IMSA WEATHERTECH SERIES
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RLL Team McLaren
Pre-Race Notes
StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif.
Round 3 of 10 in the 2026 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO Class
DATE: Friday – Sunday, May 1-3, 2026
PRACTICE / QUALIFYING BROADCASTS: Practice: Live on IMSA.com on Friday from 6:20-7:50 p.m. ET and 12:55 – 2:25 p.m. on Saturday / Live on IMSA.com on Saturday, May 2 from 6:35 – 6:50 p.m. ET
RACE BROADCAST: All races can be streamed live in their entirety on NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports App with authentication or Peacock Premium. Coverage of the race begins at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday.
TRACK LAYOUT: 2.258-mile, 11-turn road course
RACE LENGTH: 2 hours, 40 minutes
RLL’S TOP START / FINISH AT LAGUNA SECA: 1st – Seven times (IMSA: 2015, 2017, 2018, 2025; INDYCAR: 1997-1999) / 1st – Six times (IMSA: 2015, ’17, ’18; INDYCAR: 1998-99, 2001). 18 Podiums – (IMSA: 12; INDYCAR: 6)
NOTES & QUOTES:
RLL TEAM MCLAREN TO COMPETE IN ITS FIRST EVENT AT RLL’S WINNINGEST TRACK
The StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship will be the third event in program history for RLL Team McLaren. Full season drivers Max Esterson and Nikita Johnson are both looking forward to their debuts at this track.
In addition to initially racing here with the INDYCAR SERIES, the team has also competed in ALMS and IMSA races here from 2009-2025 as BMW M Team RLL and earned three wins (2015, 2017 and 2018), four poles (2015, ’17. 18. 25) and a total of 12 podium finishes (3 wins, 5 second-place finishes and 4 third-place finishes).
The team’s INDYCAR history here includes three poles (1997-1999 B. Herta), three wins (1998-1999 B. Herta; 2001 Papis) and six podiums.
The RLL Team McLaren program is a multi-year collaboration with McLaren Automotive that saw the team’s return to IMSA’s GTD PRO class in 2026 with the McLaren GT3 EVO. The team qualified a promising second fastest at their debut at Daytona but finished 12th in the GTD PRO class after an electronics issue hindered the outcome. Qualifier Macdonald ran a double stint to open the race but once he turned the car over to Vips approaching the three-hour mark of the race, the team was forced to go to the garage due to a tire pressure monitoring system failure they had been unable to correct in the pits. The team gathered important experience in the race and took the checkered flag in 12th place. The team had a successful test at Laguna Seca, April 20 and is looking forward to Round 3 of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition.
BOBBY RAHAL AT LAGUNA SECA – 11 MAJOR CAREER WINS AS A DRIVER & TEAM OWNER
Bobby Rahal captured his first major race win at Laguna Seca in the Can Am series in 1979 so it’s only fitting that the track has become the most successful for RLL overall as a team. After that Can Am win, Rahal went on to become the only driver to win four straight Indy car wins at the track from 1984-1987, the 1985 win coming from pole. A third place in 1992 brought him his fifth podium finish at the track. In terms of Indy car history at Laguna Seca, in 22 races from 1983-2004, the most wins other drivers have is two (Danny Sullivan 1988, 1990), Michael Andretti (1991-92), Paul Tracy (1993-94), Bryan Herta with RLL (1998-99), Patrick Carpentier (2003-04).
MAX ESTERSON ON HIS LAGUNA SECA DEBUT
“One of the biggest challenges at Laguna Seca is traffic management and overtaking. The track is quite narrow with limited opportunities to get by competitors, so starting and staying up front will be crucial. Tire wear can also play a role here, especially with the long, loaded corners and rough surface, so managing that over a stint will be important as well. I’ll be sharing the car with only with Nikita Johnson this time, as the race is only 160 minutes long. We’ve built a strong working relationship over the first races of the season, which is important as we head into another competitive weekend. While this isn’t a long endurance race like the first two of the year, execution is still key — from qualifying to pit stops to managing traffic, everything has to come together to get a strong result.”
NIKITA JOHNSON ON COMPETING IN HIS FIRST RACE AT LAGUNA SECA
“The test went well. It was my first time at Laguna Seca, and I learned a lot during the single day test. There were a few other GTD and GTD Pro cars there, so it was good to see what everyone was doing.
“The first time going down the corkscrew at speed was surreal. It is one of the most challenging parts of the track. The corkscrew is a pretty blind corner with big elevation change. With that being said, it is also my favorite part of the track. Since the test went well, I believe that we will have a strong car for this weekend.”
MCLAREN’S SPORTS CAR HISTORY
McLaren made its mark in sports car racing in 1995 with the F1 GTR, writing history by winning that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Returning to sports car racing in 2012 with the championship-winning 12C GT3, McLaren continues to be a force on the international GT scene. The current GT3 EVO has proven to be very successful, winning races in FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge Europe series and other regional and domestic series.
RLL’S SPORTS CAR HISTORY
RLL, founded in 1992 and known for its success across both open-wheel and sports car racing, has a rich history in sports car competition. The team first entered sports car racing in 2007, fielding a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in the American Le Mans Series GT2 class with drivers Tommy Milner and Ralf Kelleners and finished fourth in the 12-race championship, highlighted by multiple podiums. The following year, the team campaigned an Aston Martin DB9 in select SCCA World Challenge events, earning a pole and runner-up finish at Road Atlanta.
From 2009 to 2025, RLL partnered with BMW Motorsport in a successful 17-year collaboration that delivered numerous race wins and championships across multiple GT platforms and culminated with a race and pole-winning program in the GTP class from 2023-2025. The team previously competed in IMSA’s GTD PRO class under the BMW M Team RLL banner in 2022 while simultaneously preparing for their two-car factory GTP program debut in 2023. During that period, RLL secured pole position at Watkins Glen and GTD PRO podium finishes at Laguna Seca and Petit Le Mans.
