Selena Ward won the VR7UAL Pole award for the Monterey Sports Car Challenge, by burning a blistering lap of 1:13.633 into the asphalt.
Starting off the 2-hour-40-minute race strong, Ward then went on to lead the first 23 laps of the race and only surrendered the lead once the first and only full-course yellow of the race came out.
On lap 42 the 31-year old Miami, Florida native regained the lead when the No. 38 Dallara of Sapphire SimSport pitted.
On lap 62 the race leaders completed their pit stop and driver swap and Jordan Erickson climbed behind the steering wheel of the the No. 19 Dallara P217.
Just two laps later, they were back in front and Erickson never looked back, continuously increasing the lead to the point when they took the checkers to win the race, they had lapped the entire LMP2 class competition.
“Today was about as flawless of a day as you could ask for. Selena did a mega job in qualifying and really set the tone for our race.”, said Erickson in victory lane.
“We had plenty of pressure from the 38 and 13 that kept us honest throughout; they were right there ready to capitalize on any mistakes. Luckily we limited any major mishaps.”
“It feels good to have the speed we did and cross the finish line in first, this race. Sebring was absolutely a great result, but the finish left us with something to prove. I think we did that today.”, Erickson added.
The No. 14 Dallara of Fischer Motorsport started second, finished second and ran a race many would consider very good. But on this day, it felt like no one was going to catch the Trading Paints Racing Team machine and drivers Thomas Martin and Travis Linscome-Hatfield had to settle for title “best of the rest” at Laguna Seca.
Leading 17 laps after staying out under yellow, the No. 38 car ofSapphire came home in third with drivers Doyle Rudolph and new series debutant Thomas Fischer (not to be confused with Thomas Fisher of Champion Motorsports!).
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| The No. 38 Sapphire SimSport Dallara LMP2 had a strong outing at Laguna Seca and finished in third place; the team's second top-ten in as many starts - © 2023 BehnkeMedia / Damien Behnke |
Rounding out the top-five were Maik Steinicke and Marc Scherschel in the No. 96 Albrecht Motorsports Dallara and the No. 511 Twisty Bits Racing machine piloted by Jake Steinbrink and Steven McLendon.
Having only one full-course yellow in the race was rather unexpected by most competitors and set up an interesting race heavily influenced by strategy.
Teams who decided to take pit stop service under caution proved to have made the right decision while other teams struggled with the fact they had to pit under green while other cars could stay out.
Long Beach winners, the No. 193 Dallara of MAD Sim Racing took P6 at Laguna Seca. While the team could not quite repeat the success from two weeks prior, it was still an overall positive result for the team, earning its fourth top-ten finish in as many races this season.
All-American drivers duo Damien Behnke and Kyle Allen earned seventh place for Vision 1 Motorsports in the No. 13 Dallara, but almost fell victim to a rather late pit entry open announcement by race control under yellow.
Ever since joining the series grid, the No. 13 Dallara has had solid results, taking P8 at Long Beach and now P7 at Laguna Seca.
The No. 86 GSE Racing eSports Dallara finished P8 after a one-lap post-race penalty from race control for an incident on the exit of turn five, when the car made contact with a GTD class car.
The team out of Kempen, Germany was visibly furious with race control after the race and was seen arguing in the paddock area, showing their displeasure about the decision from officials, as they saw a potentially second-place finish slip away.
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| This contact with the No. 119 Trading Paints Lamborghini in the second hour of the race had major consequences for both. The GTD car sustained suspension damage and had to pit for repairs. The No. 86 GSE Racing eSports machine received a one lap post-race penalty, dropping from second to eighth place - © 2023 VSCAracing.com / Benjamin Fischer |
VRG Sport and their No. 66 car with series veteran drivers Andy Banfield and Jeff Yeager finished P9, two laps down from the leaders. Their blue and orange classic paint job was especially cheered on by race fans in the crowd, who wanted to see the California-based team do especially well in this race.
The No. 17 Agee Motorsports Dallara was running in fifth position on lap 35, when Sheldon Rosenbaum locked up the brakes into the cork screw and spun, setting the team back a bit.
In combination with an unfortunate strategy and a late pit stop on lap 87, the team out of Roanake, Virginia ended up five laps down from the leaders in the end, but still had reason to smile as it earned its second top-ten finish of the season.
New championship points leader in very competitive LMP2 field
By way of their second win of the season, the Trading Paints Racing Team have taken the lead in the LMP2 championship standings by 53 points over former points leaders Albrecht Motorsports.
The two, together with the No. 193 MAD SimRacing Dallara are the only three entries in LMP2 class competition this year, to have posted four top-tens in four races.
Fischer Motorsport sit in third, having scored two top-fives in four races so far.
VRG Sport are in fourth and Vision 1 Motorsports’ No. 11 Dallara is in fifth, 314 points out of the lead, as there is a bit of a jump in the points after the top-four.
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