Class Warfare: 2023 Motul Corse de Monterey
We’re always a little skeptical. Just because we see stuff on TV and read about stuff in the media, that this “stuff” isn’t really that real to us. Until this past weekend, all the “stuff” of the past couple of years with the realigning of the endurance racing world order and with the first three amazing rounds of this year’s WeatherTech Sportscar Championship was just stuff we were aware of…just facts…just video…other people’s takes on the world.
To be honest, all of it is pretty sensational. Creating rules that generate interest, competition, innovation, and spectacle involves a bit of creativity, alchemy, cooperation, and frankly, just good luck and timing. Could all of this stuff be organized into something that actually works, and delivers results to all?
We were a little skeptical…right up until we got out of the Loud Pedal staff car on Friday morning and walked into the absolutely jam-packed paddock of the greatest place on earth, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Between the team and support tents for the cars of the Weathertech Sportscar Championship, the Michelin Pilot Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Mazda MX-5 Cup, there wasn’t much room for anything else. We have never seen so many race cars in one place at one time. From the spacecraft-like Grand Touring Prototypes to the ubiquitous everyday (albeit a bit enhanced) MX-5s, this place had pretty much everything a gearhead might ever want. By our count, there were just over 131 cars and associated teams and kit competing over the weekend.
With all due respect, we weren’t there to focus on all of those entries. We were there to see the sharp end of the stick. We were there to see the latest and greatest sportscars and prototype racers in America. We love all the cars that look, more or less, like those we can go test drive at the local dealerships, but even better, the newest generation of fantastical prototype racers that are more frequently racing here and in Europe concurrently, because of years of negotiations to standardize racing here and abroad.
For the uninitiated, the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship is made up of four racing classes, racing together, competing for the overall win and wins within their respective classes. It has always been a racing series that draws the best of every racing genre. Sportscar veterans, former F1 pilots, IndyCar veterans and current racers, and “gentlemen drivers” living out their childhood dreams. The series also affords new fans the more seasoned veteran fans the chance to witness some of the best racing drivers of all forms of motosport, top-tier technological innovation, and competition from some of the best teams in motorsport history via the likes of Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan and more recent entries to the elite status club such as Wayne Taylor Racing and Myers Shank.
Laguna Seca provided the setting for the West Coast to get it’s first taste of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the emergence of the GTP class made up of hybrid-powered hyper cars from Porsche, Acura, BMW and Cadillac. From looks alone, they did not disappoint with each manufacturer bringing their unique take on the style, power unit, and engineering of these track-bred rocket ships.
Not surprisingly all eyes were on the Porsche 963s of Penske Porsche Motorsport. The #6 Porsche 963 was piloted by drivers Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr in the #7. The 75th Anniversary of Porsche has placed additional pressure on Porsche to win in North America and perhaps more important to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans this summer.
In Saturday’s qualifying session the Penske Porsches qualified first and second with the #7 Porsche taking pole and the #6 Porsche only 0.090 behind on the front row. Confidence in their performance was such that they ended their qualifying runs before the end of qualifying as other teams were still making their attempts. It seemed as if the dream Porsche weekend was in play for Sunday, except…
Team Penkse would not be able to follow through on their strong Saturday performance into Sunday. Matt Campbell lead from the green flag going into turn one when he locked his brakes drifted wide into the Andretti hairpin and emerged from the chaotic start in seventh place by the time the front runners exited the turn. Twenty minutes later Campbell got into in a dust up with Jarett Andretti in the GTD Aston Martin of Andretti Autosport in the braking zone for turn 11 sending Andretti into the tire wall at the edge of the pits. Campbell would receive a drive-through penalty for the incident, effectively ending any chance of getting back to the front. Later the #7 Porsche 963 with driver Felipe Nasr faced the wrath of the racing Gods and slid off the course banging the wall requiring a pit stop for new bodywork which put him eight laps down at the finish.
The surprise of the day would come from another titan team of North American motorports in Chip Ganassi racing and the Cadillac Racing V-Series.R GTP prototype of Renger van der Zande and Sebastian Bourdais. Two days earlier in practice, the #1 Cadillac found the tire barrier, this coming after crashing out on the opening lap fo the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach a month ago. Renger van der Zande, no stranger to winning at Laguna Seca (overall in 2017 & and PC/GTD class winner in 2014), found his opportunity with 40 minutes to go in the race with an around the outside move on Action Express Racing’s Alexander Sims.
The remaining #6 Penske Porsche of Nick Tandy pulled out everything to chase down the Cadillac, making up two positions in the last thirty minutes of the race to find second place, but it wasn’t enough to prevent van der Zandt and Bourdais from ending their streak of bad luck and claiming their first victory of the season.
LMP2:
TDS Racing would take their first WeatherTech Championship win with Steven Thoms and Mikkel Jensen piloting the No.11 Oreca LMP2 07. This win came in spite of two pitstop errors
GTD Pro:
At WeatherTech Raceway it would be the WeatherTech Racing Mercedes piloted by Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounan.
The WeatherTech Sportscar Champion now moves to the Detriot Grand Prix on June 2nd and 3rd. Starting in third position they utlized consistency and the mistakes of frontrunners to find the top step fo the podium. This was the second win of the season for the team after winning the opening at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
GTD:
The Porsche brand would not leave the weekend empty-handed.
The Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R piloted by Kay Van Berlo and Alan Metni had to beat back the challenge of the winnest driver in IMSA history, Bill Auberlen, in the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT and a ninth-place start to sneak away with a victory. The three decades of Porsche racing experience of Kellymoss came in handy on Sunday as careful strategy and cunning driving on the part of Van Berlo and Metni claimed the GTD class victory.
To say the action in Sunday’s main event was frenetic would be an understatement. The passing within each class and the fight of the top class to weave through traffic was some of the best racing action witnessed in our recent memory. From the green flag to checkered flag, the wheel-to-wheel jostling was intense over the 2-hour and 40-minute race over the twisting turns of the 2.238 mile track. Fans needing to scratch the racing itch got their money’s worth. The IMSA WeatherTech series now heads to Watkins Glen, NY for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in late June, but between now and then, we’ll also be able to see these teams, and their international counterpart teams, competing at the Le Mans 24 hour classic over June 10th and 11th. Now that we’ve actually witnessed for ourselves what’s possible with this reset of international endurance racing, the 100th anniversary of racing this fabled race is shaping up to be something amazing.
We’ve listed the race results below, and further down, a mega gallery of images from the weekend.
Please enjoy.
-The Loud Pedal
FULL GALLERY
