Practice report
IMSA Laguna Seca
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.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Sep 14, 2019, 8:22 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
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 Oliver Jarvis
Tristan Nunez
DPi Mazda DPi 1'16.442 2 6 Dane Cameron
Juan Pablo Montoya
DPi Acura DPi 1'16.595 0.153 3 5 Joao Barbosa
Filipe Albuquerque
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'16.746 0.304 4 10 Renger van der Zande
Jordan Taylor
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'16.807 0.365 5 31 Felipe Nasr
Pipo Derani
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'16.890 0.448 6 85 Mikhail Goikhberg
Tristan Vautier
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'16.908 0.466 7 7 Ricky Taylor
Helio Castroneves
DPi Acura DPi 1'17.000 0.558 8 54 Jon Bennett
Colin Braun
DPi Nissan DPi 1'17.222 0.780 9 84 Simon Trummer
Stephen Simpson
DPi Cadillac DPi 1'17.534 1.092 10 55 Jonathan Bomarito
Harry Tincknell
DPi Mazda DPi 1'17.762 1.320 11 52 Matt McMurry
Dalton Kellett
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 1'19.073 2.631 12 38 Cameron Cassels
Kyle Masson
LMP2 ORECA LMP2 1'19.266 2.824 13 67 Ryan Briscoe
Richard Westbrook
GTLM Ford GT 1'22.548 6.106 14 4 Oliver Gavin
Tommy Milner
GTLM Corvette C7.R 1'22.842 6.400 15 24 Jesse Krohn
John Edwards
GTLM BMW M8 GTE 1'22.949 6.507 16 3 Jan Magnussen
Antonio Garcia
GTLM Corvette C7.R 1'23.309 6.867 17 25 Connor de Phillippi
Tom Blomqvist
GTLM BMW M8 GTE 1'23.324 6.882 18 66 Joey Hand
Dirk Muller
GTLM Ford GT 1'23.773 7.331 19 911 Patrick Pilet
Nick Tandy
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR 1'24.361 7.919 20 912 Earl Bamber
Laurens Vanthoor
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR 1'24.583 8.141 21 48 Bryan Sellers
Corey Lewis
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'25.248 8.806 22 63 Cooper MacNeil
Toni Vilander
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 1'25.271 8.829 23 33 Ben Keating
Jeroen Bleekemolen
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'25.721 9.279 24 96 Bill Auberlen
Robby Foley
GTD BMW M6 GT3 1'25.738 9.296 25 44 John Potter
Andy Lally
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 1'25.894 9.452 26 76 Paul Holton
Matt Plumb
GTD McLaren 720S GT3 1'26.178 9.736 27 73 Patrick Lindsey
Patrick Long
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'26.205 9.763 28 14 Richard Heistand
Jack Hawksworth
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'26.308 9.866 29 12 Frankie Montecalvo
Townsend Bell
GTD Lexus RC F GT3 1'26.622 10.180 30 86 Mario Farnbacher
Trent Hindman
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'26.697 10.255 31 57 Katherine Legge
Christina Nielsen
GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'26.833 10.391 32 9 Scott Hargrove
Zacharie Robichon
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'27.112 10.670 View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Aston Martin: IMSA has "moved down the priority list"
Next article Laguna Seca IMSA: Montoya edges Derani in second practice
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
David Malsher-Lopez
Alex Zanardi: The man whose name is a synonym for “hero”
IndyCar
IndyCar
Alex Zanardi: The man whose name is a synonym for “hero”
Remembering Michele Alboreto: F1 ace, Le Mans winner and a good man
Formula 1
Formula 1
Remembering Michele Alboreto: F1 ace, Le Mans winner and a good man
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
IMSA
IMSA
Laguna Seca
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
Latest news
MotoGP Australian GP: Marc Marquez recovers from crash to take pole at wet Phillip Island
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
49 min
MotoGP Australian GP: Marc Marquez recovers from crash to take pole at wet Phillip Island
No factory Honda bikes in Australian GP as Luca Marini withdraws due to virus
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
No factory Honda bikes in Australian GP as Luca Marini withdraws due to virus
"We're just a step behind" - what McLaren is trying to solve with its final 2026 upgrades
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
"We're just a step behind" - what McLaren is trying to solve with its final 2026 upgrades
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe