IMSA: Victory for No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R at Laguna Seca

Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R captured the checkered flag at IMSA’s Course de Monterey for their first victory of the year.

Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande combined to lead 34 laps in the two-hour, 40-minute race, securing the team’s 248th overall victory, their 65th in IMSA competition (3rd-most by entry in series history) and their fourth at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The victory is also the first for Cadillac in the DPi/GTP era at the historic track in Monterey, California.

“Chip Ganassi Racing and Cadillac with all the effort they are putting in, it’s days and nights of work. It’s amazing to pay it off with a win like this,” said van der Zande. “This is our Le Mans car. It’s going to Le Mans and it’s a winner. It’s a winning car that will get flown over and fight for the big one.”

Bourdais praised his co-driver and the overall team effort, adding, “Renger came out and did it again! I couldn’t ask for a better teammate. When he’s put in those positions, I don’t think there is anybody better than him. He made some pretty critical passes to get us to the front and managed from there. I’m super happy for Cadillac. You could see the emotions running through everyone, and this sets up as best as possible going to Le Mans. We’ll try to carry that momentum.”

Chip Ganassi Racing wraps up their tripleheader race weekend with two wins (INDYCAR: IMS Road Course; IMSA: Laguna Seca) and a podium (Extreme E: Scotland).

WeatherTech Racing Wins GTD Pro

WeatherTech Racing won today’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Daniel Juncadella (Spain) had the wheel of the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Mercedes-Benz of Billings, Montana support for the start of the 2 hours, 45 minutes race from his third-place qualifying position. The Spaniard had to hold position into the tricky first turn and was able to successfully hold the spot during the two restarts following early cautions.

Handing the car to Jules Gounon (France) he proceeded to do battle with the Lexus and Corvette. Again, running a good pace in the top five the race came back to the team. On the strength of the strategy and good pit stops by the WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition crew three of the front-running GTD Pro cars received penalties moving the red, white, and blue Mercedes-AMG GT3 car to the front with 40-minutes remaining. Gounon was able to manage the tires and the traffic to bring the car home for the win at the WeatherTech branded track. The win is the second of the season, first being the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.

“We knew we would have difficulty on pace this weekend,” Gounon said. “We know we were not the fastest car, so we focused on what we could control. It was not one fast lap, but the entire race. The WeatherTech and Proton guys did a great job with strategy and car prep. I am proud of the team. We had a tough race at Long Beach and were able to come back and get the win today. I think we just drove and took the mistakes of our competition and were able to get the win.

“During my stint it was about managing the gap. I had to stay ahead of the Porsche as well as manage the cars in front of me. I think we were the best Mercedes managing the tire degradation today.”

For Juncadella it was a matter of taking what was given.

“It was a hectic start,” Juncadella said. “I knew I had to be smart. I took my time, waited and passed two cars. We were able to play out our strategy. With the yellows, the race looked to be a bit crazy. It looked like we were not even going to be on the podium. Then we take the others mistakes and take our pay back and get an unexpected win here at the track that WeatherTech sponsors.”

Race Results