| September 4, 2019 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s time for the penultimate round of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the series’ NBC network television debut as all four classes reunite for a two-hour, 40-minute battle on the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the Monterey SportsCar Championship on Sunday, Sept. 15. The entry list includes 32 cars across four classes with 10 in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, two in LMP2, eight in GT Le Mans (GTLM) and 12 GT Daytona (GTD) entries. In addition to earning points toward the season-ending WeatherTech Championship, the GTD class also will crown its inaugural WeatherTech Sprint Cup champion following this race, the last of seven sprint races two-hours and 40-minutes in length or shorter for the class. The race will be televised live on the NBC network beginning at 3 p.m. ET and has the distinction of being IMSA’s first telecast on the “big” NBC network as part of IMSA’s long-term partnership with NBC Sports. IMSA Radio also will have live coverage throughout the weekend on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com, with the race call also airing on SiriusXM Radio. Tickets are available now at WeatherTechRaceway.com. Let’s take a closer look at the field and who has enjoyed previous IMSA success at the picturesque road course in Monterey: – Twenty-five of the 64 drivers on the entry list have at least one premier IMSA series victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca since 1999. Sixteen have won at least one pole position. – Patrick Long, who will co-drive the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with Patrick Lindsey in the GTD class, has the most victories of active drivers in the field with five. Long took one overall and GRAND-AM Daytona Prototype (DP) victory in 2007 and four class victories: ALMS GT2 in 2005 and 2009 and ALMS GT in 2010 and 2011. Lindsey also has a previous WeatherTech Raceway victory, which came in the GTD class in 2015. – Jan Magnussen, who shares the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with Antonio Garcia in the GTLM class, has the most WeatherTech Raceway pole positions among active drivers with four. His first was an ALMS GTS pole in 2003, followed by ALMS GT1 poles in 2007 and 2008 and the ALMS GT2 pole in 2009. Magnussen is also a four-time race-winner at WeatherTech Raceway, while Garcia has three previous wins and has earned one pole at the venue. – Corvette Racing is the winningest active team at WeatherTech Raceway with seven victories. The team’s first win came in the 2004 ALMS GTS class and its most recent came in the WeatherTech Championship GTLM class in 2014. The team’s next IMSA victory will be its 100th. – Porsche is the winningest active manufacturer at WeatherTech Raceway with 18 victories since 1999. The manufacturer effectively clinched the WeatherTech Championship GTLM manufacturer’s championship following the most recent race at VIRginia International Raceway. They only need to score points in the final two events to seal the title. – No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 co-drivers Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher can clinch the 2019 WeatherTech Championship GTD title if they depart WeatherTech Raceway with a lead of 35 or more points. The duo currently sits 37 points ahead of second-place driver Zacharie Robichon in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R by a count of 241-204. – Robichon holds a one-point lead, 175-174, in the WeatherTech Sprint Cup driver standings over Farnbacher and Hindman heading into the final race of the inaugural seven-race competition. – In the WeatherTech Championship DPi title race, No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 co-drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron lead No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R co-drivers Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani by seven points, 239-232. – No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 driver Matt McMurry sits five points ahead of No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA driver Cameron Cassels, 200-195, in the race for WeatherTech Championship LMP2 honors. – It’s a battle among teammates for the WeatherTech Championship GTLM crown. No. 912 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR co-drivers Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor hold the lead by 11 points, 280-269, over No. 911 Porsche co-drivers Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet. Tandy and Pilet won the most recent race at VIRginia International Raceway last month in a 1-2 sweep ahead of the No. 912 duo. Previous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Winning Drivers Since 1999 in 2019 Field (25) Patrick Long (5) – ALMS GT2 – 2005, 2009; GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2007; ALMS GT – 2010, 2011 Oliver Gavin (4) – ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; ALMS GT – 2012 Jan Magnussen (4) – ALMS GTS – 2003, GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2006, ALMS GT – 2013, GTLM – 2014 Antonio Garcia (3) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2012, ALMS GT – 2013, GTLM – 2014 Richard Westbrook (3) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2012, P/Overall – 2015, GTLM – 2016 Tommy Milner (2) – GRAND-AM GT – 2005, ALMS GT – 2012 Andy Lally (2) – GRAND-AM GT – 2007, 2013 Jeroen Bleekemolen (2) – ALMS GTC – 2010, 2012 Dane Cameron (2) – GRAND-AM GT – 2012, GTD – 2014 Renger van der Zande (2) – PC – 2014, P/Overall – 2017 John Edwards (2) – GTLM – 2015, 2017 Bill Auberlen (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2005 Dirk Mueller (1) – ALMS GT2 – 2008 Jon Bennett (1) – ALMS PC – 2012 Colin Braun (1) – ALMS PC – 2012 Jordan Taylor (1) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2013 John Potter (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2013Nick Tandy (1) – ALMS GTC – 2013 Patrick Lindsey (1) – GTD – 2015 Ryan Briscoe (1) – GTLM – 2016 Mario Farnbacher (1) – GTD – 2016 Christina Nielsen (1) – GTD – 2017 Pipo Derani (1) – P/Overall – 2018 Connor De Philippi (1) – GTLM – 2018 Katherine Legge (1) – GTD – 2008 Previous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Pole-Winning Drivers Since 1999 in 2019 Field (16) Jan Magnussen (4) – ALMS GTS – 2003; ALMS GT1 – 2007, 2008; ALMS GT2 – 2009 Jeroen Bleekemolen (3) – ALMS GTC – 2010, 2011, 2013 Ricky Taylor (2) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2011, P/Overall – 2017 Richard Westbrook (2) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2012, 2013 Tristan Nunez (2) – GRAND-AM GX – 2013, P/Overall – 2016 Jordan Taylor (2) – P/Overall – 2015, 2018 Dirk Mueller (1) – ALMS GT – 1999 Patrick Long (1) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2006 Joey Hand (1) – ALMS GT – 2011 Colin Braun (1) – ALMS PC – 2013 John Edwards (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2013 Antonio Garcia (1) – GTLM – 2014 Patrick Lindsey (1) – GTD – 2015 Toni Vilander (1) – GTLM – 2017 Oliver Gavin (1) – GTLM – 2018 Katherine Legge (1) – GTD – 2018 Previous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Winning Teams Since 1999 in 2019 Field (12) Corvette Racing (7) – ALMS GTS – 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; ALMS GT – 2012, 2013; GTLM – 2014 Penske Racing (3) – ALMS LMP2 – 2005, 2006, 2007 BMW Team RLL (3) – GTLM – 2015, 2017, 2018 Chip Ganassi Racing (2) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2005; GTLM – 2016 Wayne Taylor Racing (2) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2006, 2013 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (2) – ALMS PC – 2013, PC – 2016 Meyer Shank Racing (2) – P/Overall – 2016, GTD – 2018 Joest Racing (1) – ALMS LMP900 – 2003 CORE autosport (1) – ALMS PC – 2012 Magnus Racing (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2013 Park Place Motorsports (2) – GTD – 2015 Scuderia Corsa (1) – GTD – 2017 Previous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Winning Manufacturers Since 1999 in 2019 Field (9) Porsche – 18 Chevrolet – 11 BMW – 9 Ferrari – 6 Acura – 4 Mazda – 3 Ford – 2 Lexus – 1 Nissan – 1 IMSA TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK Follow on Twitter @imsa, use the hashtag #IMSA, follow on Instagram @imsa_racing and ‘like’ IMSA on Facebook –www.facebook.com/imsa. 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