2019 Monterey Grand Prix

, where the race was held. International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018. It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2019 Monterey Grand Prix was the eleventh of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the last of seven rounds held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey County, California on September 15, 2019. On September 6, 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race. In the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) class, the Mazda RT24-P was given a 5-kilogram weight increase. The Cadillac DPI-V.R was made 20 kilograms lighter, as well as a 0.3-millimeter larger air restrictor, and a fuel capacity increase of 2 liters. No changes were made GTLM. In GTD, the Porsche 911 GT3 R and Lexus RC F GT3 were made 20 and 5 kilograms heavier, respectively. The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo and McLaren 720S GT3 were made 10 kilograms lighter. Before the race, Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 239 points, 7 points ahead of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr. In LMP2, Matt McMurry led the Drivers' Championship with 200 points, ahead of Cameron Cassels. == Practice ==

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday morning lasted 75 minutes while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour. The third session on Saturday morning lasted one hour. In the first practice session, Oliver Jarvis set the fastest lap in the No. 77 Mazda at 1 minute, 16.442 seconds, 0.153 seconds faster than Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 6 Acura. Filipe Albuquerque in Mustang Sampling Racing's No. 5 Cadillac was third, and Renger van der Zande was fourth in the No. 10 Cadillac. Matt McMurry led LMP2 in the No. 52 PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07. Jesse Krohn was third in the No. 24 BMW and Jan Magnussen was fourth fastest in the No. 3 Corvette. Jarvis was the best of the Mazdas in third and João Barbosa's No. 5 Cadillac was fourth. Kyle Masson led LMP2 in the Performance Tech Motorsports car. In the final practice session, Ricky Taylor set the fastest time of the weekend so far at 1 minute, 15.497 seconds in the No. 7 Acura, 0.360 seconds faster than the second quickest car of teammate Montoya. van der Zande was third in the No. 10 Cadillac and Jarvis in the No. 77 Mazda was fourth. Hélio Castroneves necessitated the showing of a red flag when he spun and beached the No. 7 Acura in the gravel trap at the Corkscrew halfway through the session. Westbrook's No. 67 Ford GT was fastest in GTLM while, Robby Foley, driving the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6, was the fastest driver in GTD. == Qualifying ==

Saturday's afternoon qualifying session was broken into three sessions that were scheduled for 15 minutes each. He was joined on the grid's front row by his teammate Montoya who was 0.308 seconds slower. Jordan Taylor qualified the No. 10 Cadillac in third position. In LMP2, Kyle Masson set the fastest time in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry, but the car would be dropped to the rear of the LMP2 field because the team changed their starting driver. As a result, Matt McMurry was promoted to first and would start the race from pole position. In GTLM, Jesse Krohn in the No. 24 BMW clinched his second pole position of the season, with his fastest lap being 0.127 seconds faster than Dirk Müller in the No. 66 Ford GT. Tom Blomqvist qualified the No. 25 BMW in third position. Lindsey walked away from the incident unhurt. Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . • The No. 84 JDC-Miller MotorSports entry was moved to the back of the DPi field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying. • The No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the LMP2 field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified. • The No. 44 Magnus Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying. • The No. 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan entry was moved to the back of the GTD field after the team elected to change tires after qualifying. • The No. 73 Park Place Motorsports entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session. == Race ==

Post-race With a total of 274 points, Cameron and Montoya's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Derani and Nasr to 12 points in the DPi Drivers' Championship. McMurry's victory allowed him to increase his advantage to eighth points over Cassels in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship. Kellett jumped to fifth after being eighth coming into WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The final results of GTLM kept Bamber and Vanthoor atop the Drivers' Championship with 304 points while Müller advanced from fifth to fourth. The final results of GTD kept Farnbacher and Hindman atop the Divers' Championship with 264 points while Lally and Potter jumped to fourth. MacNeil and Vilander's strong result allowed the duo to move into fifth. Acura and Porsche continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Lamborghini took the lead of GTD Manufactures' Championship. Acura Team Penske, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and Meyer Shank Racing kept their respective advantages in their Teams' Championships with one round left in the season. Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and . ==Standings after the race==

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. == References ==