After a one-month break, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will continue its West Coast tour with the Motul Course de Monterey at Laguna Seca.
The picturesque road course on the Monterey Peninsula of California will be playing host to the Grand Touring Prototype category for the first time.
The Wayne Taylor Racing No. 10 Acura won the past two years at Laguna Seca in the premier prototype division, and the race arrives at just the right time for co-drivers Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.
Taylor crashed their ARX-06 while trying to make a late pass for the lead in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach last month. WTR also was involved in a late crash while in contention at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
“Coming off of two disappointing results, it’s time for us to start executing,” Ricky Taylor said. “Laguna Seca has been a great track for us in the past, and our Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 has been the car to beat this season. Laguna Seca will be the race for us to set the tone for the rest of the season. Filipe, the WTRAndretti team, and I are very motivated to get back to form.”
Said Albuquerque: “We won the last two years at Laguna, so we want to have the hat trick. We have been competitive, but unfortunately things haven’t been coming our way in the last 15 minutes of the races this season. We will keep doing the same and now just be more aware of the last 10-15 minutes of the race, and I’m pretty sure the result will be good.”
Albuquerque and Taylor are ranked third in the championship standings, 20 points behind Porsche Penske Motorsport drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy. The Action Express Cadillac duo of Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani are ranked second, 11 points out of first.
After three races with factory-supported entries, the GTP category will add a ninth car this weekend with No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports fielding a Porsche 963, the first customer car in the rebranded top class for hybrid prototypes.
Here are the start times, starting lineup, schedule and TV info for the IMSA Motul Course de Monterey at Laguna Seca (all times are ET):
IMSA Laguna Seca start times, schedule, TV info
WHEN: Sunday, 3:10 p.m. ET
RACE DISTANCE: Two hours, 40 minutes on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course
FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 60 degrees with a 4% chance of rain at the green flag.
QUALIFYING: Saturday, 3:50 p.m. ET on Peacock and IMSA.com/TVLive
STARTING LINEUP: Click here for where everyone is starting at Laguna Seca
ENTRY LIST: Click here to see the 38-car field over four divisions for the Motul Course de Monterey at Laguna Seca.
RACE BROADCAST
TV: 3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, the NBC Sports App,and NBCSports.com will have streaming coverage of the event from flag to flag. Dave Burns is the announcer with analyst Calvin Fish and pit reporters Dillon Welch and Matt Yocum.
IMSA RADIO: All sessions are live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; SiriusXM live race coverage will begin Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (XM 207, Internet/App 992).
DAILY SCHEDULE IMSA LAGUNA SECA
Friday, May 12
11:30 a.m.-12:10 p.m.: Mazda MX-5 practice
12:25-1:10 p.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo practice
1:25-2:25 p.m.: Michelin Challenge practice
3:25-3:55 p.m.: Mazda MX-5 practice
4:10-4:55 p.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo practice
5:10-6:10 p.m.: Michelin Challenge practice
5:25-5:45 p.m.: Mazda MX-5 qualifying
7:05-10:35 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice
Saturday, May 13
11-11:35 a.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo qualifying
11:55 a.m.-1:40 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice
2-2:35 p.m.: Michelin Challenge qualifying
2:50-3:35 p.m.: Mazda MX-5 Race 1
3:55-5:05 p.m.: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying (Peacock)
5:20-6:10 p.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo Race 1
7:30-9:30 p.m.: Michelin Pilot Challenge race
Sunday, May 14
11-11:20 a.m.: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship warmup
11:35 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Mazda MX-5 Race 2
12:40-1:30 p.m.: Lamborghini Super Trofeo Race 2
3:10 p.m.-5:50 p.m.: Motul Course de Monterey Powered By Hyundai N (NBC, Peacock)