Back To The Future
IMSA's first visit to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca since the iconic track's repaving could bring a mix of new and old.
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is still a 2.2-mile, 11-turn road course featuring its iconic downhill Corkscrew corner. But the facility's first repaving since 2007 means IMSA WeatherTech sports car competitors will experience a very different track this weekend compared to their most recent visit almost exactly one year ago.
"Obviously, grip has gone up a lot," said Sébastien Bourdais, co-driver of the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R GTP that won the 2023 race. "It's probably going to be at least a couple of seconds faster. It's always an awesome feeling when you drive on a repaved track like that. I've always very much enjoyed Laguna, but tire degradation was high and grip was quite low at the end of the cycle of the old pavement."
The new surface means lap times should be faster. But that doesn't necessarily translate into better racing.
"On the older tarmacs, it's normally harder to set up the car because the tire degradation is higher than on a new track," said Renger van der Zande, co-driver of the No. 01 Cadillac. "I think teams with a bigger damper program, let's say who have their damper sorted a bit better, they might have a bit of an advantage on the older tarmac. With the new tarmac, there's more grip available. It's easier to set up a car."
Opened in 1957 and re-configured twice (most recently in 1995), the Monterey, California track is a textbook example of an old-school American road course. Passing is difficult and run-off areas quickly meet barriers. Add in higher speeds, and drivers have even less margin for error.
"When they start increasing the grip, the speed is a lot higher, so the risk of flying off faster is also higher," van der Zande said. "It's easier to end up in the barriers, which makes it very tricky."
Removing the variable of a rougher track is expected to make overtaking even more difficult.
"I kind of quite liked the old surface," said Richard Westbrook, co-driver of the JDC-Miller MotorSports No. 85 Porsche 963 GTP entry. "It threw that big curveball of [tire] degradation, and overtaking became quite easy on a track that's very, very difficult to overtake normally.
"I think overtaking is going to be at a premium this year," he added. "The fact that deg is going to be low, I'm assuming, and the cornering speeds are just going to be that much higher."
Passing within class may prove more challenging. But the grippier surface should benefit the GTP field in one key area: navigating slower GT-class cars.
The GTP cars, now into their second season, are heavier and have less downforce than their DPi predecessors. They're also more powerful. Getting around GT cars on straightaways is no problem, but the differences have forced GTP drivers to change their tactics when passing GT cars on slow parts of the track.
"In general, the GTPs have been very slow in the slow-speed corners--[only] as fast as GT cars," van der Zande said. "It's only the high speed corners where we can really make a difference compared to the GT cars."
Van der Zande's early impression from testing at Laguna Seca is that the new surface will widen the speed gap between GTP and GT cars, which should help faster prototypes get around their slower competitors. The change could mean that--for one race, at least--IMSA's top class will feel a bit like old times.
"The new [surface] makes the feeling of the DPi—light and fast cars—come back a little bit," van der Zande said. "If you talk about the dynamics between multiclass racing, it's not so easy right now with the GTPs. For us we are heavy, and we have to brake quite early compared to the GT cars, who have [anti-lock brakes]. So sometimes you out-break them on the inside and they can still break later than us. So it's [normally] only a couple of spots on the track where you can overtake."
But not this weekend.
"It looks like we will be quite a bit faster than GT cars at Laguna Seca compared to the other tracks," van der Zande said. "We probably have a bit more overtaking opportunities on the GTs this time."
Curious how they re-paved the corkscrew? Say no more:
More from On Motorsport
