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Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA Honda Racing Corporation USA President David Salters has ruled out seeing the Acura ARX-06, in customer hands, in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year, citing the high costs involved to operate LMDh cars which he calls has turned into an “arm’s race.” The luxury automaker announced last month the ‘pausing’ of its factory GTP program at the end of the year, and will instead allocate more resources into the NTT IndyCar Series through sponsorship of the Acura brand. Speaking to assembled reporters at this weekend’s StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Salters shed further light into the Honda-owned brand’s decision. “There’s exciting news that we’re going to take Acura to IndyCar, specifically to the Indy 500, so that’s history making; we’ve never done that before,” he said. “Like all things, we evaluate where we are regu...

Photo: Jamey Price/Lamborghini Will Bamber was quickest in opening Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America practice at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The Kiwi, in his first weekend with XONINE Racing, reeled of a best lap of 1:23.127 in his No. 33 entry, which was 0.337 seconds quicker than Danny Formal in the Pro-Am class-leading No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2. Dennis Lind, TR3 Racing’s new driver, was third quickest in the session, with the No. 27 SP Motorsports and No. 46 Precision Performance Motorsports entries completing the overall top-five. The No. 488 PPM Lamborghini of David Staab was quickest in Am, while Forty7 Motorsports driver Christopher Koebbe topped LB Cup. The 45-minute session ran without any red flags. Practice 2 is next up and scheduled for 2:15 p.m. PST. RESULTS: Practice 1 Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: Van der Steur Racing Trenton Estep led an Aston Martin 1-2 in the first IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge practice for Saturday’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120. The Van der Steur Racing driver reeled off a 1:28.992 in his No. 66 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo to edge out Thomas Merrill in the No. 14 Circle H Racing entry by 0.143 seconds. Jaxon Bell was third in the Koch-Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. In TCR, the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic Type R TCR of LP Montour that was quickest, thanks to a 1:30.151 lap time that put the Canadian squad an impressive 12th overall. The 60-minute session had one red flag for an incident involving the No. 30 LAP Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 and the Circle H Aston Martin in Turn 11. It led to debris from the Aston on track, which ultimately brought out the brief stoppage. As a result, the Merrill and David Hampton-driven Aston will lose its quickest time in qualifying due to being deemed for bringing out a red. Practice ...

Photo: Wes Duenkel/Ford Cole Loftsgard led the way in opening practice for this weekend’s Mustang Challenge North America round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The Round 3 Racing driver, who swept the opening weekend at Sebring International Raceway, reeled off a chart-topping 1:33.172 in his No. 42 Mustang Dark Horse R. It was 0.349 seconds faster than Sandy Satullo in the No. 7 Wheelhouse entry, who was second quickest, with teammate Will Lucas slotting in third. Michael Tosi, also of Wheelhouse and Automatic Racing’s Tate Pritt completed the top-five. Quickest in Dark Horse Legends was the No. 63 Mustang of Joseph Dederichs. The 30-minute session saw a single red flag following an incident between the No. 9 Paley Motorsports with AAG Racing entry of Chris Clarke and Jim Farley’s No. 17 Trackhouse entry. Farley, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, drove his car behind the wall at the orange overlap at pit exit, while Clarke’s car remained on track after ...

Photo: Jessica Johnk/Porsche Tyler Maxson topped the time charts in the opening Porsche Carrera Cup North America practice for this weekend’s pair of rounds at the Miami International Autodrome, in support of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix. Maxson, in the No. 77 Topp Racing Porsche 911 Cup, reeled off a chart-topping 1:57.716 in the closing seconds of the 30-minute session, following a series of late-session improvements. His time was 0.070 seconds quicker than second-placed Aaron Jeansonne in the No. 24 Kellymoss Porsche, with Jared Thomas, who also briefly topped the time charts, ending up third in his No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering entry. Carrera Cup rookies Janne Stiak and Callum Hedge completed the top-five for ACI Motorsports and JDX Motorsports, respectively. Pro-Am was led by Patrick Mulcahy in his ACI entry while Marci Cirone was quickest of the five Masters class entries, also for ACI. Nineteen of the 20 initially entered cars set laps in the session, with ACI...

Photo: Colin McCarty I went into Circuit of The Americas telling myself I would approach the weekend like a calm, composed, highly professional racing driver. I’ve podiumed here before in Porsche machinery, surely I can do it again? Hahaha. That confidence lasted approximately one out-lap. If Sonoma was my “welcome to GT3, please hold on tight” moment, COTA felt more like, “Okay, let’s show them what we got, with slightly less internal screaming.” The difference this time was that I showed up with something new: a small but growing sense that maybe I actually belong here. Also, a very clear memory of how annoying it is to have a strong weekend and not come away with the result. There was unfinished business. And a thirst to prove myself. Welcome to the SROdeo Featuring The Esses Drivers always say they have a “favorite” track, but really it’s just the one they’re good at. COTA has been good to me. On my Cup Car debut, I outqualified the team owner...

Photo: APR Laurin Heinrich has become the latest Porsche factory driver to have secured a place on this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans starting grid in the LMP2 ranks after being announced as part of the Algarve Pro Racing lineup for his event debut. The June 13-14 race will also mark Heinrich’s first outing in LMP2 as he will join the already confirmed team regulars George Kurtz and Alex Quinn in the No. 4 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca 07 Gibson that will contest the LMP2 Pro-Am subdivision. Kurtz and Quinn have already achieved success together this season, taking LMP2 honors in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, while Heinrich won that event outright as part of the Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 crew. Heinrich’s move into the LMP2 division follows that of fellow Porsche works driver Kevin Estre, who was recently announced as competing with TDS Racing amid the German manufacturer’s withdrawal from the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. “Joining a team that h...