Long Beach IMSA winners and losers

The victory looked set to be BMW's, but it was once again Porsche Penske Motorsport that triumphed in Long Beach, stretching its unbeaten 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship run to three out of three.

Porsche even scored a double by also triumphing in GTD thanks to AO Racing's 'Rexy' dinosaur-liveried 911 GT3 R.

Winner - Porsche Penske Motorsport

What can we say? Our analysis will be the same as after the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours.

This year, in IMSA, Porsche Penske Motorsport is in a league of its own. And there is no question of Balance of Performance here (see BMW below). Drivers, strategy, mechanics, 'Captain' Roger Penske's team is simply too strong... and the others are clearly not strong enough.

At the start of the race, it was impossible to catch the two front row starting BMWs. But the awaited interruption by the first safety car, 21 minutes after the start, changed everything.

Dries Vanthoor (BMW #24) rushed into the pitlane, as did the two Porsche 963s and Nick Yelloly (Acura ARX-06 #93), who had managed to squeeze between the two factory 963s to take fourth at the first corner. Having waited two more laps to pit, the #25 BMW and the #60 Acura lost out big time.

In addition to being able to take advantage of the last pitstop slot reserved for the championship leader, Penske was much quicker than its direct rivals to refuel and change drivers. Porsche #7 spent 59.3 seconds in the pitlane and #6 spent 1m00.3s for #6 - compared to 1m04.0s for BMW #24.

In a one-stop race, and given how difficult it is to overtake between the walls of Long Beach, the hardest part was done.

Felipe Nasr crossed the finish line with a lead of 3.0s over the #6 Porsche of Matt Campbell/Mathieu Jaminet and 12.9 seconds over the #24 BMW. It was the third win in three races for the #7 963 and Nasr and Nick Tandy, while Porsche took a third double podium and a second consecutive 1-2 finish. That's what you call a lesson...

Loser - BMW M Team RLL

As at Daytona and Sebring, the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 took pole position thanks to Dries Vanthoor. But the Belgian had reason to be cautious at the end of qualifying, given the scenario of the first two races.

"It's the third time, it shows the car is fast, but now we want more," he said on Friday night.

"We didn't capitalise yet and bring a victory home. We need to make sure we do a clean race – myself and as a team – and capitalise on those pole positions.

"You can be on pole position for every race, but if you don't get the win, nobody is really going to be happy."

And the scenario repeated itself once again. The BMW was undoubtedly the fastest car this weekend, finishing 1-2 in both free practice sessions and qualifying. It must be said that it was well helped by a very advantageous BoP, being 19kg lighter than the Porsche 963 while being 19kW more powerful. But once again, it wasn't enough. The cause: a pitstop of 1m05s! The M Hybrid V8 #24 lost five seconds to the Porsche 963 #7. The #25's chances flew away when it stopped two laps later.

At this level, it is unforgivable for the BMW M Team RLL. In view of the performance of the M Hybrid V8 since the Daytona 24 Hours, it is completely beyond understanding that it has only one podium this season.

Winner - Robert Wickens

With the fastest GTD time in the second free practice session and fifth in qualifying before his time was disallowed as the result of causing a red flag in the afternoon practice session, Robert Wickens made a flawless start to his return to the series.

For his first race in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R and his first IMSA race since 2017, the Canadian was brilliant. He could have hoped to finish in the top five, but his team-mate Tommy Milner was black-flagged to allow his DXDT Racing team to change the rear unit of his car, which was damaged in a collision.

Wickens' return could be game-changing for disabled drivers

Read more

"It was a lot of fun," Wickens said. "I feel like we had more pace than what we showed in qualifying and unfortunately we kind of paid the price.

"I feel like if we had clear track, I had had more in it. But I just made sure we kept the car in one piece so Tommy could have a go.

"I worked so hard to get to this through this level. Hopefully now I can prove that I belong and then I can stay here."

"Honestly, I even surprised myself with the pace that I had in FP2 and our potential pace that we could have had in quali and even in the race," he added. "I felt super comfortable and I felt like I was always attacking more than defending, although I didn't do a whole lot of attacking. But I think that's just the nature of this track."

Corvette #36, forced to make an extra pitstop, finished 15th out of 16 in class. But no matter, Wickens will remain one of the great stars of the 50th anniversary of the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend.

Loser - Acura Meyer Shank Racing

On the podium at the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours, Acura Meyer Shank Racing did not manage to make it three out of three. Yelloly got off to an excellent start in the ARX-06 #93, managing to steal fourth place from the Porsche 963 #6. But after that, it got complicated.

Renger van der Zande was still in fourth place after the first full course yellow, but he received a black flag to repair a left rear damage. This caused him to lose a lap compared to the competition.

"I would have liked them to give that message before the pitstops so that we would have had a chance to stay in the race," van der Zande said. "At that point we were completely out of the race.

“Right now the speed difference is a bit too big and hopefully that will change in the future."

The # 60 spent 1m06s in the pitlane. Enough to make it fall in the rankings. Ninth and 11th is clearly not the result Acura had come for at an event it is title sponsor of. 

Winner - AO Racing

This third round of the season was reserved for just the GTP and GTD categories. But AO Racing's boss PJ Hyett wanted ‘Rexy’ - usually a GTD Pro car - to attend the 50th anniversary of the Long Beach GP and decided to enter it in GTD for Laurens Vanthoor and Jonny Edgar. And after winning the Sebring 12 Hours in GTD Pro, his Porsche 911 GT3 R won once again.

However, as in GTP, Porsche was not the favourite. In GTD that was the Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3s, which won last year and started from pole position. And here too, it was a lightning stop (but not under full course yellow) that allowed the #177 Porsche 911 GT3 to take the lead.

"I love being at Long Beach, I love the cars AO has, and my daughter was happy about it," Laurens Vanthoor said. “So I said, I'll do this race. Three wins in a row, but this one in a different car."

The heavy favourite, the Vasser Sullivan team will console itself with a double podium, but this is clearly not the result it was hoping for before the start, given the potential of its car.

Loser - Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing

Last year's winner, Cadillac has never played any role at all in Long Beach.

The reasons can be explained by a BoP that is undoubtedly less favourable, but not only that. Action Express saved the honour of the American brand by finishing fourth after starting seventh thanks to a 58.1s pitstop, the fastest of the field.

"A great team result, great work in the pitlane," Earl Bamber explained. "Whenever you start here seventh and finish fourth, with a clean car or not a mark on it, I think that's a pretty good day."

For Wayne Taylor Racing, it was more complicated. A team of this calibre cannot be satisfied with sixth and seventh places. After three races, the team has not yet managed to do better than fifth, and the discovery process with the V-Series is not a sufficient excuse to explain this.

"We were not strong in qualifying and in the race we moved up but based on the mistakes of the other guys," admitted Filipe Albuquerque. "P6 is a surviving result for us. Not really happy about the performance. On our side, we just need to learn the car and be more competitive."

Wayne Taylor Racing has only two races left to get back into shape before taking part in the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time, where it does not want to risk a major disappointment.