BMW takes fourth pole position in 2025 season at Laguna Seca
- Natalie Johnston
- May 11
- 3 min read
Written by Natalie Johnston
The No. 24 BMW M Team RLL, driven by Dries Vanthoor, takes his fourth pole in four weekends at Laguna Seca with a monumental lap time in the 1:12s with a 1:12.854, just 0.005s ahead of the No. 6 Porsche Penske car.
The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship rolled out on Saturday at 3:15 pm local time for qualifying at Laguna Seca. The GTP, GTD Pro, and GTD classes all have their own 15-minute session to determine the starting position for each car for the race on Sunday.
GTD
The qualifying session began with the GTD field taking to the track, bar the No. 27 and No. 32 cars, who rolled out shortly after. The 52 degrees Celsius track temperature, as well as the newly resurfaced track, contributed a huge amount of grip. On a push lap, Sheena Monk in the No. 021 Ferrari went deep into the final corner but was able to get back on track shortly after, avoiding a red flag.
Kenton Koch in the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3 took pole position with a time of 1:20.810. Alec Udell in the No. 36 DXDT Corvette was the next fastest, just 0.009s off of pole, followed by Casper Stevenson in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Six different manufacturers occupied the top seven positions, separated by just 0.505s.
GTD Pro
The 10-car GTD Pro class rolled out for their 15-minute session next. The No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg set some blistering laps while repeatedly going wide at turn 6, appearing to keep on the throttle as he went off into the dirt on his second moment at the turn. The Dragonspeed No. 81 Ferrari, debuting a new Anti Social Social Club livery, split the quick No. 3 and No. 4 Corvettes for second position halfway through the session.
Giacomo Altoe takes pole in the No. 81 pink-and-yellow Dragonspeed Ferrari with a time of 1:20.608, followed by Dan Harper in the No. 48 Paul Miller BMW with a 1:20.644. The No. 3 Pratt Miller Corvette, driven by Alexander Sims, rounds out the top three just 0.065s off of pole.
GTP
The top class of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship takes to the track in the final qualifying session of the day for the series. Track temperature at Laguna Seca has dropped three degrees since the start of the GTD session, still at a blistering 50 degrees Celsius.
The No. 7 Porsche Penske dealt with a fire extinguisher issue ahead of the session, causing extra work for the team. Both Wayne Taylor Racing cars scrubbed tyres, re-entering the pits before starting their first real laps with 12 minutes left in the session.
It was a battle of the titans, Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 quickly putting in the fastest first two sectors before Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 put in a blistering 1:13.029, beating the track record by over a second with nine minutes to go.
Taking provisional pole positions from one another, the No. 7 Porsche and the No. 24 BMW seemed to be in a league of their own, both logging historic times in the 1:12s. The No. 6 Porsche, driven by Matt Campbell, joined the party with a 1:12.859, going second with four minutes to go. Tom Blomqvist logged a 1:12.955 not long after in his No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura, going fourth.
Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 almost had an incident in the late stages of the session, but held on early in his lap.
Dries Vanthoor once again takes pole with a 1:12.854 after 15 minutes of battle with both the No. 6 and No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports cars. Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche finished second, just 0.005s off of Vanthoor's time. Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche follows his teammate to finish third, also in the 1:12s. After a near-miss incident on his final push lap, Ricky Taylor in his No.10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac ended up in fourth position, followed by Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura in fifth.
Vanthoor's fourth-straight pole position begs the question of whether the BMW can finally convert pole to a maiden 2025 victory to spoil the No. 7 Porsche's win streak.
Qualifying top 10
1st No.24 BMW M Team RLL
2nd No.6 Porsche Penske
3rd No.7 Porsche Penske
4th No.10 Cadillac WTR
5th No.60 Acura MSR
6th No.25 BMW M Team RLL
7th No.40 Cadillac WTR
8th No.93 Acura MSR
9th No.31 Cadillac Whelen Engineering
10th No.85 Porsche JDC Miller
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