Saturday’s Monterey Sports Car Challenge at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will be the first of four VSCA Sprint Cup races in this year’s SportsCar Championship season.
At a distance of two hours, 40 minutes – just a fraction of the first two races of the season, the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring – teams and drivers will be challenged to a very different type of race in the Californian desert.
Based on the entry list, there will be a 55-car grid tackling the 2.238 mile (3.60 km) track that includes the world-famous top-of-the-hill section „The Corkscrew“ and the turn two „Andretti Hairpin“.
Very hot temperatures have made for difficult track conditions for the teams in free practice sessions so far, as the surface is very slippery. A lot of cars found their way going into the gravel and kicking up sand and dirt.
P2 class championship leaders, the No. 747 Dallara of Lone Wolf Motorsports will look to continue their strong season thus far and keep Element Sim Racing’s No. 7 team at bay, who are entering Round 3 with a margin of 90 points.
World of SimRacing Team’s No. 51 Dallara P2 prototype has showed to have the pace to win races this season and will challenge for a spot on the podium.
Showing very strong pace in Thursday’s second free practice, Fischer Motorsport USA and their No. 14 Dallara indicated they’re to be reckoned with as well in the race. Fischer Motorsport USA and their P2 prototype program is based in San José, California, making Laguna Seca their home track race, adding additional motivation to the entry currently sitting sixth in the P2 class championship standings.
Last month’s 12 Hours of Sebring was dominated by Race4CAT Motorsport. Will the two teams put their stamp on the race this weekend as well?
Many questions will look to be answered in Saturday’s race in an exceptionally interesting P2 class championship battle so far. The race winner will automatically also take the lead in the series sub-championship VSCA Sprint Cup, rewarding the most successful team in the four sprint races of the year at Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, CTMP and Road America.
GT3 battle impossible to predict; Porsche teams strong in practice
For those who think things are competitive in the P2 class, the GT3 class in the VSCA SportsCar Championship must be impossible to predict.
A late caution in the 12 Hours of Sebring produced a late-race shuffle of positions, some chaos and eventually a somewhat of a surprise winner with Twenty7 Motorsports and their No. 27 BMW team taking victory.
“Will we see more of the same at Laguna Seca?” is the question on everybody’s mind going into this weekend’s event.
Early season front runners, the No. 13 Meguiars Porsche of FR13DA Sports Group set the fastest time in Saturday’s opening practice, but it was GT3 championship leaders Kinetic Racing and their No. 67 Porsche beating that lap time for the top spot on the leaderboard in free practice 2 on Thursday.
Just like in the championship standings, followed closely behind in second place, it was Torque Freak Racing and their No. 6 Porsche, as the Porsche teams seem to have very strong and competitive pace so far at the eleven-turn track at the U.S. west coast.
Hypra Racing Team and their No. 37 Porsche team have been flying under the radar so far in the early season, but the French team sits in fourth place in the GT3 championship standings, looking to take the next step at Laguna Seca.
WestWood Racing eSports is the best Audi team in the series so far, sitting in fifth spot in the points standings after making a huge jump in the championship following their second-place finish at Sebring. The German team from Adenau, just outside the famous Nürburgring, has impressed in Thursday’s practice session, posting a very quick 1:20.412, warning the competition that they will be ready to attack on Saturday.
New faces on the grid will be in the No. 20 LTS Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo with drivers Daniel Fernandez and Ricardo Correia Nunes, plus the No. 104 Ferrari by Dutch Sim Racing Team and last but not least, the No. 222 Lamborghini of SR TECHNIC.
The Monterey Sports Car Challenge will be broadcast live (without commentary) once again on the VSCA YouTube channel. Coverage starts Saturday at 16:00 GMT, at the green flag of the race.
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