The 2024 Motul Course de Monterey (formally known as the 2024 Motul Course de Monterey powered by Hyundai N) was a sports car race held at

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

near

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

, on May 12, 2024. It was the fourth round of the

2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship The 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) is a motor racing championship, which is the 54th racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association and ...

Background

Preview

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) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule of the

(IMSA SCC) in August 2023. It will be the 11th consecutive year the race is a part of the IMSA SCC. The 2024 Motul Course de Monterey will be the fourth of eleventh scheduled sports car races of 2024 by IMSA. The race was held at the eleven-turn

on May 12, 2024.

Standings before the race

Before the race,

Dane Cameron Dane Cameron (born October 18, 1988) is an Americans, American racing driver from Glen Ellen, California. He won the International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship overall in 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ...

and

Felipe Nasr Luiz Felipe de Oliveira Nasr (born 21 August 1992) is a Brazilian racing driver. He is the 2018 IMSA Sportscar champion and won the 2019 12 Hours of Sebring. After a year as the official test driver for Williams in 2014, he joined Sauber a ...

led the GTP Drivers' Championship with 1032 points, 58 points ahead of Long Beach race winners

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships un ...

and

Renger van der Zande Renger van der Zande (born 16 February 1986) is a Dutch racing driver who currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Chip Ganassi Racing. He is the son of the 1978 National Dutch Rallycross Champion Ronald van der Zand ...

Jack Aitken Jack Aitken (Korean: 한세용, ''Han Se-yong''; born 23 September 1995 in London) is a British- South Korean racing driver who currently competes for Racing Team Turkey in the European Le Mans Series and for Emil Frey Racing in the ADAC GT ...

and

Pipo Derani Pipo is a masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Pipo (actor) (1933-1998), Mexican actor * Pipo Nguyen-duy (born 1962), Vietnamese photographer * Pipo of Ozora (1369–1426), Italian soldier * Pipo (footballer, born 1992), ...

were a further 19 points behind, sitting in third place. GTD Pro did not participate in the Long Beach round, so the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship was led by

James Calado James John Calado (born 13 June 1989) is a British professional racing driver from England, currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and other selected GT races for AF Corse. He won the LMGTE Pro class of the 2017 FIA World ...

Davide Rigon Davide Rigon (born 26 August 1986) is an Italian professional racing driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and other selected GT races for AF Corse. He is also currently part of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula ...

, and

Daniel Serra Daniel Gardano Serra (born 24 February 1984) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 29 Chevrolet Cruze for Eurofarma-RC and is also a Ferrari Factory Driver. He won 3 ti ...

, with 722 points. They were 98 points ahead of

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 ...

Madison Snow Madison Snow (born December 26, 1995) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In 2018 Snow became only the second driver in IMSA history to win two championships in the same year, winning both the W ...

, and

Neil Verhagen Neil Verhagen (born February 18, 2001) is a racing driver from the United States of America. Verhagen is the youngest to win the SCCA National Championship Runoffs, having accomplished this in the Formula F category. Early career Karting Neil st ...

in second. The GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Philip Ellis and Russell Ward with 987 points, 185 points ahead of second-placed

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 ...

and Patrick Gallagher.

Parker Thompson Parker Thompson (born 2 March 1998) is a Canadian race car driver from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. Career Early career Thompson began racing at the age of eight, competing in the Calgary Kart Racing Club a short distance from his family resi ...

were third, 195 points behind Ellis and Ward.

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed ...

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...

, and

Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG, is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles. The company has its headquarters in Af ...

were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, whilst Porsche Penske Motorsport,

Risi Competizione Risi Competizione is an Italo- American auto racing Ferrari factory-backed team formed by Giuseppe Risi in 1997. Initially, the team had a partnership with Doyle Racing using the name Doyle-Risi Racing, but soon Giuseppe Risi took full control of ...

, and Winward Racing each led their respective Teams' Championships.

Entry list

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday afternoon and one on Saturday morning. The first session lasted 90 minutes on Friday afternoon while the second session on Saturday morning lasted 90 minutes.

Qualifying

Saturday's qualification session was divided into two groups with one session for the GTP, GTD Pro and the GTD classes, which lasted 15 minutes each. Cars in GTD Pro and GTD were sent out first. After a ten-minute interval, GTP vehicles drove onto the track. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put GTP vehicles ahead of the GTD Pro and GTD cars.

Qualifying results

Pole positions 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 ...

in each class are indicated in bold and with .

Race

Post-race

The final results kept Cameron and Nasr atop the GTP Drivers' Championship with 1357 points, 50 ahead of second-place finishers Aitken and Derani, who in turn, were a further 38 points in front of Bourdais and van der Zande. With 981 points, Heinrich and Priaulx's victory allowed them to take the lead of the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship. Fifth-place finishers García and Sims advanced from eighth to fifth while the absent Serra, Rigon, and Calado dropped to tenth. Ellis and Ward's victory allowed them to extend their advantage to 213 points over second-place finishers Foley and Gallagher in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Cadillac and Mercedes-AMG continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championships while Porsche took the lead of the GTD Pro Manufactures' Championship. Porsche Penske Motorsport and Winward Racing kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships while AO Racing became the leader of the GTD Pro Teams' Championship with seven rounds remaining.

Race results

Class winners are denoted in bold and with .

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

External links

{{Monterey Sports Car Championships

Motul Course de Monterey The Course de Monterey is a sports car race held annually at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The event began in 1950 as a race on the roads of Pebble Beach, California. In 1951, it was ...

2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season