Bourdais: Resurfaced Laguna Requires “Maximum Attack”

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

The resurfaced WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will take “maximum attack and commitment” with “pretty incredible speeds” predicted for this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race according to Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais.

Bourdais and No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R co-driver Renger van der Zande were among a number of drivers who tested on the 2.238-mile circuit, which was repaved shortly after last year’s WeatherTech Championship race, in preparation for Sunday’s Motul Course de Monterey presented by Hyundai N.

The Frenchman predicts lap times will be two to three seconds quicker in the hybrid-powered GTP class compared to last year.

“We did come and test with both Cadillacs, both BMWs and both Penske Porsches, so we did have time to experiment and try quite a few things,” he said. “Grip has gone up a lot. It’s probably going to be at least a couple of seconds faster and it’s always an awesome feeling when you drive on a repaved track.

“I’ve always enjoyed Laguna, but tire degradation was high and grip was quite low at the end of the cycle of the old pavement.

“So, now it’s full force, maximum attack and commitment, so it’s a ton of fun to muscle those GTPs around. You should see some pretty incredible speeds around the weekend.”

Van der Zande, who along with Bourdais won last year’s race, believes that having nearly a year of racing on the surface will play a major benefit.

“The Monday after our race last year they started to work on the track and we saw IndyCars flying off because there was only one line that was grippy and anything that was off line was not good,” said the Dutchman.

“When we were testing there that improved a lot. There was grip everywhere.

“It’s just the speeds are so much higher that if you have a little off you’re flying off a lot faster. I think you’re going to see if people go off it’s easier to end up in the barrier, which makes it tricky and you can feel that from the car.

“Laguna Seca is one of those old-school tracks which I absolutely love in America. But when they increase the grip the speed is a lot higher so the risk of flying off is a lot higher.”

Van der Zande predicts that the almost-new surface will “bring the field together” compared to recent years that saw a major disparity once grip dropped off.

“Also, strategy-wise it’s going to be very interesting because of the tarmac, so we’ll see what plays out,” he added. “It looks like we’ll be quite a bit faster than the GT cars at Laguna Seca compared to the other tracks. From that perspective it’s easier to overtake them. Your cornering speed is higher where you can probably have more corners where you can overtake.

“In general, GTPs have been very slow in slow-speed corners; as fast as GT cars. Only the high-speed corners where we can make a difference compared to the GT cars, so it’s not been too easy to overtake.

“We go to tracks where there are maybe two or three corners and the straight where you can overtake, where with the DPi you could overtake in any corner.

“If you talk about the dynamics of multi-class racing, it’s not so easy right now.

“Also, we’re heavy and we have to break quite early compared to the GT cars who have ABS. Sometimes you outbrake them on the inside and they can still brake later than us, so it’s only a couple of spots on the track where you can overtake normally.

“I think Laguna Seca with the higher grip and we have a bit more downforce the car will probably have more overtaking opportunities with the GT cars this time.”

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