Cadillac, Acura teams complete two-day IMSA test

Cadillac and Acura teams participated in a two-day private test at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca this week as both manufacturers look to turn their fortunes around after challenging starts to the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

For Action Express Racing, which shared the track with Acura Meyer Shank Racing, the Laguna Seca test came amidst the team’s preparations for the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans. It also gave Frederik Vesti more track time in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R (pictured above at Daytona) ahead of his first race at the Northern California circuit.

It’ll also be the second time that IMSA has raced at Laguna Seca since a full resurfacing was completed in the summer of 2023, allowing teams to sample how the fresher tarmac has evolved since 2024.

“The preparation for Laguna Seca has already started and the test day will be part of that. How can we improve? What can we do to perform better on that circuit? I’m looking forward to getting back in the car,” Vesti said leading up to his first test day at Laguna Seca.

Straight from the Long Beach GP to @WeatherTechRcwy for testing this week on our trip out west. #whelen #cadillac #cadillacracing pic.twitter.com/u3kgVAtj5Y

— Action Express (@AX_Racing) April 15, 2025

Planned since the start of the 2025 season, Vesti will replace Earl Bamber, who is honoring his commitments to the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA in the WEC 6 Hours of Spa. Vesti is coming off a Formula 1 Free Practice appearance at Bahrain with Mercedes, and a strong second outing in the V-Series.R at Sebring International Raceway.

AXR Race Strategist Peter Baron said ahead of this week’s test: “With the team test allocation that we received from IMSA, we put a lot of effort into looking at what tracks we need to test at, what’s going to be a productive test. Certain ones take themselves out of the equation: We don’t test at Long Beach or Detroit because it’s impossible. When you break those two out, you have seven others and you look at what’s available, what works well on the calendar.

“We had planned to go to Watkins Glen in May, but with our Le Mans invitation we had to move that around. Laguna Seca is a critical track for us with understanding the newer surface, so we’re curious what happens with the track with another year of seasoning on it. So that’s key to get to that one for a day.

“Sebring is a strong track for the Cadillac, so we used a couple days there. Aside from the November IMSA test at Daytona, we evaluate where the car is good, where we can win versus where we should be fine to develop our test schedule.”

The other significant development from this week’s test was the first North American test for Toyota’s Lexus-branded successor to the RC F GT3, run by longtime Lexus partner Vasser Sullivan Racing.

Still shrouded in camouflage and mystery, the new Lexus GT3 car has already been spied testing at Fuji, Motegi, Spa, and the Nürburgring since 2023.

Vasser Sullivan’s current RC F GT3 also took part in the Laguna Seca private test, as did cars from Ford Multimatic Motorsports, Paul Miller Racing, Wright Motorsports, and Conquest Racing.