The No. 06 Porsche Penske GTP driver Nick Tandy stole away the lead at Laguna Seca this weekend after making a pass in the closing minutes of the race. The No. 31 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R held the lead until there were 12 minutes left in the race. However having benefited from a superior pit strategy for the last stop of the race the No. 6 Porsche got past and then won the race by a 5.764 seconds over the Cadillac. The win marked the 100th win for Team Penske.
“In qualifying, we maybe didn’t have the speed, but it looked like we had good long-run speed all day,” said Roger Penske, who was present at WeatherTech Raceway for his legendary racing team’s milestone triumph. “We had great pit stops and great strategy by the guys, and fantastic driving by the guys in car No. 6. For the Porsche program to come here and win is a big deal. I came here and won (as a driver) in the ‘60s, if you can believe it.
I can tell you there’s a lot of pressure coming from Porsche because they expect us to win,” Penske continued. “We’ve got a deep bench here. We’ve been through a lot of stuff this past couple weeks, but hey, we’re on a roll.”
GTDPro and GTD
Rexy claimed its first win in the IMSA WeatherTech championship in the GTD Pro class for Ao Racing. The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche drivers Laurin Heinrich and Seb Priaulx won by 9.074 seconds in the sprint race. “It’s an honor for me,” Heinrich said. “It’s awesome to be part of it. I’m thankful to AO Racing for their trust to bring an IMSA rookie and two young guys like us into a GTD PRO program against many experienced teams and drivers. I think today we proved that certainly that AO Racing is capable of winning in the category.”
Priaulx stated, “I’m really proud of the team. Not just today, but the whole year. They’ve been improving over time, and it’s just absolutely great to see. They’re really hard-working guys. … It’s absolutely awesome to win our first race.” Behind in second was the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 EVO who finish just ahead of the race pole sitter the No. 04 Corvette that finished third .
In GTD the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 won wiht Philip Ellis in the drivers seat. Ellis brought the No. 57 car to victory ahead of the No. 02 BMWM4 of Turner Motorsport. The No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) from Wright Motorsports.
Full Results from the Race