Tandy, Jaminet Deliver Penske’s 100th Sports Car Win

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet delivered Team Penske its 100th sports car win, in a day that also saw Porsche re-write the record books with its 600th and 601st IMSA victories in Sunday’s Motul Course de Monterey presented by Hyundai N.

Tandy, who was locked in a battle with the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken for the lead, got around the Whelen Engineering-sponsored GTP car after Aitken went wide in traffic with ten minutes to go in the two-hour and 40-minute WeatherTech SportsCar Championship contest.

The Englishman took his No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 to a 5.764-second win over Aitken for the historic victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with team owner Roger Penske in attendance, fresh from attending Saturday’s FIA World Endurance Championship race in Spa.

Felipe Nasr drove the No. 7 Penske Porsche to a double podium finish for the team, having gotten around the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Renger van der Zande, whose fuel-only strategy on the final stop backfired on the Dutchman after struggling for grip.

Van der Zande’s co-driver Sebastien Bourdais put the car on pole on Saturday but faded to a fifth place result.

The No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 of Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz was fourth ahead of teammate Filipe Albuquerque’s No. 10 Acura in sixth.

Nick Yelloly was the highest-placed BMW M Hybrid V8 in seventh after losing time early on with an issue with changing the car’s right-rear wheel. Yelloly lost further ground after he went off course in the second hour.

JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Porsche was eighth in the hands of Richard Westbrook, ahead of the No. 24 BMW, which picked up damage after Jesse Krohn collected an advertising banner in the second hour.

The No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche brought up the rear of the GTP field after Gianmaria Bruni was served a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility with the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Roman De Angelis.

The race featured only a single full-course caution, for debris from the No. 7 Penske Porsche, which required a rear-deck change while under the yellow in the second hour.

AO Racing Roars to GTD Pro Victory; Winward Wins GTD

Laurin Heinrich steered the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R to AO Racing’s maiden WeatherTech Championship win in GTD Pro, while Winward Racing extended its GTD points lead with its third class win in four races this season.

Heinrich got around the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Oliver Jarvis with 1 hour and 13 minutes to go and withheld Jarvis’ co-driver Marvin Kirchhofer’s late race charge to give the ‘Rexy’ the dinosaur-liveried car its first victory.

The 22-year-old German, in his first season of WeatherTech Championship competition, shared top class honors with Seb Priaulx.

It marked the first Porsche win in GTD Pro since last year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, which was ironically claimed by Sunday’s runner-ups Pfaff.

The class pole-sitting No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner completed the class podium in third after struggling for pace compared to the Porsche and McLaren.

A late-race bobble for Robby Foley handed GTD honors to the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward.

Foley, who was en route to deliver Turner Motorsport class victory in its record 557th start with BMW, drove off-course with less than five minutes to go after possible contact with the No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura of Jordan Taylor.

Ellis finished 3.458 seconds ahead of Foley, who recovered to finish second.

The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson picked up their second GTD class podium finish of the year in third, meanwhile.

RESULTS: Motul Course de Monterey presented by Hyundai N

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