IMSA – Action Express and Cadillac at the top in Long Beach

If the Acura ARX-05 signed its first pole position on Friday in IMSA SportsCar Championship, she will still have to wait to get her first victory. Indeed, thanks to Filipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa, Action Express Racing achieved its second success of the season, the No. 5 Cadillac DPi-VR having already triumphed at the end of January, at the 24 Hours of Daytona. This ends the streak of three consecutive victories at Long Beach for the Wayne Taylor Racing team, third this Saturday.

Albuquerque took the lead 40 minutes from time after a quick pit stop, while Juan Pablo Montoya (Acura no. 6) and Felipe Nasr (Cadillac no. 31) had been the most energetic at the start of the match. 'test. “Our strategy worked perfectly,” said the Portuguese. Afterwards, we then checked. »

On the second step of the podium, we finally find the No. 2 ESM Nissan Onraok DPi, driven by Ryan Dalziel and Scott Sharp, which is therefore ahead of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac led by Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande. Followed by the Mazda RT24-P of Oliver Jarvis-Tristan Nunez and the two Acuras of Team Penske, Cameron-Montoya having moved ahead Castroneves-R. Taylor.

The #22 Nissan Onroak DPi, winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring in mid-March, did not see the finish, just like the two Oreca 07s from Performance Tech Motorsports and the #85 from JDC-Miller Motorsports.

Albuquerque and Barbosa, credited with 91 points, extend their lead in the general classification to five lengths over their teammates Nasr and Curran, while Colin Braun and Jon Bennett are third at 12 points, having only finished in tenth position in California.

In GTLM, the No. 7 Corvette C4.R won its second victory in a row at Long Beach thanks to Oliver Gavin-Tommy Milner. The latter took the advantage over the Porsche 911 RSR n°912 from Bamber-Vanthoor 23 minutes from time, after the German suffered a broken right front suspension. The American finally crossed the line with a lead of 2”157 over the No. 67 Ford GT of Briscoe-Westbrook, which ultimately preceded the sister car, entrusted to Hand-D. Muller. Followed by Garcia's second Corvette-Magnussen and the BMW M8 GTE from Edwards-J. Krohn.

In the championship, the Westbrook-Briscoe pair has 95 points, respectively seven and eleven more than Milner-Gavin and Hand-Müller. Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy are fourth, 12 lengths behind.

The next race is scheduled for May 6, at Mid-Ohio.