Starting from pole position, RSR Racing‘s Chris Cumming and Bruno Junqueira dominated the Prototype Challenge class at Sunday’s Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Despite a drive-through penalty for a crew member over the wall too soon at a pit stop, the team still led 80 of 112 laps in their #11 ORECA FLM09 to score their first win of the season. This was Cumming’s second win in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and Junqueira’s maiden victory.
In 2nd was the #54 of 2014 champions Colin Braun and Jon Bennett. Third place went to the #38 car of Mike Hedlund and James French. The pairing of Tom Kimber-Smith and Mike Guasch, who won the first two races of the year at Daytona and Sebring, had a mechanical issue that made the #52 finish 16 laps down.
“It was one of those brilliant races,” said Cumming. “The first stint was pretty smooth; we had a really good lead. A couple guys went off strategy and didn’t pit, others didn’t take tires.”
“I feel great getting a win here at Laguna Seca; it’s one of my favorite tracks in the US,” commented Junqueira. “I’ve had a lot of poles in Indy Cars, and in Sports Cars, I never got the win. To finally get the win was great. To finally get the win was so good, so strong. Chris drove so well, he is for sure the fastest Silver driver out there. Now I want to keep this up and go for some more wins.”
The next race will be the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at The Raceway at Belle Isle in Detroit, MI, on May 30.
