Vanthoor Quickest for BMW in Final Laguna Practice

Photo: Perry Nelson/IMSA

Dries Vanthoor was quickest for BMW M Team RLL in the second and final IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice session prior to qualifying for Sunday’s Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Vanthoor reeled off a 1:13.915 lap time in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 to edge out a late improvement by the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet by 0.036 seconds.

Sheldon van der Linde was third in the No. 25 BMW, which ran second for the majority of the 90-minute session.

The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 rebounded from Colin Braun’s accident in Friday practice to go fourth quickest in the hands of Tom Blomqvist, followed by the GTP championship-leading No. 7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr, who completed the top-five.

Co-driver Nick Tandy, however, had drama in the closing minutes with the left-side door ajar on his car, in a possible issue inside the cockpit.

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports swept the GTD Pro ranks with its pair of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs, led by the No. 4 car of Nicky Catsburg ahead of teammate Alexander Sims.

GTD was led by the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Kenton Koch.

The session saw a two red flags, the first for the No. 93 MSR Acura of Nick Yelloly that went off at the Corkscrew without making any contact with the wall.

Misha Goikhberg, meanwhile, had an off in Turn 4 in his No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 that resulted in the second red with less than 12 minutes to go.

The session resumed with seven minutes left on the clock.

Goikhberg, along with both of the MSR Acuras, will all lose their fastest qualifying lap due to bringing out red flags in practice.

Qualifying is scheduled for a 3:15 p.m. PST (6:15 p.m. EST) start time with live coverage on Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Practice 2