Laguna Seca IMSA: Mazda leads but Cadillacs are closer
Oliver Jarvis’ Mazda RT24-P led opening practice for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Laguna Seca, but recent Balance of Performance changes appear to have boosted the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs closer to the ultimate pace.

Jarvis lapped the scenic 2.258-mile course in Monterey, CA, in 1min16.442sec, beating the Acura Team Penske ARX-05 of Juan Pablo Montoya by 0.153sec.
However, a similar gap behind the Acura was Filipe Albuquerque in the #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac, followed by the similar cars of Renger van der Zande (Wayne Taylor Racing), Pipo Derani (AXR), Tristan Vautier (JDC-Miller Motorsports) – all within half a second of the top time.
IMSA’s recent BoP changes have come after five races in which the Cadillacs haven’t looked a true match for the Mazdas and Acuras.
Helio Castroneves’ best effort in the second Acura left him around 0.4sec off teammate Montoya, but ahead of Colin Braun’s CORE autosport-run Nissan DPi, Simon Trummer (JDC-Miller Cadillac) and Jonathan Bomarito, who dropped a wheel off the track in the second Mazda and needed some minor repairs.
Richard Westbrook put the Ford GT on top in GT Le Mans, heading Tommy Milner’s Corvette C7.R by 0.3sec, with Jesse Krohn’s BMW M8 GTE a further tenth in arrears.
Jan Magnussen was fourth in the second Corvette ahead of Tom Blomqvist’s best in the second M8.
The big story was the two Porsche 911 RSRs, the GTLM class’s dominant cars this year, were over 1.5sec behind Westbrook’s best effort.
GT Daytona was led by Bryan Sellers in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, but by mere hundredths ahead of Toni Vilander in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.
Jeroen Bleekemolen wheeled the Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 to third spot ahead of Bill Auberlen’s Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 and Andy Lally in the Magnus Racing Lamborghini.
Second practice begins at 3.15pm local (Pacific) time.
Session results:
Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 77 | | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'16.442 | |
2 | 6 | | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'16.595 | 0.153 |
3 | 5 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.746 | 0.304 |
4 | 10 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.807 | 0.365 |
5 | 31 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.890 | 0.448 |
6 | 85 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'16.908 | 0.466 |
7 | 7 | | DPi | Acura DPi | 1'17.000 | 0.558 |
8 | 54 | | DPi | Nissan DPi | 1'17.222 | 0.780 |
9 | 84 | | DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'17.534 | 1.092 |
10 | 55 | | DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'17.762 | 1.320 |
11 | 52 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'19.073 | 2.631 |
12 | 38 | | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'19.266 | 2.824 |
13 | 67 | | GTLM | Ford GT | 1'22.548 | 6.106 |
14 | 4 | | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'22.842 | 6.400 |
15 | 24 | | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'22.949 | 6.507 |
16 | 3 | | GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'23.309 | 6.867 |
17 | 25 | | GTLM | BMW M8 GTE | 1'23.324 | 6.882 |
18 | 66 | | GTLM | Ford GT | 1'23.773 | 7.331 |
19 | 911 | | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'24.361 | 7.919 |
20 | 912 | | GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'24.583 | 8.141 |
21 | 48 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'25.248 | 8.806 |
22 | 63 | | GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'25.271 | 8.829 |
23 | 33 | | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'25.721 | 9.279 |
24 | 96 | | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'25.738 | 9.296 |
25 | 44 | | GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'25.894 | 9.452 |
26 | 76 | | GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 1'26.178 | 9.736 |
27 | 73 | | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'26.205 | 9.763 |
28 | 14 | | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'26.308 | 9.866 |
29 | 12 | | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'26.622 | 10.180 |
30 | 86 | | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'26.697 | 10.255 |
31 | 57 | | GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 1'26.833 | 10.391 |
32 | 9 | | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'27.112 | 10.670 |
View full results |

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