2018 Monterey Grand Prix



The 2018 Monterey Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey County, California, on held on September 9, 2018, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, United States. The race was eleventh the round of the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Background
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017. It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2018 Monterey Grand Prix was the eleventh of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, and was the eighth round not held on the held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn 2.238 mi WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on September 9, 2018.

After the Oak Tree Grand Prix three weeks earlier, Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 228 points, ahead of Filipe Albuquerque with 221 points, and Jon Bennett and Colin Braun with 218 points. With 269 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by Antonio García and Jan Magnussen with a four-point advantage over Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with an thirteen-point advantage over Katherine Legge with 262 points. Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Whelen Engineering Racing, Corvette Racing, and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.

IMSA released two separate technical bulletins regarding the Balance of Performance for the event. The first one was released on August 30, 2018, for the Prototype (P) class. The Oreca 07, Ligier JS P217, Dallara P217, and Riley-Multimatic MkXXX were given a 10 kilogram weight increase and a fuel capacity reduction of 3 liters. The Mazda RT24-P was given a 10 kilogram weight reduction and a fuel capacity increase of 2 liters. The Acura ARX-05, Cadillac DPi-V.R, and Nissan Onroak DPi were also given a fuel capacity increase of 2 liters. The second technical bulletin was released on September 5, 2018, which regarded the Balance of Performance in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes for the event. In GTD, The Ferrari 488 GT3 received an increase in turbo boost as well as a fuel capacity increase of 2 liters. No changes were made in GTLM.

Entries
A total of 34 cars took part in the event. 13 cars were entered in P, 8 in GTLM, and 13 in GTD. In P, AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports switched from the Ligier JS P217 to the Oreca 07. In GTD, Park Place Motorsports and Squadra Corse Garage Italia returned after skipping the Virginia International Raceway event. Scuderia Corsa added a second entry. SunEnergy1 Racing withdrew from the event due to Kenny Habul having an illness.

Practice
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.

Practice 1
The first practice session took place at 10:55 am PT on Friday and ended with Renger van der Zande topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:16.832.

Practice 2
The second practice session took place at 3:15 pm PT on Friday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:16.865.

Practice 3
The third and final practice session took place at 8:30 am PT on Saturday and ended with Renger van der Zande topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:16.605.

Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups. All three categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype and GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries.

Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.


 * The No. 22 Tequila Patrón ESM entry was moved to the back of the P field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified.
 * The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the P 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.

Post-race
The result kept Curran and Nasr atop the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 299 points. Bennett and Braun advanced from third to second while Cameron and Montoya jumped from sixth to fourth. The result kept García and Magnussen atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 299 points, 9 points ahead of Briscoe and Westbrook. The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 303 points, 6 points ahead of Legge. Cadillac, Ford, and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Whelen Engineering Racing, Corvette Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships with one round left in the season.

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.