IMSA: Sunday Monterey Notebook

Tough Day for Ganassi, other teams at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

While the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda was a triumphant weekend for multiple teams, it was a long day for several others at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

One of the most disappointed: The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost Riley Daytona Prototype of Scott Pruett and Joey Hand, which qualified a strong second behind the pole sitting Chevrolet Corvette DP of Wayne Taylor Racing.

The Ganassi Ford suffered transmission problems and struggled to maintain speed, finishing 23rd overall, and seventh in the Prototype class, nine laps down. The team had been gathering momentum, with a second-place finish at Long Beach two weeks ago.

Also not having the sort of weekend they wanted was the No. 33 GT Daytona Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen, the winning team from the season-opening Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Keating slid off the pavement into the dirt in the first few laps, wiping out a few track signs, and damaging the front end. They fixed the car and persevered, but finished 32nd of the 35 starters.

The innovative DeltaWing started sixth, and drivers Katharine Legge and Memo Rojas were hoping for some luck, but it didn’t come: The exhaust manifold broke, and the team replaced it and returned to the track, before brake issues sidelined them for good.

“We know we’re not that far off, we just need to keep working hard and keep pushing," Rojas said. They finished 34th, one spot ahead of the No. 07 Mazda SKYACTIV Prototype of Tom Long and Joel Miller, which retired early with a spun bearing in the diesel engine. The sister No. 70 SKYACTIV car ran well, as Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nunez qualified eighth and finished seventh, leading seven laps at the manufacturer’s home track. It matched the best result ever for the Mazda Prototype team.

GREEN CHALLENGE GOES TO FERRARI AGAIN: First Sebring, then Long Beach, and now Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca: The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia won the DEKRA Green Challenge Award for the third time. It is a separate competition within the GT Le Mans class, presented to the most environmentally clean, fast and efficient GTLM competitor at each TUDOR Championship race.

The DEKRA Green Challenge award is determined through Green Racing protocols established by the United States Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International as part of a strategic alliance with IMSA. Risi drivers Pierre Kaffer and Giancarlo Fisichella finished the race 13th overall, fourth in the GTLM class.

A LOT OF RUBBER: Continental brought about 3,000 tires to the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix Powered By Mazda. Many were rain tires, but those weren’t needed under the near-cloudless skies.

POINTS STANDINGS: Today’s victory by the VisitFlorida.com Prototype Corvette sent drivers Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante to the top of the charts, moving past Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi of the No. 5 Action Express DP. They lead by four points, 129-125. There’s a long way to go, though – we’re about one-third of the way through the TUDOR Championship season, with eight races remaining.

The points races are close in every class. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia lead the GT Le Mans point standings by two points over Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner, 128-126. Jon Bennett and Colin Braun lead Michael Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith, 99-97, in the Prototype Challenge standings and Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke lead Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell by just one point, 87-86, in GT Daytona.

NEXT UP: For the TUDOR Championship Prototype, Prototype Challenge and GT Daytona classes, it’s the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit May 29-30. The GT Le Mans teams are off that weekend, as it conflicts with the official 24 Hours of Le Mans test day, which again will include TUDOR Championship regulars. All four classes will be back together for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen in New York on June 26-28.