Porsche goes 1-2 at Laguna Seca and BMW remains winless

The TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship race featured an intense battle without yellow flags where Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche 963 secured their first victory of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, breaking the perfect streak of their sister car.

Photo By IMSA

After BMW M Team RLL secured their fourth consecutive pole position with Dries Vanthoor, many expected they might finally convert their qualifying speed into victory. However, Porsche Penske Motorsport executed a flawless strategy with the No. 6 to overtake all their rivals.

Perfect strategy and dramatic finish

The No. 6 Porsche executed a perfect "undercut" by being the first among the leaders to pit, just 51 minutes after the race start. Campbell, who drove the first stint, had a concerning moment when his Porsche's anti-stall system activated after contact with a GTD class participant about 45 minutes after the start. He dropped from third to fifth place but quickly regained speed.

The race finish was especially intense. The top three competitors fighting for overall victory and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class honors took the checkered flag separated by less than one second. As Jaminet skillfully navigated traffic during his final lap, his teammate Nick Tandy in the No. 7 encountered the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 approaching the final turn, allowing Vanthoor to pull alongside.

There was side contact between all three vehicles, sending Vanthoor's BMW off-track into a runoff area. Tandy recovered to complete the Porsche Penske Motorsport 1-2 finish, ending 1.692 seconds behind Jaminet.

BMW continues failing to capitalize on poles

This race marked the fourth consecutive occasion in 2025 where BMW M Team RLL failed to convert a pole position into victory. Before Monterey, the team had taken poles at Daytona, Sebring and Long Beach, but each time the duo of Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy in the No. 7 Porsche 963 stood atop the podium.

At Monterey, BMW again showed they have single-lap speed but couldn't maintain pace during the 2-hour, 40-minute competition. Vanthoor and Philipp Eng finished third after the last-lap incident, scoring their second consecutive podium.

Campbell and Jaminet had finished second in both the 12 Hours of Sebring and Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The WeatherTech Raceway victory helped the No. 6 duo close the championship gap to the No. 7 to 91 unofficial points.

Photo By IMSA

The uninterrupted race factor

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is known for producing competitive sports car races due to the wide strategy windows available for tires and fuel, and that tendency was enhanced by the complete absence of cautions in Sunday's competition.

The last caution-free race in the WeatherTech Championship occurred nearly three years ago at the Belle Isle street circuit in 2022. The last uninterrupted IMSA race at WeatherTech Raceway was in 2019.

AO Racing continues winning streak with "Roxy"

In GTD PRO class, AO Racing secured their third consecutive IMSA victory with Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler driving the pink No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) "Roxy".

The triumph marked AO's third consecutive California win, one month after Laurens Vanthoor and Jonny Edgar took AO's "Rexy" Porsche to GTD class victory at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and one year after "Rexy's" WeatherTech Raceway win en route to the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GTD PRO team, manufacturer and driver championships for AO, Porsche and Heinrich.

While the AO Porsche enjoyed a relatively comfortable advantage in the final two-thirds of the race, "Roxy" had to work for the lead. After qualifying the AO Porsche fourth the previous day, Bachler passed Alexander Sims and the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R at the start, then "inherited" second when the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO was penalized for changing lanes before taking the green flag.

Photo By IMSA

Mercedes-AMG repeats GTD triumph

In Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class, the duo of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward continued executing at a high level across all areas of their program with the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Last year's GTD class champions took their second victory of the 2025 season and repeated their Monterey win from one year ago, using a successful "undercut" pit strategy to pass the day's most frequent leaders, the pole-sitting No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3.

However, perhaps unfortunately for the No. 32 car, the No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG and No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 had pitted earlier for the final stint and were able to run clean laps on fresh tires to erase the gap and pass the No. 32.

Once Ellis took the lead in his No. 57 ahead of Jack Hawksworth in the No. 12 Lexus, the 12 Hours of Sebring contenders were back at it. Hawksworth closed to within 0.7 seconds of Ellis but never got close enough to attempt a pass for the win.

Upcoming races

All IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors will enjoy a couple of off weekends before the GTP and GTD PRO classes reunite May 30-31 for the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic. Meanwhile, the GTD class has a race-free weekend and resumes with all four WeatherTech Championship classes for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, June 20-22.

Complete race results by class

GTP

GTD PRO

GTD