Round 4 of the 2025 VSCA SportsCar Championship saw the series travel to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the Course De Monterey, an event long known for its dramatic flair—and this year was no exception. A 2-hour, 40-minute sprint under clear skies and into darkness tested teams across three classes, but it was the GTP class that stole the spotlight with a commanding performance from World Of SimRacing Team’s #51 Cadillac V-Series.R.
The 2.24-mile, 11-turn circuit hosted 38 entries this year, a smaller grid than the 53 cars that took part last year due to the absence of the GT PRO class. The race began at 5:59 p.m. local time with an ambient temperature of 19°C and ran into nightfall. True to form for Laguna Seca, the race delivered one full-course yellow, a series of incidents, and several shakeups throughout the field.
Dominance From the #51 Cadillac
The #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac, piloted by Álvaro Martínez and Dani Fonte, took pole position with a blistering lap of 1:13.324. From there, the car led the most laps—89 in total—and executed a clean and consistent race. This victory marked the second consecutive win for the car, and its third overall in 2025 including the non-points “The Roar Before The 24” event in January.
With a winning margin of 29.344 seconds, the Spanish duo were untouchable from the outset. The win also tied the team with Mayer Simspeed Performance for most GTP class victories in series history with five. The result further extended their championship lead and moved them to the top of the GTP Sprint Cup standings as well.
Wastegate Racing and Rising Panda Impress
The race also marked a significant turning point for several other teams. Wastegate Racing’s #32 Cadillac, driven by brothers Kyle and Jason Birnie, claimed second place—its best result of the season. It was the first time the team finished on the lead lap in 2025, following a string of misfortunes. Despite a spin by Jason Birnie and a drive-through penalty for Kyle after an evasive maneuver in the corkscrew, the team stayed resilient to secure the runner-up spot.
Rounding out the podium was the #46 Rising Panda Racing Acura ARX-06, with Ryan Ware and Christian Campregher sharing driving duties. The team executed a bold alternate pit strategy by delaying its driver change until 19 laps after the full-course yellow, a move that ultimately helped them secure their best finish of the season.
Midfield Mayhem and Recovery Drives
Drama struck after the race's only full-course yellow, which came out 50 minutes into the event and lasted for 19 minutes. On the restart, a major incident unfolded in turn six after the LMP2-class #96 Dallara lost control, triggering a chain reaction involving five GTP cars—the #32, #47, #79, #37, and #70. A cloud of dust and poor visibility contributed to the chaos, with several cars forced to take evasive action or sustain damage.
The #79 Digital Chicane Acura, driven by Colton Salek and Matthew Oravecz, rebounded from a pit lane start to finish in fourth after gaining five positions during the race. Behind them, the #37 W2 e-ProGP Ferrari of Lorenzo Bonder and Fabiano Candido finished fifth, followed by the #48 Velocity Racing Ferrari in sixth. Harrison Higgins in the #48 was involved in a controversial incident with the #88 PULSAR Porsche, which derailed the latter’s podium bid after contact in turn ten.
Post-Race Penalties and Gritty Finishes
Further down the order, the #47 Velocity Racing Ferrari finished seventh, just ahead of the recovering #88 PULSAR eSports Porsche, which had been running second before the collision. Ninth place went to the #70 Soleil Racing Project Porsche. However, that car received a 30-second post-race penalty following a collision with a GT AM Corvette in turn nine. It was a tough debut for Bradley Sauer, one of the three drivers behind the wheel.
Post-Race Quotes
Álvaro Martínez, #51 World Of Simracing Team Cadillac: "We can't stop smiling! It's two consecutive wins, but this one tastes better than Sebring, because we crossed the checkered flag first! [The #51 benefited from a post-race penalty to a competitor at Sebring] And we'll be able to enjoy the champagne ceremony as it deserves!"
"It's all about the effort and hard work of the entire team, there's no secret! We're very focused on improving our racing style, and we've achieved that and it shows in the results."
"The most important thing was to get a good start on the grid, as it's such a difficult track to overtake, and we got pole! But shortly after the start, we lost the position because it's hard for us to get the tires up to temperature, and it was a hard blow to be overtaken on the track. The key was to wait until the car was at 100% before pushing and getting back to first place. Then, at the end, we managed to maintain our lead against the #32, which made things difficult for us in the final part of the race."
Dani Fonte, #51 World Of Simracing Team Cadillac: "We are very happy with the result and even more so with the second consecutive one. We already knew it would be a complicated race due to the type of circuit and the different layouts, but we knew how to manage it."
"Seeing how difficult it is to overtake here with the GTPs, we knew that qualifying was an important part of the final result, as long as we didn't make any mistakes in the race. We held the lead in the early laps, but lost the position, although we regained it later on. From then on, it was about making no mistakes and maintaining our gap."
"We tried to avoid mistakes and off-tracks, as they were very punishing and very early. In addition, in some corners, when turning, the ideal lines crossed from left to right under braking, completely crossing the track from one side to the other. It's a complicated and very demanding circuit, but we managed it quite well."
"We want to maintain this. We need the same dynamic we've had since last year: not making mistakes in the race, and also hoping for a bit of luck."
Kyle Birnie, #32 Wastegate Racing Cadillac: "I think the race went well overall and it was good to get back on the podium as we have been on a string of bad luck to start the season. We still didn’t have the race we were looking for and were helped from attrition but we did enough for P2 which we are happy with."
"The the wreck in front of us at the restart dropped us to last in class, coming out of T6. But we were able to keep the car clean. The second and third incidents kept us from challenging from a win at the end which we knew we could, since we would have had the pace advantage on the 51, since we had fresh tires and they did not."
"When P2 in the LMP2 class self-spun directly in front of us going into the corkscrew and forced us to go off track to avoid the incident, we lost around 6 seconds because of it. The second one was a GT car seemingly unaware we were passing going into T7 as they were driving in the middle of the track, then something happened, not sure what, but he tried to repass us into T8. We got an off track from that. So we got a drive-through for that and the the other incidents, so we couldn't really content for the win anymore unfortunately."
"The 51 team finished last year strong and continued that to start this season. [...] We have the race pace to contend for wins and with all of those other cars but are currently lacking in qualifying pace and need to have less eventful races. Once we figure out qualifying and get more fortunate with incidents no longer happening around us, we will be in the fight."
Ryan Ware, #46 Rising Panda Racing Acura: Yeah, our race went pretty well out there for a change, to be honest. [We are] getting pretty sick of being cleaned out by other prototypes to be honest, so I think with these new tires in place, the racing has calmed down a bit and we were able to have a nice clean run without any mishaps at all."
"For us, the most important factor today was the car itself and the new tires, especially on the restart. We avoided a wreck at the start from the LMP2 guys, thanks to the caution, apart from that quite boring from our seat to be honest (laughing)!"
"These new tires mid-season have really shaken these cars up. We're locked in to the Acura and it seems that the mid-season change took away its brakes and front end. And it now has the worst rear end on traction. The car is simply shit to drive. We hate it. It's absolutely ironic that we end up with accidents when the car was good - it was even BOP'd for the championship! But now the car is simply awful to drive we end up in a podium position. We can't fight for pure pace anymore unless we figure some magic out with the car, so I don't expect to place many more podiums but as ever we will try out best out there."
Championship Picture and What's Next
With this win, the #51 Cadillac strengthened its lead in the overall SportsCar Championship standings, now sitting 222 points clear of the #79 Acura. The #48 Ferrari remains in third, 255 points back. In the Sprint Cup standings, the #51 leads again, followed by the #46 Acura and the #47 Ferrari.
As the series now looks ahead to Round 5, the Virginia Sports Car Grand Prix, scheduled for April 26 at Virginia International Raceway, the GTP class is taking a hiatus and will return to action with Round 6 at CTMP on May 17th. As the midpoint of the season approaches, the battle for supremacy in GTP is heating up—though for now, all roads lead through the #51.
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