Laguna Seca Saturday Notebook

Photo: Jordan Lenssen/Porsche

***Track qualifying records at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca were shattered, in the first appearance for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors since last year’s repave of the circuit.

***GTP pole-sitter Sebastien Bourdais went 2.329 seconds faster than the previous record, while GTD Pro (Nicky Catsburg) was 3.865 seconds faster than the old benchmark, while GTD (Danny Formal) went 2.701 seconds quicker than the best previous pole time.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid said he hasn’t been surprised to see a greater improvement in lap times from the GTD Pro and GTD cars this weekend compared to the GTP class, owing to the differences the cars make their lap times.

***Diuguid told Sportscar365: “We came here and tested and our drivers were talking about the grip in the braking zones didn’t feel as much as the grip in the corners. We expected to be faster too, to be honest, but [with GT cars] a lot of the performance in the cornering speeds and not necessarily the braking zones and the prototypes make a lot their time in the braking zones.”

***The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R underwent a MGU and battery change for safety reasons overnight following Jack Aitken’s accident in Friday’s practice session. Derani and Aitken returned to action in Saturday morning’s practice session, having set the sixth quickest time and Derani laying down the second quickest time in qualifying.

***Nicky Catsburg’s GTD Pro class pole-sitting No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R underwent an engine change prior to qualifying. Catsburg revealed Saturday’s run was his first-ever qualifying attempt in the WeatherTech Championship.

***The entire ten-car GTP field in qualifying was separated by 0.869 seconds, marking a new record for the class.

***Penske’s Diuguid confirmed the team will not add third drivers for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, continuing with its strategy from last year’s race, while the newly expanded six-hour round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be “probably the same unless something else changes.”

***Additionally, Porsche Penske will not have special liveries for the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. Diuguid said its No. 4 car will carry the traditional white-and-red design but with a red tail fin to distinguish it from the full-season Nos. 5 (black) and 6 (white) tail fins.

***Diuguid told Sportscar365: “This year it’s going to stay consistent. We’ll have some additional stickers commemorating the 50 years of Porsche turbo and Mobil 1 too as well but in general, the basic livery is going to be the same.”

***JDC-Miller Motorsports will return to the LMP2 ranks at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America with an entry for Gerry Kraut and Scott Andrews. Team principal John Church told Sportscar365 that the two sprint rounds for the LMP2 season were the only ones “feasible” for gaining an entry.

***Church said: “We just tested for the first time on Tuesday at Brainerd [Minnesota] in the rain. It wasn’t ideal but it was about getting Gerry a few laps and really just shaking the car down and making sure everything was working on it. Now we’ll go to two more tests before Mosport and test again at Elkhart before Elkhart.”

***Dirk Mueller had the honor of driving Ford Performance’s ‘Champion Spirit’ liveried Ford Mustang GT3 on the streets of Washington D.C. last month, as part of a Red Bull event, which ended up being an eye-opening experience for the German.

***Mueller said: “They had Pennsylvania Avenue blocked off for the entire day – in front of The Capitol. I’m not American, but for me, that was pretty impressive. I heard there were like 60,000 people there. For the first time, they said they needed burn-outs and donuts – we haven’t done those in that car yet. So, I had to learn fast.”

***Longtime motorsports executive Lauri Eberhart has been named the CEO of Friends of Laguna Seca, a new non-profit organization that is poised to take over management of the Laguna Seca Recreation Area following the recent approval of a 50-year concession agreement with the county of Monterey.

***Further details have emerged on the IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway in November. An IMSA spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365 that the test will not be mandatory for new homologation cars, unlike the December test that required all new or updated homologation to be evaluated.

***On-track ‘Targeted Performance Testing’, meanwhile, will now take place at the Roar Before the Rolex 24, although any new car must go through IMSA’s static validation testing at the NASCAR R&D Center and/or Windshear wind tunnel beforehand.

***For the second consecutive year, the race’s safety car will be a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS with a livery designed by the winner of a special contest hosted by the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles, Porsche Cars North America marketing and Porsche Cars North America human resources.

***Cody Jenkins, of PCNA’s aftermarket training, designed this year’s livery. For the first time, the contest was opened exclusively to Porsche staff.

***NBC will carry live coverage of the Motul Course de Monterey presented by Hyundai N on Sunday at 3 p.m. EDT, with the race also available on Peacock. Dave Burns will be joined in the booth by Calvin Fish, with Dillon Welch and Brian Till on pit lane.

***IMSA Radio’s coverage of the event will be anchored by John Hindhaugh, Jeremy Shaw and Shea Adam, with their commentary again available on IMSA’s world feed, which includes a YouTube live feed for international viewers.

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