Formal, Marcelli Win Laguna Seca Season Opener

Kyle Marcelli survived a pair of restarts for he and co-driver Danny Formal to take victory in the opening round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Formal quickly jumped to the lead on the opening lap from second on the grid with a late-braking move around the outside of overall pole-sitter John Capestro Dubets into Turn 2.

He and co-driver Marcelli piloted the No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 to victory in a race that saw a chaotic late restart with three cars retiring on the last lap.

Seven cars were involved in three separate incidents, reshuffling the order.

The Pro class, however, was largely unaffected, as Ryan Norman came home to complete a 1-2 for WTR Andretti and Nico Jamin and Sebastian Saavedra completing the overall podium in third for ANSA Motorsports.

The No. 9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini came home fourth ahead of the class winners in Pro-Am.

A tight battle developed in Pro-Am after the pit cycle played out. While Jay Logan initially inherited the class lead out of the pits, he was passed by Tom Capizzi’s No. 46 Precision Performance Motorsports entry.

In the end, it was an unlikely win for Johannes van Overbeek and Chris Bellomo, as the No. 68 Flying Lizard Lamborghini avoided an accident involving then-class leader Capizzi.

Capizzi took the checkered flag second in class but was demoted to sixth in Pro-Am after a post-race penalty was issued for contact with Andy Lee’s No. 14 Pro-Am class Flying Lizard Lamborghini during the final lap restart.

Jake Walker was also caught up in the contract and was forced to retire as multiple other cars took avoiding action off the track.

Logan was promoted to second in class with Shehan Chandrasoma rounding out the Pro-Am class podium.

ANSA came out on top in Am, with Ron Atapattu and Kevin Madsen finishing ahead of the No. 9 PPM Lamborghini.

Mark Wilgus, meanwhile, controlled the LB Cup class to take a lights-to-flag victory for Forte Racing by USRT.

The race’s first yellow was shown for two separate early race incidents for LB Cup class drivers, Jon Hirshberg and Dan Decker. Hirshberg went straight on at the entry to the Corkscrew after dipping a wheel into the dirt in the braking zone, retiring the car.

Just behind, Decker spun his No. 33 World Speed Lamborghini on his way up the hill out of Turn 6 before continuing.

Turn 6 proved to be troublesome, as Graham Doyle spun his No. 10 WTR Andretti Lamborghini on his way up the hill, but was able to continue to finish 25th overall, despite making contact with the inside wall.

The same corner later claimed Raymond Davoudi’s solo-driven No. 11 Valkyrie Velocity Lamborghini when the Texan spun on corner exit, neutralizing the field for the second time as his car was retrieved from the gravel trap.

Race 2 goes green on Sunday at 9:40 a.m. PT (12:40 p.m. ET) with live coverage on Peacock and IMSA.tv.

RESULTS: Race 1