The nimble Acura ARX-05 proved the class of the field on the Monterey circuit's fast, flowing contours, and there was just 1.080s separating the two machines after two hours and 40 minutes of flat-out racing - with the WTR pair claiming a first win of the year.
Taylor laid down the gauntlet in the very first practice session on Friday, eschewing the normal weekend strategy by simulating a qualifying run and comfortably topping the timing charts with a time that was faster than the qualifying lap record set last autumn by Albuquerque.
Taylor went faster again in the second session on Saturday morning, then blitzed the old standard in qualifying by more than a half-second to secure his series record-extending 14th pole position.
Jarvis qualified alongside on the front row, less than tenth of a second adrift, while fellow Englishman Alex Lynn benefited from major overnight improvements to Chip Ganassi’s #02 Cadillac DPi-V.R to take a close third, almost half a second clear of in-form team-mate Sebastien Bourdais.
After the Frenchman’s car was sidelined by electrical woes early in the race, Lynn ran third through the opening stint, albeit slipping more than 15 seconds adrift of race leader Taylor when the only full-course caution of the day precipitated the first round of pit stops after 25 laps.
Both Acuras teams elected to change drivers at the earliest opportunity, with Albuquerque resuming ahead of Blomqvist. Behind, an uncharacteristically slow stop from the Ganassi team caused Lynn to fall behind the similar Cadillacs of Tristan Vautier (JDC-Miller Motorsport) and Pipo Derani (Action Express Racing). The problem later was compounded when Lynn pushed too hard on his final in-lap before handing over to Earl Bamber and slid off the road at Turn 6.
The two leading Acuras were rarely split by more than a second during the final one hour and 50 minutes as they duelled for the win. Blomqvist grasped an advantage by undercutting Albuquerque on the next round of stops, then scything past on lap 61 as the Portuguese ace struggled to get his fresh Michelin tyres up to temperature.
But Albuquerque refused to be flustered and eventually regained the lead with an opportunist move amid heavy traffic six laps later at the famed Corkscrew. That proved to be the decisive move as he held on to take Acura’s fourth consecutive win at the track, WTR's victory putting the two Acura crews level on points atop the standings.
Derani and Tristan Nunez emerged as best of the out-classed Cadillacs in third, 26s adrift, ahead of Vautier and Westbrook in fourth.
Following the altercation with the tyres, Lynn and Bamber were the last of the Daytona Prototype international cars home, a lap down in fifth.
In LMP2, Louis Deletraz replaced Tower Motorsport’s John Farano at the earliest possible opportunity at the one-hour mark, a strategic decision that paid dividends as the Swiss ace claimed the team’s first LMP2 class win of the season over Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel (Era Motorsport).
Just as the Acuras blitzed the opposition in DPi, so did the Porsches take control in GTD.
Mathieu Jaminet/Matt Campbell bounced back from a freakish incident at Long Beach, when their Pfaff Motorsports machine's radiator was punctured by a loose wheelnut from the rival Corvette, to score a 31 second GTD Pro victory.
The VasserSullivan Lexus of Englishmen Jack Hawksworth/Ben Barnicoat was a distant second ahead of the Team RLL BMW M4 of Connor De Phillippi and John Edwards, with the Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor just over a second off the podium in fourth.
GTD pole-winner Jan Heylen took over from Ryan Hardwick in the Wright Motorsports 911 GT3 R and mounted a late charge to take control after an all-BMW battle for GTD honours in the early stages between the Paul Miller Racing and Turner Motorsport teams.
Heylen passed Turner driver Bill Auberlen to win the class in the closing 10 minutes, while Jeff Westphal pipped Auberlen to second by 0.037s in the CarBahn with Peregrine Lamborghini Huracan.
IMSA Laguna Seca results - 117 laps
| Cla | Class | Driver | Chassis | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi |
 Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque
| Acura DPi | |
| 2 | DPi |
 Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist
| Acura DPi | 1.080 |
| 3 | DPi |
 Pipo Derani Tristan Nunez
| Cadillac DPi | 26.744 |
| 4 | DPi |
 Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook
| Cadillac DPi | 33.375 |
| 5 | DPi |
 Earl Bamber Alex Lynn
| Cadillac DPi | 1 Lap |
| 6 | LMP2 |
 John Farano  Louis Deletraz
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 3 Laps |
| 7 | LMP2 |
Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 3 Laps |
| 8 | LMP2 |
 Henrik Hedman  Juan Pablo Montoya
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 4 Laps |
| 9 | LMP2 |
Josh Pierson Patrick Kelly
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 4 Laps |
| 10 | LMP2 |
Thomas Steven Jonathan Bomarito
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 4 Laps |
| 11 | LMP2 |
 Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 4 Laps |
| 12 | GTD PRO |
 Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet
| Porsche 911 GT3 R | 10 Laps |
| 13 | GTD PRO |
Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat
| Lexus RC F GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 14 | GTD PRO |
Connor de Phillippi John Edwards
| BMW M4 GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 15 | GTD PRO |
 Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor
| Corvette C8.R GTD | 10 Laps |
| 16 | GTD |
Ryan Hardwick  Jan Heylen
| Porsche 911 GT3 R | 10 Laps |
| 17 | GTD |
Robert Megennis Jeff Westphal
| Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 18 | GTD |
Robby Foley Bill Auberlen
| BMW M4 GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 19 | GTD PRO |
Ross Gunn Alex Riberas
| Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 20 | GTD |
Bryan Sellers Madison Snow
| BMW M4 GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 21 | GTD |
 Dirk Muller Stevan McAleer
| Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 22 | GTD |
Marco Holzer Jaden Conwright
| Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 23 | GTD PRO |
Cooper MacNeil Daniel Juncadella
| Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 24 | GTD |
Roman De Angelis Maxime Martin
| Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 25 | GTD |
Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz
| Lexus RC F GT3 | 10 Laps |
| 26 | GTD |
Michael de Quesada Daniel Morad
| Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 11 Laps |
| 27 | GTD |
Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge
| Porsche 911 GT3 R | 11 Laps |
| 28 | GTD |
Kyle Washington James Sofronas
| Porsche 911 GT3 R | 12 Laps |
| 29 | GTD |
Ryan Eversley Aidan Read
| Acura NSX GT3 | 14 Laps |
| 30 | GTD |
Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff
| McLaren 720S GT3 | 72 Laps |
| 31 | GTD |
Russell Ward Philip Ellis
| Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 96 Laps |
| 32 | DPi |
 Renger van der Zande Sébastien Bourdais
| Cadillac DPi | 107 Laps |
| View full results | ||||
