Cadillac became the first manufacturer to win twice in IMSA's new GTP era, as the Ganassi squad followed up Action Express's victory after late carnage at Sebring by just 3.8s over the second of the Porsche Penske Motorsports 963s that started on the front row in the hands of Mathieu Jaminet.
Bourdais had started sixth, losing two places at the start before moving up to third following the first round of stops. Van der Zande then rejoined seventh after a safety car caused by a crash for LMP2 driver John Farano, but the Dutchman made crucial passes to move into second and nailed the crucial pass for the win around the outside of Alexander Sims at Turn 3 following a final restart.
The polesitting Porsche of Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr had an eventful day as a drive-through penalty for contact and a crash exiting the Corkscrew left the car eight laps down in 32nd overall.
At the start, both Campbell and Jaminet locked up and ran wide at Turn 2, allowing the fast-starting Colin Braun (Meyer Shank Racing Acura) to get into the lead ahead of Pipo Derani's Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.
Jaminet recovered to claim third ahead of the two BMW M Hybrid V8s of Connor De Phillippi and Philipp Eng, and Ricky Taylor's Wayne Taylor Racing Acura. Campbell fell to seventh ahead of Bourdais and Tijmen van der Helm in the new JDC-Miller MotorSport Porsche 963.
After Campbell nudged Jarett Andretti’s Aston Martin into an accident at pitlane entry, for which he would later be penalised, all nine GTP cars pitted, and leader Braun dropped to seventh having taken both fuel and tyres. Derani now led De Phillippi, Bourdais, Eng and van der Helm as Taylor handed over to Filipe Albuquerque.
Eng's hold on fourth was short-lived though, as Braun, Albuquerque and Jaminet also levered past to demote the #24 BMW to seventh.
Farano's Turn 5 crash with 102 minutes to go prompted all GTP cars to pit, and a fuel-only stop for Braun gave him the lead ahead of Derani and Albuquerque. Nick Tandy took over the #6 Porsche to emerge fourth, ahead of Nick Yelloly (in for De Phillippi), Nasr, van der Zande, Augusto Farfus (in for Eng) and Mike Rockenfeller’s JDC-Miller Porsche.
As Derani took the lead from Braun at Turn 3, Nasr's off sent him to the pits for repairs. Van der Zande meanwhile was making progress and having passed Yelloly soon moved ahead of Tandy.
Albuquerque was unable to resist the Dutchman's advances either as he moved up to third before pouncing on Braun, who in turn lost out to Albuquerque.
Derani had a 14s advantage over the charging van der Zande and Albuquerque with 70 minutes remaining, as behind Tandy moved into fourth ahead of Braun. The MSR driver continued to fall back behind the BMWs, while Yelloly then usurped Tandy.
Sims finally took over from Derani, while Tom Blomqvist replaced Braun, in the final round of stops which were completed just before IMSA threw the fourth full course caution for Aaron Telitz parking the Lexus RC F in the wall on the outside of the final corner.
For the restart with 41 minutes remaining to go, Sims led van der Zande, Yelloly, Tandy, Albuquerque and Farfus. But van der Zande wasted no time in making a move on Sims for the lead, as Tandy then prised third place from Yelloly, who also lost out to Albuquerque and tumbled back down the order.
Tandy passed Sims for second with 15 minutes remaining, but couldn't catch the Cadillac as Sims brought the Action Express Caddy home seven seconds adrift of the Porsche.
Albuquerque and Taylor finished fourth ahead of Eng and Farfus, with Braun and Blomqvist sixth ahead of the new JDC Miller Porsche that claimed seventh on debut.
In eighth overall at the finish Steven Thomas and Mikkel Jensen claimed the LMP2 class victory in their TDS Racing ORECA.
Thomas ran third in the opening stages behind Ben Keating (PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports) and George Kurtz’s Crowdstrike Racing by APR entry.
But Jensen moved into the top spot with 25 minutes remaining when Kurtz’s co-driver Ben Hanley tipped Ryan Dalziel’s Era Motorsports car into a half-spin on the front straight after the Scot had attempted a move to the outside of the final corner.
Keating's co-driver Paul-Loup Chatin just fended off Hanley for second as Giedo van der Garde in the second TDS machine took fourth in the car started by Francois Heriau.
GTD battlers beat GTD Pro runners home
Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella claimed a second GTD Pro victory of the season in their WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, but were only the eighth GT class machine at the finish as multiple class rivals were hit by penalties.
Kay van Berlo and Alan Metni took the spoils in the pro-am GTD class in their Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R, beating the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull as the top seven pro-am class runners finished ahead of the WeatherTech Merc.
GTD Pro poleman Klaus Bachler’s Pfaff Motorsports Porsche led at the start from top GTD runner Roman de Angelis's Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.
But Bachler dropped down the order after jumping a red light at pit exit, earning a 60-second stop-go penalty which promoted Jordan Taylor's Corvette to the lead ahead of Jack Hawksworth’s Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
Pitting just before the race's third yellow meant Kellymoss with Riley team-mates Alec Udell and van Berlo headed the pack for the restart, with Auberlen and his team-mate Robbie Foley giving chase. In GTD Pro, Alex Riberas’ HoR Aston led ahead of Corvette's Antonio Garcia (in for Taylor).
After the final round of stops, Andy Lally had moved into the GTD lead aboard Magnus Racing's Aston Martin started by John Potter, ahead of van Berlo and Auberlen. But Lally couldn't hold off an Berlo, who made it through after a slightly physical confrontation with 20 minutes to go. He soon had to give up second to Auberlen too, and lost third to Julian Andlauer (in for Udell) in the closing minutes.
Having taken over from Riberas, Ross Gunn led GTD Pro ahead of Garcia, but both had blown the wave-by rules under yellow so received stop-and-hold penalties of their own.
That left Gounon leading GTD Pro, ahead of the earlier penalised Pfaff Porsche of Patrick Pilet and Ben Barnicoat in the Lexus, who nipped Pilet at the line for second by a mere 0.2s.
IMSA Laguna Seca Race Results (102 laps):
| Cla | Class | Num | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTP | 01 |
 Sébastien Bourdais  Renger van der Zande
|
Cadillac V-Series.R | 102 | - |
| 2 | GTP | 6 |
 Nick Tandy Mathieu Jaminet
|
Porsche 963 | 102 | 3.882 |
| 3 | GTP | 31 |
 Pipo Derani Alexander Sims
|
Cadillac V-Series.R | 102 | 10.636 |
| 4 | GTP | 10 |
 Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque
|
Acura ARX-06 | 102 | 21.041 |
| 5 | GTP | 24 |
 Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus
|
BMW M Hybrid V8 | 102 | 22.818 |
| 6 | GTP | 60 |
Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun
|
Acura ARX-06 | 102 | 23.109 |
| 7 | GTP | 5 |
Tijmen van der Helm  Mike Rockenfeller
|
Porsche 963 | 102 | 23.818 |
| 8 | LMP2 | 11 |
Thomas Steven  Mikkel Jensen
|
ORECA LMP2 07 | 102 | 43.809 |
| 9 | GTP | 25 |
Connor de Phillippi Nick Yelloly
|
BMW M Hybrid V8 | 102 | 45.677 |
| 10 | LMP2 | 52 |
Ben Keating Paul-Loup Chatin
|
ORECA LMP2 07 | 102 | 48.904 |
| 11 | LMP2 | 04 |
George Kurtz Ben Hanley
|
ORECA LMP2 07 | 102 | 49.158 |
| 12 | LMP2 | 35 |
François Heriau Giedo van der Garde
|
ORECA LMP2 07 | 102 | 50.003 |
| 13 | LMP2 | 51 |
Eric Lux  Juan Pablo Montoya
|
ORECA LMP2 07 | 102 | 1'03.324 |
| 14 | LMP2 | 20 |
Dennis Andersen  Ed Jones
|
ORECA LMP2 07 | 102 | 1'04.674 |
| 15 | LMP2 | 18 |
Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel
|
ORECA LMP2 07 | 100 | 2 laps |
| 16 | GTD | 91 |
Alan Metni Kay van Berlo
|
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 97 | 5 laps |
| 17 | GTD | 97 |
Bill Auberlen Chandler Hull |
BMW M4 GT3 | 97 | 5 laps |
| 18 | GTD | 92 |
Alec Udell Julien Andlauer
|
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 97 | 5 laps |
| 19 | GTD | 44 |
John Potter Andy Lally
|
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 97 | 5 laps |
| 20 | GTD | 70 |
Brendan Iribe  Frederik Schandorff
|
McLaren 720S GT3 EVO | 97 | 5 laps |
| 21 | GTD | 77 |
Alan Brynjolfsson Trent Hindman
|
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 97 | 5 laps |
| 22 | GTD | 96 |
Patrick Gallagher Robby Foley
|
BMW M4 GT3 | 97 | 5 laps |
| 23 | GTD PRO | 79 |
 Daniel Juncadella Jules Gounon
|
Mercedes AMG GT3 | 97 | 5 laps |
| 24 | GTD | 27 |
 Roman De Angelis Marco Sorensen
|
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 97 | 5 laps |
| 25 | GTD | 78 |
Mikhail Goikhberg  Loris Spinelli
|
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 | 97 | 5 laps |
| 26 | GTD | 1 |
Bryan Sellers Madison Snow
|
BMW M4 GT3 | 97 | 5 laps |
| 27 | GTD PRO | 14 |
Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat
|
Lexus RC F GT3 | 97 | 5 laps |
| 28 | GTD PRO | 9 |
Klaus Bachler Patrick Pilet
|
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 97 | 5 laps |
| 29 | GTD | 80 |
PJ Hyett Seb Priaulx |
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 97 | 5 laps |
| 30 | GTD PRO | 3 |
Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor
|
Corvette C8.R GTD | 95 | 7 laps |
| 31 | GTD PRO | 23 |
Ross Gunn Alex Riberas
|
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 95 | 7 laps |
| 32 | GTP | 7 |
 Matt Campbell Felipe Nasr
|
Porsche 963 | 94 | 8 laps |
| 33 | GTD | 57 |
Russell Ward Philip Ellis
|
Mercedes AMG GT3 | 86 | 16 laps |
| 34 | GTD | 66 |
Sheena Monk Katherine Legge
|
Acura NSX GT3 | 75 | 27 laps |
| 35 | GTD | 12 |
Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz
|
Lexus RC F GT3 | 58 | 44 laps |
| 36 | GTD | 32 |
Mike Skeen Mikael Grenier
|
Mercedes AMG GT3 | 37 | 65 laps |
| 37 | LMP2 | 8 |
John Farano Louis Deletraz
|
ORECA LMP2 07 | 34 | 68 laps |
| 38 | GTD | 94 |
Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves
|
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 9 | 93 laps |
| View full results | ||||||
