Porsche takes home victory at Long Beach

Written by Natalie Johnston

The No.7 Porsche Penske Motorsport car driven by Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy wins the IMSA Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach after the right strategy call put them at the front of the field.

Credit: Lorena Barros

The race began at 5:05 pm local time, with the No.24 BMW of Dries Vanthoor leading the GTP field while the two Porsche Penske cars had a close call in the early moments of Lap 1. Nick Yelloly took advantage of the Porsche-on-Porsche scrap and got past the No.6 car of Mathieu Jaminet.

The GTD class had a slightly scrappy start, with the No.34 Ferrari of Manny Franco spinning, dropping down to 15th in class before rejoining the race. A few laps later, the No. 77 Ferrari and the No.66 Ford nearly came together, the Ford of Jenson Altzman making the move stick ahead of the Inception Racing car. The No.177 'Rexy' AO Racing car lost a position to the No. 27 Aston Martin in the early running.

The No.93 Acura picked up damage in a battle with the No.6 Porsche for position, but it was deemed accidental by the stewards.

A full course yellow (FCY) came out after just over twenty minutes of running when the No.13 Corvette found the tyre barrier in turn eight after getting help from the No.78 Lamborghini. Both Porsche Penske cars came in immediately, the BMW team only bringing in the No.24 and the No.93 Acura coming in as well. The No.25 BMW and No.60 Acura came in later, the whole GTP field opting for fuel and driver changes.

At the green flag, the No.7 Porsche led, followed by the No.6 and the No.24 BMW. The No.25 BMW with Marco Wittman behind the wheel dropped into ninth position. The No.93 was called back into the pits almost immediately after his first pit stop for remedial action on the damage to the back of the Acura. This second pit stop put the No.93 one lap down.

A horde of GTDs came in all at once, aiming to change drivers just after the 35-minute mark. The No.36 Corvette car managed to put on new tyres as well as change drivers without losing extra time, benefitting their race.

The GTD cars that stayed out slightly longer found success in their strategies, staying at the top of the field. The No.177 Porsche driven by Laurens Vanthoor in the lead with the two Vasseur Sullivan Lexus behind, the No.12 of Jack Hawksworth and the No.89 of Aaron Telitz.

After a relatively short span of green flag racing, the No.85 JDC Porsche GTP came together with the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin GTD car into turn six. The collision broke the rear wing off of the No.85 car, throwing debris onto the racing line and bringing out the full course yellow (FCY). The No.85 car came in to fix the back end damage, joined by the No.60 Acura coming in as well for new tyres and a splash of fuel.

Felipe Nasr in the No.7 Porsche got a good restart, building a slight gap with fellow Penske No.6 car at the green flag. The running order at the green flag continued to be led by the No.7 and No.6 Porsches, followed by the No.24 BMW, then the No.31 Cadillac and the No.25 BMW.

A racing incident between the No.36 DXDT Corvette and the No.96 Turner BMW caused enough damage to give the No.36 car a black flag, getting called immediately into the pits.

In the final minutes of the race, the No.57 Mercedes of Philip Ellis was hot on the heels of the No.89 Lexus of Aaron Telitz but couldn’t make it happen in the end.

In GTD, the No.177 'Rexy' AO Racing car held onto a decisive victory, with Laurens Vanthoor closing out the race.

In GTP, the No.7 Porshe Penske Motorsport car finished first to extend their win streak to three. Felipe Nasr navigated traffic masterfully to finish comfortably in the lead.

Results

GTP

1st No.7 Porsche, Nasr and Tandy

2nd No.6 Porsche, Campbell, Jaminet

3rd No.24 BMW, Eng, Vanthoor

4th No.31 Cadillac, Bamber, Aitken

5th No.25 BMW, Wittman, Van Der Linde

GTD

1st No.177 Porsche, Vanthoor, Edgar

2nd No.12 Lexus, Hawksworth, Thompson

3rd No.89 Lexus, Telitz, Montecalvo

4th No.57 Mercedes-AMG, Ellis, Ward

5th No.96 BMW, Foley, Gallagher