2021 IMSA Monterey Grand Prix
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
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]
Entries
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.[3] 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.[4] Grasser Racing Team was absent from the event due to a clash with the ADAC GT Masters round at Lausitzring.[5] Jacob Abel subbed for Jeff Kingsley in the Compass Racing Acura.[6][7]
Qualifying
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by 
.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 10 | Konica Minolta Acura | Filipe Albuquerque | 1:14.441 | _ | 1 |
| 2 | DPi | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Dane Cameron | 1:14.464 | +0.023 | 2 |
| 3 | DPi | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Kevin Magnussen | 1:15.026 | +0.585 | 3 |
| 4 | DPi | 55 | Mazda Motorsports | Harry Tincknell | 1:15.052 | +0.611 | 4 |
| 5 | DPi | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing | Pipo Derani | 1:15.384 | +0.943 | 5 |
| 6 | DPi | 5 | JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing | Tristan Vautier | 1:15.451 | +1.010 | 6 |
| 7 | LMP2 | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | Ben Keating | 1:17.227 | +2.786 | 7 |
| 8 | LMP2 | 18 | Era Motorsport | Dwight Merriman | 1:19.873 | +5.432 | 8 |
| 9 | LMP2 | 11 | WIN Autosport | Steven Thomas | 1:19.894 | +5.453 | 9 |
| 10 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:21.151 | +6.710 | 10 |
| 11 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Tommy Milner | 1:21.267 | +6.826 | 11 |
| 12 | LMP2 | 8 | Tower Motorsport By Starworks | John Farano | 1:21.563 | +7.122 | 12 |
| 13 | GTLM | 79 | WeatherTech Racing | Cooper MacNeil | 1:21.931 | +7.490 | 13 |
| 14 | GTD | 16 | Wright Motorsports | Trent Hindman | 1:24.505 | +10.064 | 14 |
| 15 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 1:24.568 | +10.127 | 15 |
| 16 | GTD | 23 | Heart of Racing Team | Roman De Angelis | 1:24.591 | +10.150 | 16 |
| 17 | GTD | 1 | Paul Miller Racing | Madison Snow | 1:24.711 | +10.270 | 17 |
| 18 | GTD | 39 | CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing | Richard Heistand | 1:24.751 | +10.310 | 18 |
| 19 | GTD | 9 | Pfaff Motorsports | Zacharie Robichon | 1:24.754 | +10.313 | 19 |
| 20 | GTD | 14 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Zach Veach | 1:24.802 | +10.361 | 20 |
| 21 | GTD | 27 | Heart of Racing Team | Ian James | 1:25.385 | +10.944 | 21 |
| 22 | GTD | 12 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Matt McMurry | 1:25.600 | +11.159 | 22 |
| 23 | GTD | 88 | Team Hardpoint EMB | Rob Ferriol | 1:25.813 | +11.372 | 23 |
| 24 | GTD | 76 | Compas Racing | Jacob Abel | 1:25.875 | +11.434 | 24 |
| 25 | GTD | 44 | Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports | John Potter | 1:26.613 | +12.172 | 25 |
| 26 | GTD | 66 | Gradient Racing | Did Not Participate | 26 | ||
| Sources:[8][9][10] | |||||||
Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and .
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References
- "Long Beach, Laguna Seca Rounds Moved to September". sportscar365.com. December 17, 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- Dagys, John (September 10, 2021). "IMSA, Laguna Seca Confirm Three-Year Contract Extension". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- Dagys, John (September 1, 2021). "26 Entries for Laguna Seca". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- Dagys, John (August 26, 2021). "Heart of Racing Expands into Two-Car Aston GTD Operation". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- Dagys, John (September 10, 2021). "Laguna Seca Friday Notebook". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- Dagys, John (September 8, 2021). "Abel to Sub for Kingsley in Compass Acura at Laguna Seca". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- Pruett, Marshall (September 9, 2021). "Abel gets Acura Monterey call-up by Compass". racer.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- "IMSA-2021-Laguna-Seca-Proto-DPI-Qualifying.pdf" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- "IMSA-2021-Laguna-Seca-GT-Qualifying.pdf" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- "IMSA-2021-Laguna-Seca-GTD-Qualifying.pdf" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- "03_Results_Race_Unofficial.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved April 7, 2023.