As the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar teams make their annual visit to the west coast of the US, everybody is fully focused on the championship titles. Mazda Motorsports sits in third place in the standings but anything is possible with the points on offer at the final three rounds. With Harry Tincknell and Oliver Jarvis also sitting in third place in the drivers’ standings, every place will make a difference!
Laguna Seca, with its famous Corkscrew turn, is one of the most iconic race tracks in the world and never fails to deliver a great sportscar race. For Harry Tincknell, racing the #55 Mazda RT24-P at Laguna Seca is a childhood dream come true.
“I can remember driving around Laguna on Gran Turismo on the Playstation when I was six or seven years old,” said Tincknell. “So it is always special to go there as a real life race car driver, competing in one of the hardest sportscar championships in the world.
“We did well last time out at Road America and closed everything up at the top of the championship,” he continued. “We know that we’re basically equal on points with the #31 and the #10 is just ahead so we have everything to play for. It’s a three horse race now so we need another strong and consistent run. In the past couple of years we haven’t been as strong as we hoped at Laguna in terms of the results but last year I had the fastest stint averages in the race so we know we can get better results there.”
Oliver Jarvis is equally aware of the need to keep his eyes on the prize at Laguna Seca.
“After a strong result at Road America we head to Laguna with the championship closer than ever,” said Jarvis. “As a team we have had mixed results at Laguna in the past and it is a very difficult race to predict ours and our competitors’ relative performance. Regardless we head there as prepared and motivated as possible with our sights firmly set on trying to take our second win of the season and keep ourselves in the championship fight.”
Multimatic Motorsports boss Larry Holt said: “With three races to go it’s really tight at the top of the points battle. We closed the gap to the #10 at Road America but now have the #31 right on top of us. It’s a three horse race and we need a good result this weekend. Laguna hasn’t historically been the Mazda’s strongest venue but we’ve spent a lot of time trying to get on top of that. Additionally, strategy will play a massive role as there aren’t a lot of safe places to make a pass.”
The two hour, 40 minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race will get underway at Laguna Seca on Sunday 12 September at 13:10 local time.
