Vanthoor, Tandy reflect on late-race Laguna scuffle

On the last lap of Sunday's Monterey SportsCar Championship, Nick Tandy and Dries Vanthoor came to blows at the final corner. They'd come up to a GT car, specifically the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini, into turn 10.

Tandy was impeded just enough to let Vanthoor have a look around the outside into Turn 11, but as Tandy moved over to get around the Lamborghini, the No. 7 Penske Porsche and No. 24 RLL BMW collided, and Vanthoor slid off into the sand while Tandy drove away to complete yet another Porsche Penske Motorsport 1-2.

Vanthoor would get the car going again and limp to third place – his and BMW M Team RLL's fourth race without winning one.

After some time to collect his thoughts, Vanthoor offered his perspective, and was disappointed with how those final seconds played out.

"We gave it a good fight in the last lap, the last corner. It's very unfortunate," he told RACER after the finish on Sunday afternoon. "I do give the blame to the Porsche, in my view. I think these things shouldn't be part of racing, but at the end of the day, it's not in my hands. I can only do what I can do in the car, and not more.

"But I think we should look into this, maybe have a discussion with the race director, and see what we can improve. Because I think it's not how we should race. And I think we should be open for discussion and hopefully improve it."

Tandy, meanwhile, took a moment to take his helmet off after the race, seemingly upset from the perspective of the viewer at home. But in Sunday's post-race press conference, he empathised with Vanthoor's frustration.

"I wasn't upset – it was nothing to do with Dries on the last lap," Tandy said of those moments after he got out of the car.

"It was just a racing thing. If I was in his position, I would have done exactly the same thing – it's the last corner on the last lap. Obviously, we were three-wide, I think that the car inside came across – and Dries was coming the other way. And it was always going to end in contact when there's three cars going for one thing.

"I had to look at the car just to make sure everything was alright, and then I went to find the team to say, 'well done,'" Tandy continued.

Sunday's incredible finish was the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of Porsche Penske Motorsport executing a near-flawless race to win at BMW M Team RLL's expense, right as the paddock is buzzing with rumours that BMW could seek a team other than Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to run their two M Hybrid V8s in IMSA next year.

But even with the incident at the last corner, Vanthoor feels that third place really was the best that he and Philipp Eng could achieve, despite the Belgian winning his fourth pole of 2025.

"You know, at the end of the day, finishing 'P3' after, as well, a podium in Long Beach - I think it was almost the maximum we could achieve. The Porsches were just fast," Vanthoor told RACER. "We had to try everything we could. Of course, we didn't have a flawless race at the end, either.

"We had good pace, but to have enough pace to fight them and to overtake them would be very difficult. But at the end, we put on a good show," he added. "We still have a lot of work to do - and we know that, and we have to improve. Hopefully we can come out in the next race with improvements, and then hopefully be stronger."

Vanthoor, who spoke glowingly about the positive energy within Team RLL – despite all the chatter about all the races they're not winning despite their one-lap speed – stating that keeping a positive outlook will only benefit the team.

"We didn't get the result we wanted, especially after our qualifying results we've got this year already. But we have to keep pushing. It should be a bigger fire to improve," Vanthoor reflected. "We want to win, but we didn't win – so from my point of view, that should be a bigger fire to work even harder, push more, be there for the next race and make sure it's done."

If it helps tamper the disappointment of RLL's current struggles to convert pole position into a GTP class win, at least they're not alone: The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's premier category hasn't had a pole-to-win victory since the 2023 race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (Mosport). Until Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet won at Laguna Seca, there hadn't been a win from the front row of the GTP grid since the 2023 Indianapolis round.

And with Acura and Cadillac in the midst of big slumps, relative to their form over the last few years, Tandy would agree that BMW still poses the biggest challenge to them every weekend.

"They've got a good package at the moment. Obviously the car is fast, we see that in qualifying. But to win races - they're not ten lap runs, this is the thing. And for sure, they're going to win races," the Englishman commented.

"When they've got the speed in that car they're showing at the moment, they will win races, for sure. And we hope that we're going to have good races with them.

"It's great to see BMW at the front, as it would be with anyone else. It pushes everyone else on to be better in all areas. Because to beat them, we need to do other things and push other boundaries. And it's good that their car is working well enough to where they'll win races in the future."