| Lee/Stewart, Staab, Groat Score Additional Lamborghini Super Trofeo Saturday Wins May 10, 2025By Tony DiZinnoIMSA Wire Service |
| Race Results MONTEREY, Calif. – The West was wild in Saturday’s first of two Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America 50-minute races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. New class winners emerged in Pro, ProAm and Am although all had ties to 2024 winners in Monterey, while the LB Cup winner continued his hot streak to start 2025. Nick Persing scored a dramatic and emotional first Pro class win to extend the Wayne Taylor Racing streak of Pro wins to start 2025, albeit at his teammate’s expense. Andy Lee and Slade Stewart rebounded from a difficult start in Sebring to win in ProAm, also emerging at the head of a frenetic race. David Staab scored his first win of the year in Am, improving by one after a pair of runner-up finishes in Sebring. Nick Groat completed a hat trick with his third straight LB Cup victory. In Pro, Persing, driving the No. 8 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 started fourth overall and third in Pro, mostly trailing the sister No. 1 Huracán of Danny Formal and Hampus Ericsson and the No. 29 TR3 Racing Huracán of Will Bamber and Elias de la Torre IV. But when Ericsson slowed unexpectedly from the lead on Lap 23 with just over 10 minutes left with a yet-to-be-diagnosed mechanical issue, the door opened for a battle between de la Torre and Persing. Persing made the ultimate winning move on de la Torre at the inside of Turn 11 to lead by 0.036 at the line. A later incident for the No. 29 car opened Pro podium positions for Cameron Lawrence and Werner Neugebauer in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Huracán and Scott Huffaker and Jaden Conwright in the No. 22 World Speed Huracán. “This weekend’s been amazing. I did my job and tried and follow the No. 1 car the best I can. They had some unfortunate issues, and I wouldn’t push that upon them at all, but it did work in my favor,” said Persing, a Boise State University student who wears his school’s logo on his helmet and who also won in ProAm in Monterey in 2024. “We’re starting on pole tomorrow, which is really good,” he added. “I haven’t started on pole since a karting race years ago! It’s been a long time, but I’m really looking forward to it.” ProAm was a particularly wild affair with four different leaders. Flying Lizard Motorsports, representing Lamborghini Newport Beach, led with both its cars. Its No. 41 Huracán of Marc Miller and Paul Nemschoff stayed out longest within the pit window but fell back behind the No. 67 TR3 Racing Huracán and several other cars thereafter. Andy Lee took over the sister No. 14 Huracán, a fan-favorite pink unicorn livery car he co-drove with Slade Stewart and ascended to the lead. The pair also won in Monterey last year, and got their 2025 season back on-track after failing to start in Sebring. “We didn’t qualify where we wanted to (24th overall and 11th in class), so I was coming from the back,” Stewart said. “We get through the early stages, and I just started putting down my laps because I wanted to make sure I gave Andy the best car.” In their first race for Kaizen Autosport, Darius Trinka and Tadas Karlinskas were second in their No. 11 Huracán. Series returnee AJ Muss and Jackson Lee finished third in the No. 88 Forty7 Motorsports Huracán, rallying to a podium finish after limited practice running. Although five different cars led a lap in Am, Staab, in the No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Newport Beach, Huracán led all but four laps of the 31-lap race. “It’s super cool that I can follow up on my brother’s two wins and class last year,” said Staab, whose brother Michael won both LB Cup races in Monterey in 2024. “The PPM guys had the car completely dialed in as soon as it rolled off. The start was pretty tight; I was happy to make it through clean and work on extending the gap from there.” Dean Neuls was second in the No. 70 TR3 Racing Huracán ahead of Lindsay Brewer and Jem Hepworth in the No. 2 RAFA Racing Huracán. The Brewer/Hepworth pair were the first all-female podium finishers in the series at Sebring since 2019 and added their second straight this race. Groat, driving the No. 57 ONE Motorsports, Lamborghini Newport Beach, Huracán enjoyed a race-long battle with Adrian Kunzle, making a class switch to the increased 10-car LB Cup grid this race. Kunzle was second in the No. 42 MLT Motorsports Huracán with Mark Brummond third in the No. 52 Forty7 Motorsports Huracán. Brummond finished second both races at Sebring. “This is my first time racing with Adrian and it was it was an absolute pleasure,” Groat said. “There were just a couple parts of the track where he would just absolutely gain on things, but then Turn 3 and 4 we were able to pull on him. So, it was really a back-and-forth game and it was just so slippery out there, so I just had to really figure out what to do to just keep it on track and get this win.” Sunday’s second race of the weekend is at 9:35 a.m. PT and local time, 12:35 p.m. ET, with coverage via IMSA and Lamborghini YouTube and IMSA.TV. |
