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Laguna Seca IMSA: Taylor/Albuquerque win after fierce Acura duel

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque won the fourth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca after winning an intense duel with fellow Acura racers Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist.

Race winner #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 Acura DPi: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

Race winner #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 Acura DPi: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Starting from pole, Ricky Taylor’s Wayne Taylor Racing Acura led from Oliver Jarvis in Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura ARX-05, who just fended off a strong first-corner attack from Alex Lynn in the first of the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs. That was as close to an Acura as a Cadillac got all day.

There was early drama when the second #01 CGR car of Sebastien Bourdais crawled to a halt on the approach to the Corkscrew after 15 minutes before managing to reboot its electronics and rejoin. He pitted a lap later, however, for further work – and the team parked the car for the day soon after.

The first and only full course yellow was required for the #57 GTD Mercedes of Russell Ward, who crashed heavily at the left-hander before the Corkscrew in the opening hour.

After taking over from Taylor and Jarvis respectively, Albuquerque and Blomqvist fought a fascinating duel for the lead as Tristan Vautier brought JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Cadillac up to third, fighting with Lynn in the remaining CGR car. Lynn then went off and hit the wall just ahead of the second round of pitstops, consigning it to finishing a lapped fifth.

The lead changed hands soon after half distance when Blomqvist effectively undercut Albuquerque and passed him on track for the lead while the Portuguese was still on cold tires.

With just over an hour remaining, Albuquerque grabbed the lead back with a sensational move at Corkscrew, as Blomqvist got boxed by the lone Corvette. The Acuras made contact on two occasions as they snaked down the hill, as Albuquerque muscled his way past.

The gap between them ebbed and flowed to the finish, with Albuquerque maintaining the upper hand and staying ahead this time when the MSR team attempted another undercut at the final round of stops. The margin between them at the checkered flag was just over one second.

The Action Express Racing Caddy of Pipo Derani and Tristan Nunez took a while to establish itself in third, finishing ahead of Vautier/Richard Westbrook for the honor of first Cadillac home.

In LMP2, John Farano and Louis Deletraz dominated for Tower Motorsport, helped when the pole-winning PR1 Mathiasen car spun at the very first corner in Steven Thomas’s hands.

The battle for second was between Era Motorsports’ Ryan Dalziel and Juan Pablo Montoya of DragonSpeed – but Montoya’s race was hindered by a spin as he entered the pits to serve a drive-through penalty for spinning his wheels while up on the jacks. He pitted again late on to finish a distant third.

#9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R: Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet

#9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R: Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet

Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images

Porsche dominated GTD Pro

In GTD Pro, the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet grabbed the lead from pole sitter Daniel Juncadella in WeatherTech Racing’s Mercedes. Jaminet handed over to Matt Campbell, who scampered away to a convincing victory, well clear of a huge battle for second.

The Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Jack Hawksworth/Ben Barnicoat rose to second, ahead of the Team RLL BMW M4 of Connor De Phillippi and John Edwards and the Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor.

There was an all-BMW battle for GT Daytona honors for the most part, as the Paul Miller Racing M4 dueled with the Turner Motorsport version of Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen.

But pole winner Jan Heylen charged back to the front in his Wright Motorsports-run Porsche, passing Auberlen to win the class in the closing 10 minutes in the car he shared with Ryan Hardwick.

Jeff Westphal and Robert Megennis just pipped Auberlen to second by 0.037s in their CarBahn with Peregrine Lamborghini Huracan.

Cla Class Driver Chassis Laps Gap Retirement Pits
1 DPi United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Acura DPi 117 4
2 DPi United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
Acura DPi 117 1.080 4
3 DPi Brazil Pipo Derani
United States Tristan Nunez
Cadillac DPi 117 26.744 4
4 DPi France Tristan Vautier
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
Cadillac DPi 117 33.375 4
5 DPi New Zealand Earl Bamber
United Kingdom Alex Lynn
Cadillac DPi 116 1 Lap 5
6 LMP2 Canada John Farano
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
ORECA LMP2 07 114 3 Laps 5
7 LMP2 United States Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
ORECA LMP2 07 114 3 Laps 4
8 LMP2 Sweden Henrik Hedman
Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
ORECA LMP2 07 113 4 Laps 6
9 LMP2 United States Josh Pierson
United States Patrick Kelly
ORECA LMP2 07 113 4 Laps 4
10 LMP2 United States Steven Thomas
United States Jonathan Bomarito
ORECA LMP2 07 113 4 Laps 5
11 LMP2 Denmark Dennis Andersen
Denmark Anders Fjordbach
ORECA LMP2 07 113 4 Laps 4
12 GTD PRO Australia Matt Campbell
France Mathieu Jaminet
Porsche 911 GT3 R 107 10 Laps 3
13 GTD PRO United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
Lexus RC F GT3 107 10 Laps 4
14 GTD PRO United States Connor de Phillippi
United States John Edwards
BMW M4 GT3 107 10 Laps 3
15 GTD PRO Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
Corvette C8.R GTD 107 10 Laps 4
16 GTD United States Ryan Hardwick
Belgium Jan Heylen
Porsche 911 GT3 R 107 10 Laps 4
17 GTD United States Robert Megennis
United States Jeff Westphal
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 107 10 Laps 3
18 GTD United States Robby Foley
United States Bill Auberlen
BMW M4 GT3 107 10 Laps 3
19 GTD PRO United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 107 10 Laps 3
20 GTD United States Bryan Sellers
United States Madison Snow
BMW M4 GT3 107 10 Laps 3
21 GTD Germany Dirk Muller
United Kingdom Stevan McAleer
Mercedes-AMG GT3 107 10 Laps 3
22 GTD Marco Holzer
United States Jaden Conwright
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 107 10 Laps 3
23 GTD PRO United States Cooper MacNeil
Spain Daniel Juncadella
Mercedes-AMG GT3 107 10 Laps 4
24 GTD Canada Roman De Angelis
Belgium Maxime Martin
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 107 10 Laps 4
25 GTD United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Aaron Telitz
Lexus RC F GT3 107 10 Laps 4
26 GTD United States Michael de Quesada
Canada Daniel Morad
Mercedes-AMG GT3 106 11 Laps 4
27 GTD United States Rob Ferriol
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Porsche 911 GT3 R 106 11 Laps 5
28 GTD Kyle Washington
United States James Sofronas
Porsche 911 GT3 R 105 12 Laps 3
29 GTD United States Ryan Eversley
Australia Aidan Read
Acura NSX GT3 103 14 Laps 5
30 GTD United States Brendan Iribe
Switzerland Frederik Schandorff
McLaren 720S GT3 45 72 Laps Retirement 4
31 GTD United States Russell Ward
Switzerland Philip Ellis
Mercedes-AMG GT3 21 96 Laps Retirement 1
32 DPi Netherlands Renger van der Zande
France Sébastien Bourdais
Cadillac DPi 10 107 Laps Retirement 2

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