Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante broke through with their first victory in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship since June 2014 in the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP today. The pair won the Monterey Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca by 1.35 seconds over the Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP driven by brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor.

Starting third on the grid, Valiante took the lead on the first lap as the leaders jostled in the Andretti Hairpin. Jordan Taylor passed Valiante for the lead on the 17th lap, and the Taylor brothers held the point until the final pit stops.

The last pit stop exchange proved crucial. Ricky Taylor pitted for fuel with 38 minutes to go, ceding the lead to Westbrook. As Westbrook worked decisively through traffic, he gained enough time to emerge in front of Taylor after his final fuel-only pit stop. Westbrook held his advantage to the checkered flag.

“It was a really interesting sports car race,” said Westbrook. “They chose to take their stop earlier. We came up to about eight GTD cars, but I was able to get by and use the next two or three laps to get a gap and go as quick as possible. I did my stop and came out just ahead of the No. 10.”

Traffic upset Ricky Taylor’s best-laid plans. “We really lost the position in traffic,” he conceded. “Once I got up to speed and was chasing Richard after the last stop, I felt we were a little stronger at the end of the stint. We could gain or lose two or three seconds a lap to someone because of traffic. The last five or six laps were more like qualifying – they said don’t worry about saving the tires and attack.”

Ozz Negri and John Pew finished third in the Michael Shank Racing Ligier/Honda P2 entry to complete the Prototype podium. Negri had displayed his pace earlier when he topped the timesheet in all three practice sessions in the agile P2-spec machine.

Chris Cumming and Bruno Junqueira won the Prototype Challenge class in the No. 11 RSR Racing Oreca FLM09 Chevrolet. Spencer Pumpelly and Patrick Lindsey took the honors in the GT Daytona category in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America.