Action Express triumphed at Long Beach20th IMSA victory for the team

Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque won the Bubba burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach, the third round of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It’s the 20th victory for Action Express Racing in IMSA competitions and the second this season for their #5 crew.

The AXR duo in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R ended a three-year winning streak for Wayne Taylor Racing’s #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R. Renger van der Zande and Jordan Taylor finished third in the #10 car, behind Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel in the #2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi.

Action Express Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa

Barbosa and Albuquerque won Daytona 24 Hours earlier this year and they are now in the points lead in the Prototype standings of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez put the #77 Mazda prototype in the fourth place. The #6 Team Penske Acura started from pole but Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron ended just fifth at the end, one place ahead of their teammates Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor in the #7 car.

Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner repeated a victory at Long Beach

Seventh win for Corvette at Long Beach

In the GTLM class, Corvette Racing celebrated a victory ahead of two Fords. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner won a race at Long Beach for the second consecutive year in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.

It was Milner’s third Long Beach win in a career and Gavin’s record-extending fifth career victory on the famous Californian street course. It also was the seventh win in 12 Long Beach races for Corvette Racing and the eighth win for Chevrolet, tying with Porsche for most manufacturer victories at the venue.

Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin

Milner took the lead from Earl Bamber in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR shortly after a restart with under 23 minutes remaining as Bamber encountered a right-front suspension failure. After that, Milner cruised to a victory, crossing the finish line 2.157 seconds ahead of Ryan Briscoe in the #67 Ford GT. Briscoe’s co-driver was Richard Westbrook. The #66 Ford crew also climbed on the podium as Joey Hand and Dirk Muller finished third.

After three of eleven races completed, Briscoe/Westbrook lead the championship with 95 points, seven points more than Gavin and Milner.