Sunday, November 1, 2020

Winner & Highlights of the IMSA Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Welcome, everybody, to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey, California.  Glad to have you with us on this Sunday afternoon, for the penultimate race, and the final sprint event, of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season.  There is a championship on.  This is time, to make it happen.  Pipo Derani si a dozen points behind both the #10 Cadillac, and their rivals from Team Penske in the #7 Acura.  In 2017, Renger van der Zande moves past Dane Cameron for the victory.  Tempers will flare if certain moves are made.  We are going for the championship.  Acura #7 is eight points behind Wayne Taylor Racing.  They qualified 1-2, and finished 1-2 here last year.  Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron will help their sister car.

Only seven points separate the top teams in GT Daytona.  Lexus #14 had a flat tire in qualifying, and they will start caboose on the field.  LMP2 is decided.  PR1/Mathiasen will wrap up the title and are the only LMP2 entry for this race.  In GT Le Mans, Corvette has won six of the last eight races.  Corvette #4, Oliver Gavin will not be a full-time Corvette driver, next year.  It's emotional and disappointing, but the team remains upbeat.  The cars are on track, circulating on their warmup laps.  Montoya on pole in DPi.  Patrick Kelly, the sole LMP2 class runner.  Jordan Taylor on GTLM pole.  Two races left.  Here we go, for the final sprint race of the year.

Juan Pablo Montoya gets the jump and Pipo Derani was moved out of the way by the #10 Cadillac for WTR of Ryan Briscoe.  Briscoe is right behind Derani who is right behind Tristan Vauteier in the #5 Cadillac.  Tristan Vautier and Jonathan Bomarito are there as well.  A nudge for Pipo Derani.  Derani will have to move up.  Oliver Jarvis and Jonatha Bomarito gewt good starts.  A flat turn five, climbing the hill, headed for six, and into The Corkscrew.  The race track falls away six stories in 450 feet.  Yikes!  So much commiutment.  The car bottoms out after Rainey curve as well.

Jordan Taylor leads Laurens Vanthoor and Oliver Gavin.  Gavin is a staple of IMSA.  He has a great personality and a great resume.  Gavin may run the endurance events with Corvette in 2021.  He has a 25% win rate.  He has six Sebring class wins, a class win at the Rolex 24, and five class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Matt McMurry in the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 leads GT Daytona.  He earned his first GTD pole in qualifying.  His first career GTD pole.  Can the car keep the Michelin tires together?  Aaron Telitz is making hay while the sun shines.  He dropped like a stone down the order during qualifying after having a punctured tire.  But Telitz and his co-driver Jack Hawksworth are GT Daytona Sprint Cup champions.  

Aaron Telitz has to work his way through the field.  He is having a bear of a time trying to get around his rivals, including Ryan Hardwick in the Wright Motorsports Porsche as Juan Pablo Montoya leads the motor race so far.  We can see Hardwick being monstered by John Potter in the #44 Magnus Racing GRT Lamborghini Huracan GT3, the Flex Box car.  Telitz, hanging on in that third spot, and going into the Andretti hairpin, he is determind.  He wants to move past these two blokes at the head of the GTD field.

This track winds and undulates around as they come back up the hill towards The Corkscrew another time.  Potter looking to try to move 'round Hardwick, but Monsieur Hardwick is building up a head of srteam as the #30 Hardpoint Audi drops a couple of wheels and stays on the course.  The points situations in all classes, are going to be paramount today, and in the finale at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and you will hear more about that race at the conclusion of this one.  Montoya has bolted, taking off like a scalded cat Vautier opens the door for Ryan Briscoe to go after Pipo Derani, who has to push, has to fight, to keep up the possibility of a championship.  Derani is running fifth.;  He has to go, to catch the Acura.

No risk.  Keep things in play.  For the Montoya/Cameron Acura, it has been a lean year, after they won the championship in 2019.  Felipe Nasr wants to help Pipo Derani win the title.  The game plan is to get to Sebring.  They want to take what is available but are looking at big picture stuff, coming to the finale, the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring, in two weeks.  Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande are the points leaders.  For AXR, they need a podium to stay in it before Sebring.  Matt McMurry, is a full-time HPD engineer, after graduating from college.  He works in the HPD office to improve their sim racing system, and racing in IMSA on the weekends.  

MSR will have an Acura DPi to race next year, as the team returns to the prototype ranks.  Laurens Vanthoor, in the Porsche, is chasing Jordan Taylor in the Corvette C8.R for GT Le Mans honors, for the lead in class.  That flat six Porsche absolutely screams, and we will not see these cars, next year.  Such a shame.  But they are ending their racing program because of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.  #3 is on softer Michelin tires, while the #4 machine and perhaps the #911 are on harder compound Michelin tires.  Laurens Vanthoor, Nick Tandy, and Earl Bamber, won the 24 Hours of Spa, last weekend, a race you read about here on the blog.

So, now, we see that Misha Goikhberg is in the way in the #57 Acura NSX GT3 for Heinricher Racing and MSR.  Pipo Derani, is on fire.  He is fired up, still wanting to win, still flying.  He hip checks the #55 Mazda, Jonathan Bomarito at the controls.  Meanwhile, one of the Acura's is carving it's way past the Corvette and the Porsche in GTLM.  Those two are in a battle of their own.  The prototypes are still slicing and dicing past the GTD cars as well.  The Monterey Peninsula is just gorgeous.  Meantime, Juan Pablo Montoya has a five and a half second lead as team mate Helio Castroneves slams into the back of Jordan Taylor's Corvette C8.R in turn 11.

Pit stop time for Porsche #912.  Two hours and 17 minutes left on the board, 23 minutes into the action.  Early stop for the Porsche squad.  Three stops are their strategy.  What you want to do is maximize the sweet spot of the tires and running shorter fueld loads.  Pipo Derani is balked by Misha Goikhberg, chasing Oliver Jarvis.  Derani is chasing Jarvis.  Oliver Gavin, meantime, is chasing Fred Makowiecki in GTLM.  Porsche #911 went out late in qualifying, starting last, but they have fresh tires.  Derani is pressing Jarvis, hard, for a spot in the top three.  Mazda is not in the championship really.

Derani is keeping a watching brief, seeing what Jarvis will do.  Now, GTLM, BMW #24 in the lane.  Jesse Krohn at the wheel of it sharing with John Edwards. So many ways to slice the strategy pie.  GTLM have multiple tire compounds at their disposal.  Meantime, John Potter is chasing the Wright Motorsports Porsche Aaron Telitz is chasing Potter, the AIM Vasser Sullivan car is the GTD points leader.  Tristan Nunez says his team mate Oliver Jarvis is hanging on.  Pit stop time for the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac and for the #4 Corvette C8.R.  They need new tires.  This circuit is quite abrasive.  

Gar Robinson is reeling in a couple of GTD cars.  Robinson will race for Riley Motorsports next year, but in an LMP3 car. This is a five or six car train in GT Daytona at the moment being led by the McLaren who ius beinng challenged by one of the Acura NSX GT3s.  That's the Till Bechtolsheimer/Marc Miller entry, chasing the Lally/Potter Magnus Racing Lamborghini, and the #76 Compass Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Paul Holton and Jeff Kingsley.  Acura #6 continues in the lead of this motor race.  Pit stop time now for the #911 Nick Tandy and Fred Makowiecki Porsche.  Juan Pablo Montoya leads Helio Castroneves by 6.5 seconds.

Slice and dice through traffic, look.  That is what you have to do as a DPi driver.  You can make up time or lose time in traffic.  This is a traffic jam in GT Daytona.  Gar Robinson wants by Jeff Kingsley.  Kingsley is in his second GT Daytona drive as Mazda #77 is in the lane.  Aaron Telitz is also motoring.  Pipo Derani pits.  No driver change, trying to stay in the hunt for the championship.  Derani, Jarvis, and Taylor, will now scrap.  Through The Corkscrew.  Derani dives inside Jarvis.  Derani sends it and makes the pass.  

Ryan Briscoe is now in the lane for service.  He is the last DPi in for service in the first pit cycle.  Derani wants to go to the outside.  Pipo is getting inside Ricky Taylor's mind.  Derani is doing all he can to rattle his cage.  Both these drivers also see the #10 Cadillac and know they have to go, now.  Pipo Derani will send it if he has to.  This is for second and third.  Dane Cameron is ten seconds up the road.  Derani into the Rainey Curve, is really going for it.  Traffic ahead.  Cooper MacNeil almost gets wiped out by Derani.  Derani clipped the Corvette, the front end got washed out.

Matt McMurry leads GTD ahead of Robby Foley and Misha Goikhberg.  Dane Cameron continues to lead as the two aforementipned GTD conmtenders are in the lane for service.  We see a battle in GTLM now between Corvette #3 and BMW #25.  The pit action continues in GTD with the #14 AVS Lexus.  Aaron Telitz and Jack Hawksworth, sharing that automobile.  A view from overhead, and traffic ahead for the leaders, look, as Derani is flashing the lights signaling the Corvette to move over and get out of the way.  This battle between Acura Team Penske and AXR continues, hot and heavy.  

There are so many great race tracks around the world.  Laguna Seca is one of them.  The never ending arm wrestle between AXR and Penske continues.  They've cleared the Mazdas.  Laurens Vanthoor leads Jordan Taylor and Fred Makowiecki.  The order has reshuffled.  Bill Auberlen, Alvaro Parente, and Mario Farnbacher are the second drivers in GTD in the top three cars, now installed behind the wheel.  Down throughThe Corkscrew, and into Rainey Curve, named for 500cc World Grand Prix motorcycle racing champ, Wayne Rainey.  Short fuel fills, mean that the stints will get shorter.  We have 52 minutes on the board.  Paul Holton has taken over the McLaren from Jeff Kingsley.  Spencer Pumpelly, Lawson Aschenbach, Townsend Bell, Jack Hawksworth, these drivers, have taken over their respective GTD cars from their team mates who started the motor race.

Acura #6 is dealing with lapped traffic and clears it.  We watch the action from the overhead helicopter shot and return to thwe track level to see the Acura continuing to slice it's way through the traffic.  Pipo Derani is closing and so is Oliver Jarvis.  2019 GT Daytona champion Mario Farnbacher is pressing the McLaren.  Andy Lally, a stalwart of sports car racing for 20 years, he has done skateboarding, street uge, and other sports.  Andy Lally was a really good street luge race.  He raced Mount Panorama Bathurst in Australia, on a street luge!  Unbelievable!  He also does mixed martial arts.  He was doing Jiu Jitsu with one of his team mates as well, and has hurt his knee.

It has been a roller coaster for Magnus Racing in 2020.  Lamborghini won Laguna Seca last year with Paul Miller Racing.  GRT Magnus had a penalty for wheel spin in pit lane on their most recent stop.  Lally is booking it but the blokes at Magnus Racing need a yellow.  Bill Auberlen is running very well.  He is a legend, and he still has the desire to drive and win races.  Auberlen knows the strategy, and he is right on top of his game.  Meanwhile, we also see the #63 WeatherTech Racing Scuderia Corsa Ferrari.  Alessandro Balzan at the wheel of it, sharing with Cooper MacNeil.  Balzan is fourth in GTD, behind Alvaro Parente, and ahead of Roman De Angelis, and Patrick Long.

Pipo Derani is still trying his best to reel in the two Acura's.  W rejoin the battle at the sharp end of the field.  There is also a good scrap in GTD between Lexus and Mercedes Benz.  The Gar Robinson and Lawson Aschenbach Mercedes is harrying the AVS Lexus, I believe that is the #14 Telitz/Hawksworth entry.  They come down to corner 11, starting another lap around Laguna Seca.  The picturesque beauty of the Monterey Peninsula is breathtaking.  Mario Andretti will be the Grand Marshal at the 12 Hours of Sebring in a couple weeks, the winner of that very race, in 1970, for Ferrari.

Mario Andretti dressed up as Richard Petty on Halloween yesterday.  Ha!  One legend dressing up as another!  Tee hee!  Meanwhile, in DPi, it icontinues to be Pipo Derani chasing down Ricky Taylor for second spot.  Heinricher/Meyer Shank Racing in Acura NSX GT3 #57, is next up, with Alvaro Parente.  Jackie Heinricher looking for new partners for next year and she wants to be a team boss, hopefully, in IndyCar, but also, perhaps in IMSA as well.  We look at the #912 Porsche 911 RSR-19 leading GT Le Mans in the hands of Laurens Vanthoor.  Then comes Jordan Taylor, Fred Makowiecki, Oliver Gavin, Jesse Krohn, and Connor De Philippi.

Nick Tandy along with Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber, won the Spa 24 Hours last weekend, and again, you've read about that race after we covered it on this blog.  Ricky Taylor's gap has increased over Pipo Derani.  Derani will be better on long runs.  Jordan Taylor moves past Marc Miller in the Rainey Curve.  Oliver Jarvis slicing his way around the GTD and GTLM cars.  Straight up the inside of the Corvette.  Bish, bash, bosh, and he takes the spot away.  Spencer Pumpelly will join Andy Lally for the 12 Hours of Sebring.  Hardpoint Audi will also run the enduros and will be at Sebring of course as well.  Renger van der Zande is moving through as well.  Acura #7 in the lane.  

That was a clean stop.  Ricky Taylor now has to get his tires hot.  Dane Cameron now in the lane from the lead for four tires and AXR are in too.  Pipo Derani out, Felipe Nasr in.  This is the domino effect.  Nasr runs wide in the lane and now, he will have to catch up.  Porsche #912 now in the lane.  Oliver Jarvis now leads Renger van der Zande as Corvette and Mazda also pit.  Corvette #3 in for tires, fuel, and a driver change.  BMW, Corvette, and others have pitted.  Pipo Derani says the team is moving on from yesterday.  Patrick Kelly has gone off the road and he heads back to the garage.  Derani and Nasr were split on points after Nasr missed a race due to the Coronavirus.

Fred Makowiecki is running really well, and we only have a race and a half so we won't see the Porsche's next year.  One hour and 18 minutes on the board.  Ricky Taylor is in heavy traffic.  Felipe Nasr is trying hard to catch up.  Corvette #4 in the hands of Tommy Milner, currently, will have a new team mate next year after Oliver Gavin has raced with Corvette since 2002.  Corvette have won all the sprint races, but no endurance events yet.  The new C8.R has gone very well.  This is an emotional farewell to Oliver Gavin.  Cadillac #10 in the lane.  

Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, Kelly Collins, Franck Freon, Oliver Gavin... so many great drivers have been a part of the Corvette Racing program.  But Gavin has been the best of the lot, the top of the heap, in terms of Corvette success.  Now then, Felipe Nasr is continuing to chase after the second place Acura of Ricky Taylor, while Dane Cameron aboard the #6 sister Team Penske Acura is whistling off into the distance.  Pit stop time here, look, for the #76 Compass Racing McLaren as well.  Splitting GTD traffic, the #7 Acura who is jow being balked by the #5 Mustang Sampling JDC-Miller Racing Cadfillac and here comes Felipe Nasr.  He is right on Ricky Taylor's gearbox.

Sebastien Bourdais was right inh the middle of this.  Bourdais got defensive on Taylor, and Nasr tries sending it.  Taylor will be miffed.  Nasr wants it.  Paul Holton runs wide allowing the leaders through.  Nasr and Taylor almost touch.  The #31 Cadillac is very strong under braking.  #7 is understeering after losing a dive plane off the front wing.  Borudais is fourth in the championship, just behind Pipo Derani.  Bourdais used to run for Action Express when they were a two car team.  Taylor on the inside and moves around Bourdais and Antonio Garcia in the Corvette.  Felipe Nasr continues to push.  Who can get the power down as the tire wear starts to become a factor?

Taylor gets blakjed by a GTD car and now the Porsche, and that was tight.  Bamber didn't expect a move to the outside and Nasr moves through as well.  Now, the battle is on once again.  Seven points blanket the top three DPi drivers in points.  Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley pit.  McMurry and Farnbacher lead the GTD points by six points.  Just an hour and six minutes left on the board as Mario Farnbacher pits.  Farnbacher and McMurry have done well this season.  Alvaro Parente is in in the #57 car.  He will not make the 12 Hours of Sebring as he has a conflicting race in Europe.  Turner Motorsports strategist, Don "The Ice Man" Salama, calling the strategy.

Dane Cameron has an 18 second lead over the sister Acura and the Action Express Cadillac.  Pit stop tome now, look, for the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R of Ryan Hardwick and Patrick Long.  The #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin is right behind, being shared by Ian James and Roman De Angelis.  Porsche #911 also in the lan fior what could be one of their last stops of the race with just over an hour of racing left.  The correct air pressure in any tire is essential for optimising tire life and performance, especially in the wintertime.  Do not ignore pressure alerts of your tires.

Too much pressure, the tire will crown.  Too little, and the tire will run on the edge, getting overheated and overloaded.  Correct inflation pressure is critical on the track and the street.  Meanwhile, this race has an hour exactly on the board as Dane Cameron leads by 18 seconds, still.  There's a ways to go.  Felipe Nasr will have to get around Ricky Taylor.  Renger van der Zande in the meantime, is sixth, and these blokes won, last time out at Petit Le Mans of course.  They need a yellow and have been losing track position.  Harry Tincknell in the #55 Mazda has laid down the fastest lap of the motor race.  Not sure of the time.

Wayne Taylor Racing are also still fighting.  Everyone is, at this moment.  Nick Tandy has taken over the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 from Fred Makowiecki.  Simon Trummer is now at the wheel of the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport LMP2 car as well.  Good racing still going on in the GT classes as we watch on of the Corvette C8.R's weaving through GT Daytona traffic at the present time.  The Porsche and Aston Martin GT Daytona battle is also hot and hravy right now.  Those cars are just behind the WeatherTech Racing Ferrari as well.  Meanwhile, Acura #6, Dane Cameron at the controls, is serenely on his way.

Under 55 minutes of racing on the board.  In GTLM, the #912 Porsche, leading in class, is the only car in the class that has not won yet in the 2020 season.  Mario Farnbacher continues to lead the GT Daytona car, leading.  They are definitely in a socially distanced position at this moment.  For 2021, we could see as many as seven LMP2 cars on the grid.  Still 50 minutes to go.  We continue to follow the GT Daytona battle.  Another spot of bother for the #52 car in LMP2 or so it appears.  What a picturesque area this track is in.  This track has 180 feet of elevation change.  Patrick Long, a multiple winner at Laguna Seca, he is moving forward, creeping up into the top five in GTD, moving them into second in the championship.

Porsche #912 in the lane.  The leader is in, Earl Bamber at the controls.  This team has had a litany of woes all year.  Rob Ferriol and Team Hardpoint, and Earl Bamber Motorsports have formed a team in Porsche Carrera Cup for next year.  Will Bamber and Porsche engineer Owen Hayes are managing the Hardpoint Audi.  Corvette #3 in the pit lane with Antonio Garcia at the wheel of it.  Fuel and tires for the car, with less than 45 minutes to go.  Acura #6 in the lane from the lead.  Dane Cameron will finish this race.

The sister #7 Acura is also in.  The DPi cars are getting good fuel mileage.  These will be the final stops for the DPi teams.  That was a full 30 second top up on fuel.  Dane Cameron continues to lead the motor race as the #10 Cadillac is in for fuel, tires, and a driver change, or maybe that is a drink bottle top up.  Hard to tell.  Ah.  With 40 minutes to go, it looks to be just a top up on the drink bottle.  Mazda #55 in as well.  In the meantime, Dane Cameron is still leading the motor race by 14 seconds over team mate Ricky Taylor while Felipe Nasr is third.  He is 5+ seconds behind Ricky Taylor.  Roman De Angelis, meanwhile, is pushing Patrick Long.  

Patrick Long is being reeled in by Roman De Angelis.  There's still 37 minutes left on the board.  Roman De Angelis is driving without a driver's side mirror.  That's a scary situation with a DPi car coming up on you.  He might have a rear view camera to see who is there.  The overall lead for Dane Cameron is shrinking just a tad over team mate Ricky Taylor, with Felipe Nasr in third spot.  The battle in GT Daytona remains hot and heavy behind the leader in class the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3.  It has been a luckless year for the #6 Acura team.  But they are still being pursued hotly by their sister car.  Cameron was instructed to go to a different fuel map to manage the pace.

Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz have already won the IMSA Sprint Cup.  Also, in LMP2, the champion is Patrick Kelly.  He had a near fatal automobile accident, and he is now a champion.  Congratulations, Patrick Kelly, on your championship.  He waited many years to get back to racing, and he has also won the Jim Trueman Award, so he will go to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, next year, and he wants to do well at the 12 Hours of Sebring next time out for the finale.  Kelly is full of energy, just ecstatic.  We continue to follow the GTD battle between Wright Motorsports and The Heart of Racing.  This has been a good one for quite some time as unfortunately,the #76 Compass Racing McLaren is headed behind the wall.

It could bhe game over for those chaps.  They are only competitors in the sprint races, so it is doubtful that we will see them at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 13 days time.  Status quo remaining at the top of the shop, with the two Acura's.  We are into the final half hour of the race.  Acura #6 was running 16 seconds ahead at one point.  He has now, just a four second lead.  He has been asked to back down the fuel.  Acura #7 is now catching up.  They may have to concede the lead to #7, as far as the #6 boys are concerned.  In all seriousness, it is very hard to be asked to concede the lead of the motor race to your team mates.

We are under yellow with debris on the road.  This will put the cat among the pigeons now.  That dive plane, not sure which car that came off of.  This Full Course Yellow is going to really be a shakeup.  Wowzers.  We're back to green now and 18 minutes left.  The Pneske bhoys take off.  Nasr is chasing.  Renger van der Zande moves by Tristan Nunez.  Dane Cameron has probably been taken off the fuel rrestriction as Tommy Milner moves by Bill Auberlen.  Earl Bamber leads GTLM and Nick Tandy is third in class for Porsche.  Antonio Garcia is the meat in a Porsche sandwich.  Here comes Felipe Nasr right on top of Ricky Taylor who has good drive off the corner.

Alesandro Balzan has spun and he continues.  Patrick Long has maybe moved ahead and could have been involved.  Yes.  He is the bloke who tags the Ferrari.  Will he be penalized by the stewards for this?  Alvaro Parente wants to move by the lapped GTD car of Marc Miller and also of lapped Lexus, Jack Hawksworth.  The two BMW Team RLL M8's have gotten the rough end of the pineapple in today's race.  Race Direction is reviewing the Balzan/Long scrum.  Andy Lally in the #44 Flex Box Magnus Eacing Lamborghini is pushing hard.  Lally kicks up dust on the front straight.  Now, Tommy Milner moves right past Nick Tandy for third in GTLM.

Nick Tandy is a name rumored to potentially be a part of Corvette Racing for next year.  We shall see.  Nicky Catsburg, Mike Rockenfeller, a few others might be in the running.  Marc Miller runs wide and Roman De Angelis moves ahead.  De Angelis is now right on Jack Hawksworth's six, and here comes Townsend Bell as well, look.  No worries for Patrick Long.  Good break for the #16 boys.  The good news is Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani will return to Action Express next year.  Nasr says this is the best time he has had in a race car.  The #10 car will run Acura next year with two new drivers.  Renger van der Zande and Ryan Briscoe will not be back.

Renger van der Zande will have a drive someplace.  We don't know where yet.  13 and a half minutes left to go.  Dane Cameron leads Ricky Taylor by 2.5 seconds and Nasr is a second behind.  Nasr is catching the two Acura's.  This is more than just a motor race.  Felipe Nasr is doing all he can for his team mate Pipo Derani.  nasr is putting on the pressure, turning up the heat.  Nasr is glued to the #7.  Five and a half minutes on the board.  One point in the championship with #10, #7, and #31.  A three point swing.  Renger van der Zande has dropped off the pace.  Dane Cameron stretches out his lead over Ricky Taylor.

The #25 BMW goes off the road into the dust and recovers.  Nasr has Harry Tincknell all over him.  Tristan Nunez has not been nominated for Mazda for next year.  Nunez could run at Daytona only and then he will be a Mazda brand ambassador more than likely.  Meanthime, look, the Corvette #3 is catching the Porsche.  Two minutes to go or a little more.  1.7 seconds.  Nasr has been slightly gapped by Taylor.  It could be a run to home for the two Acura's.  Ricky Taylor takes the lead and that will pay huge dividends for Team Penske.

Final lap.  Into The Corkscrew for the final time.  Nasr is not close enough.  Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves win and Team Penske get a 1-2.  Taylor and Castroneves lead, leaving California.  Mario Farnbacher leads Bill Auberlen by ten seconds.  Earl Bamber leads Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner in GTLM.  Matt McMurry and Mario Farnbacher win GT Daytona.  Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy will win and Porsche gets back to back wins with two different cars.

Overall/DPi: #7 Taylor/Castroneves     Acura ARX-05

             LMP2: #52 Kelly/Trummer     Oreca 07

             GT Le Mans: #912 Bamber/Vanthoor     Porsche 911 RSR-19

             GT Daytona: #86 Farnbacher/McMurry  Acura NSX GT3

...And then, there was one.  We will close the championship season for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, with another crown jewel event.  The 68th renewal of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, at the legendary, classic, Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida, coming up in 13 days' time.  See you then.  So long, for now, ladies and gentlemen, from the Monterey Peninsula, and Laguna Seca Raceway, in Monterey, California.  Bye bye.



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