IMSA at Long Beach 4/20/24

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The next chapter in the Chevy Corvette Z06 GT3.R program gets under way this weekend with the first street race for the first-year racecar in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and AWA are set for their first appearance at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the third round of this year’s GT Daytona (GTD) championship. The 100-minute race features a 27-car grid, including 17 production-based GT entries, including the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

The AWA duo is coming off a ninth-place class finish in last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac.
This time around it’s an all-out sprint race for the No. 13 Corvette with close-quarters racing the norm between the concrete barriers along the 1.968-mile, 11-turn Long Beach street circuit.
Chevy and the Corvette brand has been a fixture at Long Beach since the Corvette Racing program first visited Long Beach in 2007. In 15 visits, Corvette GT cars have captured eight victories, with two additional in the Corvette Daytona Prototype era. Combined with results from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Chevy boasts a total of 22 victories in the Grand Prix’s two premier events. Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and AWA are set for their first appearance at the Grand

Prix of Long Beach, the third round of this year’s GT Daytona (GTD) championship. The 100-minute race features a 27-car grid, including 17 production-based GT entries, including the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
The Grand Prix of Long Beach for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is scheduled for 4:35 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 20. The race will air live on the USA Network starting at 4:30 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage also on Peacock. IMSA Radio will air Friday’s 5 p.m. ET qualifying and the race at IMSA.com with Sirius 211, XM 206, SiriusXM Online 996 also providing radio coverage of the race.

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“It’s a privilege to be able to be a part of such a historic event. This is a very challenging circuit that requires a lot of focus since the margin of error is so small, but we made some solid progress at Sebring. We’re taking steps in the right direction and doing everything we can to be more and more competitive as the season goes on. The team is working hard as always to give us a great car, and I believe we have some good opportunities to do well in this round.”

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Long Beach will be an exciting new challenge for Orey and me, as we have never been there before.
I’VE watched the race many times over the years and always wanted to race there, I’m glad the wait is finally over!

“Our pace and performance across the week at Sebring gave us a good boost of confidence, and I’ve been told that Long Beach has many similar characteristics, so despite the fact that this is a new circuit for us, and we have some gaps in knowledge to fill
, I have no doubt that AWA and Corvette will give us a car capable of getting a strong result.”

2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Points

GTD Drivers Standings
1. Indy Dontje/Philip Ellis/Russell Ward – 725
2. Antonio Fuoco/Giorgio Sernagiotto/Roberto Lacorte – 589
3. Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer/Jan Heylen – 570
4. Albert Costa Balboa/Cedric Sbirrazzuoli/Manny Franco – 545
5. Francois Heriau/Miguel Molina/Simon Mann – 485
19. Lars Kern/Matthew Bell/Orey Fidani – 347

GTD Teams Standings
1. No. 57 Windward Racing – 725
2. No. 47 Cetilar Racing – 589
3. No. 120 Wright Motorsports – 570
4. No. 34 Conquest Racing – 545
5. No. 21 AF Corse – 485
18. No. 13 AWA – 347

GTD Manufacturers Standings
1. Mercedes-AMG – 751
2. Porsche – 634
3. Lamborghini – 616
4. McLaren – 550
5. Lexus – 527
7. Chevrolet – 505

 

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Matthew Bell put the No. 13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R on top of the GTD runners, where the top 15 cars in the 17-car field were within a second.
Bell’s 1m18.911s (89.78mph) was 0.144s better than Parker Thompson in the No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Thompson this weekend is partnered with Ben Barnicoat as the team doubles its chances in GTD to good effect so far Jack Hawksworth was fourth in the No. 12 Lexus.

GTD was led by the No. 13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Matt Bell, who laid down a 1:18.911 prior to ending up in the Turn 5 barriers with less than three minutes to go.
The incident, however, did not result in a red flag.

Parker Thomson in the No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 ended up second quickest in class, ahead of the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Kyle Marcelli in third.
The first red flag came for Brendan Iribe, who nosed his No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo into the barriers with minimal damage with 36 minutes to go.
Mikael Grenier, meanwhile, brought out a second red with 22 minutes left on the clock, when the Canadian slammed into the Turn 8 wall in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Grenier’s Mercedes-AMG sustained suspected steering damage, requiring a tow to the paddock. The session resumed with less than 12 minutes remaining.

Practice 2 gets underway at 12:50 p.m. PDT (3:50 p.m. EDT).

 

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Second Practice completed
Canada team finished in 4th place out of 17 cars in this class

Qualify is at 8 PM ET tonight

As you see, GM is not even running their 2 Z06s for this IMSA race

 

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Piss poor qualifying by this Canada team as out of 17 cars in class,
their Z06 GT3.R ended in last place and where they will be at the start of this race

 

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The lone ZO6 GT3.R in GTD class crossed the finish line in sixth place out of 17 cars in the class

Renger van der Zande held off Jack Aitken to lead a Cadillac 1-2 in Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, in a strategic victory for Chip Ganassi Racing.
The Dutchman and co-driver Sebastien Bourdais scored their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win in nearly a year, after completing the 100-minute race on a single set of Michelin tires.

While the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani led from pole, a two-tire change for the Whelen Engineering-sponsored GTP entry and no new Michelins for the No. 01 Cadillac saw van der Zande vault into the lead.

Van der Zande crossed the line 0.564 seconds ahead of Jack Aitken, who took over from Derani in the pit stop exchange.
It marked the CGR duo’s first WeatherTech Championship win since WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last year.

The No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron completed the GTP class podium after the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 ran into Nasr’s teammate Jaminet, causing a pileup in the hairpin with 22 minutes to go.
While Jaminet got back going, the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi, who had been running fifth, sustained significant damage as he limped his car back to pit lane.

De Phillippi then brought out the race’s third full course yellow after stuffing his BMW into the Turn 6 barriers, which set up an eight-minute shootout to the finish.
The No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni and Mike Rockenfeller completed the top-five, followed by the No. 24 BMW of Jesse Krohn and Philipp Eng in sixth.

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti had a race to forget, with the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 finishing eighth after Ricky Taylor was served a drive-through for contact with the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Richard Westbrook, who would finish seventh.

It came following the second restart after a race-ending accident for the No. 40 Acura of Louis Deletraz, who slammed into the Turn 1 wall to bring out a yellow.
The first yellow came at the 11-minute mark for a two-car accident involving the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Brendan Iribe and Adam Adelson’s No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, which sustained heavy right-front damage.

GTD class honors went to the No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson and Ben Barnicoat, who finished ahead of Robby Foley and Mike Skeen in the late-race restart.
Barnicoat came home 1.449 seconds ahead of Foley’s No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 that he shared with Patrick Gallagher, followed by Skeen and Mikael Grenier’s No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

After starting on the front row, the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo dropped out of contention early after receiving a drive-through penalty for changing lanes at the start.

It was compounded by a brush with the wall by co-driver Jack Hawksworth later in the running.

 

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AWA’s Orey Fidani and Matt Bell continued their upward momentum in the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R with their best finish of the season a sixth-place GT Daytona (GTD) finish Saturday in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The pairing advanced from 15th in class at the start of the third round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to knocking on the door of a top-five finish in a frantic and fraught 100-minute race around the Long Beach Street Circuit the team’s first trip to the historic California circuit.
The gain of nine positions put a bow on a strong weekend for the AWA duo with Bell setting the fastest GTD time in Friday’s opening practice the first for the first-year AWA and Corvette partnership.

Fidani began Saturday 15th in class and drove the first 40 minutes for his first career action at Long Beach. He gained a position at the start and two more by the race’s first full-course yellow with just 12 minutes running.
Despite falling back a couple of spots, Fidani’s lap times continued to drop once the race went green again.

The Corvette picked up another spot on the restart, and Fidani made AWA’s first pit stop just shy of the 40-minute mark.
Bell rejoined in 14th and was immediately in the thick of a fight. He was hit from behind on his out-lap but managed to carry on and advance to 11th only a couple of laps later.

Heads-up driving by Bell got the AWA Corvette firmly into the top-10 as the final turn on the Long Beach circuit was blocked by traffic and stalled cars. He came to a stop momentarily but drove through the chaos and into ninth place.
Bell picked up three more spots to sixth before the race’s third and final full-course yellow with 15 minutes remaining bunched up the GTD field.

The lead pack of six cars were single-file during the final eight minutes with the Corvette on the tail of the top-five. Bell and the Z06 GT3.R made solid gains through the corners and twisty parts of the circuit, which is notoriously difficult to make a pass. Nevertheless, the end result of sixth adds to the momentum heading into the team’s next race.

AWA and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program including the two GTD PRO entries from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports will compete next in the Motul Course de Monterey from WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, May 12.

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“The race went really well based from where we started. The car was mega and easy to drive. We got up to sixth, and we’ll take that. I’m really happy with the finish from where we started from.”

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I’m really happy with that result. Our first effort at Long Beach as a team and pulling a top-six out of the bag is pretty strong. It was a great effort by the team. We executed the pit stop really well and jumped some cars.
Unfortunately, on cold tires on the out-lap, I gave a couple of those up.
There was some rough racing from competitors but fair in the end, and I managed to get them back later on.
The Corvette was absolutely glued to the track.

I think we were the best car around the corners. We were lacking just a little bit of straight-line speed to challenge those top-five guys. But I’m really proud of the effort this week. It’s definitely our cleanest and best week in the AWA Corvette era.
A big thanks to the team, big thanks to Corvette, General Motors and Pratt Miller. We’ll keep rolling into Laguna Seca.”