Laguna Seca 240 - Street Tuner Class -2017

A Mini chases a Porsche Cayman into Turn Six during the four hour race.

This is the second of two blogposts on the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca 240 which is part of the Continental Tyre SportsCar Challenge series.  It was a four hour race and this post concentrates on the Street Tuner class. The ST or Street Tuner class is for four and six cylinder production models with just minor modifications.  The cars have up to 280 bhp and are capable of up to 155 mph.  I spent the four hour race walking around the entire circuit and took pictures from every conceivable spot accessible to the paying public, so I hope you enjoy the variety of shots.

The ST cars come around onto the start/finish straight for their rolling start and the green flag.  The field featured cars from Audi, Porsche, Mazda, Nissan and BMW.

A GS class McLaren mixing it with the ST class Mazdas and Mini at the Andretti Hairpin.

A BMW 228i chases a Mini JCW out of turn six.

The Street Tuner cars exit the famous Corkscrew.

Some of the same group continue the battle a few laps later at Turn Eleven.

A view up the start finish straight.

A wide angle view of the Andretti Hairpin during a pace car period.

A view of turn six and up the hill towards turn seven and the Corkscrew.

A view from the inside of turn six as a Porsche Cayman races by.

The Podium

The podium with the drivers of the Street Tuner Class.   Note Liam Dwyer, second from left.  He lost his leg in Afghanistan but now races cars!   True Marine grit. 

The Top Three Cars

The winning Audi S3 exits Turn Five.  It was driven by Roy Block and Pierre Kleiubing.

The second placed Mazda MX-5 of Andrew Carbonell and Liam Dwyer.

The third placed Nissan Altima of Sarah Cattaneo and Owen Trinkler.

The battle for the podium positions
After the last caution the battle got interesting!

The Mazda nips up the inside of the Nissan at Turn Eleven.

For the Grand Sport class, click here.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

The winning car awaits scrutineering in the IMSA Inspection tent.

Laguna Seca 240 - Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge 2017 - Grand Sport

A McLaren 570S GT4 entering the fast and tricky turn six during the four hour race.  The No.69 car eventually finished seventh.

The feature race on Saturday of the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix weekend was a four hour race around the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca for sports cars from manufacturers worldwide featuring cars straight from the showroom racing against cars with minor modifications.  This blogpost features the GS or Grand Sport cars which are essentially cars complying with international GT4 specifications.  It is the first season of GT4 regulations in the GS class of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series.  The race contained cars from McLaren, Aston Martin, Porsche, Maserati and Ford.  A great field and one that really respects the origin of sports car racing.  There was also a lot of close racing action and incidents that kept us entertained the whole race.

The cars come onto the start / finish straight for the rolling start and green flag.  It is Aston Martin vs McLaren at the front of the field. 

End of lap one at turn eleven and Aston Martin leads from McLaren, Ford and a whole bunch of Porsches.

Later on the Gregory Milzcik/Brandon Davis Aston Martin gets beached in the gravel at Turn 8 - the Corkscrew.

Maserati leading McLaren at the Corkscrew.

The Results at the end of the four hour race.
The top six cars overall and in the Grans Sport class.

1st - Automatic Racing, Al Carter/Steven Phillips, Aston Martin Vantage GT4, 137 laps.

The winning Aston Martin chasing the pack at the Andretti Hairpin early in the race after a spin.

2nd - Bodymotion Racing, Cameron Cassels/Trent Hndman, Porsche Cayman GT4 CS, 137 laps.

The second placed Porsche chases an ST class Mazda through Turn Four.

3rd - KohR Motorsports, Jack Roush Jnr/N.Stacy/S.Maxwell, Ford Mustang GT4, 137 laps.

The third placed Ford Mustang on the entry to the Andretti Hairpin.

4th - RS1, Dylan Murcott/Dillon Machavern, Porsche Cayman GT4 CS MR, 137 laps.

The fourth placed Porsche lapping an ST class Audi on the entry to the Rainey Curve.

5th - C360R, Mathew Keegan/Nico Rondet, McLaren 570S GT4, 137 laps.

The fifth placed McLaren cuts the apex in the Rainey Curve.

6th - CJ Wilson Racing, Russel Ward/Damien Faulkner, Porsche Cayman GT4 CS, 137 laps.

The No.35 car took sixth despite this spin at turn eleven.

The Podium

The Grand Sport Podium.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

Action at turn five with a McLaren overtaking a Porsche.

2017 Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix, America's Tire 250 - IMSA Prototypes

Ricky Taylor in the Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-VR leads the field on lap one through turn one at Laguna Seca.   All eight prototype entries including the Daytona Prototype international cars and the LM P2 cars can be seen in this photo.

The America's Tire 250 was the feature race at this year's Continental Monterey Grand Prix weekend.  It was a round of the 2017 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship.  This blogpost features the eight prototype cars that battled for overall victory.  Pictures are from practice, qualifying, warm up and the race.   In qualifying Ricky Taylor was in scintillating form and broke the lap record on the way to pole.  He also led the race early on.  However, yellow flags and pit stop strategies and a last minute overtake meant that the surprise winner was the Visit Florida Racing Ligier JS P2 17 of Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens.  This was the first win for an LM P2 car in IMSA this year.

Christian Fittipaldi tries to get around the outside of Ricky Taylor at turn two on lap one.  Ricky held his position ands quickly pulled out a lead.

The IMSA Prototype Drivers

Top Row, Left - Marc Goosens (Visit Florida Racing)

Top Row, Middle - Joao Barbosa (Mustang Sampling Racing)

Top Row, Right - Renger van der Zande (Visit Florida Racing)

Center Row, Left - Jordan Taylor (Konica Minolta Cadillac)

Center Row, Middle - Ricky Taylor (Konica Minolta Cadillac)

Center Row, Right - Scott Sharp (Tequila Patron ESM)

Bottom Row, Left - Eric Curran (Whelen Engineering Racing)

Bottom Row, Middle - Luis Felipe Darani (Tequila Patron ESM)

Bottom Row, Right - Christian Fittipaldi (Mustang Sampling Racing)

The Results

Here are the eight prototype class cars in the order they were classified at the finish.  The eight prototype cars filled the top eight positions overall.

1st - Visit Florida Racing - Marc Goosens/Renger van der Zande - Ligier JS P2 17 - 114 laps

The winning Visit Florida Ligier LM P2 car exits turn ten during Saturday practice.

2nd - Whelen Engineering Racing - Dane Cameron/Eric Curran - Cadillac DPi-VR - 114 laps

The Whelen Engineerng Racing Cadillac in the Corkscrew during the race.

3rd - Konica Minolta Cadillac - Ricky Taylor/Jordan Taylor - Cadillac DPi-VT - 114 laps

The Konica Minolta Cadillac in the Corkscrew during the race.

4th - JDC Miller Motorsports - Misha Goikhberg/Stephen Simpson - Oreca 07 - 114 laps

The JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca 07 at the Corkscrew during the race.

5th - Mustang Sampling Racing - Christian Fittipaldi/Joao Barbosa - Cadillac DPi-VR - 114 laps

The Mustang Sampling Racing car entering turn six during qualifying.

6th - Tequila Patron ESM - Ryan Dalziel/Scott Sharp - Nissan Nismo DPi - 114 laps 

The No.2 Nissan during the Fan Grid Walk in the Laguna Seca Pit lane.

7th - PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports - Jose Gutierrez/Olivier Pla - Ligier JS P217 - 114 laps

The PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier in the pits during the warm up.

8th - Tequila Patron ESM - Johannes van Overbeek/Luis Felipe Derani - Nissan Nismo DPi - 113 laps 

The No.22 Nissan at the Rainey Curve during the race.

More Pictures

The winning Ligier and the Whelan Cadillac starting to lap the GT Daytona cars into turn two.

The battle between the Whelen Cadillac and the Visit Florida Ligier at the Corkscrew.  Eventually the Visit Florida car overtook the Whelan car just before he end into the Corkscrew.

The Oreca leads a Nissan through the Corkscrew.

The Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac at the Corkscrew late in the race.

Race morning preparation on the Whelen Cadillac.

The Nissan pits garage on race morning.

The Oreca cockpit.

For photos of the IMSA prototypes at this year's 12 Hours of Sebring, click here.

For the Global Mazda MX-5 Challenge at Laguna Seca, click here.

For the Lamborghini Super Trofeos at Laguna Seca, click here.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

The winning Ligier during Saturday's practice.