On May 1-3, the International Motorsports Association (IMSA) returned to the Historic Laguna Seca for a weekend of fun, family, and most importantly, fuel. 

Nestled off the highway just outside of Salinas, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is a 2.238-mile road course and home of the infamous “Corkscrew” — a blind left turn with a 60-foot elevation drop immediately followed by a hard right. The track has hosted sports car racing for 69 years and IMSA races since 1974.

Race weekend included four distinct racing series: The Michelin Pilot Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, the Mustang Challenge North America, headlined by the StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship. Each series had their own practice and qualifying sessions, mostly throughout Friday and Saturday. 

Along with the on-track action, there’s a massive open paddock, allowing spectators open access to teams working on their cars in tents and garages. There are multiple vendors and food trucks, selling everything from burritos to ear plugs. Ford also provided the “Raptor Corkscrew Shuttle” throughout the weekend, an experience that allowed up to 3 passengers a brief, yet pulse-pounding off-road experience, traveling off-road from the paved paddock up a hill to the apex of the corkscrew, all while being serenaded by the Raptor R’s supercharged V8. 

This weekend was also throwback-themed, featuring cars wearing retro-inspired liveries, many paying homage to previous racers. The lineup was headlined by the Penske Porsche 963 in the Apple Computers livery, referencing the 1980 Porsche 935 K3, the only other race car sponsored by Apple, with newly-named incoming CEO John Ternus in attendance for the race weekend.  Other retro-inspired designs included Paul Miller Racing’s BMW M4 GT3 Evo, referencing the legendary BMW 3.0 CSL of the 1970s, and Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Corvette Z06 GT3.R, referencing the 2000 Corvette C5-R, among others.

The first series to have official races over the weekend was the Mustang Challenge North America with two races starting Saturday. The single-make series features the Ford Mustang Dark Horse R, a factory-built race car not to be confused with the Mustang GT3, built for the premier racing series around the world. The though series only uses one make of car, racing is split up between two classes: Dark Horse, intermediate level drivers, and Dark Horse Legends available to amateur or gentleman drivers aged 40 and older. 

Each race lasted for 45 minutes, and in race one, it was Cole Loftsgard of Round 3 Racing who claimed outright victory, with Nicholas Smither of Nick Smither Racing winning in Dark Horse Legends. In race two, Devin Anderson of TechSport Racing who had started in first and never gave up the position who brought home the win in the Dark Horse class, while Tom Tait claimed victory in Dark Horse Legends. 

The next series was the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, another single-make series featuring the 620-horsepower V10 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, currently in its final season before being replaced by the V8 Lamborghini Temerario Super Trofeo,  which is based on the current road-going supercar.

The weekend consisted of Rounds 3 and 4 of the series, with two 50-minute races split into four classes and with a mandatory pit stop and driver change between the 20- and 30-minute marks. The four classes, ranked from highest to lowest, are Pro, Pro-Am, Amateur and LB Cup. 

After the checkered flags waved, in race one, after contact with the second place car and a 10-second penalty it was Hampus Ericsson and Nick Persing of Wayne Taylor Racing who ultimately prevailed, finishing first, though the penalty cut their lead down to 1.2 seconds. In race two, it was Will Bamber and Darius Trinka of XONINE Racing who finished victorious, a mere .274 seconds ahead of second place. 

The penultimate race, the Michelin Pilot Challenge 120, was a two-hour event consisting of two classes and a wide variety of cars. Grand Sport (GS), the top class, features GT4 race cars from seven manufacturers, including Aston Martin, Porsche and Toyota.

The lower class, Touring Car (TCR), features cars much closer to their road-going counterparts than the grand touring (GT) cars in the GS and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes. The class is also supported by a wide range of manufacturers, including Honda, Audi, Hyundai and Volkswagen-owned Cupra. 

As the dust settled after the 120 minutes, it was Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars in the Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO taking the victory in GS, and Mason Filippi with Bryson Morris in the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR finishing atop the Touring Cars. 

The main event, the StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship wrapped up the race weekend. The 160-minute race features two groups of cars divided into three classes: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), GTD Pro and GTD Pro-Am. 

GTP cars are some of the most advanced endurance racecars in the world, made by manufacturers Porsche, BMW, Acura, Cadillac and Aston Martin competing for the outright win. GTD Pro and Pro-Am use the same GT3-class cars from manufacturers like Ford, Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren, Chevrolet and more, split up by driver rankings. 

After late-race dramatics, it was Tijmen van der Helm  and Laurin Heinrich with JDC-Miller MotorSports in the Porsche 963 taking the overall victory in GTP, followed by Christopher Mies with Frederic Vervisch in the Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 and Danny Formal with Trent Hindman in the Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 taking first place in GTD Pro and Pro-Am, respectively.