Porsche’s Jaminet, Campbell Break Through at Laguna Seca

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell kept Porsche Penske Motorsport’s undefeated streak in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season alive by breaking through for their first win of the year in Sunday’s Monterey SportsCar Championship.

Jaminet took the No. 6 Porsche 963 to a 1.692-second win over the No. 7 entry of Nick Tandy in the two-hour and 40-minute contest that went caution-free.

The Frenchman, on an undercut strategy, got out ahead of both the sister No. 7 Porsche of Nick Tandy and the pole-sitting No. 24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng following the first round of pit stops.

Tandy briefly took the lead during the final round of pit stops after a shorter energy stop got the Englishman out ahead of Jaminet, but had a bobble on the pit lane exit road and lost momentum to the No. 6 Porsche, which retook the lead.

It marked Jaminet’s first WeatherTech Championship win since Road America last year and Campbell’s first since the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona, while four in a row for Porsche Penske.

Dries Vanthoor led the field from pole but was passed by Felipe Nasr in a bold move on the outside of Turn 6 on Lap 39.

Vanthoor, who was re-installed in the No. 24 BMW for the final stint, closed a nearly 15-second deficit in a storming final stint until colliding with Tandy in Turn 10 while diving through traffic on the final lap, damaging his car.

No further action was called on the incident that involved the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Marco Mapelli.

All three leading GTP cars were running virtually nose-to-tail through traffic on the closing laps.

The No. 25 BMW of Marco Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde came home fourth, which was on a more aggressive energy strategy early on.

Only four cars finished on the lead lap of the fast-paced race.

Renger van der Zande brought the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 to a fifth place result with Nick Yelloly, with the sixth-placed No. 31 Action Express Racing entry of Jack Aitken and Frederik Vesti the best of the Cadillac V-Series.Rs.

They were followed by the two Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs, with the No. 40 entry coming home ahead of the No. 10 entry that had a stop-and-repair order in the opening hour for tire pressures, prior to Filipe Albuquerque sustaining right-front damage that required a nose change in the final stop.

JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Porsche, which was also on an alternative strategy early on, finished ninth.

The No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie completed the top-ten, despite a left-rear puncture for Roman De Angelis early on due to contact with the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Patrick Gallagher that resulted in no further action.

Trouble also struck the No. 60 MSR Acura, when Colin Braun had an off-track moment resulting in rear bodywork damage and a mechanical black flag for the damage, followed by a drive-through for an unattended tire during its stop.

The No. 60 Acura finished 11th.

AO Racing, Winward Racing Take Repeat Laguna Class Wins

GTD Pro class honors went to the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler, marking the team’s second consecutive win, both this season and at Laguna Seca.

Bachler, who started fourth, moved into second during his stint, with Heinrich getting around the class pole-sitting No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 during the first round of pit stops.

Heinrich finished 8.660 seconds ahead of the DragonSpeed Ferrari of Albert Costa.

The No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia completed the class podium.

Pfaff recorded its best finish of the season in fourth with Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli in their Motul-liveried Lamborghini.

Winward Racing went back-to-back at Laguna Seca in GTD, with Philip Ellis and Russell Ward extending their points lead with their second class win in the last three races in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Ellis held off a charging Jack Hawksworth in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 for top class honors.

The No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG led for most of the race in the hands of class pole-sitter Kenton Koch but dropped down the order with a driver change in the final hour to Seth Lucas.

Lucas, who was on track to finish third, lost the podium position to the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari of Daniel Serra on the final lap.

RESULTS: Monterey SportsCar Championship