Porsche wins both classes in the Long Beach street race

4/13/2025

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s two Porsche 963 have once again secured first and second place, this time at the sprint race in Long Beach. In the 100-minute dash on the narrow street circuit in California, Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy notched up victory number three at the third race of the year.

Sharing driving duties in the No. 7 cockpit, the pair from Brazil and Great Britain had already won the endurance races in Daytona and Sebring. In the No. 6 sister car, Matt Campbell from Australia and Mathieu Jaminet from France wrapped up round three of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season in second place. In the GTD class, the AO Racing customer team celebrated victory with the Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Porsche continues its stunning form at the first sprint event of the 2025 season. In sunny conditions and temperatures of around 19 degrees Celsius, the strategists and mechanics from the Porsche Penske Motorsport factory team kept their cool: A quick pitstop for the two Porsche 963 during the first safety car phase decided the outcome. Both 496 kW (674 PS) hybrid prototypes beat their rivals out of the pit lane and swept into positions one and two. The two Porsche 963 held tight to the lead, spearheading the field over the finish line in a one-two win for the second time this season.

‟What a banner day for Porsche! First, our factory team’s victory in the Formula E ePrix in Miami, followed by another one-two finish for Porsche Penske Motorsport in the IMSA series,” said a delighted Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Motorsport. ‟I’m incredibly proud of our drivers, the strong teams, our loyal partners, and everyone at our Weissach R&D centre who contributed to these successes. Congratulations to our customer team AO Racing on winning the GTD class with the 911 GT3 R. The season can continue like this.”

‟Another very successful weekend for Porsche in the USA. We’ve now achieved three wins from three IMSA races,” states Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Racing LMDh. ‟That makes it two one-two results in a row. Yet another perfectly executed race from everyone involved. We didn’t make any mistakes – simply perfect.”

‟The Long Beach Grand Prix celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend – and we added another highlight to the festivities with a one-two finish,” explains Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. ‟The pitwork was decisive in our victory today. Thanks to skilful and quick handling, we got both our cars in the lead, which put us in a position to win. In the nail-biting finale, Felipe and Matt delivered superb performances. We’re performing at our peak right now and want to continue that way.”

Thanks to the third straight victory for Porsche and its second one-two finish since Sebring, the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer has pulled further ahead of the competition at the top of the championship rankings. In the manufacturers’ standings, the gap to its closest rivals now exceeds 100 points. In the drivers’ category, Nasr and Tandy rank first ahead of their fellow Porsche colleagues Campbell and Jaminet.

Bad luck for JDC-Miller MotorSports saw the customer team miss out on a top result in the Long Beach street race. At the halfway mark, fifth place looked possible for the yellow No. 85 Porsche 963, only to have an incident while lapping a slower GT car hamper its charge. Italy’s Gianmaria Bruni and the Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm ultimately finished in tenth place.

Vanthoor continues winning streak in ‘Rexy’ 911 GT3 R

With the GTD-Pro class taking a temporary break in Long Beach, the AO Racing customer squad spontaneously switched to the GTD class with their 911 GT3 R dubbed ‟Rexy”. With great success: The green, dinosaur-liveried fan favourite, driven by Briton Jonny Edgar and factory driver Laurens Vanthoor, triumphed on the streets of the Californian port city. After overall victories with Porsche Penske Motorsport at Daytona and Sebring, the Belgian’s winning streak continued in Long Beach. Wright Motorsports’ identical 416 kW (565 PS) Porsche concluded the race in seventh place.

Laguna Seca Raceway hosts round four of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on 11 May.

Drivers’ comments after the race

Felipe Nasr (Porsche 963 #7): ‟Three races, three wins! Everyone in the team did an incredible job – and was rewarded with another one-two finish. Nick put in an inspired drive early on and stayed out of trouble. For me, it was all about keeping a good eye on the tyres and fuel consumption. Everything ran beautifully. We got the reward we deserved.”

Nick Tandy (Porsche 963 #7): ‟It’s simply unbelievable! We won this race through strategy, good pitwork, and strong driver performances. Ultimately, our priority was to manage the available energy well to the flag. The car was super-fast over the distance – fantastic. I love winning races. It’s been an incredible start to the season so far.”

Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #6): ‟We’re thrilled with another one-two finish for our team. After the outstanding results at Daytona and Sebring, this result is certainly worth its weight in gold. We’ve taken another step forward in the championship. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite able to bring home the big trophy in our number 6 car but there are still more races to come this season.”

Gianmaria Bruni (Porsche 963 #85): ‟Our car was incredibly strong but unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we deserved. Entering turn six, I lapped a GT car. I’d already passed but it nudged my left rear end and sent me into a spin. The rear wing was damaged and had to be replaced. The pit stop for repairs cost us a lot of time. It’s such a shame because we could’ve done much better today.”

Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche 911 GT3 R #177): ‟That was perfect! We’d put a plan in place before the race, which worked brilliantly. We didn’t mount new wheels during the pit stop, but we had the advantage of still-warm tyres on the out lap, which meant we could fend off the competition. We led to the flag. It was huge fun achieving a class win with ‘Rexy’.”

Adam Adelson (Porsche 911 GT3 R #120): ‟Seventh isn’t exactly the result we had hoped for. We made a few minor mistakes during the race, causing us to lose a few positions. At least we got our car over the finish line unscathed and scored a relatively decent amount of championship points. Now we’re looking ahead to the next race at Laguna Seca.”

Race result

GTP class:
1. Nasr/Tandy (BRA/GBR), Porsche 963 #7, 75 laps
2. Campbell/Jaminet (AUS/FRA), Porsche 963 #6, + 3.058 seconds
3. Eng/D. Vanthoor (AUT/BEL), BMW #24, + 12.903 seconds
10. Bruni/Van der Helm (ITA/NLD), Porsche 963 #85, + 56.861 seconds

GTD class:
1. Edgar/L. Vanthoor (GBR/BEL), Porsche 911 GT3 R #177, 71 laps
2. Hawksworth/Thompson (GBR/CAN), Lexus #12, + 2.378 seconds
3. Telitz/Montecalvo (USA/USA), Lexus #89, + 8.056 seconds
7. Adelson/Skeer (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #120, + 25.249 seconds

Full results and championship standings: https://results.imsa.com.