| Team Secures Pro, ProAm and Am Wins; Kunzle Claims LB Cup Triumph May 11, 2025By Tony DiZinnoIMSA Wire Service |
| Race Results MONTEREY, Calif. – Only one of Wayne Taylor Racing’s four Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 entries enjoyed a successful Saturday in sunny California, when Nick Persing claimed the overall and Pro class win in the first of two Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America races. But in a bounce back performance that saw a collective team effort from the WTR crew to repair several damaged or mechanically impacted cars in a tight overnight turnaround, the team delivered a Sunday triple victory in Round 4 as part of IMSA’s TireRack.com Monterey SportsCar Championship weekend. Persing repeated his Saturday Round 3 Pro class victory albeit only by a nose, while the team also won in ProAm and Am to match its performance at Round 1 at Sebring. Anthony McIntosh and Brendon Leitch claimed their second ProAm win of the season, while Glenn McGee and Graham Doyle secured their third Am class win after sweeping Rounds 1 and 2 in Sebring. Last-lap drama emerged in LB Cup, where MLT Motorsports’ Adrian Kunzle scored the win. Persing started from pole in the No. 8 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2, but he needed every ounce of speed to hold onto his victory as he led all but five laps of the 31-lap, 50-minute race (lost the lead during the pit stop cycle). With a restart with just over two minutes remaining, Persing held off teammate Danny Formal in a two-lap dash for the checkered flag. Formal, driving the sister No. 1 Huracán he shares with Hampus Ericsson, nearly completed a daring over-under passing attempt exiting Turn 11 and appeared to have significant momentum leaving the corner. Formal made a lunge up the inside but came up just short in a fantastic photo finish, only 0.006 of a second behind Persing. In third, ANSA Motorsports’ pair of Colin Queen and Enzo Geraci, one of Lamborghini Squadra Corse’s Young Driver Program winners in 2024, secured their first podium finish of the season. “That was one of the most insane races I’ve ever done,” Persing said. “When it’s Danny behind you, it’s not a matter of if he’s coming past you, it’s when and luckily the time ran out for him right at the end after that drag race! “This whole weekend has just been amazing. My home crowd is here, my friends, my family, my sponsors and so on and a big thank you to them for supporting me. I also want to give a big thank you to Wayne Taylor Racing that gave us an amazing car. Danny and I dominated that race.” Wayne Taylor Racing’s wins in ProAm and Am owed significantly to the crew fixing cars after Saturday’s first race of the weekend. McIntosh and Leitch, in the No. 69 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán matched Persing in leading 26 of 31 laps in this class and only losing the top spot during the pit stop sequence. In Am, McGee and Doyle in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán led 29 of 31 laps and also only lost the lead in the pit stop sequence. “We were talking about this last night,” McIntosh reflected. “Brendon and I have been driving together, and I think in the last seven races we won five of them, and then you have a couple of DNFs and almost become a victim of your own success. You’re so used to taking first place; it was shocking to me that that happened yesterday. But I can’t say enough for the team. They are really what made this possible today by putting the car back together for my mistake and I just can’t say enough. Without Wayne Taylor, we would be nowhere.” “Yesterday was a tough day and we had damage,” McGee added. “The crew had a lot of work to do, and they actually had the GTD (Grand Touring Daytona class in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) team come over and help fix the cars. And it was the best Trofeo car I’ve ever had.” Flying Lizard Motorsports’ two cars of Paul Nemschoff and Marc Miller (No. 41 Huracán) and Slade Stewart and Andy Lee (No. 14 Huracán) completed the ProAm podium while TR3 Racing’s pair of Mateo Siderman (No. 63 Huracán) and Dean Neuls (No. 70 Huracán) locked out the rest of the Am podium. Both these classes had several podium position changes after the final restart. Switching to the now 10-car LB Cup class this race, Kunzle, driver of the No. 42 MLT Motorsports, Lamborghini Greenwich, Huracán emerged as the first non-Nick Groat winner in this class in 2025. Kunzle won after a late-race battle with Rocky T. Bolduc in the No. 99 RAFA Racing Huracán, with Ray Shahi third in the No. 65 Forte Racing Huracán. “Quite a tough race,” Kunzle said. “Rocky kept pace with me and we got it. It’s been the best weekend so far; really tough competition. Nick (Groat) was great yesterday where I got him once and he got me back, so yeah, it’s been much more racing in LB Cup.” After Monterey, the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series resumes with Rounds 5 and 6 at Watkins Glen International from June 19-21. |
