Tandy, Pilet Take Porsche to GTLM Win at Long Beach

Nick Tandy steered clear of an incident between the race leaders with just minutes left on the clock and drove the N0. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR to the GTLM class victory in Saturday’s Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix on the Long Beach street circuit.

Co-driving with reigning IMSA GTLM champion Patrick Pilet, Tandy led only the final four laps of the 100-minute race, scoring the first victory for Porsche North America in the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Running third at the time, Tandy slipped through for the class win when his teammate Fred Makowiecki, in second place in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR, came together with the race-leading Corvette C7.R of Tommy Milner in Long Beach’s famous hairpin.

Makowiecki was assessed a penalty for avoidable contact but never served it as he limped the No. 912 car back to the pits with front end damage and retired.

Milner, co-driving with Oliver Gavin, recovered from the contact incident to finish second for Corvette Racing.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander finished third in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, reaching the Long Beach GTLM podium for the second year in a row.

The No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe rebounded from Friday morning’s practice fire to finish fourth in class.

The pole-sitting No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM, which led the first 15 minutes of the race, finished third with Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner co-driving.

Next up for the WeatherTech Championship is Round 4 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, April 29 – May 1.

RESULTS: Long Beach