Ahead of Saturday’s Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca 240, the final of two, four-hour races on the SportsCar Challenge schedule this year, Brandon Davis will lead the Grand Sport (GS) class to green.

Davis, a resident of Napa, Calif., surpassed the previous track record set by Joe Foster in 2012 by a staggering 2.345 seconds, with a lap of one minute, 32.549 seconds in the No. 71 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage. It will be his second career Continental Tire Challenge pole in what will be just his fifth series start.

“We had the luxury of going testing on Tuesday with the car and we got it to a place where we were happy with it,” Davis said.

“When we arrived here we had a base setup tuned specifically for the track. With the lower temperatures it took a little for the tire temps to come up so our fast lap wasn’t right away. We just kept going faster and faster and that last lap I was either going to send the car off the race track or put it on the pole. I’m happy it worked out.”

Four different manufacturers qualified in the top four positions ahead of Saturday’s race. Jesse Lazare drove his No. 69 Motorsports In Action McLaren GT4 to a second-place start, while Hugh Plumb put the No. 4 Team TGM Porsche Cayman GT4 MR third on the leaderboard.

Jack Roush, Jr. will start the No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang in fourth. The second-quickest Porsche Cayman GT4 MR belongs to that of championship leaders Dillon Machavern and Dylan Murcott in the No. 28, who will start fifth.

In the Street Tuner (ST) class, Pierre Kleinubing also broke the previous track record by .047 seconds with an official time of one minute, 38.758 seconds in his No. 75 C360R Audi S3.

The pole marks a historical feat for Audi, with this being the manufacturer’s first since 2004 in the series and its first in the ST class. It is also Kleinubing’s first Continental Tire Challenge pole.

Justin Piscitell, who had held the previous track for the last two years, drove the No. 56 Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman with Eric Foss to finish second by .481 seconds.

“The extra traction we are getting seems to be the deal,” Kleinubing said when asked about what got him the pole. “My hat’s off to Audi and Compass360. Getting the max out of the Continentals seems to be key today and the extra traction never hurts.”

Two MINI JCWs will fall in line behind Piscitell, as Mike LaMarra qualified the No. 37 in third and teammate Nate Norenberg qualified the No. 52 in fourth. James Clay, who had scored the previous two consecutive class poles, will roll off fifth in the No. 84 BMW 328i.

The penultimate round of the four-hour MRLS 240 goes green tomorrow at 2 p.m. PT.

The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) today announced that Michelin will become the “Official Tire of IMSA” in its premier series – the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and its two major Challenge series – beginning in 2019.

The multi-year agreement calls for Michelin tires to be on every Prototype (P) and GT Daytona (GTD) race car competing in the WeatherTech Championship in addition to its continued participation in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. The GTLM class will continue to be open to multiple tire manufacturers.

The 2019 IMSA Michelin SportsCar Challenge will feature the Grand Sport (GS) class for cars built to international GT4 specifications and Touring Car for TCR-spec race cars. The IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda, featuring LMP3 race cars, also will ride on Michelins.

“The significance of this expanded partnership with Michelin, one of the world’s most recognized premium brands, cannot be overstated,” said IMSA President Scott Atherton. “IMSA has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Michelin, and we are proud to confirm this long-term agreement. Our expanded partnership with Michelin – which also enjoys strong relationships with many of our participating automotive manufacturers – will be a catalyst for accelerating the growth of the WeatherTech Championship and IMSA as a whole.

“We are extremely grateful for the role Continental Tire played in helping to grow our racing platforms throughout our partnership dating back to 2010,” Atherton added. “Continental has been an outstanding partner and was instrumental in elevating the status of the WeatherTech Championship and Continental Tire Challenge to new heights. We extend heartfelt appreciation to our friends at Continental for their unwavering support.”

As the “Official Tire of IMSA,” the WeatherTech Championship, IMSA Michelin SportsCar Challenge and IMSA Prototype Challenge, Michelin also becomes the entitlement partner of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup beginning in 2019. The four-round competition recognizes top competitors in each class in the four WeatherTech Championship major endurance races. The Cup consists of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International, and the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

“We are tremendously pleased by today's announcement,” said Scott Clark, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Michelin North America. “The continued growth and success of the WeatherTech Championship and IMSA’s related series provides a great platform for us to engage performance enthusiasts and showcase our MICHELIN^® Pilot^®Sport family of ultra-high performance tires.

“Michelin does not enter into long-term collaborations lightly or solely for our own benefit,” Clark added. “We are committed to IMSA, the competitors and fans to help continue the growth and success of the series on and off the track. This is a tremendous opportunity to work together to grow the sport. We are enthusiastic and eager to make our MICHELIN tires available to the entire field beginning in 2019.”

Top Manufacturers

Fourteen automotive brands including Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, and Porsche are currently entered in the 2017 WeatherTech Championship. Honda, McLaren and MINI are also official partners of IMSA, making a total of 17 at the current time with more currently under discussion.

“Most of the top vehicle marques entered in the WeatherTech Championship are Michelin customers who have chosen Michelin tires for their premier production vehicles,” said Pascal Couasnon, global director of motorsport for Michelin Group. “The technology, innovation and relationships that we develop together with the manufacturers in competition helps Michelin to better meet their needs, and ultimately the expectations of their owners and fans.”

Michelin’s increased IMSA presence in 2019 includes becoming the exclusive tire for the IMSA Prototype Challenge – which utilizes global LMP3 race cars – and the IMSA Michelin SportsCar Challenge.

“We are seeing tremendous interest in the LMP3, GT4, and TCR classes internationally and are pleased to have the opportunity to work with IMSA to develop these vehicle platforms going forward,” Couasnon said.

On an international basis, Michelin currently competes in the FIA World Rally Championship, FIA Formula E Championship, the FIM MotoGP World Championship, and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans where Michelin teams have celebrated the overall win for 20 consecutive years.

IMSA also has a long-running strategic partnership with the FIA WEC and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), which organizes the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“This collaboration with Michelin will inherently make it more seamless for IMSA teams competing internationally and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and for international teams wishing to compete in the WeatherTech Championship,” said Atherton.

Michelin Motorsports

Michelin has supported IMSA since the founding of the predecessor American Le Mans Series in 1999 and is the current technical partner of choice of BMW, Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Performance, Porsche GT Team and the Risi Competizione Ferrari in the WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans class.

Michelin is the official tire of Sebring International Raceway, Road Atlanta, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and VIRginia International Raceway, where it is the title sponsor of the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. 

Five-time Prototype Challenge Champions CORE autosport will move to the Prototype Class for the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with an ORECA 07 LMP2 and drivers Jon Bennett and Colin Braun.

CORE makes the switch to the P category after six seasons in the PC class (2011 – 2013 American Le Mans Series; 2014 – 2016 IMSA) and the current IMSA season in the GT Daytona class.

Our start at CORE was with prototypes in 2010,” driver and team owner Bennett said. “It feels good to get back to our roots and progressing as a team.

“We’ve spent the past season watching with interest how the competition and budgets would shake out in the re-vamped Prototype category. We are encouraged to see the growth and competitiveness in this premier class and look forward to our debut at the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona.”

The Prototype class features both P2 and DPi-style cars racing together. The ORECA 07 LMP2 falls into the P2 group. CORE already has a successful history with ORECA, running the ORECA FLM09 chassis in all six years of its PC program.

“We are of course really happy to have CORE autosport joining the ORECA family in LMP2,” Hugues de Chaunac, President Group ORECA said.

“Actually, it feels like the team is coming back home because of the long-term relationship we have since the involvement in Prototype Challenge. Jon Bennett, Morgan Brady and the whole CORE autosport team have done such a great job in IMSA that we are looking forward to working together with the ORECA 07.”

Both Pro-Pro and Pro-Am driver lineups are allowed in the Prototype class, which races at all the 2018 IMSA venues except for the GT-only events at Lime Rock Park and VIRginia International Raceway.

CORE will finish the 2017 season in GTD with the No. 54 Porsche 911 GT3 R, including this weekend’s Monterey Grand Prix and the Petit Le Mans season finale in October. The team expects to take delivery of its ORECA by the end of the year.

“We’ve enjoyed our experience in GTD with Porsche and expect the Prototype class to be no less competitive,” CORE COO Morgan Brady said.

“The potential to win races like Daytona and Sebring, overall, is something we’re all looking forward to. No doubt this transition will be a lot of work, but everyone at CORE has proven time and again that they are up to the challenge.”

The 2018 IMSA season begins with the Rolex 24 at Daytona, January 25 – 28

, at Daytona International Speedway.

Sebastian Landy is coming off of double race wins at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) three weeks ago and is looking to keep the string of top performances going as he heads to Sonoma Raceway for the penultimate round of the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge.

Landy is currently fourth in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge standings. The young driver will be running at the 2.5-mile, 12-turn rolling road course located at the gateway to wine country for the first time.

"I always struggle to get a solid sensation of what the track is going to be like when using something like a simulator, so I try to couple that with watching video of the track as much as I can before getting the chance to actually drive there," Landy said.

"Even then, it's always a different experience to actually be out on the track figuring things out, but it's fun to learn a new track, which isn't something that I've had to do very often recently!

"Sonoma is going to be a very tricky circuit to master. It's very fast, but also technical and tight, which makes passing difficult so the set-up of the car will be very important. Three areas that I think will be important during the race weekend are the first three corners, the slow chicane of Turn 9 as well as the final corner.

Having a car that can navigate the faster sections of the track is going to be hugely important for qualifying, but having a car that can get a solid exit out of both of those slow corners will also be very important during the race. Hopefully we can find a nice balance between the two."

On keeping the winning streak going, Landy said, "I think it's going to take a lot of work! We've certainly had our work cut out for us each of the last two weekends, but we've been able to work on our understanding of the car and what we need to do in order to maximize its performance, and I think that I've been working on the parts of equation that I needed to work on".

"For Sonoma, I think the most important thing is getting the best qualifying effort that we've had all year, and hopefully we'll be celebrating again at the end of it!"

Team owner Alex Job, likes the way Landy has progressed this year. "Sebastian is doing a great job taking feedback and getting stronger as the season goes on."

"Two podiums at Road America and then two wins at VIR, shows his progress behind the wheel. We will need to help get him up to speed quickly this weekend as it is a new circuit to him."

The Porsche GT3 Cup races from Sonoma will take the green at 12:45 p.m. PT Saturday and 12:15 p.m. PT Sunday.