LONG BEACH, California (AP) — Roger Penske earned his first IMSA sports car victory since partnering with Porsche with a win at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Mathieu Jaminet won Saturday’s race under caution for Porsche Team Penske when Ricky Taylor of Wayne Taylor Racing crashed trying to pass him for the win. The win for Jaminet and Nick Tandy was the first since Penske launched the program, which dabbled in the World Endurance Championship last season before entering IMSA’s top class this year.
The Taylor crash pushed Connor De Philippi and Nick Yelloly of BMW into second for the second consecutive race, with Penske taking third with Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr.
Jaminet and Tandy delivered the first victory for the Porsche 963 by completing the entire 100-minute race on a single set of Michelin tires.
A spin by Sebastien Bourdais at the start knocked the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac out of the race. He collected the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist, who dropped a lap off the pace. Bourdais’ car, which sustained nose damage, was stranded in the Turn 1 runoff and brought out the race’s first yellow.
Meanwhile, in the GTD Pro class, Vasser Sullivan scored a commanding win with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat.
Barnicoat drove the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 to the win over the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Jordan Taylor.
Hawksworth started from class pole and never gave up the lead. Barnicoat only extended the lead following the driver change. It was the duo’s first GTD Pro class win since last year’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.
In GTD, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won for Paul Miller Racing in a BMW M4 GT3. It was the duo’s third consecutive win on the downtown streets of Long Beach.
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