After a mid-race penalty for Corvette Racing, Heart of Racing took the GTD Pro win for Aston Martin.
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Last year, Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 01 Cadillac DPI showed up on the scene as a somewhat surprising entry for a team that had been out of IMSA since the end of Ford’s GT program. It was a strange fit, a one-car program with few sponsors led by 2020 F1 driver Kevin Magnussen. This year, they lost Magnussen to Peugeot (and then Peugeot lost him to an F1 return) but added a second car and a much more clear purpose: To serve as Cadillac’s factory team ahead of a globe-spanning LMDh program that will look very similar to the two-series program they once ran for Ford in IMSA and the WEC. Last year, they performed like a one-car team: One win and fourth in the championship. This year, they have performed like a factory operation. A win at Sebring for the No. 02 car showed championship aspirations for both cars. Today, those aspirations became much stronger.
Ganassi’s 1-2 finish at Long Beach was led by Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 01 car, which fought back up to the front after early contact with a wall dropped him to last in class and had help from behind most of the race as he pulled away on three late restarts without much issue. The No. 02 had a fairly straightforward race, and it became a Cadillac 1-2-3 with one to go when the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura collided with the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac for third. That opened the door for the No. 5 of JDC Miller, and, with the Action Express car coming in fifth, Cadillac’s four-car contingent locked out four of the top five spots in a race sponsored by series rival Acura.
In GTD Pro, what looked like dominant speed from two new cars that had struggled at Daytona quickly turned into disappointing results. The No. 3 Corvette C8.R was the controlling force in the class from the green flag to their lone stop, but a penalty on that stop pushed the Corvette out of contention and opened the door for the No. 25 Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW M4 GT3 to vault back into contention after a grid penalty. That hope faded when that car, on an off-rhythm strategy, briefly lost its driver-side door during its only stop.
The misfortunes opened the door for the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Driver Alex Riberas held onto the lead through multiple late restarts, consistently holding off the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F to grab the team and manufacturer’s first class win in the young GT3-based pro class. The Corvette recovered to third.
In the pro-am GTD category, Paul Miller Racing’s No. 1 BMW fulfilled the promise that the RLL car in the pro class could not. Dominant stints from both Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers not only kept the BMW in front of the class all race, they kept pace with the GTD Pro field. Despite competing in the pro-am category, the Paul Miller Racing car finished third among all GT cars.
IMSA continues a brief trip through California at Laguna Seca in three weeks. After two endurance races and a street race, that will be the year’s first sprint race on a permanent track.
Keyword: Chip Ganassi Racing Lead Cadillac 1-2-3 at Long Beach