Kuratle: GTP Championship ‘has to be close for the fans, for the sport’
Porsche LMDh Factory Director, Urs Kuratle, says that even though it’s all but certain that one of the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s will win the GTP Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships, there will be no team orders between the #6 and #7 cars that would decide which team and which drivers take the title.
“We all love racing. We love to have good, close races. And the teams are close. Hopefully, the two Porsche 963s in Petit Le Mans get all the championships,” Kuratle said to the media during a pre-event conference. “It should be close, and it has to be close also, for the fans and for the sport.
“Is it a challenge? No. I mean, that’s the famous speech before the race to all the drivers – every team is doing the same thing, I believe: We don’t want to see any contact in between two Porsches, et cetera. But we have very professional drivers and pit crews as well, and that will be handled in the correct way, as it has been last year, and this year in many occasions, as well.
“I don’t see an extra challenge in this one. To be fair, as long as a Porsche wins, we are happy.”
Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche currently lead the #7 of Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy by 12 points, with a further 250 points separating Nasr/Tandy from the #93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06. Only the GTP Manufacturers’ crown is seemingly within reach for Acura, which trails Porsche by 90 points.
But as long as the two factory Porsches race each other cleanly until the last lap of the season, Kuratle is confident that Porsche Penske can retain the full set of GTP Championships in back-to-back seasons.
“Team orders is always an ugly thing. Sometimes it makes sense to tell the drivers that the team colleague at the back is faster than, and for the time being, he should let them overtake. Most of the teams find themselves in that situation. But there’s no need yet,” Kuratle added.
“I mean, if it’s deciding the championship between the #6 and #7 in the last lap in Road Atlanta, as long as there is no contact in between the cars, we don’t have a problem with it.”
New high mark for Valkyrie with second place in practice
Roman de Angelis is confident that the final races of the IMSA season will suit the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH well.
He spoke to DSC before Practice #1 this morning: “We hope that our car would suit every track that we go to, both on the WEC and IMSA side. But there’s definitely ones that we feel more confident about. One of those being Road America. Watkins Glen, we felt good about, and Indianapolis.
“A bunch of tracks in a row that we can be strong at. We’ve also tested here, the car felt quite good as well, so we’re off to a good start.” de Angelis continued. “We just did one day here, but it was positive.”
His Aston Martin THOR Team co-driver Ross Gunn responded by setting the second-best time in the first practice session, by far the best result for the Valkyrie since it made its IMSA debut at Sebring.
“We had a tough start to the year, but we really have dug deep to keep pushing, believing that we can get the good results flowing,” Gunn said to IMSA.com’s John Oreovicz. “There’s great team harmony, and that comes from the top all the way down to the bottom. The team is really coming into its own now, and I think definitely we are improving race by race.”
Taylor family wins Bartender Challenge
And at last night’s Celebrity Bartender Challenge, the trio of Wayne, Ricky, and Jordan Taylor raised the most money for IMSA’s chosen charities.
Eight teams of bartenders raised a total of $14,041 (USD) in one evening – the Taylor family alone accounted for $5,963 of that tally!
The welcome party event also featured an appearance from Elkhart Lake resident, Le Mans 24 Hours class winner and tenured television commentator David Hobbs. He joined several current IMSA drivers in raising funds for the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer and Camp Boggy Creek.
MMR Mustang wins third straight Pilot Challenge pole
Qualifying for a loaded slate of support races took place all afternoon, concluding with two time trial sessions for the Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120.
McCumbee McAleer Racing with Aerosport’s #13 Ford Mustang GT4 won its third straight GS class pole, and the second in a row for new recruit Nate Cicero, who set a 2:14.441 to win pole position for tomorrow’s two-hour race.
A late improvement from Sean McAlister put the #39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO up to second, ahead of championship leader Luca Mars in the #28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport. Paul Holton was fourth-fastest in the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
Louis-Philippe Montour won his second TCR pole of 2025 individually, and the third of the year for the #93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR. He took the top spot with a 2:16.207 to go a half-second quicker than the #7 Precision Racing LA Audi RS 3 LMS of rookie Celso Neto.
Behind them, two Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCRs will start on row two, the #33 of Mark Wilkins and the #98 of Mason Filippi qualified third and fourth, respectively. Filippi’s co-driver, Harry Gottsacker, is currently the TCR championship leader on countback.
Elsewhere, Robert Noaker won the pole for Mustang Challenge Race 1 by 1.2 seconds over Devin Anderson, his fifth pole of the season – he has won every championship race from pole so far.
In Porsche Carrera Cup North America, Tyler Maxson’s two fastest laps of the session gave him the pole for both races – his first poles of the season. He’ll share the front row in both events with Riley Dickinson, the Pro class points leader.
And in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, the #1 Wayne Taylor Racing car of Hampus Eriksson and Danny Formal led both qualifying sessions to grab both pole positions.
The results for all practice and qualifying sessions can be seen at results.imsa.com; all of tomorrow’s races can be seen on the official IMSA YouTube channel.
Images © Dailysportscar.com, IMSA
