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Team Penske IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Race Report

Track:             Streets of Long Beach
Race:              BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach
Date:              April 13, 2019
 

No. 6 Acura ARX-05 DPi - Dane Cameron/Juan Pablo Montoya
Start: 3rd
Overall Finish: 3rd
Class Finish: 3rd
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 73/73
 
Recap:

• The No. 6 Acura ARX-05 DPi team bounced back from a disappointing start to the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season to score a third-place finish in the BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach on Saturday afternoon.
• On Friday afternoon, 2018 Long Beach pole winner, Juan Pablo Montoya, qualified the Acura in the third position.
• Montoya narrowly avoided a costly accident early in the event when the No. 55 Mazda spun just in front of his Acura, but Montoya was able to weather the chaos and settle into the fourth position.
• Dane Cameron took over the driving duties with one hour left in the 100-minute event and quickly began turning some of the quickest laps on the circuit.
• With 38 minutes remaining, strategist Jon Bouslog called Cameron to pit road for the final time. Upon returning to the track, Cameron followed in the tire tracks of his teammate, Ricky Taylor, as both cars hunted down the leader.
• Unfortunately, Cameron was held up by lapped traffic from the GTLM class and lost ground to Taylor and the eventual race winner, Felipe Albuquerque, to finish the race in the third position.
• The No. 6 team is now fifth in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi standings, 15 points out of the lead.
• The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series will next visit the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on May 5 where Acura team Penske scored a 1-2 finish in 2018.

Quote:
"It's nice to finish third and get a double podium for Acura Team Penske. But, we're a little bit disappointed at the same time because of a couple of little mistakes that perhaps kept us from challenging for the win. We'll definitely take a podium and look forward to Mid-Ohio, where we ran very strong last year. So pretty excited to get back there, at another Acura-sponsored race."
- Dane Cameron
 

No. 7 Acura ARX-05 DPi - Helio Castroneves/Ricky Taylor
Start: 1st
Overall Finish:  2nd
Class Finish: 2nd
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 73/73

Recap: 

• Ricky Taylor and his No. 7 Acura ARX-05 DPi stalked the race-winning car of Felipe Albuquerque over the final laps of the Bubba burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach before running out of laps and finishing in the second position.
• Helio Castroneves set a new track record in winning the second consecutive pole position for Acura Team Penske at Long Beach, his fourth pole in five years at the historic circuit when you include his INDYCAR top qualifying spots from 2015-2017.
• The Brazilian driver led the field for the first the first 15 minutes of the 100-minute race before accidentally hitting the pit road speed limiter coming off the hairpin corner. This caused his car to stumble before getting back up to speed and settling in the third position.
• With one hour remaining, Castroneves gave way to former Long Beach winner, Ricky Taylor, who would take the No. 7 Acura to the end of the race.
• A solid pit cycle on the team's final stop of the day with 36 minutes remaining put Taylor just in front of his teammate, Dane Cameron, when he returned to the track. The duo would run nose-to-tail while chasing down Albuquerque.
• With the leader's tires going away and running low on fuel, Taylor pulled out all the stops to muscle his Acura by, but the driver of the No. 5 machine was able to hold him at bay as Taylor scored the second podium finish of the year for the No. 7 team.
• With the finish, the No. 7 Acura moves up to second in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi standings, just two points out of the lead with the next event coming in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio, site of the first win in Acura Team Penske history by the No. 7 Acura DPi team.

Quote:  
"We had a great No. 7 Acura DPi, great team, and the strategy was perfect. It's just really hard to pass here and the No. 5 car did a great job holding us off. When everybody runs a good race, it's hard to be upset. But being the home race, and the first time Acura sponsored the event, we wanted to win. We had the pole but wishing for one better in the race. But the championship gain is fantastic. We came in here trailing by nine points and closed to within two points.  Still a long way to go, but this makes everything more manageable. We're definitely in the fight."
- Ricky Taylor