IMPC: Riley Pegram recovers to top-10 finish with clean Laguna Seca round
- RACERS
- May 14
- 2 min read
Riley Pegram secured a solid top-ten finish at Laguna Seca in the third round of the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, bringing home the Pegram Racing Hyundai in tenth place after a challenging but clean race in California.
Riley Pegram secured a solid top-ten finish at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in the third round of the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, bringing home the #72 Pegram Racing Hyundai Elantra N TCR in tenth place after a challenging but clean race in California.
Pegram has made an encouraging start to her IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign, sharing driving duties with her father Larry in the family-run Pegram Racing entry. After a partial campaign in 2024, the duo returned for a full season in 2025. At the Daytona season opener, they showed promising pace and ran comfortably inside the top ten before a multi-car restart incident forced an early retirement. Despite the setback, Riley demonstrated strong potential in the first race of the year.
She built on that performance with her first top-ten result at Sebring, where she started 15th in class and delivered a confident opening stint, matching the pace of more experienced TCR competitors and climbing to ninth by the chequered flag.
Between Sebring and Laguna Seca, Pegram gained additional experience racing in select World Racing League events and returned to the IMSA-sanctioned series aiming for another competitive result.
The weekend at Laguna began with 13th in the opening practice session, followed by a two-tenth improvement in FP2 where Larry Pegram posted a 1:33.055. Riley took on qualifying duties later that afternoon, setting a 1:33.773 that placed the #72 Hyundai 15th on the TCR grid, setting the stage for a recovery drive on Saturday.
On race day, Riley gained a spot at the green flag and then held 14th position through a clean opening lap, avoiding contact and staying ahead of the #61 Road Shagger Racing Audi, which briefly went off.
She settled into a steady rhythm, posting 1:34.4 lap times and picking up another position after the #31 Audi of Rumburg encountered issues.
Just before the one-hour mark, the #99 Victor Gonzalez Racing Hyundai lost a tyre carcass which triggered the first full-course yellow of the race. Riley had maintained a clean and consistent pace and took the opportunity to pit, handing over to Larry Pegram, who rejoined in 14th position.
Following a brief restart and another caution after the #14 Porsche was beached in the gravel, racing resumed but was soon interrupted again when the #93 Honda of Wittmer suffered suspension damage, promoting the Pegrams to 13th.
Larry made a strong restart, gaining two more positions as Lewis's KMW Honda dropped back, putting the team into 11th. After a heavy crash for the GS-class #44 McLaren caused another yellow, the final restart came with 14 minutes to go.
Larry Pegram restarted in 11th and soon overtook the #31 Audi to move into tenth, securing the second consecutive top-ten finish for Pegram Racing. Riley and Larry Pegram now sit 11th in the TCR class championship standings with 610 points.
Next up will be the four-hour endurance race at Mid-Ohio, scheduled for June 6–8.
