Morgan Hill Racer Wins Despite Penalty
- Nick Persing won Saturday’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo race at Laguna Seca on May 2, keeping victory after a 10-second penalty for contact with Elias De La Torre. (sportscar365.com) - The margin mattered: Persing crossed 11.274 seconds clear, so the penalty cut his advantage to 1.274 seconds and still left Wayne Taylor Racing on top. (sportscar365.com) - The win was Persing’s first of 2026 and his third straight overall Monterey victory, extending a local-driver run at his home track. (sportscar365.com)
Sports-car racing can turn on one messy corner. That’s basically what happened at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, May 2, when Morgan Hill’s Nick Persing won th(sportscar365.com)tuck. It did. A 10-second post-race penalty looked like it might wipe out the result, but Persing had built such a big cushion that he still finished 1.274 seconds ahead. (sportscar365.com) ### What race was this? This was Race 1 of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America weekend at Laguna Seca, a 50-mi(sportscar365.com)ylor Racing car with defending Pro champion Hampus Ericsson, and the pair were chasing their first win of the 2026 season after the series opened at Sebring in March. (sportscar365.com) ### What actually went wrong? The trouble came late. After the pit stops shuffled the race, Persing closed on Elias De La Torre in the No. 29 TR3 Racing Lamborghini. With about 10 minu(sportscar365.com)a Torre spun after contact. Race control hit Persing with a 10-second post-race penalty for the incident. (sportscar365.com) ### So how did he still win? Because once Persing heard about the penalty, he absolutely took off. Over the final six laps, he pulled away by roughly 1.5 to 2 seconds per lap. He(sportscar365.com)winner, just with a lot more math attached. (imsa.com) ### Why was the gap so big? Part of it was race flow. Early on, the fight looked like it would center on TR3’s Dennis Lind and Elias De La Torre against XONINE Racing’s Will Bamber and Darius Trinka. But the XONINE car slowed on its(sportscar365.com)and then got the penalty news — the pace came fast. (imsa.com) ### Why does Monterey matter for Persing? Laguna Seca is turning into Persing territory. IMSA called this his third straight Monterey Pro and overall win, c(imsa.com)ng pro dropping in — he’s a Morgan Hill driver winning at the major road course in his backyard. (imsa.com) ### Where is he in his career? Persing is still in the build phase, which makes weekends like this more useful than they look. He returned to Wayne Taylor Racing for a fourt(imsa.com)tate. Wayne Taylor Racing also came into 2026 off a huge 2025 season in the series, so this is a serious ladder seat, not a hobby program. (waynetaylorracing.com) ### Did the win settle everything? Not really. A win after contact is always a little untidy, and Persing himself said he did not mean to hit De La Torre and planned to(imsa.com)can recover from chaos fast enough to keep control of a race anyway. (imsa.com) ### Bottom line Persing didn’t just survive a penalty. He drove fast enough to make the penalty irrelevant. For a hometown driver at Laguna Seca, that’s the kind of win people remember — not clean, not simple, but undeniably quick.
