All four classes are about to share the track at legendary Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Who will finish first when the clock runs out? Find out, now. We are on the Monterey peninsula for the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix presented by Mazda. This track is very demanding. Strategy will be hard to pin down, because if you go off, you're in deep in sand. Action Express had a bad race at Long Beach while VisitFlorida Racing finished third. Ganassi Racing came third. Ricky and Jordan Taylor won Long Beach.
PR1 Matthiasen Motorsports won both enduros at Daytona and Sebring. Build and maintain momentum. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette have qualified on pole. They did that, and won at Long Beach, last time out. BMW won GT Le Mans at Long Beach with Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner at the wheel. Risi Competizione was second. In GT Daytona, Riley Motorsports won Dayton while Alex Job Racing won at Sebring. BMW locks out the front row in GT LM. Dirk Werner and Lucas Luhr, are the starting drivers in each car. Corvette continues to struggle with a water temperature issue, and an engine change.
Pete Lovely won the first race in a Ferrari 250 roadster, at Laguna Seca, back in 1957. Indycars and sports cars have raced here, ever since. The wind will blow dust onto the track. Watch out for that. Look at turn two, and uphill through turns five and six, into The Corkscrew. Then, make a dash for the last corner, and fly down the straight. We're ready to race! Go! We're underway. Pruett looks to get the initial jump. Contact between the #10 and #01! Scott Pruett goes off the road.
Don't put wheels off the road. There's sand everywhere. Michael Christensen is doing double duty, running in both factory GT LM Porsche's because the other factory drivers, are at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, where there was a great FIA World Endurance Championship event yesterday. Look for highlights of that race, soon. Marc Miller leads GT Daytona with the #93 SRT Viper. Ben Keating in the sister car goes off the road. The suspension is busted on the right front through turn five. He dropped into the dust. There's a drop off behind the curbs.
The #33 is in the lane. New tires and a new nose will go on the car. They are 65 pounds heavier since their last event at Sebring back in March, because of the Balance of Performance. Michael Valiante leads being chased by Jordan Taylor, Christian Fittipaldi, and Scott Pruett. There's debris from the Ben Keating shunt. Be careful. Scott Pruett says the car is understeering. It could be aero push. The balance of the car is a constant fight. The Riley lacks in downforce compared to the Ligier P2 machine, and the Corvette Prototype's.
The Corkscrew is a 60 foot drop (450 linear feet). The elevator drops, fast. In Prototype Challenge, with all identical Oreca Chevrolet's, Chris Cumming took pole, and he is leading series points leader Mike Guasch. Chris Cumming has been the qualifying driver for his team in the sessions. At Laguna Seca, you can gauge how well you do as a driver through the lap. In GT Daytona, it's Viper, Aston Martin, and Porsche. The #93 Viper leads and the #33 is still in the pits. Marc Miller was nominated to race at Le Mans. Marc Miller and Jeff Mosing are the drivers. Miller will race at Le Mans. You will see Le Mans, next month on Fox Sports, and read about it, here, on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog.
Falken Tire Porsche is running well. But, the Falken Tires are a harder compound tire, and they need warmer temperatures. So, car #17 is having to play catchup. Bryan Sellers is being hounded by Antonio Garcia in the first factory Corvette C-7-R-. BMW still leads. Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner share the #25, with soft Michelin tires. Their team mates in car #24 have hard tires. Team owner, Bobby Rahal, won four straight Indycar races at this speedway, from 1984 to 1987. Drivers and fans alike, love Laguna Seca Raceway.
Patrick Lindsey qualified really well in GT Daytona. He's right with the leaders (the Viper and the Aston Martin). Porsche has a new front splitter. Park Place Racing and Magnus Racing were the only teams who could test it. It is a full carbon front end piece on the Porsche. Alex Job Racing needs more time with it. No change in the top three in GT Daytona. Marc Miller in the Viper, Christina Nielsen in the Aston Martin, and Patrick Lindsey, in the Porsche. Michael Valiante continues to lead this race.
Everyone was scratching their heads, as the #10 Corvette Prototype found something to be quick. But, Valiante has just run his fastest lap in the 1:20 range. The #10 car had contact with the #01 and maybe lost a dive plane in the fracas. The Corvette chassis are different. The bodywork is the same. But the chassis are different. Coyote, Dallara, and Riley. Michael Valiante almost went to pit lane, and now, Taylor wants the lead and gets it! This is multi-class racing at it's finest. Jordan Taylor has clear road, and he'll have to book it.
More contact amongst the GT LM runners. Race Director Beaux Barfield said that it will be crowded. Don't have Prototypes lean on GT cars, but, at the same time, with the GT cars, don't hold anyone up. Ricky Taylor seemed to be suiting up to get in the car. It's still early. The Mazda prototypes are getting better. #70 is still running. But, it might be game over for car #07. They are more on the pace. P2 machinery has done well here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. We are under the first full course yellow, as Todd Slusher spins his Prototype Challenge car. Slusher is a regular in the Continental Tire Prototype Lights championship.
The #3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia has some damage on the right front corner. Break out the Bear Bond. Garcia nudged one of the prototypes. Prototype leaders hit pit lane. Jordan Taylor is in. Tires and fuel. No driver change. Car #90 pits and Michael Valiante hands the car to Richard Westbrook. Katherine Legge will be in the Deltawing. No tires, but, an adjustment for the rear aero flaps. There was only a short fuel load fill, so, no driver changes, yet.
The #01 car pitted. But they lost track position, having to do bodywork repairs. Scott Pruett shares the car with Joey Hand. Nine California based drivers are in this race. Joey Hand has taken over the #01 Riley Ford EcoBoost. GT LM in the lane. John Edwards takes over from Lucas Luhr. GTD cars are also in. Both Corvette's are in. New Michelin tires, but no driver changes. We have an errant tire on pit lane. Will there be a penalty?
Mazda currently leads overall. Now, with Corvete, #3 hits a tire coming from the sister #4 car. There is no penalty. We're back to green now. Lots of Prototype Challenge cars around,and Oswaldo Negri Jr. is off the road. In all this shemozzle, the rhythm is upset, and the GT Daytona Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS is beached in the gravel trap. Aye yaye yaye! Another full-course yellow. But, this will be a short one.
Jordan Taylor, Dane Cameron, and Christian Fittipaldi are now 1-2-3. Meanwhile, it's game over for DeltaWing, with an exhaust problem, and a cracked header. DeltaWing is headed for the house, today. Richard Westbrook is slicing through the field. Wow! Westbrook slides past Joao Barbosa! Barbosa doesn't give way. The argy bargy between Dane Cameron and the MSR Ligier, is under review from the stewards. Problems for the #01 Riley Ford EcoBoost. He's perhaps lost fifth gear. Game over for Ganassi. This will be a disaster for them in the points.
Jordan Taylor currently has the fastest lap in this race. Barbosa and Westbrook are on the button from the get go. The #01 team has broken a gear, definitely. Meanwhile, Giancarlo Fisichella has his hands full with Wolf Henzler, and Dirk Werner. Werner and Henzler trade paint down the front straight. Henzler runs wide into turn one, and oh! Patrick Pilet is off the road. Risi Competizione has an updated aerodynamics kit for their Ferrari 458 Italia. They are bottoming out on the downhill sections of the track, and are running over the mandated ride height by 20 millimeters (almost an inch).
Henzler tries to diamond the corner in the Andretti hairpin. John Edwards in the sister BMW is leading GT Le Mans, by ten seconds. Jorg Bergmeister in the #912 Porsche, slammed one of the inside curbs. If you look at the curbing, behind the rumble strips, there's extra curbing, which are much higher, and if you get on one, you are going for a major ride. Ke-thunk! Taylor, Westbrook, and Barbosa, remain 1-2-3. James French (co-driving with Mike Hedlund), leads Prototype Challenge. Leh Keen takes over the #22 Porsche 911 GT America from Cooper MacNeil.
But, AJR is having some issues, coming to grips with the new front splitter for the Porsche 911 GT America. Mike Guasch will give way to Tom Kimber-Smith in the #52 Prototype Challenge car. The #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia in GT Daytona is also pitting. Townsend Bell takes over from Bill Sweedler. Richard Westbrook takes Joao Barbosa by surprise, and slides past, down through The Corkscrew.
#44 is in the lane, with Andy Lally now at the controls of the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America in GT Daytona. Guy Cosmo takes over from Patrick Byrne. Dirk Werner and Wolf Henzler's contact, from earlier, is being investigated, by the stewards. John Edwards has stretched his lead in GT LM to seventeen and a half seconds. Wow! Westbrook and Taylor both have the pace, and unfortunately, Action Express, has fallen off just a shade. Because Laguna Seca has such high grip, there are demands on the car, and the driver. The uphill corner dynamics are easier to understand than the downhill.
There's a gap between first and second in GT Le Mans. BMW vs. Ferrari. Oswaldo Negri Jr. has passed a few cars. Negri says this Ligier JS P2 has much better braking than the Riley Daytona Prototype the team has campaigned in the past. Ooh! Negri Jr. and Barbosa, touch! Don't scrap your dive planes, to upset the balance. We have an hour and twenty minutes remaining in this race. We're halfway home, and Jordan Taylor leads at halfway.
Mazda is doing very well at their home track. They want to be up front, and they're getting there. They went 26 laps further on fuel than their competition! Wow! Mazda is testing their technology in the public eye, going for it. So is the DeltaWing. John Edwards switched from soft to medium compound Michelin tires, after Lucas Luhr told the team what was going on, when he finished his stint. Dirk Werner is still at the wheel of the sister car #25.
One charm of this speedway is how scenic it is, and, the sight lines are fabulous. It was built in 1957, within 60 days. Christina Nielsen continues her stint in the #007 TRG Aston Martin V12 Vantage. The team's final pit stop, will put Nielsen's team mate James Davison, into the car. Derek DeBoer and Brandon Davis are the other drivers for the team. Michelin Tires are used in many disciplines of motorsport. Their chairman, Francois Michelin, just passed away. Rest In Peace, Francois Michelin.
One of the Audi's just pitted. So has the #90 VisitFlorida Racing Corvette Prototype. Jordan Taylor now pits and will hand over to his brother Ricky. Ricky Taylor will need to get up to full song. Taylor is held up by another car. Ooh! The Viper went off the road for a second. That's Jeff Mosing in the second GTD ViperExchange.com machine. Oswaldo Negri Jr. now has the lead in the #60 Ligier Honda. Negri Jr. is now in the lane.
Negri Jr. passes Joao Barbosa, before making his stop. Keep an eye on Negri and MSR. IN GT Le Mans, the #24 BMW Z4 GTE pits. John Edwards is back in the car. He has been running with the VLN Series at the Nurburgring. Next weekend, on Mother's Day weekend, it's the Nurburgring 24 Hours. Stay tuned, for a brief summary, of that race. Ferrari and Porsche also pit. Michael Christensen has jumped into the sister car. Bill Auberlen will climb into the #25 BMW. These boys had a great race last time out at Long Beach.
Michael Christensen will finish the race in the sister #911 Porsche 911 GT-3-R-. Michael started in #912. Jorg Bergmeister is in the #912. Ricky Taylor is threading through GT LM traffic. We now have less than an hour to go in this race. Richard Westbrook runs six seconds behind Ricky Taylor. There's a sure traffic jam between GTD, GTLM, and Prototype. When we get to fifteen minutes to go, people will be doing splash and dash fuel stops. Look out for a yellow, to go for track position.
Bruno Junquiera has a slight off. Junquiera is trying to catch Prototype Challenge leader Colin Braun. You can catch a yellow in the next 17 minutes, because it will be a full course yellow. But, in the last half hour, there will just be short yellows. Everyone will have to try saving fuel in the last minutes of this one. Action Express Racing could bring one car in, hope for a short yellow, and leapfrog some of their competition. Split strategies tend to work really well. You could be on the podium, and get a chance to win.
Don't hit the outside of the uphill turn five. Down through The Corkscrew, and Rainey curve. Touch the brakes for turn ten. Park Place Racing in the #73 Porsche 911 GT America is needing to pit, and now, Core Autosport pits. Colin Braun remains at the wheel. Bruno Junquiera is the new leader in Prototype Challenge. Junquiera knows this track from racing in the Indycar Series. Ricky Taylor, pits, and #90 takes the lead. No tires. Just fuel. This race is very intense right now.
Richard Westbrook wants his team to make a decision, and that decision is, not to pit. They have to pit soon, before the 30 minute mark. He's got two laps in order to execute that stop. What traffic will Ricky Taylor hit? Oswaldo Negri Jr. is gaining on Westbrook. Now, the DeltaWing is back on track. Fuel is a big deal. MSR is hoping for a yellow. So is Park Place in GT Daytona. He needs to save fuel. Remember, last year's race. #60 has the Ligier Honda in the lane, for fuel only.
The fueler has to know when to stop, and another crewman whacks him with a stick. One lash. It's not, "why did you hit me?!" It's, "dude, do your job, and do your job right!" Richard Westbrook makes a really quick splash and dash pit stop. They rolled the dice. Thankfully, there was no yellow, and they are in the lead of this motor race. Action Express also pits. We have two drivers, who were team mates, years ago. Oswaldo Negri Jr. sets fast lap at 1:19.3.
Wow. Ricky Taylor slices by the GTD class SRT Viper. Westbrook goes past a couple GTLM contenders. The #90 team is looking for their first win since the Six Hours of Watkins Glen, last June. Less than 25 minutes to go in this race. Momentum seems to be with the Wayne Taylor Racing team, and possibly with the #90 squad. Performance Tech Racing in Prototype Challenge is third in class. In GT Le Mans, John Edwards leads in the #24 BMW, ahead of team mate Bill Auberlen in the #25.
Let's also look at the GT Daytona battle. Will Spencer Pumpelly hang on for the next 22 minutes? He can't be snagged again, can he? Recall, last year, Pumpelly lost this race, in the old two-race format, when his Audi R8 LMS GTD car for his old team, Flying Lizard, ran out of fuel just at the end of the motor race. Bruno Junquiera has a good cushion in Prototype Challenge. Save fuel? Or, gap the second place car? Richard Westbrook pulls a Kimi Raikkonen and says to his crew, "don't tell me anything else. I just need to drive the car."
Only thirteen minutes remain now in this race. Ricky Taylor has to stay composed. The lap times go back and forth between Taylor and Westbrook. Chris Cumming, Bruno Junquiera, and RSR, are well on their way to a win in Prototype Challenge. We look forward to the next race on the schedule. Details, after this race, ends. Joao Barbosa and Dane Cameron run together. These are both Action Express cars, who have not been running exactly on pace with the leaders.
We are eight minutes away from the finish of the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix Powered By Mazda. Bob Garretson, is here. He is a World Sports Car champion, who won the 1981 Rolex 24 at Daytona in a Porsche 935, sharing with Bobby Rahal and Brian Redman. Garretson is now, 81 years old.
Cars #22 and #97 went off the road. Markus Palttala in the #97 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4 GT and the #22 Weathertech Porsche. Michael Christensen is now in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR. Spencer Pumpelly leads GT Daytona in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America, leading over the Paul Miller Racing Audi of Christopher Haase. Less than three minutes left in this race. Ricky Taylor goes deep into the corner. Pardon, actually, it's Westbrook. Westbrook has traffic on the uphill.
Westbrook goes around the outside in the Rainey curve, passing the #45 Audi, which now has a tire going down. Taylor runs wide into the marbles. White flag next time by. Oops. That's the #48 Audi of Christopher Haase. Did Westbrook get bumped? Or, did he go into the gray on the outside of the road? Here we go. Coming to the white flag. One lap to go. Two and a quarter miles from victory. Can Westbrook hold on? He's going deep! Oh! He's blocked by the Aston Martin, and so is Ricky Taylor!
These boys are on the limit. Taylor is making The Corkscrew a one turn corner, making it a one corner. Richard Westbrook holds on for victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, while John Edwards makes it two in a row, and a 1-2 for BMW in GTLM. Bruno Junquiera wins Prototype Challenge. In GT Daytona, Spencer Pumpelly wins in the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche.
Overall/Prototype: #90 Westbrook/Valiante Chevrolet Corvette DP
Prototype
Challenge: #11 Junquiera/Cumming Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet
GT Le Mans: #24 Edwards/Luhr BMW Z4 GTE
GT Daytona: #73 Pumpelly/Lindsey Porsche 911 GT America
The next race is at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan, coming up in less than four weeks time.
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