#6 Acura gifts #7 Acura IMSA win race at Laguna Seca

Team Penske wants the #7 Acura team to win the DPi title, so they asked the leading #6 Acura of Dane Cameron to slow down and gift Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves victory in Sunday’s Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The No. 7 Acura ARX-05 of Taylor assumed the lead of the penultimate round of the season from teammate Dane Cameron on the final corner prior to the white flag of the two hour and 40-minute race.

Cameron had as large of as a 30-second lead at one point before the team asked the defending DPi champion to switch to slow down and gift their sister car the win.

It relegated Cameron and pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya to second, putting Taylor and Castroneves into the provisional DPi championship lead.

The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani came home third.

How it happened

Pole qualifier Juan Pablo Montoya and co-driver Dane Cameron dominated today’s two-hour, 40-minute contest, leading 104 laps before allowing teammate Ricky Taylor to move to the front for the final minutes, as Taylor and co-driver Helio Castroneves are better placed in the overall championship battle.

The late-race swap enabled Castroneves and Taylor to score their fourth win from eight races this season, moving the pair to the top of the championship with 242 points to 240 for Wayne Taylor Racing drivers Renger van der Zande and Ryan Briscoe, who finished sixth today.

Montoya took charge of the two-hour, 40-minute contest in the #6 Acura ARX-05 right from the green flag, while outside front-row starter Castroneves slotted into second as the pair of Acuras led the 29-car starting field.  Montoya soon established a comfortable, eight-second lead before handing off the driving duties to Cameron at the first scheduled pit stop.  Cameron maintained the advantage for the #6 Acura ARX-05 throughout the next two stints, building a lead of as much as 12 seconds.

Meanwhile, Castroneves survived an early scare when contact with the GTLM Corvette of Jordan Taylor resulted in the Acura losing a front aerodynamic “dive plane” in Turn 11.  Despite the resulting understeer, Castroneves and co-driver Ricky Taylor were able to fend off the frequent advances from the #31 Cadillac of third-running Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr until the first and only caution flag of the race – for debris on track – waved with just over 20 minutes remaining.

However, when green flag racing resumed, both Cameron and Taylor were able to gap the field, enabling Cameron to let his teammate into the lead in the #7 Acura for the final two laps.  The 1-2 finish for Acura Team Penske move Castroneves and Taylor into the Drivers’ Championship lead with 242 points to 240 for van der Zande and Briscoe; and takes Acura to within one point of Cadillac [263-262] with just the season finale at Sebring remaining.

As a result of today’s wins – the best combined finish for Acura in the three years the company has been contesting both DPi and GTD – Acura goes to the season finale at Sebring International Raceway leading the IMSA Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ championships GTD; and the Drivers’ Championship in DPi; while trails in the DPi Manufacturers’ Championship by just a single point.

“It was them [teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron] being nice guys for us. We were strong all the day, but the No. 6 [Acura] was super, super strong,” said Ricky Taylor. “At the end of the race, we weren’t specifically asking [for a pass around], but when you work for such a strong team like Acura Team Penske, all eyes are on the big goal, the championship. They really were the class of the field this weekend, they really earned the win, but they thought about us and our championship situation.”

“I can’t even describe how proud I am of the effort by everyone on the No. 6 Acura Team Penske DPi team,” said Dane Cameron. “This car was the absolute class of the field all weekend and we showed how strong we were in the race today. Last year we were the recipients of some good fortune from our teammates on the No. 7 Acura. That is one of the great things about racing for Team Penske. For us to finish 1-2 as a team, and for those guys to have the points lead heading into one of the toughest races on the schedule in the 12 Hours of Sebring, is exactly what we wanted to do this weekend.”

Porsche beats Corvette in GTLM

The Porsche GT Team is not going gently into that good night, but the No. 3 Corvette won’t be denied.

For the second straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, Porsche claimed victory in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. On Sunday, it was the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR-19 with drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber. Yet by finishing second in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia wrapped up the driver and team championships with a race remaining.

Ending a victory drought of 483 days, 2019 GTLM champions Vanthoor and Bamber took class honors at the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship on WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca’s 2.238-mile permanent road course. The triumph followed one two weeks ago at Motul Petit Le Mans by No. 911 Porsche teammates Nick Tandy, Fred Makowiecki and Matt Campbell.

Bamber held off Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette by 0.981 seconds at the finish, concluding a close battle over the final 19 minutes after the only full-course caution during the 2-hour, 40-minute race. The winning drivers were quick to credit their pit crew for lightning-quick stops, including the first one that vaulted the No. 912 ahead of the pole-sitting No. 3.

“Today we didn’t have the quickest car but it was definitely one of those tremendous team victories,” Bamber said after winning for the first time since July 2019 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“Almost everybody did a three-stop in our class,” added Vanthoor, who started the race but turned over the wheel to Bamber on the second stop. “To make that work, the guys doing the tire changing have to be quick because the refueling time is short. And they did every time perfectly. That was, I think, the key to the race.”

With the runner-up finish, however, Garcia and Taylor pushed their points lead to 35 over No. 4 Corvette teammates Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, who initially finished third on Sunday but were moved to last in GTLM (sixth place) after a rear diffuser height infraction was discovered in post-race technical inspection. Garcia now has won five IMSA championships, three in the past four years, while Taylor collected his third title.

The No. 911 Porsche made a two-stop strategy work to finish in third place on Sunday – the third time this season that both Porsches have reached the podium. Bamber, Vanthoor and Makowiecki also combined a week ago to win the 24 Hours of Spa, in another Porsche. With the manufacturer set to exit WeatherTech Championship GTLM competition after this season, the sudden turnaround has provided some solace.

“We had such a great year last year and then no wins and you struggle (this year), it starts to be a bit depressing,” Vanthoor admitted. “To get some success back and see the joy in all the mechanics and the crew really means a lot. It’s an important victory. I think everybody will sleep a bit better at night.”

Tommy Milner brought the No. 4 Corvette home third after a late-race battle with Nick Tandy.

Milner and Oliver Gavin’s result was not enough for the sister #3 Corvette drivers of Taylor and Garcia to lock up the class title, however, will only need to start next month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring to be crowned champions.

Meyer Shank Acura takes Dominant GTD Win

Matt McMurry and Mario Farnbacher scored their second victory of 2020 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo to complete a double-win, quadruple-podium day for Acura in IMSA competition.

Leading the GTD field from the class pole, McMurry held off a challenging BMW in the hands of Robby Foley at the start, and established a commanding lead through the first stint of the race before handing over to teammate Farnbacher with under two hours to go.

Farnbacher continued to hold the advantage in his Acura, despite traffic that allowed the BMW, now with Bill Auberlen driving, to close the gap through the middle stages of the race.  But once in clear air, Farnbacher was able to extend the lead until a late-race caution bunched the field up again. When the green waved once more in the final 15 minutes of the race, Farnbacher again stretched the lead to more than 10 seconds at the checkers.

Mario Farnbacher (#86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) Second GTD win of 2020, returns to the lead of GTD Drivers’ Championship with co-driver Matt McMurry: “That’s exactly what we needed. Last year, we had such a hard race here [finishing eighth] and in a million years I wouldn’t have thought our Acura would perform as well as it did today. I really have to thank Matt [McMurry], because being on the pole here is at least 80% of the job, since [the race here is] all about track position.  Our engineer [Ryan McCarthy], he made a ‘masterpiece’ out of the car. He did a [setup] change overnight and it improved everything – tire wear, pace, overall pace. I’m so incredibly happy that we’re back in the lead of the championship because that’s the important part going into the last race. Bringing home the championship, especially in the last year of the car, means everything.”
David Salters (Technical Director, Honda Performance Development) on today’s double victory for Acura: “Laguna Seca is one of the world’s most iconic race tracks, it’s great to show Acura’s world-class ‘Precision Crafted Performance’, and to take the fight to our very skilled competitors here today in both DPi and GTD.  Our drivers and teams had a superb weekend, with pole positions and victories in both classes; and our best combined result since we returned to DPi competition, along with GTD, in 2018.  Massive thanks to the team of committed associates at HPD who engineer and support these projects.  We race to grow our people and technology at HPD, and weekends like this really reward everyone’s efforts and competence.  Coming into this weekend, our goal was to put ourselves in position to take the championship fight to the last race.  So lets go race and entertain the fans at Sebring.”

Race Results