Long Beach Grand Prix: 3 Up, 3 Down Recap

The 2025 Long Beach Grand Prix is in the books and wouldn't you guess it - the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport again took the overall victory for the third-straight race to open the season.

Not only that, but the No. 6 finished right behind the sister car to hand the PPM team their second-straight 1-2 finish after Sebring.

We'll get to the 3 Up 3 Down recap just below, which if you've been following along to the blog we said we'd ditch for 2025 in favor of different '...of the Day' recap. But, this is my blog and I can do what I want with it, and with just two classes running in the LBGP the 3U3D recap is much easier to put together.

Let's get into it -

GTP 3 Up - 

1. Porsche Penske Motorsport

It's not BOP, it's not cheating (although you can't totally discount that from the Penske organization) and it isn't now ruining racing in IMSA. If you're hating on Porsche totally kicking ass on the track then the problem is solely you. They don't make mistakes, they don't clip the wall and bust out with bodywork damage, they nail their pit timing and strategies, and all the while they'll wait in the weeds before a driver in front of them slips up and then they capitalize on the error. Stretches of motorsport domination have occurred in every racing series on the planet dating back to the days of Bentley winning four Le Mans in a row in the 1920s. Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy are racing at the absolute peak of their talents, and it's up to the likes of Team RLL, Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank to get their shit together and take down the No. 7 (and No. 6 for that matter) before they run away with the championship.

Make that three in a row for Porsche 

2. No. 31 Whelen Cadillac 

It's back-to-back P4 finishes for a car that's really flown under the radar for the first third of the season. The quartet of the Porsches, BMWs, Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank have occupied much of the attention and commentary thus far for different reasons, which has left the No. 31 to quietly find their footing following a P9 finish at Daytona. The car has flipped their lineup from their 2023 title-winning duo of Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims, with the new pairing of Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber certainly possessing what it takes to challenge for race wins. The Whelen team has loads of championship experience going back the last decade plus, and even through what could be chalked up to interesting BOP procedures at the least, the #31 is still managing to fight near the front of the GTP pack, even if it's still far off from the pace of the 963s. 

3. No. 23 Heart of Racing Valkyrie 

It's two-for-two for the Valkyrie in that we've seen the V12 monster cross the finish line at both of their IMSA races so far in 2025. Those that know how things go knew that it would take an act of God for the Valkyrie to challenge for podiums right out of the gate, although we have heard that God is a huge fan of the V12 machine. No, instead all we're looking for is that the car improves little by little each time out on the track, and wouldn't you know it the No. 23 managed to do one better from their Sebring debut to claim P8 on the grid, ahead of both MSR Acura's and the JDC-Miller customer entry 963. The timing sheets show the Valkyrie still multiple seconds behind in terms of average lap times, but in reality having no DNFs through the first two races deserves nothing less than a loooong round of applause.

The Valkyrie is passing their maiden season test with flying colors 

GTP 3 Down - 

1. BMW Team RLL

Allow us to be tough graders here at Motorsport Media Hub because holding teams to high standards is what delivers the kind of championship results that winners strive to achieve (yes if you didn't know by now our commentary has a MASSIVE impact on how teams and drivers actually do when they're racing). Three poles in a row is a great achievement for the No. 24, and the P3 finish was good for their first podium of the season. However, it was another lost opportunity for the M Hybrid V8 and the RLL boys following their front row qualifying lockout, and eventually we're going to need the team to convert their strong quali results into race wins. PPM again rolled with the one-set-of-tires strategy, giving them the 10 extra seconds they needed to be able to jump out in front of the BMWs following the yellow flag pit stop. Looking on the bright side, the points earned from qualifying will almost certainly come into play later in the season when the championship math starts to get tight assuming the Penske Porsche's don't completely run roughshod through Laguna Seca, Detroit and the Glen to make their points lead insurmountable. 

Team RLL will have to capitalize eventually 

2. Wayne Taylor Racing

There's something off about the WTR Cadillac's through the opening rounds of the season. Although both cars improved on their qualifying results at Long Beach, it was still nowhere close to challenging for a podium result at the end of the day. Is it unfavorable treatment with the BOP process, or is the adjustment in switching from the Acura's to the Cadillac's proving to be harder than anticipated by the team, myself and just about everyone else that put in any sort of preseason prediction? In the full-season standings the No. 10 currently sit P7 and the No. 40 believe it or not are in last place, even behind the JDC-Miller 963. The way points are earned in IMSA make it easy for teams to stay in the championship hunt because as long as you start the race you'll earn points in the standings. At the same time, it means that even if the title leaders crash out in front of you, they'll still earn points in their favor as well. The WTR duo don't have much more room for error if they wish to fight for the GTP crown with seven races to go.

3. Meyer Shank Racing 

The No. 93 was the only car to finish a lap down after it needed to come back into the pits to fix rear damage to the bodywork. The No. 60 didn't fare all that much better with a P9 finish going to Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun. For their 'home' race it was one to forget the MSR gang and after a strong P2 finish at Daytona the No. 60 has put in back-to-back results of P10 at Sebring and P9. Not only that, BMW managed to pass the Acura's in the Manufacturers' standings as well, dropping them to P3. It's been a mixed bag in MSR's return to the GTP ranks, but everything will pale in comparison to what Porsche is managing to put together through three races. 

GTD - 3 Up 

1. AO Racing No. 177

It's almost unfair to unleash a driver of Lauren Vanthoor's talents to race against the rest of the GTD field. Rexy stomped into the LBGP for a one-off race outside of the Pro ranks and all he did was go ahead and win the damn race, how about that. Again, things are tailormade for success when you can airdrop in last year's WEC Hypercar champion to pilot your Big Green Dinosaur when his regular drivers are back across the pond taking part in the GT World Challenge Europe season opener. But thus is the luxury of having a program backed by Porsche and a car that has now bagged back-to-back wins in two different GT classes. 

2. Vasser Sullivan

The swansong of the RC F continues and Vasser Sullivan are putting another trademarked campaign of success together in 2025. Back-to-back P2 finishes has the No. 12 Lexus of Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth sitting P2 in the GTD standings with only the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes ahead of them. In a mirrored move by AO Racing, Vasser Sullivan brought in the No. 89 to run a dual effort with Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz who managed to round out the podium with a P3 finish of their own. It remains to be seen what Vasser Sullivan will do for 2026 once the RC F is officially retired from IMSA - will they jump right into the new Lexus GT3, or look to change manufacturers' and end a near decade-long partnership? Regardless of what happens in the future, Vasser Sullivan aren't letting the potential distraction deter them from fighting for another GT title.   

3. Turner Motorsports No. 96 

Give it up to the masters of consistency in GTD. A P5 finish for the Taco Gang gives them finishes of 5/6/5 to begin the season. The Turner BMW is just always there when you look at the timing sheets at any given point, and coming off their P2 season finish last year you just know they're going to hanging around the top of the standings looking to add to their championship cabinet that goes back two decades. They currently sit P5 in the title standings. 

GTD - 3 Down 

1. No. 34 Conquest Racing 

The only car of the 27 original entries not to finish the race. Manny Franco clipped the wall at some point during the opening laps of the race and the damage was severe enough to force a retirement after just 15 laps completed. That's a tough break anyway you slice it. 

2. The Other Two Ferrari's 

Both the No. 021 Tirarsi Competizione and the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari's couldn't manage to fight their way to the front of the pack, even after a massive BOP adjustment that went in their favor coming out of Sebring. IMSA shed 27 kg from the car's overall weight yet we didn't see the huge uptick in performance that would've been expected. Overall to begin the season the Ferrari 296s have been meh to quite bad - the Dragonspeed No. 81 is 6th in the GTD Pro standings but there are five other teams in the bottom section of the GTD standings. The weight reduction was supposed to raise the ability at Long Beach, but there was not much doing still at the end of the day. 

It's been a tough go for all Ferrari's in 2025

3. DXDT Racing No. 36 

The story of Robert Wickens making his IMSA WeatherTech Series debut deserves a ton of attention, yet if you heard Wickens at all through the weekend you would've heard the huge standard that he holds himself to when behind the wheel. The Canadian felt there was more time to be found during qualifying if it wasn't for a dust up with the No. 70 Inception machine, and through the action during the 100 minutes on the streets both Wickens and Tommy Milner were left looking for something better than their P15 finish. The competition is so damn tight in the class that a solid day at the track with just a mishap or two can drop you from a top five or ten result all the way down to 15th out of a 16 car field.

Images © Brandon Badraoui, Michael L. Levitt, Perry Nelson / IMSA / LAT