Acura Team Penske Dominates Laguna Seca

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron have moved one step closer to the DPi title with a dominant win in the Monterey Sports Car Championship powered by McLaren.

Cameron led an Acura Team Penske 1-2 sweep in the caution-free two-hour and 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship contest, finishing 9.764-seconds ahead of teammate Helio Castroneves.

Pole-sitter Ricky Taylor lost the lead to the No. 6 Acura ARX-05 of Cameron on Lap 42 and saw the championship-leading entry extend his margin to nearly 20 seconds, thanks in part to an off-course excursion by Castroneves on his out lap.

The gap, however, was reduced in the closing laps.

It marked the third win of the season for Montoya and Cameron, who extend their championship lead to 12 points over Whelen Engineering Racing’s Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani.

The Action Express Racing-run Cadillac DPi-V.R came home third, thanks to a late-race charge from Derani, who got around the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi of Renger van der Zande for position with ten minutes to go.

It gave Derani and Nasr their first podium finish since Detroit, with van der Zande and Jordan Taylor, who ran third for the majority of the race settling for fourth.

The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi of Felipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa completed the top-five.

Oliver Jarvis brought the No. 77 Team Joest Mazda RT24-P home in sixth, while the sister No. 55 Mazda DPi retired with clutch issues during its final pit stop after running in the top-five.

LMP2 saw PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports score its fifth consecutive class win, with Matt McMurry and Dalton Kellett taking their No. 52 Oreca 07 Gibson to a one-lap margin over the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.

The pole-sitting Performance Tech entry started from the rear of the field after electing to start Cameron Cassels, while later serving a penalty for a pit lane infraction.

RESULTS: Monterey Sports Car Championship

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