Porsche Penske Motorsport remains undefeated in 2025 with Long Beach IMSA victory
04/12/2025 07:08 PM
The story continues in 2025 — Porsche Penske Motorsport, Nick Tandy, and Felipe Nasr remain undefeated in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Tandy and Nasr drove the No. 7 Porsche 963 to victory in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, leading a Penske 1-2 finish — 3s ahead of the No. 6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell. It’s Porsche and Penske’s second straight 1-2 finish, and extends the No. 7 car’s lead to 123 points in the WeatherTech GTP standings.
Pole-winning RLL BMW with their No. 24 M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor and Philip Eng led until the race went under a full course yellow after the first 20 minutes of Saturday’s 100-minute sprint. Quicker pit work from Porsche Penske Motorsport’s two crews helped get the two factory cars out ahead of the No. 24 BMW, where they remained until the checkered flag.
Whelen Cadillac led the V-Series.R contingent as the No. 31 (Jack Aitken/Earl Bamber) finished fourth, holding off the No. 25 RLL BMW (Sheldon van der Linde/Marco Wittmann) in fifth.
Behind the two Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs, the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie of Ross Gunn and Roman de Angelis completed a trouble-free race and finished eighth, while the two Meyer Shank Racing Acuras lost out on strategy — and, in the case of the No. 93, a mechanical black flag for damage from an earlier incident that dropped Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly to last in class.
The No. 60 MSR Acura ARX-06 (Tom Blomqvist/Colin Braun) could only muster a ninth-place finish, and lost its left-rear wheel after the finish just to add further insult to a tough day.
Laurens Vanthoor also remains undefeated in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech series, as he and co-driver Jonny Edgar teamed up to give AO Racing the win in GTD.
AO Racing and “Rexy” used the overcut to their advantage as the No. 177 Porsche 911 GT3 R, making a one-off cameo appearance in GTD, took the win. It was AO Racing’s second GT win in a row, after taking the GTD PRO victory in last month’s 12 Hours of Sebring.
Vasser Sullivan Racing narrowly missed out on a Long Beach three-peat. The No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth led early but dropped to second, one place ahead of the No. 89 of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz — which, like the winning car, was making a special entry out of GTD PRO.
GTD Championship leaders Russell Ward and Philip Ellis finished fourth in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Patrick Gallagher/Robby Foley) in fifth.
Robert Wickens and Tommy Milner ran a strong race in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, but contact between Milner and Foley at the hairpin Turn 11 inflicted damage on the Corvette and forced Milner to pit from fifth place. They finished a lap down in 15th.
IMSA returns to action further up the California coast at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on May 11th.
