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Porsche Dominates Again At WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca In 2025 IMSA Championship
Porsche marked the beginning of its sponsorship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with a significant achievement on Sunday. The brand secured the top two positions in the IMSA TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship's main event. This victory continued the trend from last year's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, with the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, and No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 repeating their wins in the two-hour, 40-minute race.
The Porsche Penske Motorsport team celebrated its fourth consecutive Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) win this season. However, this time it was Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche 963 who claimed their first victory of the season, surpassing teammates Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 car. Jaminet skillfully navigated through GT traffic just ahead of Tandy, winning by a margin of 1.692 seconds.
The final lap drama unfolded as Jaminet made a decisive move past a GT car at Turn 10, creating enough distance for Tandy to lose momentum. This allowed pole sitter Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 to attempt an outside pass, but contact between them sent Vanthoor off track. Despite this, Vanthoor managed to finish third as IMSA officials reviewed the incident and decided against further action.
AO Racing achieved its third consecutive win across two GT classes with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO). This victory came a year after their first GTD PRO win at Monterey last year. The pole-sitting No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 finished second, followed by the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
In Grand Touring Daytona (GTD), Philip Ellis in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and Jack Hawksworth in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 once again battled for victory as they did at Sebring's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours race earlier this year. Ellis and Russell Ward emerged victorious over Hawksworth and Parker Thompson, while Conquest Racing completed the podium with its No. 34 Ferrari 296 GT3.
Apart from Sunday's main event, five additional support series races took place over the weekend at Laguna Seca. In Saturday's IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race, RS1’s Jan Heylen and Luca Mars secured an overall victory in the Grand Sport (GS) class with their No. 28 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.
Support Series Highlights
The Bryan Herta Autosport team with Curb Agajanian dominated the TCR class with a clean sweep of first to third places using Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars. Meanwhile, Nick Persing from Wayne Taylor Racing led Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America all weekend long by claiming back-to-back victories.
Robert Noaker concluded Mustang Challenge events successfully by winning both races one and two consecutively during this thrilling race weekend.
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is renowned globally as a premier motorsport venue located amidst scenic hills in Monterey, California managed by Friends of Laguna Seca—a non-profit organization dedicated to providing exceptional racing experiences annually through challenging tracks like its famous Corkscrew turn that attracts enthusiasts worldwide.
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