Porsche makes it three IMSA wins in a row after Long Beach victory

The Long Beach street circuit hosted the third round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, where Porsche maintained its season dominance. Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy drove their Porsche 963 No. 7 to first place after a 100-minute race in California, marking three consecutive victories for Porsche Penske Motorsport.

The key to their success was an early and perfectly executed pit stop that allowed them to overtake the BMW M Hybrid V8 No. 24, which despite securing pole position, continues its unfortunate streak of being unable to convert its privileged starting positions into victories this season.

This third consecutive victory in 2025 for Nasr and Tandy places them in a special group within the championship. According to records, the last time an IMSA prototype team won the first three races of a season was in 2017, when the Taylor brothers achieved five consecutive victories for Wayne Taylor Racing.

Strategy proves effective in both categories

The 1-2 finish for Porsche Penske Motorsport was completed by the Porsche 963 No. 6 of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell in second position. This marks the second consecutive time the German team has secured both top podium spots.

BMW M Team RLL, despite its recent qualifying successes including at Long Beach with Dries Vanthoor, continues to struggle converting qualifying speed into race wins. The BMW M Hybrid V8 No. 24 of Vanthoor and Philipp Eng finished third, their first GTP podium of the year, but far from the victory their qualifying performance suggested.

In the GTD category, AO Racing also shone with its Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) No. 177, driven by Jonny Edgar and Laurens Vanthoor. The latter, normally part of the winning GTP team, switched cars for this race and continued his personal winning streak.

Statistics support Porsche's performance

Race data confirms Porsche's weekend dominance: their cars led for 70 of the 75 GTP laps, with remarkable consistency in lap times. The Porsche No. 7 set its fastest lap on lap 64 with a time of 1:12.708, beating the No. 6 by just 4 thousandths of a second.

In GTD, AO Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 R, nicknamed "Rexy", claimed its fifth category victory (first in GTD after four in GTD PRO). Their decision to pit one lap later than their direct competitors proved crucial in overtaking the Lexus entries from Vasser Sullivan Racing.

Vasser Sullivan Racing comes close to victory

The Vasser Sullivan Racing team nearly achieved its third consecutive Long Beach victory but had to settle for second and third in GTD. The No. 12 of Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth finished 2.378 seconds behind the winner, while the No. 89 of Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo completed the podium 5.678 seconds back.

Troubled debut for Wickens

The participation of driver Robert Wickens, competing with an adapted Bosch electronic braking system in his Corvette Z06 GT3.R No. 36, didn't end as hoped. Despite an 18.7-second driver change with Tommy Milner and a four-position comeback, an incident at Turn 11 resulted in a mechanical black flag.

The championship will continue from May 9-11 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where Porsche will look to maintain its momentum and BMW will attempt to finally convert its speed into victories.

Long Beach Final Results