The 2019 Monterey Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive dir ...

(IMSA). The race was held at

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 ...

Monterey County, California Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county (United States), county located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 439,035. The count ...

, on September 15, 2019. This race was the eleventh round of the

2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the 49th motor racing championship sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) (which traces its lin ...

, and the seventh round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Background

's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the

2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship The 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the 49th motor racing championship sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) (which traces its lin ...

(IMSA SCC) in August 2018. It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2019 Monterey Grand Prix was the eleventh of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the last of seven rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn

on September 15, 2019. On September 6, 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the

Balance of Performance In sports car racing, balance of performance (BoP) is a regulation and mechanism that maintains parity between competing vehicles by adjusting the limits and parameters of a vehicle such as horsepower, weight, engine management, and aerodynamics ...

for the race. In the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) class, the

Mazda RT24-P The Mazda RT24-P, also known as the Mazda Road to 24 – Prototype, is a Daytona Prototype International built to the 2017 IMSA DPi regulations. The car is designed and built by Mazda Motorsports, in collaboration with Multimatic Motorsports, and ...

was given a 5-kilogram weight increase. The Cadillac DPI-V.R was made 20 kilograms lighter, as well as a 0.3-millimeter larger air restrictor, and a fuel capacity increase of 2 liters. No changes were made GTLM. In GTD, the Porsche 911 GT3 R and Lexus RC F GT3 were made 20 and 5 kilograms heavier, respectively. The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo and McLaren 720S GT3 were made 10 kilograms lighter. Before the race,

Dane Cameron Dane Richard Cameron (born October 18, 1988) is an American racing driver from Glen Ellen, California. He won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship overall in 2016 and 2019, and also in the GTD class in 2014. Early career After karting, Ca ...

and

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born 20 September 1975) is a Colombian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to , IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grand ...

led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 239 points, 7 points ahead of

Pipo Derani Luís Felipe "Pipo" Derani (born 12 October 1993) is a Brazilian race car driver who is currently a factory driver for the Genesis Magma Racing program. He is an overall winner of the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2023 ...

and

Felipe Nasr Luiz Felipe de Oliveira Nasr (born 21 August 1992) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Porsche. Nasr competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Nasr has won three IMSA SportsCar Cham ...

. In LMP2, Matt McMurry led the Drivers' Championship with 200 points, ahead of Cameron Cassels.

Earl Bamber Earl Anderson Bamber (born 9 July 1990) is a New Zealand professional racing driver and racing team owner who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota and Ca ...

and

Laurens Vanthoor Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgium, Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche in motorsport, Porsche Motorsport as a Factory-backed, factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He currently reside ...

led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 280 points; the duo held an eleven-point advantage over

Patrick Pilet Patrick Grégory Yoan Pilet (born October 8, 1981) is a French professional racing driver. He has competed in major sports car endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours of Spa, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Ma ...

and

Nick Tandy Nicholas Tandy (born 5 November 1984) is a professional British racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Tandy is the only person to have completed the Grand Slam of overal ...

in second. With 241 points,

Mario Farnbacher Mario Farnbacher (born 14 May 1992) is a German racecar driver. He won the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the GTD class in 2019 and 2020, and also won the GT World Challenge America Pro-Am title in 2022. He has class victories at the Petit Le ...

and Trent Hindman led the GTD Drivers' Championship, 37 points clear of Zacharie Robichon.

Acura Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. Acura sells cars in the United States, Canada, M ...

and

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Acura Team Penske,

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports is an American sports car racing team that currently competes in the LMP2 class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. History American Le Mans Series PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports began e ...

, Porsche GT Team, and

Meyer Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing (MSR; formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American motorsport organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank, co-owner of Meyer Shank Racing ...

each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries

A total of 32 cars took part in the event split across four classes. There were 10 cars in

Daytona Prototype International A Daytona Prototype International (DPi) was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the International Motor Sports Association's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as their top class of car, acting as a direct replaceme ...

, 2 entries in LMP2, 8 entries in GTLM, and 12 entries in GTD. In LMP2,

Dalton Kellett Dalton Kellett (born August 19, 1993) is a Canadian former racing driver from Stouffville, Ontario. He last competed in the IndyCar Series, driving for A. J. Foyt Racing. Racing career Early years Kellett started his racing career in snowmobile ...

returned to PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports after James French competed at Road America. In GTD, Lone Star Racing would not return for Laguna Seca.

Christina Nielsen Christina Nielsen (born 10 January 1992 in Hørsholm, Denmark) is a Danish racing driver who is the first female driver to win a IMSA SportsCar Championship, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series title. She is the daughter of racing driver La ...

returned to the No. 57

entry after being substituted by Bia Figueiredo and

Alice Powell Alice Elizabeth Fraser Powell (born 26 January 1993) is a British people, British auto racing, racing driver. In 2010, she became the first woman to win a Formula Renault championship and in 2012 became the first woman to score points in the GP ...

in the 2 previous rounds.

Practice

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday morning lasted 75 minutes while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour. The third session on Saturday morning lasted one hour. In the first practice session,

Oliver Jarvis Oliver Richard Benjamin Jarvis (born 9 January 1984) is a British professional racing driver currently racing in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship, 2023 European Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series an ...

set the fastest lap in the No. 77 Mazda at 1 minute, 16.442 seconds, 0.153 seconds faster than

's No. 6 Acura.

Filipe Albuquerque Filipe Miguel Delgadinho Albuquerque (born 13 June 1985) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese professional racing driver, currently driving an Acura ARX-06 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, and an Oreca 07 in the Europea ...

in Mustang Sampling Racing's No. 5 Cadillac was third, and

Renger van der Zande Renger is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Annemarie Renger (1919–2008), German politician * Thomas Renger (born 1972), German sitting volleyball player * Renger van der Zande (born 1986), Dutch racing driv ...

was fourth in the No. 10 Cadillac.

was fifth fastest for Whelen Engineering Racing while

Tristan Vautier Tristan Philippe Alain Vautier (born 22 August 1989) is a French professional racing driver who is currently competing in the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship for Proton Competition and in the 2025 European Le Mans Series for CLX Motorsport, CLX ...

in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac was sixth. Matt McMurry led LMP2 in the No. 52 PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07. The GTLM class was topped by

Richard Westbrook Richard Westbrook (born 10 July 1975) is a British professional racing driver noted for his success in racing Porsche and International sports cars. As a junior, he attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich. He has won both the Porsche Supercup in ...

's No. 67 Ford GT with a lap of 1 minute, 22.548 seconds, 0.294 seconds faster than

Tommy Milner Thomas Milner (born January 28, 1986) is an American GM factory racing and test driver, also currently employed full-time in Corvette Racing. He is also the co-owner of PRIVATE LABEL Team Hype E-Sports team on iRacing. He was featured in 2011 ...

's No. 4 Corvette.

Jesse Krohn Jesse Kurki-Suonio (born 3 September 1990), more commonly known as Jesse Krohn, is a Finnish professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver, currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for BMW M Team RLL. He is notable f ...

was third in the No. 24 BMW and

Jan Magnussen Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Champ Car, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA ...

was fourth fastest in the No. 3 Corvette. In GTD,

Bryan Sellers Bryan Sellers (born August 19, 1982 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American racing driver. Sellers won the title in the U.S. F2000 in 2002 and later competed in the Atlantic Championship and in racing sports cars. Racing career Bryan Sellers first co ...

Paul Miller Racing Paul Miller Racing is an American auto racing team that is part of Paul Miller Auto Group and associated with former racing driver . The team has operations that are headquartered in Buford, Georgia; the Racing team also has operations in Pars ...

's No. 48 Lamborghini lapped fastest with a time of 1 minute, 25.248 seconds, with

Toni Vilander Toni Markus Vilander (born 25 July 1980) is a Finnish professional racing driver who currently drives for the Risi Competizione Ferrari team in various categories of sports car racing. After a single-seater career which reached the level of the ...

second in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. In the second practice session, Montoya in the No. 6 Acura was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 16.003 seconds, 0.078 seconds faster than

in the No. 31 Cadillac. Jarvis was the best of the Mazdas in third and

João Barbosa João Ricardo da Silva Coelho Barbosa (born 11 March 1975 in Porto, Portugal) is a Portuguese auto racing driver. He currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Sean Creech Motorsport in the LMP2 class. He was runner ...

's No. 5 Cadillac was fourth. Kyle Masson led LMP2 in the Performance Tech Motorsports car. The GTLM class was topped by Antonio García's No. 3 Corvette with a lap of 1 minute, 22.833 seconds, 0.130 seconds faster than his teammate

Oliver Gavin Oliver Benjamin Gavin (born 29 September 1972) is a British racing driver who joined Corvette Racing in 2002. He has won five American Le Mans Series class championships, five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, six 12 Hours of Sebring class wi ...

. Patrick Pilet was third in the No. 911 Porsche and Dirk Müller's No. 66 Ford GT was fourth. In GTD, Seller's No. 48 lapped fastest with a time of 1 minute, 25.246 seconds, with Matt Plumb second in the No. 76 McLaren. In the final practice session,

Ricky Taylor Ricky Scott Taylor (born August 3, 1989) is an American professional racing driver, most notably in the International Motor Sports Association, IMSA IMSA SportsCar Championship, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. His career highlights include an ...

set the fastest time of the weekend so far at 1 minute, 15.497 seconds in the No. 7 Acura, 0.360 seconds faster than the second quickest car of teammate Montoya. van der Zande was third in the No. 10 Cadillac and Jarvis in the No. 77 Mazda was fourth.

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...

necessitated the showing of a red flag when he spun and beached the No. 7 Acura in the gravel trap at the Corkscrew halfway through the session. Masson was the fastest LMP2 driver in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports car. Westbrook's No. 67 Ford GT was fastest in GTLM while,

Robby Foley Robby Foley (born July 20, 1996) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Career Raised in Randolph, New Jersey, Foley's motorsports career was kickstarted in 2010 by a severe injury sustain ...

, driving the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6, was the fastest driver in GTD.

Qualifying

Saturday's afternoon qualifying session was broken into three sessions that were scheduled for 15 minutes each. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM and DPi/LMP2 had two separate identically timed sessions. All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap. IMSA then arranged the grid so that the DPi, LMP2, and GTLM cars started in front of the GTD field.

in the No. 7 Acura set a new track record to clinch his first

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

of the season with a time of 1 minute and 15.035 seconds. He was joined on the

grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Space partitioning * Regular grid, a tessellation of space with translational symmetry, typically formed from parallelograms or higher-dimensional analogs ** Grid graph, a graph structure with nodes connec ...

's front row by his teammate Montoya who was 0.308 seconds slower. Jordan Taylor qualified the No. 10 Cadillac in third position. The duo of Mazda Team Joest Mazda RT24-Ps were fourth and sixth:

Tristan Nunez Tristan Nunez (born October 31, 1995 in Boynton Beach, Florida) is an American racing driver from Boca Raton, Florida. He is the son of Juan Nunez, a former professional tennis player and coach. Nunez has a fraternal twin brother, Dylan, who was ...

in the No. 77 car was faster than the sister No. 55 entry of Jonathan Bomarito. They were separated by fifth-placed

in the No. 31 Cadillac.

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

's No. 5 Cadillac took seventh and

Misha Goikhberg Mikhail "Misha" Goikhberg (born 24 November 1986), is a Russian-born Canadian race car driver who is best known for competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Early career Goikhberg's first foray into driving happened in 2003 at the Russia ...

's No. 85 Cadillac qualified eighth. The No. 84 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R of

Simon Trummer Simon Trummer (born 8 June 1989 in Frutigen, Canton of Bern) is a Auto racing, racing driver from Switzerland. Career Karting Trummer began his motorsport career in karting back in 2003, finishing second in the Swiss Junior Championship. He also ...

and Jon Bennett in the CORE Autosport Nissan rounded out the DPi qualifiers. In LMP2, Kyle Masson set the fastest time in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry, but the car would be dropped to the rear of the LMP2 field because the team changed their starting driver. As a result, Matt McMurry was promoted to first and would start the race from pole position. In GTLM,

in the No. 24 BMW clinched his second pole position of the season, with his fastest lap being 0.127 seconds faster than Dirk Müller in the No. 66 Ford GT.

Tom Blomqvist Tom Leonard Blomqvist (born 30 November 1993) is a British racing driver. He competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Meyer Shank Racing. Blomqvist also competes in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA World Endurance Champion ...

qualified the No. 25 BMW in third position. Vanthoor's No. 912 Porsche took fourth and

Ryan Briscoe Ryan John Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian–American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America. In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishin ...

's No. 67 Ford GT qualified fifth. The two Corvette Racing cars and the No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR rounded out the GTLM field. In GTD,

Corey Lewis Corey Sutherland Lewis (also known as Rey, Reyyy or The Rey) is an American comic book creator. He is primarily known as the creator of ''Sharknife'', published by Oni Press. Other works include ''PENG'' for Oni, and providing back-up comic stri ...

in the No. 48 Lamborghini was fastest on the car's final timed lap with a time of 1 minute and 24.962 seconds to clinch pole position. He was joined by Trent Hindman's No. 86 Acura on the grid's front row with his best lap being 0.101 seconds slower, and

Cooper MacNeil Cooper Ian MacNeil (born September 7, 1992 in Hinsdale, Illinois) is a retired professional American racecar driver. He most recently competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driving the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 ...

drove the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari to third place. Zacharie Robichon qualified the No. 9 Porsche fourth, ahead of

's fifth place BMW. The session was extended when Patrick Lindsey, driving the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche, crashed heavily at turn ten. Lindsey walked away from the incident unhurt. Lindsey had his best two laps from the session deleted for causing a red flag, effectively leaving him with no time set. Due to the extensive damage on their car, Park Place Motorsports withdrew from the event.

Qualifying results

Pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

s in each class are indicated in bold and by . * The No. 84 JDC-Miller MotorSports entry was moved to the back of the DPi field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying. * The No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the LMP2 field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified. * The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying. * The No. 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying. * The No. 73 Park Place Motorsports entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.

Race

Post-race

With a total of 274 points, Cameron and Montoya's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Derani and Nasr to 12 points in the DPi Drivers' Championship. McMurry's victory allowed him to increase his advantage to eighth points over Cassels in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship. Kellett jumped to fifth after being eighth coming into WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The final results of GTLM kept Bamber and Vanthoor atop the Drivers' Championship with 304 points while Müller advanced from fifth to fourth. The final results of GTD kept Farnbacher and Hindman atop the Divers' Championship with 264 points while Lally and Potter jumped to fourth. MacNeil and Vilander's strong result allowed the duo to move into fifth. Acura and Porsche continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Lamborghini took the lead of GTD Manufactures' Championship. Acura Team Penske, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and Meyer Shank Racing kept their respective advantages in their Teams' Championships with one round left in the season.

Race Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Standings after the race

* 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

{{Monterey Sports Car Championships

Monterey Grand Prix The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey is an IndyCar Series race held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California, United States. The event dates back to 1960, and became an American open-wheel car racing, American open wheel race ...