Vanthoor records longest overall pole streak since 2011 – but seeks ‘much-needed’ first win of 2025
Dries Vanthoor is visiting several American circuits for the first time ever, or at least in a long time, in 2025. But already his mastery of IMSA qualifying is something not seen since the unification of American sports car racing.
In the midst of a four-race pole position streak, Vanthoor and the rest of BMW M Team RLL want the second part of this story to go differently than it has the last three times the #24 BMW has qualified on pole.
And whether they have to defeat Porsche Penske Motorsport, Acura Meyer Shank Racing, any of Cadillac’s three factory cars – they would like to finally win a race in 2025, especially with Rahal Letterman Lanigan team owner/namesake Bobby Rahal serving as the Grand Marshal of the Monterey SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca.
“For sure, I’m very happy to have four consecutive poles. A bit sad I don’t have any wins out of them, but maybe we’ve got a chance now to make that happen tomorrow,” Vanthoor said after qualifying.
“Indeed, it was very close. I was a bit upset with the (#7) Porsche, they were blocking a bit too much for me in the last three laps. But at the end of the day, I still managed to get (pole position), so I’m very happy about that. Hopefully, we can execute a great race tomorrow – I think it’s much needed from our side.
Vanthoor’s run of four consecutive premier-class pole positions in IMSA is the longest streak since Ricky Taylor took six poles in a row during the 2011 Grand-Am Sports Car Series. But for all his qualifying mastery, Vanthoor and co-driver Philipp Eng have just one podium finish to show for it.
“For sure, it’s nice to have poles, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t bring us anything at the moment. We haven’t been executing any flawless races. Too many mistakes. And I think we’ve been really working hard since the last race to come here fully prepared. I think we are as prepared as we can be – so that’s very nice to see.
“We just need to have flawless execution, take care of the tyres, because I think tyre wear will be a big factor tomorrow as well. And then, I think we just have to stay out of trouble and be clean,” he added.
The younger Vanthoor brother was still getting used to running full-time in IMSA by the time new Team Principal Jay Frye was appointed for the Long Beach Grand Prix. Perhaps it’s too soon for Vanthoor to notice any changes in how things are done, but overall, he feels that the atmosphere within RLL has been healthy.
“It’s been nice working with them. Everybody is very motivated, everybody’s pushing hard – everybody is behind each other. And I think that’s very important in the team,” he continued. “There’s no negative vibes, so that’s also very positive.”
Penske Porsches aim to maintain winning streak after qualifying second, third
One place behind Vanthoor, Matt Campbell feels that had he not had his own issues with slower traffic, he may well have taken the pole in the #6 Penske Porsche 963.
“Second place and just five-thousandths of a second behind the leading BMW. Our Porsche 963 definitely had the pace for pole. Unfortunately, I got held up several times by other cars,” Campbell said. “Not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world either. We’re on the front row, and that’s what really matters on a track where overtaking is so tricky.”
Meanwhile, Felipe Nasr qualified in a familiar third place in the #7 Penske Porsche – the same starting position that he and Nick Tandy have won every race so far in 2025.
‟It was an exciting qualifying session with incredibly close gaps between the top cars. Once again, the team did a stellar job. Starting second and third on the grid puts us in a strong position for the race. We worked hard in practice to find the perfect setup for race day, and I’m confident we have a solid package. We’re definitely aiming to bring home our next win,” he said.
After another bruising WEC race in Belgium, the factory Porsches in IMSA would love to keep their own perfect streak going to soothe the pain.
GTD PRO points leader Mies not expecting big result with Mustang’s circuit mismatch
Frederic Vervisch put the #65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 on the fourth row of the GTD PRO grid, three places ahead of team-mate Mike Rockenfeller in tenth.
Laguna Seca’s assortment of tighter corners is believed to be at the detriment of the Ford Mustang GT3’s longer wheelbase, an assessment Vervisch’s co-driver Christopher Mies agreed with before qualifying.
“It’s a difficult track where, I would say, a mid-rear engine car has some benefit,” said Mies. The German is a previous Laguna Seca race winner in a mid-engined Audi R8 GT3, seven years ago at the 2018 Intercontinental GT Challenge California 8 Hours. “Not every track is made for every car, so therefore you have some good races, and some not-so-good races – but I think it’s all about maximising it.
“Even if you come home fifth, sixth, whatever, it’s all about taking the points home instead of having a DNF. I know we are probably not in for the win, but this is what I like about IMSA: Even if you think you can’t win, with our strategies, you can still have a shot. By pure pace, for sure not – but nothing is impossible.”
After qualifying, Mies and Vervisch’s lead in the GTD PRO standings has been trimmed to 13 points over the AO Racing duo of Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler.
Track position dictated GTD polesitter’s driver tactics
The side effect of Kenton Koch’s run to his first career IMSA WeatherTech pole position in GTD is that his co-driver Seth Lucas will almost certainly end up finishing the race in the #32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
Lucas is the less experienced of the two Silver-rated drivers despite his quick rise from GT4 racing in just three years, but Koch is confident that the premium on track position will allow Lucas to hold his own, even against some of GTD’s top-tier factory and Pro contracted drivers.
“I think Seth is ready to try to build that experience and put that experience in his pocket for us. Our goal is to build him up as a driver – obviously, get good results as well. He’s shown at Sebring that he has the pace to do well,” Koch said about the strategy for tomorrow’s race. “Track position is obviously very important, and he’s in a position where he has the speed to keep some of the Pros at the end that might have a couple tenths on him, at this phase in his career path.
“But it’s gonna be hard to pass at this track,” he continued. “It’s gonna be good to be starting in front, hopefully maintain that, hand him the car in ‘P1’, hopefully it stays green the whole time and then others just can’t get by him, because he’s gonna be driving well – and it’s just a place that you have to have such a big pace differential to the car in front of you to get by.”
The commodity of track position may well have dictated DXDT Racing’s last-minute call to qualify with Alec Udell over Robert Wickens and thus putting Udell in position to start the race. “About nine-hundredths more would be what we would ask for!” Udell exclaimed after qualifying second.
DSC has been told by the team that, during practice, it’s taken as little as 20 seconds to make the driver change from Udell to Wickens, who’s still trying to get up to speed in his Corvette Z06 GT3.R – but quickly found his natural pace at Long Beach.
WTR remains perfect in Super Trofeo – but it’s Persing that wins his first race
Nick Persing won the first race of Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America at Laguna Seca, keeping Wayne Taylor Racing’s unbeaten run in the series intact.
Persing in the #8 WTR machine moved into contention after a mechanical issue took the pole-sitting #1 WTR car of Danny Formal and Hampus Ericsson out of a seven-second lead with only ten minutes left. Elias de la Torre took the lead in the #29 TR3 Racing car, but Persing overtook De la Torre – who later crashed out of the race, resulting in a Safety Car that secured Persing’s victory.
Werner Neugebauer and Cameron Lawrence finished second in the #68 RAFA Racing Lamborghini, followed by the #22 World Speed car of Jaden Conwright and Scott Huffaker.
‘Sparklefarts’, the affectionate nickname of Slade Stewart’s #14 Flying Lizard Motorsports car, galloped through the field to a Pro-Am class win with Stewart and co-driver Andy Lee taking the win ahead of Darius Trinka/Tadas Karlinskas in the #11 Kaizen Autosport car.
David Staab and Precision Performance Motorsports took the Am class win after a penalty for WTR’s Graham Doyle and Glenn McGee, and One Motorsports’ Nick Groat took LB Cup class honours.
SUPER TROFEO RACE 1 RESULTS >>
Noaker takes Mustang Challenge Race 1
Ford Performance Junior Team driver Robert Noaker comfortably won pole position for Mustang Challenge Race 1 this morning, then led wire-to-wire for his third win of the season and fourth consecutive win dating back to the end of 2024.
Noaker was run closely by his teammate Sandy Satullo III, but the #13 Mustang Dark Horse R of Noaker took the win over the #7 of Satullo by 1.5 seconds.
Third place overall and winner of a frenetic battle for the Dark Horse Legends class win was Alex Bachoura in the #33 Spark Performance car, outlasting the #15 TechSport car of Alfonso Diaz by a second.
McCumbee McAleer Racing’s teenage driver Corbin Collins completed the top five overall, while Devin Anderson retired from the race due to an early mechanical issue.
Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley mixed it up with the field and finished 11th overall out of 20 starters.
MUSTANG CHALLENGE RACE 1 RESULTS >>
Images © Michael L. Levitt, Perry Nelson / IMSA / LAT
