After the two longest races of the year at Daytona and Sebring and the shortest race of the year at Long Beach, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) headed to northern California and Laguna Seca Raceway for the fourth round of the season. It was a solid weekend for BMW M Team WRT, which achieved a podium finish in the GTP class for the first time since Daytona.
IMSA balance of performance (BoP) adjustments before the race were a benefit to the BMW M Hybrid V8 cars, as they were given a seventeen kg. weight reduction along with a 0.5 percent increase in stage one power levels but a 1.5 percent reduction in stage two (which is based on engine speeds). The Cadillac and Porsche entries were also given weight reductions and the Cadillacs were given a stage one power increase as well. In the GTD Pro and GTD classes, the M4 GT3 EVO was given a 12 kg. weight reduction, with the Ford Mustang and Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo getting weight breaks as well.
Paul Miller Racing finished eighth in GTD Pro after running toward the front for most of the race.Laguna Seca was a “throwback” weekend, with many teams running liveries inspired by other cars that raced in decades past. The Paul Miller Racing team honored the 1975 3.0 CSL that Hans Stuck raced at Laguna Seca in 1975, where he drove to the pole and also set the fastest lap. BMW M Motorsport and M Team WRT also honored former BMW driver and gold medal winning para-cyclist Alex Zanardi, who passed away over the weekend, with a tribute message on both GTP cars. The drivers and team principal Vincent Vosse also wore black armbands to honor Zanardi.
In qualifying, Dries Vanthoor put in a solid lap to qualify the #24 M Hybrid V8 in fourth, around a half-second off the pole time of the #40 Cadillac, while Philipp Eng qualified 10th in the #25 car. In GTD Pro, Neil Verhagen qualified second in the #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO, just three-tenths off the pole time of the #14 Lexus. Patrick Gallagher qualified seventh in GTD in the #96 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3 EVO, with the pole in that class going to the #34 Ferrari.
Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished seventh in GTD.
In the first half of the race, #40 and #31 Cadillacs set the pace in GTP, as they built a gap of 4.5 seconds over the other cars in the class. In GTD Pro, Verhagen held onto second but never seriously challenged the #14 Lexus and Patrick Gallagher moved into fourth in GTD. The #24 BMW GTP car of Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor was running at the front at times but fell back after pit stops, while the #25 car of Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann started to move up through the field. With one hour left, Wittmann ran in fifth, Connor De Phillippi was in fourth in the #1 in GTD Pro and Robby Foley was in third in GTD in the #96 car.
Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor finished ninth in GTP after showing promise early in the race.
With less than twenty minutes to go, the #1 Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 EVO that had run at the front for most of the race had to pit for fuel, as did the other three GTD Pro cars ahead of it. Robby Foley also dropped back to seventh in GTD after the final pit stop. Meanwhile, Marco Wittmann had worked his way into third and had a great battle with Laurin Heinrich in the #5 Porsche 963. Heinrich eventually got by Wittmann and went on to pass the #31 Cadillac to win the race, while Wittmann finished in third behind the #31 car.
Marco Wittmann (far left) and Philipp Eng (second from left) celebrate their podium finish.
The podium finish by the #25 car gave the team some momentum after a disappointing race at Long Beach. “A good ending to a difficult weekend for us,” said Eng. “I’m very happy for the whole team – thank you, everyone! We struggled with the car’s balance all weekend, but in the race we did a perfect job. Marco drove fantastically, and I was able to save a lot of energy in my first stint, which helped us in the end.” The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW finished eighth in GTD Pro with De Phillippi and Verhagen now in second in GTD Pro points. The GTD Pro win at Laguna Seca went to the #65 Ford Mustang GT3. Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished seventh in the GTD class, with the win going to the #45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.
Next up for the IWSC is another street race in Detroit on May 29th-30th, which will feature the GTP and GTD Pro classes.
—David Haueter
[Photos by Kyle van Hoften]
