38 Car Entry List For IMSA Course de Monterey
The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship returns to action next weekend, making the trip to northern California’s historic WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the Motul Course de Monterey.
38 cars are on the pre-event entry list encompassing four classes. Laguna Seca will be the first race of the year run to the “standard” 2 hour, 40 minute format.
The GTP class is new to Laguna Seca – but the newest entry in a nine-car premier class entry list is going to be the show stealer: JDC-Miller Motorsports’ customer Porsche 963 finally makes its debut next weekend.
Young Dutch driver Tijmen van der Helm and decorated sportscar racing veteran Mike Rockenfeller will pilot the #5 JDC-Miller Porsche through its maiden race, joined by the factory Penske Porsches including the #6 of Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet – that gave the 963 its first competition victory last time out at Long Beach. Jaminet also won the GTD Pro class last year at Laguna Seca, joined by Matt Campbell, who’s with Felipe Nasr in the #7 Penske Porsche.
Three different LMDh manufacturers have won the first three races of the new era, leaving only the two BMW M Hybrid V8s yet to win – but the #24 of Philipp Eng/Augusto Farfus and the #25 of Connor De Philippi/Nick Yelloly have been getting better every race and will be eager to score the BMW’s first win.
Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque won this race in the previous DPi category each of the last two years. After Taylor’s unbelievable crash in the final minutes of Long Beach, he and Albuquerque will hope to pilot the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 to victory. Acura will also be keen to extend its four-race winning streak at Laguna Seca, which dates back to a Team Penske double in 2019-20.
LMP2 is back for the first time since Sebring, with eight cars. Tower Motorsports’ John Farano, who won the 12 Hours of Sebring aboard the #8 Oreca LMP2 07 will be joined this time out by Louis Delétraz – whose contributions led to Farano’s LMP2 Drivers’ championship last year.
Delétraz isn’t the only familiar face back in the IMSA LMP2 field for Laguna Seca: Juan Pablo Montoya will partner Eric Lux in the #51 Rick Ware Racing Oreca. Montoya, the 2019 DPi champion, made six starts in LMP2 last season with a win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet will try and give Pfaff Motorsports its third straight Laguna Seca win, headlining a five-car GTD Pro class in the #9 Porsche 911 GT3 R. After three rounds, the #14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat has a 76-point lead in the standings.
Andretti Autosport’s new #94 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, piloted by third-generation driver Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves, makes its debut in a 16-car GTD field.
Coming off back-to-back GTD class wins, the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 (Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow) has a 99-point championship advantage. Last year, Wright Motorsports won with the previous-generation Porsche – this year, Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman are its sole representatives in the new #77 Porsche 992.
Also back in the mix is Julien Andlauer, back aboard the #92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche with Alec Udell after missing the Long Beach round.
The race goes green on Sunday, 14 May, at 12:10 PM PDT (local time) / 3:10 PM EDT.
Feature image © IMSA; Additional images courtesy of JDC-Miller Motorsports and Andretti Autosport