May 4, 2022 – Monterey, California – What started as a promising race for the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports No. 11 ORECA LMP2 07 and drivers Steven Thomas and Jonathan Bomarito who started from the pole position, concluded with a 5th place finish at the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Presented by Motul at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
On Saturday, Steven Thomas took the wheel of No. 11 for qualifying and marked a time of 1:17.571, obtaining the Motul Pole Award for the LMP2 category.
“We had a great start of the weekend with Steven qualifying in P1 in the #11 car,” said team principal, Ray Mathiasen. “However, finishing P5 certainly didn’t meet our expectations. There were just too many mishaps to recover from in a short race. Jonathan and Steven had the pace during the race to give me confidence we’ll do much better at Mid-Ohio” Mathiasen, finalized.
“Unfortunately, 5th place wasn’t the result we wanted,” said driver Jonathan Bomarito. “We leave Laguna Seca with some great progress on the No. 11 car. We showed more speed and see the potential moving forward! I’m happy Mid-Ohio is only two weekends away so we can keep pushing forward and get a better result.” Bomarito finalized.
“What an emotional rollercoaster this weekend was,” said team principal Bobby Oergel. “To have qualified and begin the race with the 1st and 2nd place starting positions was amazing. Both Steven and Jonathan along with the whole crew battled hard to get back in the lead and did so but it just wasn’t our weekend this time, a 5th place finish for the 11 car is all we could put in the books,” Oergel concluded.
The next event in the Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, next May 13 – May 15.
Photo credit: Sideline Sports Photography