Laguna Seca Thursday Notebook

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

***With DXDT Racing’s withdrawal after its transporter caught fire en route to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, this weekend’s StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship is down to 33 cars, spread across the GTP, GTD Pro and GTD classes. Sunday’s two-hour and 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race marks the first outing for the GTD Pro category since last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

***A total of five WeatherTech Championship cars are sporting specific-for-this-event heritage liveries as part of the first-ever ‘IMSA Throwback’ weekend. It is headlined by the pair of Penske Porsche 963s, which has elements of Bob Garretson’s Apple Computer rainbow livery from the 1980 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 935 K3, Paul Miller Racing’s BMW M4 GT3 EVO celebrating the Hans Stuck-driven BMW 3.0 CSL from 1975, and the pair of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs, which are in the yellow and white colors of the Corvette C5-Rs that contested the major endurances races in 2000.

***A total of ten cars, spread between the WeatherTech Championship and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series, assembled for a group photo (pictured above) on Thursday afternoon to officially kick off the throwback weekend. Included were season-long heritage liveries from Myers Riley Motorsports and Turner Motorsport, the latter in Pilot Challenge GS, as well as a Marlboro-inspired design on the Ibiza Farms Racing McLaren Artura GT4 and Gou Racing’s Audi RS 3 LMS TCR, which harkens back to a livery inspired by a car raced by the late Eduardo Gou Sr. in Mexico during the 1980s-1990s. AO Racing’s ‘Skekchy’ was also present.

***Sportscar365 understands that the lower-than-expected turnout of throwback liveries was impacted by the series’ schedule, with WeatherTech GTP and GTD teams having remained on the West Coast since the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach two weeks ago, which made it difficult to re-wrap cars. Teams, however, were notified of the Laguna Seca-led initiative in February, although participation had remained optional.

***IMSA President John Doonan told Sportscar365: “This came about because of a collaboration with the promoters, Mel Harder (Laguna Seca President and general manager), Emily (Nash, IMSA’s director of track marketing and promotions) and myself talked about this opportunity. There’s a lot of history here.”

***While not discounting the Laguna throwback weekend becoming an annual event, Doonan said to expect a “big push” around next year’s 75th anniversary Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for what’s understood to be a more formalized event. “I think you’re going to see a huge focus on that. We wanted to give it a try here [at Laguna Seca] and we certainly plan to really push it for Sebring next year.”

***Tommy Milner said the 2000-era Corvette liveries, which ran on the factory C5-Rs at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans that year, is “super cool” having noted Pratt Miller’s attention to detail, including putting the team’s name in the same font and location as where the ‘Goodwrench Service’ logos were on the car, while also adding the ‘Plus’ graphic.

***Milner said: “I think the response so far from the crew has been pretty positive, with some of them hoping that we can continue that for the rest of the season with that livery. It’s a fun thing to do, especially with the history that Corvette Racing has and some of the details. It’s harkening back to some of the other sponsors that were on the door. [It’s] super cool to be in that car and fun for the fans to see something new every now and then.”

***IMSA staff are sporting in-period khaki-colored hats with the original IMSA logo, while Doonan said staff from Bosch are wearing retro hats as well as part of this weekend’s festivities.

***A number of drivers are on a busy stretch of domestic racing, including Robby Foley, Frederik Schandorff and Aaron Telitz, who are contesting parallel GT World Challenge America powered by AWS programs, which saw its season opener at Sonoma Raceway the week after Sebring and its most recent round last weekend at Circuit of The Americas, in between Long Beach and Laguna Seca.

***Telitz, who is coming off the GTD class win at Long Beach with Benjamin Pedersen in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 said: “It’s really awesome to be this busy as a race car driver… and it makes it better too, and we’ve had fast race cars as well. Obviously winning at Long Beach was good.”

***Several WeatherTech Championship drivers are also undertaking European Le Mans Series campaigns, where they’ve prioritized Laguna Seca over Sunday’s 4 Hours of Le Castellet at Paul Ricard. It includes Nick Yelloly (Inter Europol Competition), Louis Deletraz (AO by TF), Laurin Heinrich (High Class Racing), Harry King (Proton Competition) and Felipe Fraga (CLX Motorsport).

***Four-time series champion Deletraz, of note, revealed that he’s missing his first ELMS race since 2021. The Cadillac factory driver was recently confirmed to be contesting next weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps, in place of Alex Lynn at Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA.

***Fraga, meanwhile, was originally due to miss Laguna due to initially prioritizing his ELMS LMP2 Pro-Am drive. It’s still unclear if the Brazilian will be in the No. 16 Myers Riley Ford Mustang GT3 EVO for the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway, the only other WeatherTech Championship/ELMS clash this year.

***Fraga said: “I’m happy to be in Laguna with the team. I think we had a great improvement in Long Beach, and we need to carry that momentum forward to keep scoring important points. I can’t wait to drive the Mustang at such an iconic track.”

***Laurens Vanthoor, who makes his first start at Laguna Seca since 2021, said he was surprised by the “normal” level of tire degradation he experienced in a pre-Long Beach test in the Penske Porsche. “The last time I went there, it was still the old asphalt, and it was a very low grip, a little sliding, so then the tire drop was quite huge,” he said. “I think it’s improved quite a lot with the new asphalt.”

***Vanthoor added: “Also, the new tires this year have improved the situation a bit. I think now it’s in a reasonably normal level, but at least in GTP it always plays a big role, see, because we need to use the tires quite long, and with quite powerful cars. You need to be smart, treat them, and try not to overheat them. Especially when your car is a bit more heavy!”

***The 2026-spec factory Porsches are 16 kgs lighter this weekend, as part of a wide-scale weight reduction in the GTP class for all LMDh-based prototypes. The LMH-based Aston Martin Valkyrie, meanwhile, remains at the baseline 1030 kg weight and max power of 520 kW across both power stages, as IMSA’s technical department continues to seek ways of balancing the two platforms, particularly with the challenge of no further concessions available to the Valkyrie per the LMH technical regulations.

***Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber, who makes his return after missing Long Beach due to his WEC commitments, took part in last weekend’s Nashville Half Marathon benefitting the St. Jude’s Research Hospital. Bamber resides in the Nashville area.

***Bamber said: “It was awesome doing a half marathon last weekend with Jack. It was a little mini-team building that we started at the beginning of the year and the team is now coming off five straight podiums and we’re looking for more of that success.”

***WeatherTech Championship teams will have a single 90-minute practice on Friday, which will run from 3:20-4:50 p.m. PST, although Pilot Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Mustang Challenge North America will also all be in action, including practice and qualifying sessions for all three series.

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