Bamber and Vanthoor
earned the GTLM
spoils for Porsche44 AUTOSPORT.COM 18 APRIL 2019IMSA SPORTSCAR
LONG BEACH (USA)
13 APRIL
ROUND 3/12Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque
claimed victory in their Action Express
Cadillac DPi-V.R after an enthralling
100-minute race. The Portuguese pair’s
second consecutive win on the Californian
streets came as the result of patience, a
touch of good fortune and a fine effort
from Albuquerque to hold off Ricky Taylor
(Acura Team Penske) in the closing stages.
Taylor’s Brazilian team-mate Helio
Castroneves confirmed his undiminished
skills by securing the pole at a new record
speed of over 99mph. It was the three-time
Indy 500 winner’s fourth pole position
start in five years at Long Beach, following
consecutive IndyCar qualifying successes
between 2015 and 2017.
The drama began early when Jon Bennettclipped the inside wall at Turn 6 and buried
his CORE Nissan into the tyre wall. Next
time around, with race officials electing
not to call a full-course caution, Juan Pablo
Montoya, in the second Penske Acura,
took both Jordan Taylor (Cadillac) and
Jonathan Bomarito (Mazda) by surprise
when he slowed rather more than they had
anticipated at the scene of Bennett’s crash.
Suspecting that Montoya, who had struggled
for pace on the opening lap, might have a
problem, Taylor slipped through into fourth
but earned himself a drivethrough penalty
for passing under yellow flags. At the next
corner, Bomarito –a brilliant start meant he
vaulted to sixth from 11th on the DPi grid
after a qualifying crash which necessitated
a complete rebuild overnight around a new
tub – lost control after all three cars had
been briefly side-by-side in the braking
area. This time the race was neutralised.
A momentary hiccup from Castroneves’s
Acura at the exit of the Turn 11 hairpinPortuguese patience earns double success
prior to the restart instantly cost him two
positions as Felipe Nasr (Action Express
Cadillac) and Tristan Nunez (Mazda)
soon began to edge away from the field.
Nasr was virtually in a class of his
own as he romped to a six-second lead
before another caution was triggered by
Bomarito’s Mazda grinding to a halt.
The ensuing pitstops spelled disaster for
the leading Cadillac, which was released
with a loose wheel. That problem was
compounded by another error when Pipo
Derani brought the car back to the pits,
resulting in a drivethrough penalty. Derani
established a new lap record, 1.5 seconds
faster than Nasr’s previous standard as he
fought back to an unrepresentative sixth.
Team-mate Albuquerque had been
running fifth after relieving Barbosa. A slow
puncture was soon detected, but the team
waited to call him into the pits until he was
sure of reaching the finish without the need
for an additional stop. The strategy worked
to perfection. Some quick laps enabled
Albuquerque to lead after the final stops
were completed, whereupon he managed his
well-worn Michelins – and his negotiation
of GTLM traffic – to perfection, remaining
tantalisingly out of Taylor’s reach.
Montoya/Dane Cameron finished close
behind in third, well clear of Oliver Jarvis- who took over from Nunez at the first
pitstop before fading in the closing stages.
Porsche comfortably controlled
proceedings in GTLM. Nick Tandy
extended the team’s streak of pole positions
to three. But it was team-mates Laurens
Vanthoor and Earl Bamber who ended the
day on top after Bamber found a way past
Patrick Pilet soon after the pitstops.
JEREMY SHAW
Albuquerque
(far left) and
Barbosa doubled
up around Long
Beach streetsLEVITTABBOTT