Car Guy Chronicles’ Jim Palam goes trackside at the 2026 IMSA MONTEREY SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP for a close-up look at the competitors; Gets “Thrown Back” by nostalgic liveries!
There’s something about sleek and sexy racecars. They can release neurotransmitters in your brain just by being up close to one in the paddock. Suddenly, you’re smiling, and your heart is beating faster as you admire the car’s air-weaponized design. You quickly notice details that can and will blast this road rocket by you on the circuit, which in turn short-circuits your self-control. Trackside, you find yourself yelling “Yeah, baby!” as it screams by you at the 2026 IMSA MONTEREY SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
These exciting practice rounds and Championship races took place from May 1st to the 3rd and included the headline StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship GTP race, the GTD race, and the GTD Pro race. The icing on this multi-layer race cake was the “Throwback” liveries featured on a handful of competing Porsches. 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of Porsche Motorsport and the 50th anniversary of Apple Computer. A fan and photojournalist favorite was the Penske 963 car No. 7, sporting the Apple Computer livery that adorned the Porsche 935 KS, which competed in major racing events in 1980, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I grabbed this report’s lead image, featured above, of No. 7 blasting out of the corkscrew turns and heading quickly to turn #9 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Winner-Winner! Privateer JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Porsche 963 finished in position No. 1 in the 2-hour and 40-minute-long 2026 IMSA MONTEREY SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP race. A dramatic last-lap pass by driver Laurin Heinrich netted the overall win in the GTP class by 0.758 of a second! It’s the first overall WeatherTech Championship victory for the John Church-led squad since winning the 2021 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Another winner – this time in the GTD class – was the Wayne Taylor Racing Car No. 45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 driven by Danny Formal and Trent Hindman. The Huracán GT3 EVO2 was designed and developed by Lamborghini Squadra Corse based on the rear-wheel drive, naturally-aspirated V-10-powered Huracán STO. Its hybrid chassis is made of aluminum and carbon fiber. Its Dry Weight is 1230 kg.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura ARX-06, No.93 comes out of the Rahal straight in front of the StubHub sponsorship billboards at Laguna Seca. This hybrid prototype competes in the GTP class & features a 2.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 engine mated to a 50kW Bosch MGU. A new multi-year partnership with StubHub names this global ticket marketplace as the title sponsor of the 2026 IMSA MONTEREY SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Cadillac V-Series.R, No. 10 noses up on Corvette Racing Pratt Miller Motorsports Car No. 4 in the corkscrew during Practice Race 2 on Saturday, May 2nd. Driven by Antonio Garcia and Alexander Simms, the Corvette finished in 12th place on Sunday in a field of 33 cars. The Caddy left the race on Sunday, completing only 36 of 119 laps. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Cadillac Car No. 40 finished ahead of the Vette in position 10.
The Hungry Hunter. AO Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R, No. 77 nicknamed “Sketchy,” finished in P13, which was P3 in the GTD Pro class. This hungry-looking podium-hunter was driven by Nick Tandy and Harry King. The car featured a special “sketch” livery for the inaugural “Throwback” weekend, designed as an origin story for their “Rexy” dinosaur design.
I arrived at Laguna Seca quite early on practice day, May 2nd. So, I took a walk into the paddock area where I fell in step with multiple racing squads heading to their paddock and pit lane garages. Almost all of these mechanics, drivers, and technicians were dressed head-to-toe in black. A race team’s coordinated look is now part of the competition. “Race to Win / Look Good Doing It.” TR3 Racing had 4 orange and black cars in their between-the-trailers paddock garage. That’s driver Dennis Lind in the DayGlo racing shoes. He would co-pilot the No. 29 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo 2 alongside PRO driver Elias De La Torre IV.
Canadian race team TB Autosports’ between-the-trailers paddock garage looks tranquil early Saturday morning before the practice rounds. At the ready are their two V-10-powered Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo2’s. Purple car No. 19 would be piloted by drivers Kyle Marcelli and Mathieu Boucher. Green car No. 11 would go on to compete in the 50-minute LB Cup, with driver Philippe Touchette securing his first win. IMSA racing is streamed on Peacock for the USA audience and YouTube (IMSA TV) for international audiences.
Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R is pushed into the IMSA Tech Tent in the paddock at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca early Saturday morning before the practice rounds. Pre-race inspections for technical compliance are mandatory. Teams must adhere to strict, scheduled appointment times for inspection, which involves rigorous checks in the safety, aero, and performance areas.
If you’ve attended a motorsports event in the last 40 years or so, you’ve likely seen their logos, trailers, and merch tents everywhere. VP Racing Fuels is known as the world leader in race fuel technology – manufacturing high-performance racing fuels, lubricants, and additives. They have a global network of over 2,000 dealers. I trust they won’t mind that I didn’t get their entire VP logo in my staging lane shot, as I was focusing on the sleek and sexy Lamborghini from Texas-based TOPPRACING in the foreground.
This pit lane photo montage shows two of the three elevated “Pit Wall” command stations operated by Vasser Sullivan Racing for the 2026 IMSA MONTEREY SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP. I counted no less than 24 personnel – senior engineers, strategists, and team leaders – monitoring live data, telemetry, and radio feeds to make split-second decisions on race strategy, tire choices, drivetrain performance, and pit stop timing. Not shown are the additional linked-in personnel in the paddock garage and at factory headquarters.
NO, this is not a photo of the drive-thru line at Chick-fil-A. This is an image capture of the controlled chaos on the staging lane. Here, race teams gather to set up for organized grid release, get last-minute safety checks, and allow drivers to get into their cars, wait for the “All Clear” from grid officials – and at Laguna Seca – enter the track at Turn 11. “Yeah, baby, now we’re racing!
Story & Photos © Jim Palam, https://www.jimpalamphotos.com/
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