Porsche extends IMSA championship lead with Long Beach podium

Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr extended their IMSA championship lead with a third consecutive podium of the season for Porsche Penske Motorsport at the special Long Beach race. This race will always be a memorable one for the car and team, taking its first major victory with the Porsche 963 in 2023 in the hands of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy. Jaminet and Tandy were the top qualifying Porsche drivers again this year, and tried an early pitstop to gain with strategy, but most of the team’s competitors pitted straight after to avoid handing Porsche an advantage. With two long caution periods in what is the shortest race of the season so far at 90 minutes, it made for a congested affair, and on lap 54 of 68, Jaminet was spun while trying to pass traffic at the tight final corner, handing a massive advantage to the two leading cars. Nasr - taking over the #7 started by Cameron - was at least able to get through the final corner melee to take the third place, previously held by Jaminet, who narrowly missed out on a podium spot by the end of the race in fourth. The result for Nasr/Cameron comes after a win at the 24 Hours of Daytona and a third-place finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring for the #7 car, showing that the crew can deliver in the longest and shortest races of the IMSA season.

Story of the race

Last year’s winners of the Long Beach race, Tandy and Jaminet, started from fourth on the grid, with Tandy having delivered the qualifying lap, and he immediately set about attacking for the podium at Turn 1 on the first lap. He didn’t quite pull off the move, but after eight laps, he made another bold and exciting attempt down the inside of the bumpy right-hand Turn 9, which yielded the podium position just before the first full course caution was called, for 12 minutes. The ensuing round of pitstops would be the only ones of the race for the frontrunners. A second caution took almost 17 minutes off the race clock, but the action really kicked into life shortly after, when on lap 52 of 68 the leaders caught traffic, prompting a spate of incidents. By the end of the lap, a string of GT cars were mixed up in the lead group, and Jaminet was the driver caught out when he was clipped by a GT car from behind. Luckily for Porsche and for Jaminet, the host of cars involved momentarily blocked the course and Jaminet was able to get going again, retaking fourth after a pitstop for the #9 BMW, which crashed shortly after. Another caution shortly after on lap 58/68 set up a just over eight-minute fight to the finish, where Nasr and Jaminet were able to bring home the cars in third and fourth respectively. Nasr survived being hit from behind at Turn 9 shortly after the second caution to bring home the top Porsche result.

Customer racing

Tijmen van der Helm had qualified seventh in the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports entry, but dropped two spots on the first lap, one place ahead of Mike Rockenfeller who qualified the #5 car in 10th. Rockenfeller had no time in the car to prepare as he became the fifth driver of the season alongside Gianmaria Bruni, who hadn’t raced at Long Beach since 2010, in the entry this year. Sadly, the #85’s race was undone after contact with the #10 car spun Richard Westbrook, while good strategy from the #5 crew helped Bruni to gain, and he had the most energy left of the lead contenders after the second caution period. That advantage was eroded by the further two caution periods, giving other cars the chance to save energy, but Bruni was still able to move forward amid the drama of the spin for the #6 on lap 52 to take fifth, making it three Porsche cars in the top five. Given the spin, Westbrook’s rebound to seventh was a strong result for the #85 car.

GTD

The race almost immediately fell apart for the number #120 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), which had no chance of avoiding a crashing car ahead off the line, with Adam Adelson the unlucky driver behind the wheel. The #86 911 had better fortune, as the spate of incidents ahead combined with a well-executed race allowed it to run seventh from 14th on the grid, though a forced late final pitstop which dropped it down the order undid much of Anders Fjordbach's hard work. The Jarrett Andretti/Gabby Chavez #43 crew instead ended up as the highest Porsche GT finisher for Andretti Motorsports, 9th in the GTD class.

The next IMSA SportsCar Championship race will take place on May 12 at the scenic Laguna Seca circuit in Monterey. Jaminet and Tandy took second at that event last year, and will aim to go one better when they visit the famous circuit next month.