Laguna Seca Post-Race Notebook

Photo: IMSA

***Renger van der Zande celebrated his 100th start in IMSA competition on Sunday with victory in the Motul Course de Monterey powered by Hyundai N. The Dutchman, who teamed with Sebastien Bourdais to give Chip Ganassi Racing top honors, made his IMSA debut at Laguna Seca in the American Le Mans Series race in 2013. It marked his 19th career class win.

***Bourdais credited van der Zande for making “some really critical passes” in the two-hour and 40-minute race, including getting by the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Alexander Sims on the race’s final restart with 41 minutes to go.

***It came after Sims has a brief lock-up that sent him wide into Turn 1. “I felt sorry for the guy because I’ve been in that situation [at Mid-Ohio] last year where you’re coming cold into the car and do a restart,” van der Zande said. “It’s so easy to lock up your front tires in Turn 1.”

***Sims, who finished third on Sunday, will co-driver alongside van der Zande in this weekend’s Nürburgring 24, sharing the wheel of a Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II with Frank Stippler and Vincent Kolb. The field 136-car field features a number of other IMSA competitors.

***Sunday’s win was the first for CGR in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship since Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last year.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy, who scored their third consecutive podium finish, have extended their lead in the GTP championship to 25 points over AXR’s Sims and Pipo Derani, with the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport pairing of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque third in the standings after their fourth place finish.

***JDC-Miller Motorsports brought its customer Porsche 963 home in seventh, on the lead lap, in the team’s debut race with the LMDh contender. It came after a slow start to the weekend that was filled with minor teething issues in practice for the Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm-driven entry.

***Team co-owner John Church said: “That was eventful. We learned a lot about the car, the tires, the brakes and much more, We’re not yet matching the pace of the competition but we’ve steadily improved. We made it over the distance and there’s not a single scratch on the car.”

***TDS Racing scored its first WeatherTech Championship class win, in a come-from-behind performance by Mikkel Jensen in the No. 11 Oreca 07 Gibson that the Peugeot factory ace shared with Steven Thomas. “I never seen so many excited place in one place.” the Bronze-rated driver said.

***It came after several incidents from Ben Hanley in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca, who had contact with both the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry of Paul-Loup Chatin and Ryan Dalziel’s Era Motorsports machine.

***Dalziel and Keating spoke out on Twitter about the incidents, which did not see Hanley penalized. He finished third alongside co-driver George Kurtz, who scored his first career WeatherTech Championship pole on Saturday.

***John Farano escaped serious injury after an early race accident that sent the Tower Motorsports owner/driver to the hospital for “precautionary measures” according to a team statement. The Canadian, who entered the weekend as the LMP2 points leader, was due to be released last night.

***Farano has dropped to third in the standings, 101 points behind Jensen and Thomas, with PR1/Mathiasen’s Chatin and Keating second in the title race. Keating, however, is not slated to contest the remaining sprint rounds.

***Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat have remained out front in the GTD Pro class championship with their second place finish in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 on Sunday. Hawksworth characterized it as the “wildest race” he’s seen at Laguna Seca.

***The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet came back from a stop plus 60-second penalty for running the red light at pit exit to finish third in class, aided by two-minute and 50-second stop-and-hold penalties for both the No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Ross Gunn and Antonio Garcia’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD for improper wave-by procedures.

***Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella’s GTD Pro class win came after the WeatherTech Racing pairing finished eighth on the road among the GT entries, marking the lowest finish for a GTD Pro winner since the launch of the class last year. It’s believed to have been attributed to the final caution period and improper wave-by.

***The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, which finished tenth in class on Sunday, continue to lead the GTD points standings, 62 points ahead of Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff, which bounced back from an early race right-front puncture and leaving the pit box with its fuel hose attached to finish fifth.

***The No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin of Andy Lally and John Potter stretched its fuel mileage to complete the final 1 hour and 25 minutes on a single tank. The duo came home fourth in GTD, with Lally having led for 21 laps.

***Magnus has yet to decide if it will contest additional WeatherTech Sprint Cup races according to team owner/driver Potter, who confirmed they submitted a full season entry. Lally told Sportscar365 that the rounds at Virginia International Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway are possibilities, in addition to its already confirmed Michelin Endurance Cup program.

***A delay in on-track activity due to a dense fog layer resulted in the grid walk being relocated to parc ferme during the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race. WeatherTech Championship cars were only gridded less than 30 minutes prior to the 12:10 p.m. PT race start.

***The safety car in Sunday’s race was a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS with a special livery designed by Harman Dhillon, of Fresno, Calif., in the first social media contest hosted by the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles.

***The race marked the final event run on the current track surface, with resurfacing of the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit set to begin on Tuesday.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John