WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, located in sunny California near Monterey, has a history of being one of the wildest, most dramatic and incident-filled races of the season on the VSCA calendar.
Last year, the race was marred by several controversial scenes unfolded, as 53 cars accumulated an unbelievable total of 995 incident points in 160 minutes of racing, equalling around 18.77 incidents per entry on average.
“We hope to see better racing this time around. Everybody was upset with the type of racing we saw here last year, understandably so. I think teams and drivers know that a lot is at stake and an incident will hurt more than lifting once or twice and waiting for your opportunities.”, said series director Benjamin Fischer.
And so it came to be, that the race winners in last year’s edition of the race almost became a side story. The #15 Composite Performance Cadillac with Patrick Fogel and Nicholas Johnston won the race in GTP class, in what would be one of the team’s last outings in the series, before departing the series just a couple of races later.
In LMP2, it was the two championship contenders #18 Gowin Racing taking the win and the eventual series champions #46 Rising Panda Racing Dallara taking second place after leading 71 laps.
While GT PRO will not be competing in this year’s edition of the event, the GT AM class will. But there will be a new race winner as the #5 Screeching Moose Motorsports Mercedes has left the series in 2024. The #83 Off in the Esses Racing team finished second last year, looking to do one better this time around.
Coming off their first win of the season at Sebring, the #51 World of SimRacing Team Cadillac spearheads the SportsCar Championship grid going into Round 4 of the 2025 SportsCar Championship this weekend.
The GTP class championship leaders will look to fend off the #79 Digital Chicane Acura team, who are trailing by 115 points going into Saturday’s 2-hour and 40-minute event in the California desert.
Daytona winners #48 Velocity Racing and their Ferrari 499P meanwhile are right behind in third, only 129 points back, ready to strike.
The #216 Vulture Motorsports Dallara P217 meanwhile is riding strong momentum in LMP2, coming off their first-ever series win in VSCA. Points leaders #89 Keystone Simsport and their Dallara P217 are looking to get their second win of the season after winning at Daytona in January, and to extend their championship lead which currently sits at an incredibly 9 points over the #23 Twin Turn Simracing machine.
With GT PRO teams taking this round off, GT AM will be the only GT class in Saturday’s race.
SWF Motorsports and their #94 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) are in their first SportsCar Championship season, but have had no trouble showing their competitiveness and consistency so far, going into Laguna Seca with a 68-point lead. But the #83 Off in the Esses Racing McLaren will have a word to say, looking for their second win of the season and to cut into that lead.
And then there is also the #515 Wolf Motorsport Simracing Porsche. The German team currently sits 125 points out of first, with no wins, but has two top-five results in two starts so far this year, looking to move up.
In total, 40 entries are expected for the race on Saturday. Will this make for better and less controversial racing than in the previous three years? One will have to see when the green flag waves Saturday at 1600 GMT.
The 11-turn and 2.24-mile long track will see the Course De Monerey start off at daylight and will finish at dusk, about a half hour after sunset, making for an additional challenge for drivers and teams.