IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Race Report - Laguna Seca

November 2, 2020

Track: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Race: Monterey Sports Car Championship
Date: November 1, 2020

No. 6 Acura ARX-05 DPi – Dane Cameron/Juan Pablo Montoya
Start: 1st
Overall Finish: 2nd
Class Finish: 2nd
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 119/119
Point Standings: 7th (-27)

Recap:

Dane Cameron, Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi crew left no doubt as to which team had the fastest car in Sunday’s Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. However, a late-race caution left the No. 6 Acura open for a pass by their teammates in the No. 7 Acura which resulted in a second-place finish for Cameron, Montoya and the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) champions.
For the third-consecutive weekend, the No. 6 Acura team topped the IWSC qualifying session, this time on Sunday morning prior to the start of the race, with Montoya at the wheel. Montoya’s top starting position also gave Acura Team Penske five-consecutive pole positions, and six in the eight IWSC weekends contested during the 2020 season.
Both Montoya and Cameron raced out to commanding leads over the rest of the field Sunday, at times approaching 20 seconds clear of the next-closest car, before a caution at Lap 102 brought their competitors back to their rear wing.
After holding the lead on the ensuing restart, Cameron was passed by his teammate Ricky Taylor with one lap remaining before holding off the No. 31 Cadillac to finish second and score the second-consecutive podium finish for the No. 6 team.

Quote:
"I can’t even describe how proud I am of the effort by everyone on the No. 6 Acura Team Penske DPi team. This car was the absolute class of the field all weekend and we showed how strong we were in the race today. Last year we were the recipients of some good fortune from our teammates on the No. 7 Acura. That is one of the great things about racing for Team Penske. For us to finish 1-2 as a team, and for those guys to have the points lead heading into one of the toughest races on the schedule in the 12 Hours of Sebring, is exactly what we wanted to do this weekend." - Dane Cameron

No. 7 Acura ARX-05 DPi – Helio Castroneves/Ricky Taylor
Start: 2nd
Overall Finish: 1st
Class Finish: 1st
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 119/119
Point Standings: 1st (242)

Recap:

Following a late-race pass by Ricky Taylor with one lap remaining in Sunday’s Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Helio Castroneves and Taylor scored their series-leading fourth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season.
The No. 7 Acura Team Penske DPi team will take a two-point lead in the standings into the season finale at the 12 Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway on November 14, having battled back from eighth in the standings following the third race of the season.
Castroneves qualified second during the Sunday morning time trial session to give Acura Team Penske four front-row lockouts in eight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship events in 2020 as his teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, won the pole position.
It was all Acura Team Penske throughout the two-hour and 40-minute sprint race on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula in northern California with Castroneves settling into the second position before handing the driving duties over to Taylor on the first pit stop of the day at Lap 27.
Taylor maintained the second position for most of the next two hours of racing action before a caution flag at Lap 102 bunched the field for a race to the checkered flag. Taylor was able to keep his race-leading teammates in his sights to set up the pass coming off the last corner of the penultimate lap of the race.
The victory marked the fifth-consecutive top-two finish for the No. 7 Acura team, and the second-consecutive win in the Monterey Sports Car Championship for Acura Team Penske following the victory by the No. 6 ARX-05 team in their championship-winning season of 2019.

Quote:
"When you are part of a fantastic team like Acura Team Penske, the goal is a team win. I have to give a huge thanks to Dane (Cameron), Juan (Pablo Montoya) and the entire No. 6 team. They were the best car all weekend long, and we were up against it a bit with some reduced track time. We pushed really hard there and didn’t have much tire left at the end, but Dane was a great teammate and we owe the win to them today." - Ricky Taylor