Deja vu IMSA race as Porsche Penske claims third overall 2025 win

Despite BMW landing another pole to lead the IMSA field to green, it’s the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport with Felipe Nasr and “Mr. 24” Nick Tandy that is again reaping the rewards of a win — for the third straight race in a row. 

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is the first weekend on the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship schedule to change things up a little, presenting a 100-minute “sprint” race format, after the 36 hours of racing in Florida split between the season opener in Daytona and the 12 hours in Sebring. With a small allotment of tires — four sets to use through practice, qualifying and the weekend — tire and fuel strategy was key while also managing minimum drive times for the two drivers running for each car. 

Maybe it’s not a surprise that Porsche Penske Motorsport has now gone three for three in wins this season, having found the “perfect” formula for any on-track situation, a formula that will now keep the winning #7 and #6 cars at the front. (This could also be key to Roger Penske getting that long-desired Le Mans win in under two months’ time.)

According to Nasr, who brought the #7 across the line under the checkered flag, his race winning approach came down to finding the pace with the car, and keeping it. “I had a moment I think in Turn 8 where I just kind of lost the rear and saved it,” said in the post-race interview. “It was stretchy out there [and it] makes it difficult to keep the car in one line — and once I found my pace, I just kind of stayed there.”

The #7 and #6 Porsche GTP cars started the race behind the pole-sitting #24 BMW M Team RLL and its sister #25 car. The #6 encountered a brief incident with the #93 Acura Meyer Shank w/Curb Agajanian that was brief and didn’t require any action from Race Control. But the #13 AWA Racing Corvette managed to hit the wall of Turn 8 after an awkward dance between it and the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini,  which caused the first full course yellow to be waved. 

It’s here that strategy played well for the #7 and #6, as the majority of the field outside of the #25 BMW and the #60 Acura pitted. This brought both Porsche Penske cars to a healthy lead in the field which they kept for the remainder of the race without so much as a sneeze. 

The rest of the GTP field remained mostly quiet, albeit the #93 Acura involved in the earlier mentioned incident with the #6 Porsche was sent to pit lane for repairs from the incident. The decision to not do those repairs during the full course caution pit sequence forced the car to the back of the field, where it remained, finishing a lap down. And on Lap 40, the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports Porsche car had a misunderstanding with the #27 Heart Of Racing Aston Martin as it tried to take the same racing line into Turn 6. The Aston Martin hit the #85’s side, causing it to spin to the outside of the turn, losing its wing enroute. The incident initiated the somewhat game-changing second (and final) full course yellow.

In GTD, the #177 AO Racing Porsche 911 Rawr “Rexy” takes the class win with Jonny Edgar and Laurens Vanthoor. The GTD field also took advantage of the first full course caution issued, making driver changes and topping off on fuel to make it to the end of the race without any additional stops.

This first pit stop nearly sets the podium for the end of the race. The 177, along with both Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus cars (the #12 and the #89) will keep the lead for the duration of the race and finishing the race in that order. 

The AWA Corvette would undergo repairs during that same caution, that would put it a lap down when it did finally rejoin the field, which it was able to get back with that second full-course yellow. But it wasn’t quiet enough, finishing 13th in the GTD class.

But a race-defining moment worth talking about after this weekend feels like a deja vu incident between a Corvette, and a BMW… this time featuring the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette with Tommy Milner behind the wheel, and the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW with driver Patrick Gallagher. Brief contact going into the hairpin in the last part of the race left Milner with the left rear panel hanging off the DXDT Corvette. Although according to Milner, this was just racing.

Said Milner, “I think he got blocked big time into Turn Eight and I had a nice run on him going into Nine. I stayed close to him through there and then just was peeking around in 10. We were strong there, I could tell already and was in pretty good position to make a difficult pass, no question, in the Hairpin. I thought my braking point was fine. My entry speed was okay. I think, as is the case there, it’s hard to go two-by-two and he turned in because he needs to. I don’t think he did anything wrong really. We just made side-to-side contact and I think we just kind of got hooked together. I’ll have to see video to know for sure, but that’s what my feeling is.”

Race Control issued a “mechanical black flag” to the #36, which forced the car to pit immediately for repairs. What started as a promising race for Milner and teammate Robert Wickens, after a series of mishaps in practice and qualifying this weekend, ended with the duo finishing 15th in the class.

The IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship returns for a shorter race — a 2 hour and 40 minute run time — at Laguna Seca May 9-11.