No.6 Porsche takes first victory of the season at IMSA Laguna Seca

Natalie Johnston
May 11
6 min read

Written by Natalie Johnston

Porsche Penske Motorsport finishes 1-2 with the No.6 taking its first victory of the season at Laguna Seca, furthering Porsche's 2025 dominance in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. The No.24 BMW M Team RLL held onto third after a last-lap incident almost cost them the podium.

The grid saw the green flag at noon local time, the GTP field got away to a clean start, with the GTD and GTD Pros having some near misses. The No.24 got a good getaway, defending from the Porsches well enough to pull out a slight gap in the early running. The No.81 and No.32 held onto their qualifying positions, remaining first in class.

The No.48 BMW changed lanes before the line and was handed a drive-through penalty, serving it just five minutes into the 160-minute race. A mistake for Matt Campbell in the No.6 Porsche Penske cost him a place to Felipe Nasr in the No.7 in turn one, the No.7 up into second. The GTP class started to catch the tail end of the GTDs on their sixth lap.

Through traffic, the No.7 began gaining on the No.24 with the No.6 not far behind him, until Campbell in the No.6 dipped a tyre off the track and lost some time. The No.93 JDC Miller Porsche narrowly clipped the No.96 Turner BMW when going down the inside in turn nine, traffic proving to be a challenge for the GTPs.

The No.48 Paul Miller BMW picked up what looked like a piece of bodywork sticking off the right-hand side of the car, while the other Paul Miller BMW, the No.1, came into the pits to fix some tyre damage it picked up when battling with the No.70 Inception Ferrari.

Some early pit stops came from the No.40 Wayne Taylor car and the No.85 JDC Miller car in the GTP class. The No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin hit the curb on its way into the pit lane, almost sliding into the wall on its early pitstop.

A series of mechanical black flags came through just under the 40-minute GTD minimum driver time mark, including the No.10 Wayne Taylor GTP and the No.12 and No.14 Lexus GTD and GTD Pro. A few other GTD and GTPs came into the pits around the 40-minute mark, going for alternative strategies.

The gap Vanthoor in the No.24 BMW had opened to the two Porsche Penskes was reduced to under a second, just as the No.6 suddenly lost over 20 seconds to the lead due to contact with the No.45 Lamborghini. The No.6 down into sixth position, but stayed out.

A pit lane protocol violation (unsafe release) by the No.021 Tiarisi Competizione Ferrari caused the No.36 DXDT Corvette to miss their pit box, costing the Corvette a lot of time and resulting in a drive-through penalty for the Ferrari.

Felipe Nasr in the No.7 Porsche Penske made a bold move around the outside of the No.24 BMW in turn five for the lead, making the move stick with 110 minutes to go. The No.6 Porsche Penske came into the pits for fuel during this battle.

The No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin made it back to the pits after a puncture threatened to bring out a caution and cause further damage to the Valkyrie. AO Racing's No.77 'Roxy' Porsche made a dive for the lead on the No.65 Ford, the Porsche having pit already. The undercut initially proved to be the better strategy.

The GTP leaders finally came into the pits around the one-hour mark, the No.7 being handed over to Nick Tandy, and Philip Eng into the No.24 BMW. The No.6 undercut both the No.24 and the No.7 and held the lead shortly after their pit stops.

A lunge into turn five from the No.120 Wright Motorsports Porsche caused contact with the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, sending the Aston into the gravel on the exit of the corner. The No.27 was able to get out of the wall and rejoin the race, falling from fifth to eleventh. Both the No.120 and No.27 ended up with drive-through penalties, the Porsche for forcing the Aston off, and the No.27 Aston Martin for an unrelated blocking offence.

A big mistake from the No.60 Acura caused the car to go fully off the track, causing significant rear bodywork damage and leaving debris. When Colin Braun in the No.60 rejoined, he had contact with the No.40 Wayne Taylor Cadillac into the corkscrew. The No.60 had another bout of contact with the No.3 Corvette for good measure in turn 11, which pushed some rear bodywork against his tyre, putting off a lot of smoke. The Acura was coming into the pits with a mechanical black flag when they were hit with a drive-through tyre without crew penalty to make matters worse.

The No.31 Cadillac and the No.93 Acura battled for over 30 minutes in their second stint, eventually both earning blocking warnings with an hour and ten minutes to go. The No.10 picked up damage, then went off the track in turn 6, trying to go side-by-side with the No.31, picking up even more damage to his Cadillac. The No.6 leading still from the No.7 and No.24 at the top of the GTP class.

The No.10 finally comes in for fuel and repairs, delayed slightly by a miscommunication with the tools they needed to fix the nose cone. AO Racing's No.77 pitted from the lead with just over an hour to go, likely going to the end from here, bringing in several other GTD Pro cars, including the No.3 and No.4 Corvettes. The No.81 Dragonspeed Ferrari and No.9 Pfaff Lamborghini came in one lap later than the leading pack.

The No.32 Korthoff Mercedes pitted from the lead, the No.31 Whelen Cadillac coming in as well. The No.6 pitted from a seven-second lead, his teammate in the No.7 up into the lead. With just 2% energy left, the No.25 BMW came into the pits for a full service, potentially undercutting the No.7 and the No.24. Nick Tandy in the No.7 Porsche pits from the lead one lap later, with fifty-two minutes remaining. The No.7 ran wide out of the pit exit but held on, trying to defend track position from the No.6, but was overtaken. The No.24 BMW came into the pits and rejoined in third place behind the Penskes.

After running smoothly for a while, the battle for the GTP lead persists. The No.7 Porsche Penske was closing in on the No.6 for the lead when the No.10 of Filipe Albuquerque ran interference while being two laps down, opening the gap back up to two seconds.

In the final ten minutes of the race, Philip Ellis in the No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes holds a commanding five-second lead in GTD, and Laurin Heinrich in the No.77 'Roxy' Porsche holds a ten-second lead in GTD Pro. In the premier GTP class, there is still all to play for as the nearly-lapped No.31 Cadillac holds up the No.6 Porsche Penske enough for the No.7 to come within a second of his teammate and battle for the lead. Vanthoor in the No.24 BMW was also able to join the party with all of this squabbling for the lead, coming within two seconds of the lead once again. Aitken in the No.31 car finally let his car be lapped by the top three.

The No.70 Inception Racing Ferrari received a mechanical black flag for an unknown issue, coming into the pits with three laps remaining. Mathieu Jaminet in the No.6 leads Nick Tandy in the No.6 in the final lap, who fought off Vanthoor in the No.24 BMW. The No.7 and the No.24 car came together in the final corner, sending the BMW skidding off the track, but Vanthoor was able to avoid the wall and get moving again, not losing any places.

A well-fought battle between the Porsche Penske teammates ended with the No.6 of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell taking the checkered flag first to win their first race of the season. The No.24 BMW M Team RLL finished third after a climactic last-lap incident with the No.7 almost cost him the podium.

In GTD Pro, the No.77 AO Racing Porsche earns their 'Roxy' livery a first gold tooth, finishing first in class to take their third victory of the season.

In GTD, the No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes held onto victory, followed by the No.12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus in second.

Race Result

GTP

1st No.6 Porsche, Campbell, Jaminet

2nd No.7 Porsche, Nasr, Tandy

3rd No.24 BMW, Vanthoor, Eng

4th No. 25 BMW, Wittmann, Van Der Linde

5th No.93 Acura, Van Der Zande, Yelloly

GTD Pro

1st No.77 Porsche, Heinrich, Bachler

2nd No.81 Ferrari, Altoe, Costa

3rd No.3 Corvette, Sims, Garcia