For the second time in as many weeks, the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship races in California. This time, southern California, and the legendary yet tough streets of the Long Beach Grand Prix circuit, a venue that hosted the west coast version of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix during the 1970s and since then has been home to both IndyCar and the IMSA WeatherTech Championship over the past number of years. It is a return to these legendary streets after the 2020 event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Three classes will be in competition today, with Daytona
Prototype International as the headliner, along with GT Le Mans for the factory
hot rods from Corvette and Porsche, and GT Daytona for the missile like GT3
machines from Porsche, Lamborghini, BMW, Audi and Acura, a class that will
double in size next year. We have a
large grid of GT3 machines today because some teams are testing the waters for
a full on effort in 2022 as the GT Le Mans cars from the factory teams, they
will be retired and GT Daytona with the GT3 formula will see two classes. GTD Pro (for professional rated drivers and
probable factory teams) and then, just GTD.
Factory teams is a bit of a misnomer, though, because GT3
has always been intended for customer teams to purchase cars from a
manufacturer on a customer basis and go racing.
Still, the GT3 cars, nevertheless, one of them is a very expensive
proposition. But, then again, all motor
racing is expensive. Today’s race will
be an all-out street fight for an hour and 40 minutes, one hour less than the
typical IWSC sprint event. Riding a wave
of recent success, going for a championship, is Action Express Racing. They are on pole today with the #31 Whelen
Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R in the hands of their dynamic duo, Felipe Nasr and
Pipo Derani.
As part of today’s field, there are extra entries in the GT
Daytona class as we said. Notable
additions include a return of the GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan
GT3 to be shared by Misha Goikhberg of Canada (with a Russian racing license I
believe), and Frenchman Franck Perera, along with several more. O’Gara Motorsport have entered a Mercedes AMG
GT3 for the American duo of Steven Aghakani and Jacob Eidson. Ian James and Alex Riberas return at the
wheel of the second Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3, the #27
car. They join the sister #23 entry for
that team to be driven by Canadian Roman De Angelis and Englishman Ross Gunn.
GMG Racing, a stalwart of sports car racing in the past, are
here with their American duo of Bronze rated drivers, including team owner
James Sofronas, teaming up with Kyle Washington. Scuderia Corsa make a return to the IMSA grid
this weekend with their Ferrari 488 GT3, being shared by Colin Braun and Daniel
Mancinelli. Till Bechtolsheimer from
England and American Marc Miller are back again in the Gradient Racing Acura
NSX GT3. All the other regular GTD
competitors are there. For Gradient,
GMG, O’Gara, the second Heart of Racing Aston, these teams are doing a test
run, dipping their toes in the water, for possible programs as we see GT
Daytona expanded with a professional category, to replace GT Le Mans, next
year, in 2022.
The shores of southern Califonria, we are ready for the
race. Rai Bejamin, Olympic gold and
silver medalist gives the command. Two
races to go for the prototypes. Three
for the GT cars. A gorgeous day. 75 degrees ambient temperature. Six DPi, three GTLM, and 17 GTD cars in the
field. No LMP2 or LMP3 cars here. The cars roll off onto the grid. 26 starters.
Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque have an 89 point lead on the #31 of
Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr. Action
Express and Whelen Engineerring know they must win today and at Petit Le Mans
if they are going to get the championship.
Strategy ahoy in a sprint event.
Felipe Nasr qualified the car and he did the same at Road America where
Action Express won.
Minimum drive time of 35 minutes in GT Daytona. The championship is wide open with 82 points
between first and fourth. Robby Foley
and Bill Auberlen lead the points. Paul
Miller Racing and Lamborghini, Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers, they are in it
to win it as well. How do you race these
streets? Ride the fine line between
going for it and hitting the wall. The
traffic will be huge. We might see more
yellows today with the GTD cars on the grid.
There are many drivers here who have never been in a street race before.
#31 and the Mazda #55, they have to be on maximum
attack. Cadillac start 1-2-3 on the
grid. The suspension, the robust nature
of these cars, the setups, they are going for their fourth win at Long Beach
with the big, normally aspirated V8 engines.
The field bunches up as we look for a green flag! We’re underway! Felipe Nasr leads Kevin Magnussen. Filipe Albuquerque, three-wide inside
Magnussen and he is pushing him. There’s
bodywork flying. Down Shoreline Drive
for the first time. Downhill to turn
eight, look out for the inside wall.
Dane Cameron chasing the #5 JDC-Miller Cadillac, Cameron at
the wheel of the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
Corvette 1-2 in GT Le Mans with Jordan Taylor in #3 ahead of Tommy
Milner in #4. In replay, we see Filipe
Albuquerque lunge towards Kevin Magnussen and he was jolly lucky to stay out of
the concrete barriers. Loic Duval sees
all this argy bargy unfold right in front of him. Wow!
That was intense stuff! No
worries. These cars are very
robust. When you are on the back foot,
roll the dice on strategy.
Nasr leads Magnussen by a second and a half. Pit stop time for the #12 Vasser Sullivan
Lexus. Flat left front tire for Frankie
Montecalvo sharing with Zach Veach. They
need a yellow to catch up. Madison Snow
is leading in the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. The tight confines of this circuit are really
going to shake things up, and as Calvin Fish on NBC Sports alluded to, we have
not raced with the sports cars here at Long Beach in the fall before. This race is typically run in April, in the
springtime. Such are the circumstances
of the cursed pandemic situation we are living through right now.
Meanwhile, LoIc Duval is closing in on Filipe
Albuquerque. This is the battle for
third spot. The GTD battle is hot and
heavy as well. Lamborghini, BMW, Audi,
and more. Whoa! Almost some contact there front to rear
between the #39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi and the Turner Motorsports
BMW. Jordan Taylor leads Tommy
Milner. This is the Corvette C8.R duo in
GTLM. Taylor has won Long Beach three
times. Have the street smarts for the
drivers, and the engineers. Avoid rookie
mistakes. Many rookie drivers in the
race today. Musical chairs, we will see
a really short tire stints. Who will
execute the tire changes? When the music
stops, who will be left standing?
Snow, Foley, Heistand, and Zach Robichon, the top four in GT
Daytona. Zacharie Robichon says that
confidence and momentum is what they want at Pfaff Motorsports. Robichon, it is his first race here at Long
Beach teaming up with Laurens Vanthoor.
Kevin Magnussen now leads Felipe Nasr.
The GTD field will be all over all day.
Here comes Nasr back out of the hairpin.
No dice. Rob Ferriol gets mugged
by these prototypes! The #44 Magnus
Racing Acura got in Felipe Nasr’s way.
Magnussen and van der Zande won at Belle Isle in Detroit.
Nasr was not happy with this move. The #01 is not in championship contention so
they can take chances. Nasr and
Magnussen used to race each other in F1.
Nasr moves past Magnussen who hits the fence! Magnussen’s car is damaged! Debris on the road from Cadillac #01. 12 and a half minutes on the board. Pits are closed, but the yellow could indeed
extend into the pit window. What a crazy
start here at Long Beach! Will we see
the return of the Wacky Races today?
We’ll have to wait and find out. Right
rear damage for the #01 Cadillac.
The DPi cars are gaining a fuel advantage. Not a lot of offline grip on a street
course. Steven Aghakani in the #26
Mercedes AMG GT3 on his IMSA debut, aboard the O’Gara Racing entry, he sees now
how the big boys play. Green flag! Hammer down!
It is time to resume the race. Nasr
leads, Magnussen second around the iconic fountain. Nasr says, “not so fast, sunshine” and it
forced Magnussen into a real pickle. Does
Magnussen have damage that will stymie his pace? The track here at Long Beach all about
mechanical grip.
The rear wing is also busted and so it the toe in on the
tire alignment. The steering is bent a
wee bit. Chip Ganassi Racing is also in
title contention for the IndyCar championship.
Renger van der Zande is in the game as well. Kevin Magnussen is on form. But Renger van der Zande will indeed be a
part of the LMDh Cadillac effort with CGR and we wonder too, how Action Express
and their driver lineup for LMDh will shake out in 2023. Corvette Racing could run GT3 in the
future. They are very competitive right
now. Antonio Garcia said that he’s led
at the hairpin two years in a row and not won.
Garcia wants a victory here at Long Beach. This is the second ever street course event
for the Corvette C8.R. No street courses
in IMSA last year in 2020. Cursed
pandemic. Nasr leads Magnussen now by
1.6 seconds. Turner Motorsport, and
Robby Foley in the wall at turn eight!
Wow! The #96 BMW M6 GT3 has
wrecked! You don’t see Foley crash. Minor damage to the car. Maybe he was jolly lucky to get away with
that one. Richard Heistand in the #39
Audi forces the issue. He is not in the
championship fight.
Turner Motorsports have now lost the GT Daytona lead and the
#5 Cadillac caught a banner under the wheel and then deposited it in the middle
of the road on the front straight.
Sheesh. Loic Duval said he hit
the debris and carried it and the car is fine.
But will the stewards throw a yellow?
Maybe we could see wholesale driver changes if there is a yellow. With the class split, the driver change
decision is not so drastic. Loic Duval
is monstering Filipe Albuquerque, a former global World Sports Car
Champion. He is a former champion with
Audi and will drive in the Peugeot Le Mans Hypercar program next year.
Watch out for a shallow angle in these corners. Loic Duval wants by Filipe Albuquerque for
third place. No dice yet. He is pushing hard and so is Duval. The banner we saw earlier has blown away off
the track. The #55 Mazda is right behind
these two blokes, just down the road.
That is the car of Harry Tincknell and Oliver Jarvis, which stuffed it
into the tire barrier during qualifying yesterday and stopped the session
early. We are seeing, it looks like
Tincknell, he is right on Albuquerque’s six at this point. Lapped traffic ahead for Felipe Nasr in the
lead of the motor race.
Nasr leads Magnussen now by two seconds. Loic Duval and scraping and digging his way
through GT Daytona traffic in third after moving past Filipe Albuquerque who
washed out wide. Albuquerque
understeering in the Acura. What a tight
corner that hairpin is! Yikes! Traction off the corner is a big deal as
these Cadillac’s thunder around Long Beach.
Poor old Robby Foley is on the back foot but is still running. #31 still leads. No team orders at GM but team orders for
Acura. This is a Cadillac race track, it
is suitable to this place. The normally
aspirated V8 has the power under acceleration and the Dallara chassis with the
mechanical grip. The Oreca works on high
speed corners and you just don’t have those where. Derani and Nasr are just 19 points behind
Taylor and Albuquerque. Tommy Milner is
now applying the blowtorch to Jordan Taylor.
Pit stop time imminent for Corvette and for driver changes
for both cars. We saw the contact
between #96 and #39. Team boss Will
Turner says the bonnet of the car is bowed upwards and they have trouble with
their antilock braking system. Misha
Goikhberg has a broken left rear corner after whacking the wall in the #19 GRT
Grasser Racing Lamborghini. Here’s the
open pit window for GTD. CDriver changes
and just 20 seconds of petrol. Who will
execute? The #1 Lamborghini in the lane
and Bryan Sellers will take over from Madison Snow.
Ditto for the #39 Audi.
Richard Heistand gives the car to Jeff Westphal. The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Dane
Cameron pitted on lap 20. Eight laps
since their pit stop. Bill Auberlen in
the lane, and he is taking over from poor old Robby Foley who will be
gutted. Turner Motorsports fixing the
bonnet. Filipe Albuquerque is bluing on
the radio about understeer while he fends off Oliver Jarvis’ challenge. They had a brake lockup in practice and
whacked the wall in qualifying. This is
the penultimate race for Mazda before they round out their career in the
WeatherTech Championship after Petit Le Mans.
Nasr leads Magnussen by 5.8 seconds. Patrick Long in the lane in the #16 Wright
Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R as Trent Hindman hands over the car. They must make up ground this weekend in the
championship for GT Daytona. Tommy
Milner in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, he is right on top of the sister car
of Jordan Taylor as Felipe Nasr leads the motor race. He has been fighting with Kevin Magnussen but
is now clear in the lead of the motor race.
Porsche #79 in the lane, the WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Cooper
MacNeil sharing with Frenchman Matthieu Jaminet this weekend.
So, “Jam Jam” will take the next stint in that car as Felipe
Nasr continues to lead this motor race and is catching up to lap the #60 Meyer
Shank Racing Acura that was really dominant last time out at Laguna Seca. Now we see one of the Vasser Sullivan Lexus
cars in the lane. This looks like the
#14. Down and away and back into the
motor race. There could have been a
driver change there from Jack Hawksworth over to Aaron Telitz or vice
versa. Long vs. Vanthoor and there’s
Jeff Westphal crunching into the Long-driven Porsche while Colin Braun is
pushing as well in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 in their home race.
At the hairpin in replay, Westphal dives and tags Patrick
Long while thankfully keeping it clean.
That’s a tight squeeze! That
could have been a pig’s breakfast there.
Vanthoor won this race in 2019 with the factory Porsche team. Jack Hawksworth, he has replaced Aaron
Telitz, and Hawksworth is now second in class in GT Daytona, but still over
eight and a half seconds away from Bryan Sellers in the Lamborghini, the #1
Paul Miller Racing automobile. Lexus
will have two cars next year, with one in the Pro class and also in GTD.
There are many drivers who could be candidates to race for
Lexus next year. This is the silly
season time right now. We also have LMDh
looming. Kyle Washington has moved up,
and it is their 15th anniversary since their first race here in 2007
in World Challenge. Cadillac needs more
yellow. Felipe Nasr is out front but
they need to stretch fuel for three laps before the driver change to make it
for one pit stop. Kevin Magnussen in the
lane for fuel and a driver change.
Renger van der Zande into the car.
They need yellows to make it on fuel.
Checking the damage, but no changes on the car for the #01
team. Nasr now leads Loic Duval by 11
seconds. The #31 still needs to
pit. This is a very long pit stop. Renger van der Zande will hold off Felipe
Nasr. He is going to have to let Nasr
by. #01 goes a lap down. Nasr on hot but used Michelin tires. Corvette vs. Corvette still in GTLM. Porsche have not gotten a look in with the
#79 car. Acura #10 in the pit lane for
service and the same is true for the #55 Mazda.
Driver changes at both camps. #31
is now in the lane too from the lead.
Great stint for Nasr.
Pipo Derani will get into the car.
The #5 Cadillac is also in the lane.
Loic Duval hands the car to Tristan Vautier. Dane Cameron moving past Ppo Derani and
stopping out of sequence has them in third.
Drive through penalty for the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. You cannot work underneath the car on pit
stops. Again, with the BMW, the #96,
they have had an ABS failure. The brake
pedal is rock hard. Dane Cmaeron has now
taken over the lead by four seconds over Pipo Derani. Fuel will be tight according to Felipe Nasr.
Nasr says he is doing his job and wants to win this
race. He cannot believe how Kevin
Magnussen really got in the way, but he has raced with Magnussen for many years
and knows the man has an aggressive driving style. Pipo Derani now must reel in Dane
Cameron. The fight continues. Meyer Shank Racing hits the pit lane with the
#60 car. So this could put the #31
Cadillac back to the race lead. Pit stop
time too for the #4 Corvette C8.R. Fuel,
tires, and a driver change. Nick Tandy
into the car and he is down and away. Tristan
Vautier now third.
Jack Hawksworth is being monstered, look, by Patrick Long
and poor old Jeff Westphal gets snookered by the #34 Porsche, the GMG Racing
Porsche of James Sofronas. Colin Braun,
he is being pushed by Ross Gunn. Braun
has run prototypes in IMSA and a lot of GT3 in SRO competition with a Mercedes
Benz. He does coaching in Ferrari
Challenge. Scuderia Corsa are a
championship caliber team. Daniel
Mancinelli has won here in SRO GT World Challenge. So, Tommy Milner moved around Jordan Taylor
and now, Tandy leads Antonio Garcia and Matthieu Jaminet.
Turner Motorsports just have not had the race today they
wanted. They had a strong qualifying
effort and Auberlen drove a BMW M6 GT in GTLM here years ago and did very
well. So, Jack Hawksworth has moved
ahead of Patrick Long and he gets monstered and passed by a DPi Cadillac, that
is the Mustang Sampling JDC Miller #5. Aaron
Telitz says he caught traffic on his in lap but Jack Hawksworth has really
pushed since their pit stops. They need
a yellow to keep up.
Patrick Long is really applying the blowtorch to Jack
Hawksworth. Wow! Porsche on Porsche now in GT Daytona. This is Patrick Long all ove the back of
Laurens Vanthoor! It is game on in
GTD. They squirm their way around the
fountain turn. Meantime, in the DPi
ranks, the Mazda and Acura are still going at it. They have not been able to be at the sharp
end as the Cadillac’s have really been in a league of their own around this
circuit. It’s horses for courses once
again. Felipe Nasr was really upset
about Kevin Magnussen. They raced
against each other a decade ago in open wheel racing, in British Formula 3.
Nick Tandy still leads Antonio Garcia in GT Le Mans with
less than a half hour to go. Milner says
he and his teammate were very close.
Traffic is a mega deal around this place. Tommy Milner wants his fourth win here at
Long Beach to match his car number. GM
and Cadillac run 1-2-3 here at Long Beach.
Lapped traffic in the way for the leaders and that is the #26 O’Gara
Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 which is having a good showing here at Long Beach,
the Jacob Eidson and Steven Aghakani automobile. Pipo Derani is making his way methodically
through GT traffic.
There is a track to street connection for Michelin tires and
this is a deal where having a street course as a race track, Michelin can rely
on for performance, ride, handling, braking, noise, and fuel economy. The technology of the tire industry is
amazing. We are seeing tires made of
recycled material like plastics and orange peel. Traffic ahead of Pipo Derani, and AXR are 19
points behind the #10 Acura, watching the #55 Mazda of Harry Tincknell, who is
running quicker than the Acura. If
Tincknell passes, the #31 takes the championship lead headed for Petit Le Mans
in November.
These teams are at an amazingly high level. Ricky Taylor is saving fuel right now. Acura wins at the tracks they are supposed to
or expected to. Cadillac wins at the
tracks they are supposed to or expected to.
Derani under zero pressure. He
can cruise and save fuel. 20 minutes to
go. Point and squirt here at Long
Beach. Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers
lead by 13 seconds in GT Daytona. Bryan
Sellers has not won here at Long Beach before.
They are second in points just twelve points behind the
Robichon/Vanthoor Porsche. Less than 20
minutes remain. Chopping and changing
through the GT field as this race draws to a close. 16 minutes left on the board as Pipo Derani
is in control, six seconds ahead of Renger van der Zande while the #01 pitted
two laps earlier and they say at Ganassi they are OK on fuel, but others say
they are short on gas. This is going to
be squeaky, squeaky for the #01 to make it on petrol. Katherine Legge at the wheel of the #88 Team
Hardpoint Porsche, she first raced here at Long Beach 16 years ago winning in
the Toyota Atlantic series and then the very next year she got a top ten in
Champ Car which is now IndyCar. Katherine
Legge knows this circuit very, very well.
She is in the top ten in GTD. The #26 O’Gara Motorsports Mercedes has been
running well. Agakhani and Eidson are Lamborghini
Super Trofeo veterans. Laurens Vanthoor
has passed Jack Hawksworth for second in class in GTD. The #14 Lexus is short on petrol. Ricky Taylor and WTR have handling woes although
their fuel is fine. Their gap back to
the #55 Mazda is stable. Olivier Pla
spins and slams the wall right in the middle of traffic in the braking zone for
turn one!
Holy cow! MSR had a
car wreck in the IndyCar qualifying, and had another car that came second, and
now, the sports car has wrecked. Antonio
Garcia had no room outside of Colin Braun to let the Acura DPi by. Wow!
That was hairy! This is not what
the #31 wants to see. Hopefully this
race stays green. Pipo Derani continues
in the lead as the #60 Acura is being cleared away. Pipo Derani with seven minutes to go, he is
pushing. We have seen this track since
1975 and hosted sports cars since 2006 and the Formula 1 United States Grand
Prix between 1975 and 1983.
46 years ago, the first race took place here. Derani leads by nearly six seconds. The #10 team will have a 19-point lead going
into Petit Le Mans. The Action Express
team will be in it for the title. Bryan
Sellers and Madison Snow are clearly in the lead in GTD but now, Patrick Long
has gone around Jack Hawksworth who is in fuel save mode. They were banking on a yellow but won’t get
one. Pipo Derani leads by 6.2
seconds. Hawksworth rolls out of the
power down Seaside Way to save fuel before his braking points.
160 miles an hour for GTLM and 150 miles an hour for GTD. A ten mile an hour delta. The #76 Compass Racing Acura are running well with Matt McMurry and Mario Farnbacher. The GTD stakes are high. The shadows grow long here at Long Beach as we are close the end as there’s lots of rubber down from the drifting cars that raced last night in their exhibition event. We assumed this would be a crash fest among the rookies, but they’ve kept their noses clean all day long. Amazing. No repeat of the five yellow flags that happened in 2019.
White flag. One lap
to go for Pipo Derani and Action Express will score their third win in four
races. They were behind the eight ball
at the start of the year but the back end of the year has really been a success
for Action Express. Final lap. Oh dear.
James Sonfronas has spun in corner number six. Will he get back in the race? Ah yes.
Action Express wins at Long Beach for the third straight time! The #4 Corvette C8.R will win GT Le Mans with
Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner! In GT
Daytona, it is a 12 second victory for the #1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini
for Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow!
Overall/DPi: #31 Nasr/Derani Cadillac DPi-V.R.
GT Le
Mans: #4 Milner/Tandy Chevrolet
Corvette C8.R
GT
Daytona: #1 Sellers/Snow Lamborghini
Huracan GT3
That’s a wrap from here on the streets of Long Beach,
California. Two races left in the
championship. One left for DPi, LMP2,
and LMP3, at Petit Le Mans in November.
The next time we will speak to you from Virginia International Raceway
in Danville, Virginia, in early October for the second and final all GT race of
the 2021 season as GTLM and GTD cars race on that fabled course. For now, so long from southern
California. Take care, everybody.
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