, Web/App 996
Circuit Type: 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course
Race Length: Two hours, 40 minutes
Classes Competing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), GT Daytona (GTD)
Track Social Media:
Instagram.com/WeatherTechRaceway
Facebook.com/WeatherTechRaceway
Twitter.com/WeatherTechRcwy
WeatherTechRaceway.com
Event Hashtags: #IMSA, #WeatherTechRaceway, #LagunaSeca
WeatherTech Championship Track Records
GTP: Sebastien Bourdais, Cadillac V-Series.R, 1:12.445 / 111.212 mph, May 2024
GTD PRO: Nicky Catsburg, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, 1:19.727 / 101.054 mph, May 2024
GTD: Danny Formal, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, 1:20.866 / 99.631 mph, May 2024
2024 TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Winners
GTP: Nick Tandy/Mathieu Jaminet, No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963
GTD PRO: Laurin Heinrich/Seb Priaulx, No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
GTD: Russell Ward/Philip Ellis, No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
2024 TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Motul Pole Award Winners
GTP: Sebastien Bourdais, No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R
GTD PRO: Nicky Catsburg, No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R
GTD: Danny Formal, No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2
Storylines
Porsche, Porsche, Porsche: Porsche Penske Motorsport has won three straight GTP races. AO Racing’s “Rexy” Porsche has won two straight, one apiece in GTD PRO and GTD, although the team trades it in for “Roxy” at this race. Both teams won at WeatherTech Raceway last year. Can their aligned win streaks continue?
Magic 8 Ball of Manufacturer Wins: Eight automotive brands have won races in IMSA-sanctioned series with multiple manufacturers (BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche, Toyota) through April, with that number expanding to 11 once single-make race winners in Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin are added. Seven of the 18 brands in IMSA seek their first 2025 wins next weekend.
California Dreaming… Again: Continuing the theme of streaks, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship completes its back-to-back run of California races with the trip up the coast to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey after the 100-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 12. The two-hour, 40-minute race is the first standard length sprint race of the year. IMSA has raced at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca every year since 1999.
Golden State Valkyrie: Who knew an IMSA car and a WNBA basketball team could be linked together on the same weekend? The WNBA’s newest expansion team, Oakland-based Golden State Valkyries, will premiere on May 6 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, with its second game on the road in Phoenix Saturday, May 11. And after its first IMSA race and first street race, the Aston Martin THOR Team’s Valkyrie prototype will now make its first WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca start in the “Golden State” itself.
Comeback Challengers: Both Whelen Cadillac (GTP) and Turner Motorsport (GTD) suffered gut-wrenching, late-race defeats at WeatherTech Raceway last year when poised for victory. Surprisingly, the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R’s runner-up finish in Monterey in 2024 is the team’s most recent podium finish. Turner’s pair of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher have opened 2025 with three straight top-six finishes in their No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
CrowdStrike Endurance, Teamwork and Speed Award: The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 (IMSA WeatherTech Championship, Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach) and No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO (IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring International Raceway) were awarded the CrowdStrike Endurance, Teamwork and Speed Award at the most recent IMSA races. Both will be presented with the award during prerace ceremonies. Click here for a list of the 2025 winners and award criteria.
Who’s Hot?
Porsche Penske Motorsport: The team’s No. 7 Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy has won each of the first three races and leads the sister No. 6 Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, which has scored two runner-up finishes and a third, by 123 points. It’s been a near statistically perfect start to 2025 for the team, which won overall in Monterey last year with Jaminet and Tandy.
AO Racing: AO Racing has won the last two GT races in both GT classes with five different drivers. Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello took the full-season No. 77 “Rexy” Porsche 911 GT3 R to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring GTD PRO win, then Laurens Vanthoor and Jonny Edgar won a one-off start in GTD at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in the renumbered No. 177 car. Heinrich and Seb Priaulx won AO’s first IMSA race in Monterey in 2024. “Roxy” hasn’t won yet and looks for its first win this go-around.
No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3: Though they haven’t won yet, back-to-back runner-up finishes by Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth have moved this car to second in GTD points, just 91 behind the Winward Racing leaders of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Who’s Good Here?
Porsche in GT: A Porsche has won at least one GT class at WeatherTech Raceway for five straight years. The factory Porsche 911 RSR won in GTLM in 2020 and then among GT3-specification Porsches entered by customer teams, Pfaff won GTD in 2021 and GTD PRO in 2022; Wright added a GTD win in 2022; Kellymoss with Riley won GTD in 2023 and AO scored the GTD win in 2024.
Acura: The brand has nine wins here, including four in a row overall from 2019 to 2022 with the previous generation Acura ARX-05 in Daytona Prototype international (DPi).
Corvette Racing: Corvette appeared poised to win its first race with the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R last year after Nicky Catsburg secured the Motul Pole Award but fell back to third at the finish. Still, the team has a series-high eight wins at the track in four different GT classes, although none since 2021 in the last year of the former GT Le Mans class. A win in GTD PRO with either of the two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entries or in GTD with either AWA or DXDT Racing could give the brand a fifth and potentially a sixth different GT class win at WeatherTech Raceway.
Previous TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Winners in 2025 Field (17)
Antonio Garcia (3): DP – 2012; GT – 2013; GTLM – 2014
Tommy Milner (3): GT – 2005, 2012; GTLM – 2021
Nick Tandy (3): GTC – 2013; GTLM – 2021, GTP – 2024
Ricky Taylor (3): DPi – 2020, 2021, 2022
Renger van der Zande (3): PC – 2014; P – 2017; GTP – 2023
Filipe Albuquerque (2): DPi – 2021, 2022
Mario Farnbacher (2): GTD – 2016, 2020
Mathieu Jaminet (2): GTD PRO – 2022, GTP – 2024
Colin Braun (1): PC – 2012
Matt Campbell (1): GTD PRO – 2022
Louis Deletraz (1): LMP2 – 2022
Philip Ellis (1): GTD – 2024
Laurin Heinrich (1): GTD PRO – 2024
Seb Priaulx (1): GTD PRO – 2024
Alexander Sims (1): GTLM – 2018
Jordan Taylor (1): DP – 2013
Russell Ward (1): GTD – 2024
Previous TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Pole Winners in 2025 Field (10)
Jordan Taylor (4): P – 2015, 2018; GTLM – 2020, 2021
Ricky Taylor (4): DP – 2011; P – 2017; DPi – 2019, 2022
Filipe Albuquerque (1): DPi – 2021
Nicky Catsburg (1): GTD PRO – 2024
Danny Formal (1): GTD – 2024
Antonio Garcia (1): GTLM – 2014
Mathieu Jaminet (1): GTD PRO – 2022
Madison Snow (1): GTD – 2017
Darren Turner (1): GT – 2012
Russell Ward (1): GTD – 2022
Previous TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Winning Teams in 2025 Field (11)
Corvette Racing (8): GTS – 2004; GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; GT – 2012, 2013; GTLM – 2014, 2021
Team Penske (6): P2 – 2005, 2006, 2007; DPi – 2019, 2020; GTP – 2024
Wayne Taylor Racing (4): DP – 2006, 2013; DPi – 2021, 2022
Acura Meyer Shank Racing (3): P – 2016; GTD – 2018, 2020
BMW M Team RLL (3): GTLM – 2015, 2017, 2018
Pfaff Motorsports (2): GTD – 2021; GTD PRO – 2022
AO Racing (1): GTD PRO – 2024
Paul Miller Racing (1): GTD – 2019
Turner Motorsport (1): GTD – 2014
Winward Racing (1): GTD – 2024
Wright Motorsports (1): GTD – 2022
Previous TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship Winning Manufacturers in 2025 Field (11)
Porsche – 30
Chevrolet – 12
Acura – 9
BMW – 9
Ferrari – 6
Ford – 3
Aston Martin – 2
Mercedes-AMG – 2
Cadillac – 1
Lamborghini – 1
Lexus – 1
