Jaminet, Tandy Deliver First Win for Porsche 963 in Long Beach

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy delivered the first victory for the Porsche 963, having completed the entire race on a single set of Michelin tires in Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport duo came out on top in the 100-minute street fight, which saw a fierce battle for the final podium positions in a comeback drive from the pole-sitting No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor that ended up in the barriers with two laps to go.

Taylor’s co-driver Filipe Albuquerque held control in the opening stint until an issue with the driver change that cost the Konica Minolta-sponsored Acura ten seconds in the pit lane and dropped the car to fifth.

A call to double-stint tires on both factory Porsches put Jaminet and the No. 7 entry of Matt Campbell up front, although the Australian came under heavy pressure from a number of cars, including the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Philippi, who dropped to fourth with 23 minutes to go after running into the Turn 1 runoff.

Taylor, whose car along with the two BMWs took four new tires on their stops, made a bold move around Campbell in Turn 8 for second with nine minutes to go after previous contact between the two cars, and hunted down Jaminet for the lead.

WTR Andretti’s hopes of victory, however, was eliminated when Taylor nosed the No. 10 Acura into the Turn 1 barriers after passing Jaminet for the lead with two laps to go.

It resulted in the race ending under full course caution for the stricken Acura, which was classified seventh.

The No. 25 BMW of De Philippi and Nick Yelloly recorded their second consecutive runner-up finish, ahead of Campbell and Felipe Nasr’s No. 7 Porsche, which completed the podium in third.

Philipp Eng and Augusto Farfus were fourth in the sister BMW, followed by the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims, whose alternate strategy failed to pay off with a fifth place result.

Sims pitted on Lap 7 to hand over to the Brazilian in the hopes of a second yellow, which didn’t materialize during their fuel stint.

An accident at the start by Sebastien Bourdais, meanwhile, knocked the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac out of the race, in an incident that also saw the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist spin and go a lap down.

Bourdais’ car, which suffered nose damage, was stranded in the Turn 1 runoff and brought out the race’s first yellow.

Hawksworth, Barnicoat Take Commanding GTD Pro Win

Vasser Sullivan claimed top class honors in GTD Pro with a controlling run by Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat.

Barnicoat drove the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 to narrow win over the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Jordan Taylor, who got around the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler following the mid-race pit stops.

Hawksworth, who started from class pole, held control from the start, with Barnicoat expanding the lead until coming under attack by both the Corvette and Porsche prior to the race-ending yellow.

It marked the duo’s first GTD Pro class win since last year’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.

Paul Miller Claims Third Straight Long Beach Victory

Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow took their Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 to top honors in GTD, marking the duo and team’s third consecutive win on the streets of Long Beach.

An overcut strategy by the No. 1 BMW during the mid-race pit stop put Sellers marginally in front of the No. 27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Roman De Angelis, which had led from class pole in the hands of Marco Sorensen.

Sellers extended the advantage over the reigning GTD champion to come home ahead of the Aston.

The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz finished third in class, followed by Mikael Grenier and Mike Skeen in the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in fourth.

Russell Ward and Philip Ellis completed the top-five in their No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes, meanwhile.

RESULTS: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John