- Charlie Thornton
- May 23, 2025
- 7 min read
IMSA - Porsche prevail in a GTP thriller at Laguna Seca!
Vanthoor extended his perfect pole streak, but once again fell short in the race, as Laguna Seca unleashed a weekend of high-stakes drama, strategic gambles, and a final-lap showdown that shook up the IMSA title fight.
QUALIFYING
GTD Qualifying
Qualifying for the GTD class began steadily, but quickly accelerated into a game of back-and-forth at the top of the timesheets. Once the proper laps started coming in, it was Parker Thompson in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 who topped the charts with a 1:21.510, but he was quickly beaten by Russell Ward and Kenton Koch in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo’s from Winward Racing and Korthoff Competition Motors respectively. The session continued in the changing fashion, and Casper Stevenson was on a charge, managing to get provisional pole position with a 1:20.993 in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. However, in the dying minutes of the session, as the tyres were struggling to get any further grip, it was Kenton Koch in the #32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo who reclaimed the top spot with a 1:20.810. Meanwhile, Stevenson was improving once again, but was blocked in the final corner by the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Brendan Iribe, and the Aston Martin was forced to abandon his lap, sinking any hopes of stealing the pole.
GTD Pro Qualifying
Nicky Catsburg in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R kicked off the times with a 1:21.948, before he improved by nearly a second just a lap later, and then improved even further. As he pushed the limits, he had a wild moment at turn six, where he briefly went off into the gravel, but impressively kept his foot in and returned to the track without losing too much momentum. Behind Catsburg, Giacomo Altoé in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 was finding good form, slotting into second place with a 1:20.990, and then improving further to a 1:20.731, but just at it seemed that Catsburg had the upper-hand, his teammate Alexander Sims in the #3 Corvette pounced into provisional pole with a 1:20.673, making things more exciting. The drama didn’t stop there, with Klaus Bachler in the #77 AO Racing “Roxy” Porsche 992 GT3 R climbing up the order to this position, just before Altoé delivered a late-session flier with a 1:20.608 which vaulted him to the top. As the chequered flag waved, Dan Harper in the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo came agonisingly close with a 1:20.644, enough for second position, but not enough to top Altoé’s time.
GTP Qualifying
Originally it was Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 who set the best lap, but it was Dries Vanthoor in the #24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 who turned the session on its head with a stunning 1:13.029, instantly putting over a second between himself and the field. Vanthoor’s effort wasn’t just a quick lap, it was symbolic of BMW’s qualifying dominance so far this season, and his teammate Sheldon van der Linde followed up with a strong 1:14.288, while Nasr briefly reclaimed second position before being beaten by his teammate Matt Campbell in the #6 Porsche with a 1:13.189. Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 joined the battle in third, but the final blows were between Porsche and BMW once again. Nasr was able to dip into the 1:12s, but Vanthoor responded immediately with a session-best 1:12.854, while Campbell came closest just five-thousandths of a second off the pole. No one was able to improve as the chequered flag flew, which confirmed Vanthoor’s 100% record in qualifying for the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship season, while Porsche showed strength to come close to the BMW, but was not able to topple them.
RACE
The green flag dropped, and the race got off to a dramatic start as the field surged down to the hairpin, Frédéric Vervisch in the #65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 had a messy launch, struggling for grip and going off-track, losing ground and positions. Almost immediately, penalties began to shape the race, with the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Dan Harper being handed a drive-through penalty for changing columns before crossing the start-line, a costly mistake for the GTD Pro contender who qualified in second position in class. That wasn’t the end of penalties, as just over thirty minutes into the race, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R was handed a stop and repair penalty for tyre operational requirements, shortly followed by the #12 and #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexuses and the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. These infractions shuffled the order early on, and forced multiple teams into recovery mode far earlier than anticipated.
The opening hour was plagued with several scares, with Matt Campbell in the #6 Porsche nearly lost control of the car when exiting the Corkscrew. He slowed dramatically, and appeared to head to the pits, but to everyone’s surprise, continued on without stopping, perhaps dodging a major mechanical issue, or simply managing a close call and trying to trick his competitors. Pit lane chaos added to the tension, with the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette of Alec Udell awkwardly stopped in the pit lane, while the #021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari had a dangerously close release, brushing the side of the Corvette who was attempting to enter his pit box. The unsafe release earned the #021 a drive-through penalty, and the #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 was penalised for having a tyre outside of crew control.
As the race settled into its rhythm, the battle at the front of GTP intensified, with the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Felipe Nasr overtook the pole-sitting #24 BMW of Dries Vanthoor for the lead with just an hour and fifty minutes to go. Moments later, the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman De Angelis suffered a rear-left puncture while running in the top five, though he managed to limp back to the pits without creating any more significant damage to the car.
The GTP strategy began shortly after, with Nasr pitting from the lead of the race just ten minutes later, handing the advantage back to Vanthoor, who stretched his stint by a couple laps before swapping to Philipp Eng. Eventually, it was the #6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet that emerged as the provisional leader after the stops, with the #7 now in the hands of Nick Tandy close behind. Further down the field, contact and attrition continued to mount, with the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin being nudged off at turn five by the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 of Elliott Skeer, who was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident, while the #27 received another drive-through penalty, although this time for apparent blocking. The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Colin Braun was the next casualty at turn five, shedding bodywork in the process, which triggered a mechanical black flag for rubbing bodywork on the rear-left. The car’s race unravelled from there, including another penalty for tyre handling violations. Filipe Albuquerque, one of the most seasoned veterans in prototype racing wasn’t spared, when he took his #10 Cadillac off track at turn five, and later suffered lighting issues on the front-right corner.
As the race entered its final hour, the strategy games continued to evolve rapidly, with the #6 Porsche pitting from the lead, ceding the position temporarily to Tandy in the sister #7. When Tandy made his stop, he had a dramatic moment nearly losing the car on pit exit, which allowed Jaminet in the #6 Porsche to pass and retake the lead on track. Philipp Eng handed the #24 BMW back to Vanthoor for the final charge, setting up a thrilling three-way fight between Jaminet, Tandy and Vanthoor for the overall win. The tension reached its peak with just minutes to go with Jaminet momentarily blocked by the #31 Whelen Cadillac of Jack Aitken while lapping him, allowing Tandy and Vanthoor to close up within striking distance.
On the final lap, all hell broke loose. Tandy lunged Jaminet for the lead and came perilously close to wiping both of them out in the process, but behind them, Vanthoor tried to take advantage of this, going side-by-side with Tandy into the final corner, but minor contact sent the #24 BMW off into the gravel runoff, only aided by his sixty-second advantage to fourth place, and recovered to cross the line. Caught up in the last minute squeeze was the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini, who was simply trying to stay out of the way of the leading battle.
Ultimately, it was Jaminet in the #6 Porsche who held on to take a hard-fought and dramatic win in GTP, with Tandy in the #7 right behind. Dries Vanthoor managed to recover to finish third, followed by the sister #25 in fourth.
PODIUMS IN EACH CLASS
CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS
Four rounds of the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship are now complete, with Porsche Penske Motorsport coming out on top in all four races so far. The #7 Penske Porsche retains its lead with 1490 points, but their advantage has narrowed to only 91 points as the #6 entry won at Laguna Seca. BMW’s now quadruple-pole-sitting #24 entry sit third with 1210 points.
The gap in GTD Pro sits at 70 points between first and second, with the #77 AO Racing Porsche scoring two victories in a row, they sit with 1014 points, while the #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports sit with 944 points, just five points ahead of the Laguna Seca pole-sitting #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3.
Winward Racing continue to lead the GTD championship with 1372 points, and have successfully added more advantage over the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus, while the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R has moved into third position, overtaking the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin with 1166 points.
THE JUNGLE IN DETROIT AWAITS
IMSA SportsCar Championship will return to the Streets of Detroit for a GTP and GTD Pro only round on the 30th - 31st May. LMP2 and GTD will return to competition at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in June.
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