Wayne Taylor Racing opens its 2022 counter at Laguna Seca

Very fit all weekend, Ricky Taylor retained the advantage from his pole position at the start. The American driver from Wayne Taylor Racing quickly opened up a good gap on the second Acura DPi entered, the No. 60 from Meyer Shank Racing. Behind, the misfortunes continued for Sébastien Bourdais this season. Winner at Long Beach despite going off the track, the Frenchman encountered a new problem on his No. 01 Cadillac DPi after those at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. His prototype stopped on the track and Le Manceau had to restart the system to get going again. The Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac did not go much further, however, as Sébastien Bourdais retired after entering the pits.

The #57 of Russell Ward (Winward Racing) hit the wall 2h08 from the end and triggered a Full Course Yellow while the driver occupied second position in the GTD category. The prototypes passed through the stands. If the hierarchy did not change in DPi, Henrik Hedman, who had quickly placed himself at the head of the LM P2 category with the #81 DragonSpeed, left the controls to Dennis Andersen for High Class Racing. The race was finally restarted with 1h50 still to go. Filipe Albuquerque then took over from Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 WTR Acura DPi. On this circuit, the two prototypes from the North American branch of Honda were at ease and their drivers were having a great time. Tom Blomqvist was thus the only one able to keep up with the Portuguese after this neutralization.

A race to forget at Chip Ganassi

The difference between the two men was more or less significant depending on their ability to move in the middle of traffic. The winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona grew impatient behind Albuquerque and decided to move into the pit lane once again. A strategy that paid off since the native of Coimbra could not resist him after putting on new tires. The Cadillac race was going from bad to worse during this time as Alex Lynn made a mistake with the No. 02 of Chip Ganassi Racing. The Briton was able to shift into reverse and return to the track, but lost any chance of being on the podium with just over an hour to go.

Coming back to the fight for victory, Albuquerque had not said his last word in the duel between him and Blomqvist. The Wayne Taylor Racing driver took advantage of the traffic to slip between the Corvette C8.R and the High Class Racing Oreca 07 to reposition himself at the top of the standings. The breathtaking confrontation between the two men continued in the last hour of this fourth round of the season.IMSA. The slightest mistake would now cost one or the other the victory, but Albuquerque held on until the checkered flag despite the incessant presence of Tom Blomqvist in their mirrors. A relief for Wayne Taylor Racing which finally unlocked its victory counter in 2022. With this success for the vice-champion team, Acura returns to the level of Cadillac in the number of victories this season. 2-2, ball in the center between the two manufacturers before Mid-Ohio from May 13 to 15, for the third sprint race of the season (2h40).

New victory for Jaminet in GTD Pro

The LM P2 race was punctuated by numerous track exits. Not many people were spared in this festival of tricks. Recent winner of the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, Louis Delétraz inherited the lead in the category less than an hour and a half from the checkered flag. The Swiss took the No. 07 Tower Motorsport Oreca 8 to victory with his teammate John Farano for a second success in a row in Endurance for him. Dwigh Merriman and Ryan Dalziel took second place for Era Motorsport despite a strong performance in the middle of the race. Henrik Hedman and Juan Pablo Montoya allowed DragonSpeed ​​to finish on the podium despite, once again, a spin from the Colombian. The big losers were ultimately the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports since the two cars started from the first row at the start so as not to appear on the box at the finish.

En GTD Pro, Mathieu Jaminet (Pfaff Motorsports) conservait lui aussi les commandes de la course au départ. La Porsche n°9 a totalement dominé sa catégorie pour empocher sa deuxième victoire de la saison après Daytona. Pas de bataille épique dans jusque dans le dernier tour cette fois-ci pour le Français. Jaminet et son coéquipier Matt Campbell ont en effet devancé la Lexus RC F GT3 n°14 du VasserSullivan avec Ben Barnicoat et Jack Hawksworth d’une trentaine de secondes. Connor de Phillippi et John Edwards ont complété le podium de cette catégorie sur la BMW M4 GT3 n°25 du Team RLL.

The outcome was close until the end in GTD between BMW, Lamborghini and Porsche. Ryan Hardwick and Jan Heylen ultimately took victory in the No. 911 Wright Motorsports Porsche 3 GT16R.

Ranking to follow…