- Charlie Thornton
- Apr 25, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: May 23, 2025
IMSA - Perfectly Porsche's triple triumph on the Streets of Long Beach
The streets of Long Beach delivered a chaotic, tactical and triumphant day for Porsche in both GTP and GTD, as the #7 Penske 963 claims its third consecutive win, while fan-favourite "Rexy" takes class honours.
QUALIFYING
GTD Qualifying
The GTD qualifying session was a whirlwind of swapping positions and blistering lap times, kicking off green with a fifteen minute session. Early leaders came fast, with the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R of Adam Adelson setting the pace with a 1:19.718 before the session and times began to light up. Shortly after, the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson kept bouncing back into the provisional pole position, despite challenges from the likes of Russell Ward in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and Jonny Edgar in the ever-competitive #177 AO Racing “Rexy” Porsche 992 GT3 R.
Fireworks came in the final five minutes, seeing Thompson set a 1:18.269, beating Ward and Edgar momentarily, but Edgar was on a charge, posting a 1:17.937 with just over two minutes to go. In a high pressure performance, Thompson managed to find even more pace, crossing the line in the final few minutes to score a pole-position 1:17.877, just before the #32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Seth Lucas came to a stop at turn eight, but the session remained green. Despite this, Thompson was able to keep hold of the top spot, with the #177 Porsche second, and the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Tom Gamble in third.
GTP Qualifying
The GTP qualifying was nothing short of a battle between the two BMW M Hybrid V8’s of Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde. Both of them, in the #24 and #25 respectively traded provisional pole honors throughout the session, with Sheldon striking first with a 1:12.702, only for Vanthoor to respond with a flurry of perfect laps, culminating in an untouchable 1:11.539.
While the #25 tried to close the gap, it wasn’t enough, as the #24 BMW M Team RLL entry, driven masterfully by Vanthoor, claimed a third consecutive IMSA pole of the 2025 season, maintaining a perfect qualifying record. Behind them, the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Nick Tandy slotted into third with a 1:11.989, followed by teammate Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 in fourth. The top five was rounded out by the #93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06.
RACE
With an hour and forty minutes on the clock, the race went green. Immediately the front of the GTP field was electric, with Dries Vanthoor leading the pack away from pole in the #24 BMW, getting a clean start, while behind him, the Porsche Penske duo of Jaminet and Tandy ran side-by-side into turn one, leaving the #6 of Jaminet slightly compromised, allowing the #93 Acura of Nick Yelloly to sneak up to fourth position. In GTD, the opening laps were no less dramatic as Tom Gamble in the #27 Aston Martin vaulted into second, overtaking the #177 AO Racing Porsche of Edgar. The opening lap also saw the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Manny Franco go off at turn one, though the Italian machine quickly rejoined the field without triggering a yellow.
With just ten minutes of the race elapsed, the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie was hit with a warning for unusual engine parameters, likely due to the famously bumpy surface at Long Beach, while in the GTP pack, Jaminet began to close on Yelloly, seeing a moment of contact which dislodged the legality panel on the rear-right, while the GTP’s worked their way through the GTD traffic for the first time. Five minutes later, disaster struck for the #13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3 of Orey Fidani, who found the wall at turn eight following contact with the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Misha Goikhberg. This brought out the first full course yellow, and in a puzzling moment, the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari ducked into a closed pit lane with little to no apparent work being done, raising questions on their strategy.
Once the pits opened, the leading GTP runners all dove into the pits, seeing multiple cars only take on fuel and a driver change, but the leading #24 BMW lost positions in the pit cycle, seeing the #7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr coming out ahead of the pole-sitting car. The #6 and #93, and others followed close behind, while the #25 and #60 pitted a lap later, though the damage had already been done as the top of the order had shifted. As the race was restarted, the #7 Porsche of Nasr led, and the #93 Acura was forced back into the pits for not repairing their legality panel damage, knocking them off the lead lap and effectively out of contention.
In GTD, a differing pit strategy diverged as drive time requirements prevented early stops during the first full course yellow, The field began to come into the pits with just over an hour to go, with Parker Thompson in the leading #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus temporarily handing the class lead to the #27 Aston Martin. A crucial moment came with sixty-two minutes remaining, when both the #27 Aston Martin and #177 Porsche came in, with the AO Racing crew executing a blisteringly quick stop, getting “Rexy” back on track just ahead of the #12 Lexus, a key moment for their race.
With forty-five minutes to go, the drama hadn’t stopped, with contact between the #27 Aston Martin and the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 sent the latter into the wall at turn six, knocking its rear wing clean off, prompting another full course yellow. The restart saw the #7 Porsche hold its lead, meanwhile the midfield continued to churn, with the #25 BMW overtaking the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac for fifth position, and contact occurring between the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette of Tommy Milner and #32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG of Kenton Koch at the final corner.
Twenty minutes remained, but Milner wasn’t done, with him making one last push, overtaking the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Robby Foley at the final corner, but the Corvette sustained rear damage in the process, resulting in a black-and-orange flag, prompting the car to pit for repairs.
As the race entered the final moments, the GTD field became a pressure cooker, with the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes of Philip Ellis right on the tail of the #89 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus for the final podium position in GTD. The Lexus appeared to be struggling slightly, while the GTP traffic loomed large in their mirrors, further complicating the fight. With two laps to go, the tension was high, but the leaders managed to remain composed as the white flag was waved for the final lap of the race.
On the final lap, the #7 Porsche 963 of Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr crossed the line to claim victory on the streets of Long Beach, completing a hat trick of wins in 2025. Behind Nasr, the #6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell came second, while Dries Vanthoor and Philipp Eng brought the #24 BMW home in third, maintaining its 100% pole rate, but still chasing that elusive win. In GTD, the AO Racing “Rexy” Porsche of Jonny Edgar and Laurens Vanthoor triumphed, crossing the line 2.3 seconds ahead of the pole-sitting #12 Lexus, with the sister #89 Lexus rounding out the podium after holding a late charge from the #57 Mercedes.
PODIUMS IN EACH CLASS
CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS
With three rounds of the IMSA season under our belt, the triple-winning #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport remains firmly in the lead of the championship with 1140 points, 123 points ahead of the sister #6 entry, with the triple-pole-sitting #24 BMW M Team RLL sat third with 875 points.
Winward Racing lead the GTD championship with 994 points, 91 points ahead of the #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus, with Heart of Racing’s #27 Aston Martin in third with 899 points. The race winning #177 AO Racing Porsche slots into eighteenth position, since it was a one-off entry for the Long Beach race, with the lack of the GTD Pro class.
LAGUNA SECA AWAITS
The fourth round of the IMSA championship heads to Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on the 10th - 11th May, with the GTP, GTD Pro and GTD classes set to take part. LMP2 competition will return at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in June, with a GTP and GTD Pro only round to take place on the Streets of Detroit at the end of May.
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