2023 Motul Course de Monterey
The 2023 Motul Course de Monterey (formally known as the Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N) was a sports car race held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California on May 14, 2023. It was the fourth round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the second round of the 2023 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
Background
On May 4, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the GTP, GTD Pro, and GTD classes. In GTP, both Cadillac and BMW received weight reductions, whilst Porsche and Acura received weight increases compared to Long Beach. The Cadillac will run at 1030 kg, the BMW will run at 1031 kg, the Porsche will run at 1038 kg, and the Acura will run at 1049 kg. As a result, the Cadillac will run on 511 kilowatts of power, the BMW on 512 kW, the Porsche on 514 kW, and the Acura on 520 kW. Maximum stint energy figures were also adjusted.[1] In GTD Pro and GTD, the only changes in BoP are a 10 kg weight increase for the BMW and a 5-liter decrease of fuel tank capacity for the McLaren.[1]
Entry list
A total of 38 cars are entered for the event, split across four classes. 9 are entered in GTP, 8 are entered in LMP2, 5 are entered in GTD Pro, and 16 are entered in GTD.[2] In GTP, the entry list is headlined by the addition of the JDC-Miller MotorSports entry, featuring the first Porsche 963 customer entry on the IMSA SportsCar Championship grid. The car will be driven by Tijmen van der Helm and Mike Rockenfeller.[3] In LMP2, the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 is also entered with Ben Hanley and George Kurtz, even though the car was initially not confirmed as a full-season entry.[2] In GTD, Andretti Autosport will debut their No. 94 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, driven by Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves.[4]
Practice
Practice 1
The first practice session took place at 4:05 pm PT on Friday and ended with Matt Campbell topping the charts for Porsche Penske Motorsport, with a lap time of 1:16.703.[5]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTP | 7 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Matt Campbell | 1:16.703 | _ |
| 2 | GTP | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Colin Braun | 1:17.019 | +0.316 |
| 3 | GTP | 6 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Mathieu Jaminet | 1:17.115 | +0.412 |
| Source:[6] | ||||||
Final Practice
The second and final practice session took place at 8:55 am PT on Saturday and ended with Matt Campbell topping the charts for Porsche Penske Motorsport, with a lap time of 1:15.493.[7]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTP | 7 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Matt Campbell | 1:15.493 | _ |
| 2 | GTP | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing | Pipo Derani | 1:15.642 | +0.149 |
| 3 | GTP | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Colin Braun | 1:15.716 | +0.223 |
| Source:[8] | ||||||
Qualifying
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by 
.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTP | 7 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Matt Campbell |
1:14.774 | _ | 1 |
| 2 | GTP | 6 | Porsche Penske Motorsport |  Mathieu Jaminet |
1:14.864 | +0.090 | 2 |
| 3 | GTP | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian |  Colin Braun |
1:14.979 | +0.205 | 3 |
| 4 | GTP | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing |  Pipo Derani |
1:15.007 | +0.233 | 4 |
| 5 | GTP | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport | Ricky Taylor |
1:15.303 | +0.529 | 5 |
| 6 | GTP | 01 | Cadillac Racing | Sébastien Bourdais |
1:15.335 | +0.561 | 6 |
| 7 | GTP | 25 | BMW M Team RLL | Connor De Phillippi |
1:15.648 | +0.874 | 7 |
| 8 | GTP | 24 | BMW M Team RLL |  Philipp Eng |
1:15.747 | +0.973 | 8 |
| 9 | GTP | 5 | JDC-Miller MotorSports |  Tijmen van der Helm |
1:16.995 | +2.221 | 9 |
| 10 | LMP2 | 04 | CrowdStrike Racing by APR | George Kurtz |
1:19.262 | +4.488 | 10 |
| 11 | LMP2 | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | Ben Keating |
1:19.323 | +4.549 | 11 |
| 12 | LMP2 | 11 | TDS Racing | Steven Thomas |
1:19.718 | +4.944 | 12 |
| 13 | LMP2 | 35 | TDS Racing | François Heriau |
1:20.475 | +5.701 | 16 |
| 14 | LMP2 | 51 | Rick Ware Racing | Eric Lux |
1:20.625 | +5.851 | 17 |
| 15 | LMP2 | 20 | High Class Racing |  Dennis Andersen |
1:20.655 | +5.881 | 13 |
| 16 | LMP2 | 8 | Tower Motorsports | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} John Farano |
1:21.055 | +6.281 | 14 |
| 17 | LMP2 | 18 | Era Motorsport | Dwight Merriman |
1:21.912 | +7.138 | 15 |
| 18 | GTD Pro | 9 | Pfaff Motorsports | Klaus Bachler |
1:24.529 | +9.755 | 18 |
| 19 | GTD | 92 | Kelly-Moss with Riley | Alec Udell |
1:24.539 | +9.765 | 19 |
| 20 | GTD | 27 | Heart of Racing Team | Roman De Angelis |
1:24.647 | +9.873 | 20 |
| 21 | GTD Pro | 23 | Heart of Racing Team |  Alex Riberas |
1:24.654 | +9.880 | 21 |
| 22 | GTD Pro | 79 | WeatherTech Racing | Daniel Juncadella |
1:24.706 | +9.932 | 22 |
| 23 | GTD Pro | 14 | Vasser Sullivan Racing |  Jack Hawksworth |
1:24.727 | +9.953 | 23 |
| 24 | GTD Pro | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jordan Taylor |
1:24.907 | +10.133 | 24 |
| 25 | GTD | 80 | AO Racing Team | Sebastian Priaulx |
1:25.005 | +10.231 | 25 |
| 26 | GTD | 12 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Frankie Montecalvo |
1:25.085 | +10.311 | 26 |
| 27 | GTD | 1 | Paul Miller Racing | Madison Snow |
1:25.260 | +10.486 | 27 |
| 28 | GTD | 32 | Team Korthoff Motorsports | Mike Skeen |
1:25.433 | +10.659 | 28 |
| 29 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Patrick Gallagher |
1:25.440 | +10.666 | 29 |
| 30 | GTD | 57 | Winward Racing | Russell Ward |
1:25.442 | +10.668 | 30 |
| 31 | GTD | 91 | Kelly-Moss with Riley | Alan Metni |
1:25.601 | +10.827 | 31 |
| 32 | GTD | 70 | Inception Racing | Brendan Iribe |
1:25.842 | +11.068 | 32 |
| 33 | GTD | 78 | Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics | Misha Goikhberg |
1:25.927 | +11.153 | 33 |
| 34 | GTD | 97 | Turner Motorsport | Chandler Hull |
1:26.227 | +11.453 | 34 |
| 35 | GTD | 94 | Andretti Autosport | Jarett Andretti |
1:26.289 | +11.515 | 35 |
| 36 | GTD | 66 | Gradient Racing | Sheena Monk |
1:26.363 | +11.589 | 36 |
| 37 | GTD | 77 | Wright Motorsports | Alan Brynjolfsson |
1:26.365 | +11.591 | 37 |
| 38 | GTD | 44 | Magnus Racing | John Potter |
1:26.415 | +11.641 | 38 |
| Sources:[9][10] | |||||||
Race
Class winners are in bold and .
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References
- Dagys, John (4 May 2023). "IMSA Tweaks GTP BoP for Laguna Seca". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
- Dagys, John (3 May 2023). "38 Entries for Laguna Seca". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
- Dagys, John (26 April 2023). "Rockenfeller, Van der Helm in JDC-Miller Porsche 963". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
- Lloyd, Daniel (2 May 2023). "Andretti to Debut Aston Martin GTD Program at Laguna Seca". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
- James, Richard (May 12, 2023). "Penske Porsche tops first IMSA practice at Laguna Seca". racer.com. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
- "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
- Bradely, Charles (May 13, 2023). "IMSA Laguna Seca: Porsche heads Cadillac and Acura in FP2". motorsport.com. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
- "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 13, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
- "03_Results_Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 13, 2023. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
- "01_Grid_Race_Provisional.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. May 13, 2023. Retrieved May 14, 2023.