Lamborghini claims first IMSA GTD victory of the year at Laguna Seca
Lamborghini claimed its first IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship victory of the 2026 season in the GTD class, as Wayne Taylor Racing’s Danny Formal and Trent Hindman came out on top in a race largely dictated by strategy calls.
The crew of the #45 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 started second on the grid after missing out on pole position by just two hundredths of a second in qualifying and ran strongly at the front all day. With just three full course cautions, pit strategy then became a crucial deciding factor, with WTR calling it right to hand Lamborghini its 15th IMSA race win and first since Formal and Hindman’s success at Mosport last season.
Meanwhile, the Lamborghini Temerario GT3, in just its third IMSA race since making its global debut at Sebring, finished fifth courtesy of Lamborghini factory drivers Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports entry, its best result to date.
Free Practice and Qualifying
Formal and Hindman showcased the raw pace of the Huracán GT3 EVO early on in the weekend, setting the fifth-quickest time in opening practice on Friday before heading into qualifying off the back of an even more improved performance in FP2. Formal took the car to second on the grid in GTD, falling just 0.022s shy of pole position. In GTD Pro, both Caldarelli and Mitchell enjoyed a positive start to the weekend, with second place in Saturday morning’s final practice demonstrating the new Temerario GT3’s potential. Mitchell was unlucky not to qualify in the top three positions amid a flurry of late improvements for others and lined up sixth for the race.
Both the #45 and #9 cars stayed out of trouble on the opening lap with Formal settling into second place early on while Mitchell maintained his grid position just outside the top five. With lengthy green flag running, unusual for the two-hour, 40 minute ‘sprint’ format at Laguna Seca, it became clear that energy management and pit strategy was going to be play a crucial part in the outcome of the race.
Having run on the tail of the leading Ferrari during the opening stint, Formal swapped with Hindman at the top of the hour as the #45 maintained its second place. That soon became the lead after the Ferrari slowed with a mechanical problem, allowing Hindman to establish a slender lead from the Aston Martin of Tom Gamble.
WTR’s strategy allowed the #45 to not only ‘overcut’ the #19 Aston Martin at the penultimate stop but also retain track position over the #27 Aston Martin as Hindman came out from his final stop with just 45 minutes left to go. With fuel advantage over the #19 and the #120 Porsche, Hindman finally moved back into the lead of the class for the last 10 minutes for good, extending his margin over second place to over three seconds. Due to the rest of the GTD class crossing the line after the winning GTP car, Formal and Hindman’s winning margin ended up an unrepresentative 1m20s at the finish.
The #9 was rewarded with valuable points after an up-and-down race. Mitchell moved up to fifth as a result of an issue for the Ford Mustang in front and handed over to Caldarelli at the first round of stops with an hour completed. Caldarelli then stayed in for the remainder of the race but was on the receiving end of contact from the #4 Corvette as they battled for position, dropping the Temerario to ninth. Good timing of the final fuel-only pit-stop meant the #9 produced a strong comeback to take a well-deserved top five finish.