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2021 IMSA Monterey Grand Prix

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Track map of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

The 2021 IMSA Monterey Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna in Monterey, California on September 12, 2021. The race was the ninth round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the sixth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Background

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WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where the race was held.

Originally scheduled to run on April 25, 2021, the race was set to wrap up the two "West Coast Swing" rounds also consisting of Long Beach, however the event was postponed to September 12, 2021, due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic in California.[1]

On September 10, 2021, IMSA and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca announced a three-year contract extension that would keep the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on the calendar through to the end of 2024.[2]

Before the race, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 2380 points, ahead of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr in second with 2339 points, and Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell with 2337 points.[3] In LMP2, Mikkel Jensen and Ben Keating led the Drivers' Championship with 1442 points, ahead of Tristan Nunez and Steven Thomas.[3] Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 2207 points, 214 points ahead of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy followed by Cooper MacNeil in third.[3] With 1930 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley, ahead of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn.[3] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Aston Martin were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Corvette Racing, Turner Motorsport and each led their own Teams' Championships.[3]

Entries

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A total of 26 cars took part in the event, split across 4 classes. 6 cars were entered in DPi, 4 in LMP2, 3 in GTLM, and 13 in GTD.[4] In GTD, NTE Sport didn't return after their outing at Road America. Heart of Racing added a second entry alongside its own full time entry.[5] Grasser Racing Team was absent from the event due to a clash with the ADAC GT Masters round at Lausitzring.[6] Jacob Abel subbed for Jeff Kingsley in the Compass Racing Acura.[7][8]

Practice

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There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session lasted one hour on Friday while the second session on Saturday lasted 75 minutes.[9]

Practice 1

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The first practice session took place at 4:30 pm PT on Friday and ended with Filipe Albuquerque topping the charts for WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, with a lap time of 1:14.880, ahead of Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Cadillac.[10] Mikkel Jensen set the fastest time in LMP2.[11] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:22.081, ahead of Matt Campbell in the No. 79 Porsche.[11] Bill Auberlen's No. 96 BMW was fastest in GTD, with a lap time of 1:24.630. Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 9 Porsche was second fastest followed by Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Lamborghini.[12]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Filipe Albuquerque 1:14.880 _
2 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:14.974 +0.094
3 DPi 55 Mazda Motorsports Harry Tincknell 1:15.215 +0.335
Sources:[13][14]

Practice 2

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The second and final practice session took place at 8:45 am PT on Saturday and ended with Harry Tincknell topping the charts for Mazda Motorsports, with a lap time of 1:14.552. Pipo Derani's No. 31 Cadillac was second fastest followed by Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Acura.[15] Ryan Dalziel set the fastest time in LMP2.[16] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner with a time of 1:21.680, ahead of Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette.[16][17] The GTD class was topped by the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Madison Snow, with a lap time of 1:24.237. Trent Hindman was second fastest in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche followed by Zacharie Robichon in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche.[16]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 55 Mazda Motorsports Harry Tincknell 1:14.552 _
2 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:14.554 +0.002
3 DPi 10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Filipe Albuquerque 1:14.680 +0.218
Sources:[18][19]

Qualifying

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Filipe Albuquerque (pictured in 2016) helped take the No. 10 Acura's third pole position of 2021.

Qualifying was broken into three sessions.[9] The first was for cars in GTD class. Trent Hindman qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 16 car for Wright Motorsports, beating Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW by less than one-tenth of a second. Roman De Angelis in the No. 23 heart of Racing Team Aston Martin was third followed by The No. 1 Lamborghini of Madison Snow, and Richard Heistand's No. 39 Audi rounded out the top five.[20]

The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 3 car for Corvette Racing, besting teammate Tommy Milner in the sister No. 4 Corvette Racing entry.[21] Ross Gunn set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session driving the No. 23 car for Heart of Racing Team. However, the team were sent to the back of the GTD grid after Gunn exited the car before the session ended. As a result, Laurens Vanthoor was promoted to first and earned 35 championship points.[22] Bill Auberlen was second in the No. 96 BMW followed by Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Lamborghini.[21]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi and LMP2 classes. Filipe Albuquerque took overall pole for the event driving the No. 10 car for WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, besting Dane Cameron in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura by 0.023 seconds. Following in third was the No. 01 Cadillac of Kevin Magnussen, with the No. 55 Mazda of Harry Tincknell in fourth. Tincknell's No. 55 Mazda was demoted to the rear of the DPi field for the camber of the car exceeding the maximum permitted a post-qualifying technical inspection. Pipo Derani's No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPI-V.R started fourth with Tristan Vautier's No. 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac starting in fifth.[23] Ben Keating qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the No. 52 car for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. Keating was more than two seconds clear of Dwight Merriman in the No. 18 Era Motorsport entry followed by Steven Thomas in the WIN Autosport car.[24][20]

Qualifying results

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Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 DPi 10 United States WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Portugal Filipe Albuquerque 1:14.441 _ 1
2 DPi 60 United States Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian United States Dane Cameron 1:14.464 +0.023 2
3 DPi 01 United States Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1:15.026 +0.585 3
4 DPi 55 Japan Mazda Motorsports United Kingdom Harry Tincknell 1:15.052 +0.611 61
5 DPi 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Pipo Derani 1:15.384 +0.943 5
6 DPi 5 United States JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing France Tristan Vautier 1:15.451 +1.010 6
7 LMP2 52 United States PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports United States Ben Keating 1:17.227 +2.786 7
8 LMP2 18 United States Era Motorsport United States Dwight Merriman 1:19.873 +5.432 8
9 LMP2 11 United States WIN Autosport United States Steven Thomas 1:19.894 +5.453 9
10 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing United States Jordan Taylor 1:21.151 +6.710 11
11 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United States Tommy Milner 1:21.267 +6.826 12
12 LMP2 8 United States Tower Motorsport By Starworks Canada John Farano 1:21.563 +7.122 102
13 GTLM 79 United States WeatherTech Racing United States Cooper MacNeil 1:21.931 +7.490 13
14 GTD 16 United States Wright Motorsports United States Trent Hindman 1:24.505 +10.064 14‡
15 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Robby Foley 1:24.568 +10.127 15
16 GTD 23 United States Heart Of Racing Team Canada Roman De Angelis 1:24.591 +10.150 263
17 GTD 1 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Madison Snow 1:24.711 +10.270 16
18 GTD 39 United States CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing United States Richard Heistand 1:24.751 +10.310 17
19 GTD 9 Canada Pfaff Motorsports Canada Zacharie Robichon 1:24.754 +10.313 18
20 GTD 14 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Zach Veach 1:24.802 +10.361 19
21 GTD 27 United States Heart Of Racing Team United Kingdom Ian James 1:25.385 +10.944 20
22 GTD 12 United States Vasser Sullivan Racing United States Frankie Montecalvo 1:25.600 +11.159 21
23 GTD 88 United States Team Hardpoint EBM United States Rob Ferriol 1:25.813 +11.372 22
24 GTD 76 United States Compass Racing United States Jacob Abel 1:25.875 +11.434 23
25 GTD 44 United States Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports United States John Potter 1:26.613 +12.172 254
26 GTD 66 United States Gradient Racing Did Not Participate 24
Sources:[25][26][27][28]
  • 1 The No. 55 Mazda Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the DPi classification for violating competition rules regarding the car's camber.[29]
  • 2 The No. 8 Tower Motorsport By Starworks entry was moved to the back of the LMP2 classification as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[30]
  • 3 The No. 23 Heart of Racing Team entry was moved to the back of the GTD classification as per Article 40.2.9. of the Sporting regulations (Gunn exited the car during the second GTD qualifying segment before the session ended).[30]
  • 4 The No. 44 Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD classification as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[30]

Race

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Post-race

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With a total of 2765 points, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Derani and Nasr in the DPi Drivers' Championship to 98 points.[31] With a total of 1807 points, Keating and Jensen's victory allowed them to increase over Nunez and Thomas in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship to 113 points.[31] The result kept Antonio García and Jordan Taylor atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship.[31] As a result of winning the race, Robichon and Vanthoor advanced from third to second in the GTD Drivers' Championship.[31] Cadillac and Chevrolet continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Porsche took the lead of the GTD Manufactures' Championship.[31] WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Turner Motorsport kept their respective advantages in the their respective of Teams' Championships with three rounds remaining in the season.[31]

Race results

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Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 DPi 10 United States Konica Minolta Acura Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
United States Ricky Taylor
Acura ARX-05 118 2:40:49.456‡
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
2 DPi 01 United States Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Netherlands Renger van der Zande
Denmark Kevin Magnussen
Cadillac DPi-V.R 118 +14.875
Cadillac 5.5L V8
3 DPi 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Felipe Nasr
Brazil Pipo Derani
Cadillac DPi-V.R 118 +15.392
Cadillac 5.5L V8
4 DPi 60 United States Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian United States Dane Cameron
France Olivier Pla
Acura ARX-05 118 +25.529
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
5 DPi 55 Canada Mazda Motorsports United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
Mazda RT24-P 118 +28.503
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
6 DPi 5 United States JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing France Tristan Vautier
France Loïc Duval
Cadillac DPi-V.R 116 +2 Laps
Cadillac 5.5L V8
7 LMP2 52 United States PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Denmark Mikkel Jensen
United States Ben Keating
Oreca 07 116 +2 Laps‡
Gibson Technology GK428 V8
8 LMP2 8 United States Tower Motorsport By Starworks France Gabriel Aubry
Canada John Farano
Oreca 07 115 +3 Laps
Gibson Technology GK428 V8
9 LMP2 11 United States WIN Autosport United States Tristan Nunez
United States Steven Thomas
Oreca 07 115 +3 Laps
Gibson Technology GK428 V8
10 LMP2 18 United States Era Motorsport United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
United States Dwight Merriman
Oreca 07 115 +3 Laps
Gibson Technology GK428 V8
11 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United States Tommy Milner
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 112 +6 Laps‡
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
12 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Spain Antonio García
United States Jordan Taylor
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 111 +7 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
13 GTLM 79 United States WeatherTech Racing United States Cooper MacNeil
Australia Matt Campbell
Porsche 911 RSR-19 111 +7 Laps
Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
14 GTD 9 Canada Pfaff Motorsports Canada Zacharie Robichon

Belgium Laurens Vanthoor

Porsche 911 GT3 R 107 +11 Laps‡
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
15 GTD 1 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Bryan Sellers

United States Madison Snow

Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 107 +11 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
16 GTD 16 United States Wright Motorsports United States Trent Hindman

United States Patrick Long

Porsche 911 GT3 R 107 +11 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
17 GTD 96 United States Turner Motorsport United States Bill Auberlen
United States Robby Foley
BMW M6 GT3 107 +11 Laps
BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
18 GTD 23 United States Heart of Racing Team Canada Roman De Angelis
United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 107 +11 Laps
Mercedes-Benz M177 4.0 L Turbo V8
19 GTD 14 United States Vasser-Sullivan Racing United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
United States Aaron Telitz
Lexus RC F GT3 106 +12 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
20 GTD 39 United States CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing United States Richard Heistand

United States Jeff Westphal

Audi R8 LMS Evo 106 +12 Laps
Audi 5.2L V10
21 GTD 88 United States Team Hardpoint EBM United States Rob Ferriol
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Porsche 911 GT3 R 106 +12 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
22 GTD 44 United States Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports United States John Potter
United States Andy Lally
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 106 +12 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
23 GTD 12 United States Vasser-Sullivan Racing United States Frankie Montecalvo
United States Zach Veach
Lexus RC F GT3 105 +13 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
24 GTD 66 United States Gradient Racing United Kingdom Till Bechtolsheimer
United States Marc Miller
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 103 +15 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
25

DNF

GTD 27 United States Heart of Racing Team United Kingdom Ian James
Spain Alex Riberas
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 0 Collision
Mercedes-Benz M177 4.0 L Turbo V8
26

DNF

GTD 76 United States Compass Racing United States Jacob Abel
Germany Mario Farnbacher
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 0 Collision
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
Sources:[32][33]

Standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.


References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Long Beach, Laguna Seca Rounds Moved to September". sportscar365.com. December 17, 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  2. ^ Dagys, John (September 10, 2021). "IMSA, Laguna Seca Confirm Three-Year Contract Extension". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. August 10, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  4. ^ Dagys, John (September 1, 2021). "26 Entries for Laguna Seca". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  5. ^ Dagys, John (August 26, 2021). "Heart of Racing Expands into Two-Car Aston GTD Operation". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  6. ^ Dagys, John (September 10, 2021). "Laguna Seca Friday Notebook". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  7. ^ Dagys, John (September 8, 2021). "Abel to Sub for Kingsley in Compass Acura at Laguna Seca". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  8. ^ Pruett, Marshall (September 9, 2021). "Abel gets Acura Monterey call-up by Compass". racer.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  9. ^ a b "2021 IMSA Official Schedule and SR WRLS 090121 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  10. ^ Barnes, Joey (September 10, 2021). "Albuquerque leads opening practice at Laguna Seca". racer.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Bradley, Charles (September 10, 2021). "Laguna Seca IMSA: Albuquerque tops practice in WTR Acura". motorsport.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  12. ^ Dagys, John (September 10, 2021). "Albuquerque Paces Friday Practice at Laguna". sportscar365.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  13. ^ "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 10, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  14. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 10, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  15. ^ Dagys, John (September 11, 2021). "Tincknell Tops Saturday Morning Session at Laguna". sportscar365.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c Bradley, Charles (September 11, 2021). "Laguna Seca IMSA: Tincknell beats Derani by 0.002s in second practice". motorsport.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  17. ^ Barnes, Joey (September 11, 2021). "Tincknell by a nose in second Laguna practice". racer.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  18. ^ "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 11, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  19. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 11, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  20. ^ a b Dagys, John (September 11, 2021). "Albuquerque Leads Acura Front Row Sweep at Laguna Seca". sportscar365.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  21. ^ a b O'Malley, J.J. (September 11, 2021). "Albuquerque storms to pole in record-setting qualifying at Laguna". racer.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  22. ^ Allaway, Phil (September 12, 2021). "Filipe Albuquerque Wins Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Pole". frontstretch.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  23. ^ Bradley, Charles (September 11, 2023). "Laguna Seca IMSA: Albuquerque sets pole position in WTR Acura". motorsport.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  24. ^ "Albuquerque Scores First IMSA Pole Position At Laguna Seca". dailysportscar.com. September 12, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  25. ^ "IMSA-2021-Laguna-Seca-Proto-DPI-Qualifying.pdf" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  26. ^ "IMSA-2021-Laguna-Seca-GT-Qualifying.pdf" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  27. ^ "IMSA-2021-Laguna-Seca-GTD-Qualifying.pdf" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  28. ^ "01_Grid_Race _Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 12, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  29. ^ "TP - 21 - 19_Mazda Motorsports_penalty.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  30. ^ a b c "2021-IMSA-SPORTING-REGULATIONS-and-SSR-IWSC-Blackline-082621-V1.pdf" (PDF). Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  31. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 14, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  32. ^ "03_Results_Race_Unofficial.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  33. ^ "2021 HYUNDAI MONTEREY SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP". racing-reference.info. Retrieved August 28, 2023.


IMSA SportsCar Championship
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2021 Road Race Showcase at Road America
2021 season Next race:
2021 Grand Prix of Long Beach