Rondet to Sub for Holton at Laguna Seca

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Nico Rondet will sub for Paul Holton in this weekend’s IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, in a revised lineup for Compass Racing’s McLaren 570S GT4.

Rondet, who drove for the Karl Thomson-led squad last year in GS, joins full-season driver Matt Plumb.

He replaces McLaren driver Holton, who is taking part in this weekend’s China GT Championship race in Shanghai, also at the wheel of a GT4-spec McLaren.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of a Compass McLaren,” Rondet said. “I’m confident that Matt and I can get a good result.”

Holton’s absence from Laguna Seca will bring to an end a two-race consecutive pole streak for the Orlando-based driver, who along with Plumb, have yet to visit victory lane this season in Continental Tire Challenge competition.

GS Returns to Full Strength

The GS class swells to 25 cars this weekend, after a 21-car entry in the last round at Virginia International Raceway.

Both of the Winward Racing/HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4s are set to take part after skipping VIR, while the No. 5 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR is also slated to return.

Automatic Racing will field two of its Aston Martin Vantage GT4s, while RS1 has entered its second Porsche GT4 as well.

Classic BMW, a partial-season competitor, is not scheduled to take part this weekend.

The TCR class, meanwhile, drops from nine to seven entries, with both of the Rumcastle Volkswagen Golf GTI TCRs not present, although boosted with the Roadshagger Audi RS 3 LMS TCR, which makes its second start of the season.

Official track action kicks off on Friday,  with the two-hour race set for Saturday at 3:15 p.m. PDT.

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