The fourth round of the 2025 VSCA SportsCar Championship, the Course De Monterey, unfolded Saturday evening at the famed WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Known for its chaotic tendencies and dramatic racing, the 2.24-mile, 11-turn circuit lived up to its reputation once again. With clear skies and 19°C at the 5:59 p.m. start time, the conditions were optimal, but the racing was anything but predictable.
In a change from previous years, only three classes competed, reducing the field to 38 entries from last year's 53 due to the absence of the GT PRO class during this condensed but action-packed event.
Laguna Seca strikes again, as drama unfolds
While the LMP2 field set the stage for a tactical battle, early moments of the race saw the #531 Pandemonium eSports x Sim-Lab Dallara P217 rocket into the lead. Pole-sitter Tseard Ploeg, just 19 years old from Waalre, Netherlands, stunned observers by keeping pace with GTP-class machines in the opening stint. He carved out an impressive 11-second lead within the first 20 laps, delivering one of the most dominant starts seen in the class this season.
However, the race's rhythm shifted dramatically just 50 minutes in, when the only full-course yellow was triggered. Shortly before that, contact between Jorge Leitão Dias in the #14 Dallara and Pierre-Alexandre Cession’s #677 machine occurred in turn eleven.
After the 19-minute yellow, chaos continued at the restart, where a spin involving Thomas Marcelino in the #3 car led to contact with Jelle Rijkeboer’s #531 Dallara. This allowed both the #11 Vision 1 Motorsports and #677 Valkyrie Exype entries to slip past with around 90 minutes remaining.
Moments later, the biggest incident of the race unfolded. On the exit of Turn 6, Marc Scherschel in the #96 Dallara lost control, triggering a multi-car crash that ultimately involved eight cars, effectively reshuffling the mid-pack and putting several contenders out of reach of the top ten.
Vision 1 Powers Through the Darkness
With the field scattered and strategy in full effect, the #11 Vision 1 Motorsports Dallara P217 emerged at the front. Driven by 38-year-old Kyle Allen from Greenwood, Indiana, and 25-year-old Jeremy Carter of Alexandria, Virginia, the team delivered a faultless run in the final hours of daylight and into darkness. Carter maintained a commanding lead in the closing laps, crossing the finish line at 8:39 p.m. with a 41.819-second advantage.
Despite losing the lead after early contact, the #531 Pandemonium eSports entry of Ploeg and Rijkeboer recovered to finish second. The #23 Twin Turn Simracing Dallara, piloted by Dominik Isenberg and Viktor Sönnergren, secured third place after a consistent and incident-free performance.
A Mixed Bag for the Top Ten
Fourth place was taken by the #89 Keystone Simsport Dallara of Erik Terry-Haag and Lukas Santos, despite being among the cars indirectly affected by the Turn 6 incident. Fifth went to the #3 Tri-State Racing entry of Christian G. Sherrard and Thomas Marcelino, who rebounded well after their earlier spin.
Sixth place was claimed by Chad Dalton and Adam Mailhot in the #158 iRacing Today Motorsports Dallara, while the #14 Grow Racing Team car of Jorge and Tiago Dias finished seventh despite its earlier involvement in contact. The Belgian pairing of Pierre-Alexandre Cession and Guerin Damien brought the #677 Valkyrie Exype machine home in eighth, followed by the #96 Albrecht Motorsports entry in ninth.
Rounding out the top ten were Marc Scherschel and Phillip Blauth in the #96 Dallara, salvaging a result after triggering the race’s largest incident.
Standings Shakeup and Sprint Cup Momentum
With the victory, Vision 1 Motorsports ascends to the top of the LMP2 championship standings with 1259 points, overtaking Twin Turn Simracing, now 28 points adrift. Keystone Simsport slips to third, 58 points off the lead.
The Sprint Cup standings also reflect Vision 1’s momentum, as they now lead with 468 points. Twin Turn holds second, 38 points behind, while Pandemonium eSports rounds out the top three, 52 points from the top after their recovery drive.
Post-Race Quotes
Tseard Ploeg, #531 Pandemonium eSports Dallara: "We are quite relieved with the position we got at the end, when we take into account what happened in the race. Although we could’ve gotten that victory with the pace we had."
"In the first stint, we drove away with more than 10 seconds from P2, but after the pitstop there was a safety car and we lost all the time advantage. On the safety car restart we got spun out and during the race a few more incidents happened. At one time we actually were last but we climbed back to P3."
Jelle Rijkeboer, #531 Pandemonium eSports Dallara: "Obviously we have very mixed feelings after this result. From the very first practice session we seemed to have the strongest pace overall. Especially with my teammate Tseard behind the wheel. So we felt like we should have won."
"We had a few strong practice sessions early on in the week. Which we would like to thank our partner Sim-Lab for sponsoring. It put us into a position where we knew we could win by staying out of trouble. We all know how that ended now. We leave the track with our heads held high knowing the pace we were able to put down."
Jeremy Carter, #11 Vision 1 Motorsports Dallara: "Feeling great! The team's moving in a great direction right now. Our pace is fast and our driving has been clean, can't ask for much more than that."
"The critical point of the race for us was probably the safety car coming out as Kyle was leaving the pits. We were able to improve our pace and quickly jump to the head of the field and on a track as hard to pass as Laguna Seca is, track position is everything. Jeremy then put in a rapid flawless stint to bring home the car in first."
"Pandemonium was rapid today, Tseard's first stint was incredible to watch. Hoping that today has shown that we're a top team on the grid that can't be counted out, no matter where we are on track."
"We're super happy to be leading the championship, that's a first for Vision 1. Happy to get eyes on Behnke Media, PokeHEX and our other sponsors. Looking forward to battling it our for the rest of the season, the championship is still a ways out but I'm sure it'll come down to the wire."
Dominik Isenberg, #23 Twin Turn Simracing Dallara: "Now, I should be happy and I now I will in the next days, but missing out on a win again just feels disappointing at the moment."
"Coming out hot on the restart, getting the better line on the Pandemonium car to grap P1 into the hairpin and then the two cars behind spin each other out. We had the race in our hands from this point on but two laps later i hit the curb into T6 and looped the car around, needed to wait on all prototypes before rejoining the track. From this point we just tried to get up front again, Viktor did great, pushing like crazy but spun the car around one more time unfortunatly trying to gain back the time lost during the last pit stop."
"[laughing] Man, loosing a possible win last time with a technical failure ten minutes to the end still hurts. Being so close again doesn't help either. But this is what we are here for and where we'll give our everything. But being at the right place at the right time isn't easy, fingers crossed we can grap the next opportunity!"
Looking Ahead to Virginia
The LMP2 class grid now takes a hiatus at VIR, before returning to action CTMP on May 17th, the series' third annual visit to the Canadian classic race track, marking its return since skipping the location last year. Scheduled for a 16:00 GMT start, the sixth round promises another test of endurance, strategy, and speed as the title fights begin to heat up in both the overall and Sprint Cup battles.
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