IMSA spent 100 minutes racing around the street course in Long Beach Saturday. Chip Ganssi likes his winners and that’s what he got as his Cadillacs took the top two spots. In fact, Cadillac swept the DPI podium with the JDC Cadillac taking third. Aston Martin, and BMW took class wins.
1. Don’t let Sebastien Bourdais get into a “trance.”
While he was charging through the field, Sebastien Bourdais knocked out a 1 minute, 10.317-second lap, the fastest time of the day on the just-under 2-mile track.
Michael L. Levitt
Just eight minutes into the 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, fast qualifier Sebastien Bourdais misjudged a corner in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPI car and put it into the wall. It was a light hit but it took Bourdais a while to get the car backed up and going forward. When that happened,
he was 21 seconds behind the leader. Well before the halfway mark, with no caution flags to help him catch up, Bourdais passed the entire field and retook the lead, and he and co-driver Renger van der Zande never relinquished it. Bourdais had to sit down after he turned the car over to his teammate; he said he had gotten into “a bit of a trance” and it took a moment to come out of his hyper-focused state. While he was charging through the field, he knocked out a 1 minute, 10.317-second lap, the fastest time of the day on the just-under 2-mile track.
2. It’s good to be Cadillac.
Chip Ganassi loves winners.
Jake Galstad IMSA
This was the second straight all-Cadillac podium, with the No. 01’s team car, the No. 02 with Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn in second, and in third the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac of Richard Westbrook and Tristan Vautier. The Nos. 01 and 02 are first and second in the championship standings, separated by just three points.
3. Twenty-two pounds was not quite enough.
Acura’s lap times were still slower than the Cadillacs’ best laps, but not by much.
Jake Galstad IMSA
The two Acura DPi cars (there are four Cadillacs) were given a 22-pound weight break before the race, which should have been good for laps that are two-tenths of a second faster. Acura’s lap times were still slower than the Cadillacs’ best laps, but not by much – it’s doubtful they’ll get much help from IMSA’s Balance of Performance mandates before the next race, at Laguna Seca, which might favor the Acuras anyway.
4. The GT3 cars played reasonably well together.
Sellers and Snow got the GT Daytona win in their No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, the first win for the new M4.
Perry Nelson IMSA
While they are exactly the same cars, all built to global GT3 specifications, the GT Daytona and GT Daytona Pro classes seemed to manage the differences that come with two classes of cars having precisely the same amount of horsepower that could make for hard feelings, when the GT Daytona Pros want to pass the GT Daytona cars, which are mandated to use at least one amateur driver. There were some ruffled feathers within the GT Daytona class, when winner Bryan Sellers (with co-driver Madison Snow) squeezed the No. 27 Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage of Maxime Martin into the wall, ending the Aston’s day and resulting in a heated post-race conversation between Martin and Sellers. Regardless, Sellers and Snow got the GT Daytona win in their No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, the first win for the new M4.
5. Nuts.
The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin driven by Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas took the class win.
Jake Galstad IMSA
An errant wheel nut – yes, the same sort of single-lug used by the new NASCAR Cup cars – punctured the radiator on the No. 9 GT Daytona Pro Porsche of Pfaff Motorsports, ending the contender’s day and relegating them to 26th in the 26-car field. The incident happened in the pits, and it was apparent that the nut belonged to the No. 3 Corvette Racing GT Daytona Pro car of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia. It cost the Corvette team a drive-through penalty, which probably cost it the win, which went to the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin (there are two HoF cars) driven by Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas. The Corvette was third in class, behind the No. 14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat.
6. Slow down.
IMSA heads to Laguna Seca up the coast at the end of the month.
Jake Galstad IMSA
There were three cautions flags, none for a serious accident. The first caution came when a plastic square that made up part of the curbing for a turn came loose and flopped out onto the racing line. The squares are held down with four bolts, but maybe the track’s pit crew forgot to tighten them.
Next up for IMSA is the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It’s scheduled for April 29-May 1.
Keyword: 6 Things We Learned at the IMSA Grand Prix of Long Beach