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Porsche Penske Extends GTP Lead Over Rivals, but Tightens Between its Two Cars
Official Points
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – While the Porsche Penske Motorsport points battle between its two Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) cars intensified, the overriding championship theme leaving the sandy WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca natural terrain course was a shift in both IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT classes, Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GTD.
The top seven spots in GTD PRO all changed from Round 2, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring to Round 3 at TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship. The new top three in points each gained at least one and as many as three spots, while three other cars fell at least three spots race-to-race.
In GTD, three of the top five positions changed hands from the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to its second straight California race, although the top two pairs in the standings remained the same since they finished first and second.
Expanded points gaps across all three classes in Monterey present an interesting scenario before the end of May and start of a busy summer stretch from June through August. For some, the phrase “it’s getting late, early” may apply for championship contention.
GTP: Porsche Penske Pair In Lockstep
The top three in points entering Monterey left it in the same order. Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 now have 1,490 points; they’re 91 clear of teammates Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, who scored their first 2025 victory Sunday in the No. 6 Porsche 963. Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng remain third in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, now 280 points in arrears. Leaving Long Beach, those gaps were 123 and 265, respectively.
Had Tandy passed Jaminet, the gap would have been 151 points between the two instead of the 91-point gap between first and second place.
The No. 25 BMW entry of Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann has quietly ascended to fourth, courtesy of that pair’s third straight top-five finish. Jack Aitken in the Action Express Racing-prepared, No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R completes the top five solo as Earl Bamber missed the Monterey race and Frederik Vesti filled in. The first entries from Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian (No. 93 Acura ARX-06) and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing (No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R) are sixth and seventh.
GTD PRO: Jumbled Round 3 Resets the Pecking Order
Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Seb Priaulx downplayed the chances for the Ford Mustang GT3 in Monterey, with his pre-race assessment proving correct as that pair of cars finished eighth and ninth. Priaulx’s 2024 Monterey-winning co-driver Laurin Heinrich, however, recaptured the magic that took AO Racing to its first WeatherTech Championship victory 12 months earlier.
Now co-driving “Roxy,” the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R last weekend, Heinrich and Klaus Bachler took their second straight GTD PRO win, and the AO team’s third straight win across both GT classes this season. That win moved this car from 17 behind Rolex 24 At Daytona winners Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch in the No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 to 70 (1,014 to 944) clear of new second-placed drivers Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. “Three” was the magic number for Garcia and Sims, whose third-place finish in Round 3 leapt them three spots.
The other big weekend winner in the standings was Albert Costa, who co-drove the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 to a runner-up finish with Motul Pole Award-winning teammate Giacomo Altoè. They’re now third, 75 points in arrears.
Here’s the shakeup from Sebring to Monterey:
Post-Sebring: 1. 65 Christopher Mies/Frederic Vervisch 653, 2. 77 Laurin Heinrich/Klaus Bachler -17, 3. 1 Madison Snow/Neil Verhagen -25, 4. 64 Mike Rockenfeller/Seb Priaulx -36, 5. 3 Antonio Garcia/Alexander Sims -39, 6. 81 Albert Costa -69, 7. 48 Dan Harper/Max Hesse -85
Post-Monterey: 1. 77 Heinrich/Bachler 1014 (+1 spot), 2. 3 Garcia/Sims -70 (+3), 3. 81 Costa -75 (+3), 4. 65 Mies/Vervisch -107 (-3), 5. 48 Harper/Hesse -154 (+2), 6. 1 Snow/Verhagen -154 (-3), 7. 64 Rockenfeller/Priaulx -156 (-3)
GTD: Winward, Vasser Sullivan Consolidate Lead Battle
The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward and No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson have a trio of 1-2s achieved thus far in 2025. They finished first and second at both Sebring and Monterey and sit 1-2 in the point standings. They’re now separated by 124 points (1,372 to 1,248).
A fourth top-seven finish in as many races keeps Wright Motorsports third with its No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer, albeit now 206 points back. Heart of Racing Team’s Casper Stevenson now sits fourth, solo, in his No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo ahead of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO. The big movers last weekend are Daniel Serra and Manny Franco, up four spots to seventh courtesy of their first 2025 podium finish aboard the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, just one spot and eight points ahead of the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca-polesitting No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Kenton Koch and Seth Lucas.
Also of note, although Sheena Monk and Stevan McAleer were the top Bronze-rated GTD entry at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in their No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, Rolex 24 winners AWA still lead the Bob Akin Award for Bronze-rated drivers in GTD. Orey Fidani holds a 50-point lead in his No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R ahead of Brendan Iribe in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, with Monk third, 170 back.
The standings aren’t as notable for position changes as points gap expansions after Round 4 of the GTD season, with a little over a month before its next race at Watkins Glen International in June.
Post-Long Beach: 1. 57 Russell Ward/Philip Ellis 994, 2. 12 Jack Hawksworth/Parker Thompson -91, 3. 27 Casper Stevenson/Tom Gamble -95, 4. 120 Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer -99, 5. 12/89 Frankie Montecalvo -121, 6. 96 Robby Foley/Patrick Gallagher -159, 7. 13 Orey Fidani/Matthew Bell -204
Post-Monterey: 1. 57 Ward/Ellis 1372, 2. 12 Hawksworth/Thompson -124, 3. 120 Adelson/Skeer -206 (+1 spot), 4. 27 Stevenson -267 (-1 spot), 5. 96 Foley/Gallagher -294 (+1 spot), 6. 13-Fidani/Bell -385 (+1 spot), 7. 34 Daniel Serra/Manny Franco -386 (+4 spots)
IMSA’s GTP and GTD PRO classes resume their season with the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, May 30-31, with all classes back in action for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen June 20-22.
