The Pirelli World Challenge, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, once again added quality to what was already an excellent weekend of racing. This time, a packed grid of GT and Touring cars took to the Streets of Long Beach, the site of legendary racing since 1975.
Neither Albert von Thurn und Taxis or Tomas Enge, the Czech veteran that swept the opening round at St. Petersburg last month, returned to action at Long Beach due to commitments with the Blancpain Endurance Series in Monza. This left the door wide open for Cadillac domination at the “Roar by the Shore”.
A weekend of glorious weather was heralded by close action under sunny skies in Friday afternoon’s practice session, which saw the #3 Cadillac CTS-V R of Johnny O’Connell post a screen topping 1:21.282, followed closely by Anthony Lazzaro, who pedalled his #61 R. Ferri Motorsports Ferrari 458 GT3 to a 1:21.463, a well-deserved second in the session.
Mike Skeen’s Hawk Performance Audi R8 ran third in class, while Nick Mancuso topped GT-A followed by Henrik Hedman and Bret Curtis. Lawson Aschenbach led 18-year-old Texan Alec Udell and Swedish veteran Nic Jonsson in GTS.
The weekend would just keep getting better for “Johnny O”. Bouncing back from an accident that saw him taken out of contention early in the opening round at St. Petersburg, the four-time Le Mans class winner would take pole position the following day with a 1:20.386 over teammate and St. Petersburg runner-up Andy Pilgrim.
“Qualifying is about being smart; knowing when to push and when to attack,” said O’Connell after qualifying on Saturday. “We know what laps our tires are at their best. It was very fortunate my tires were the best during my clear lap. We are definitely, right now, benefiting from guys with new equipment who don’t know their sweet spot. We have four years of knowledge.”
Anthony Lazzaro, Alex Figge, and the young Andrew Palmer would round out the top five starting spots in GT, all eclipsing the previous track record.
Once again, Chicagoan Nick Mancuso was the best of the GT-A drivers, posting a 1:21.329, putting him seventh on the grid overall. Jack Roush Jr took GTS pole to the tune of 1:27.325, beating out Nic Jonsson in the first of the Kia Optimas and Lawson Aschenbach in the Blackdog Speed Shop Camaro.
GT/GT-A Race
An exciting and incident packed IndyCar Series event and some bonkers drifting left large crowds enthusiastic for the second round of the Pirelli World Challenge, a suitable closer to a fantastic Sunday afternoon. It was an all-Cadillac front row and, unlike in St. Petersburg, the start caught very few out and O’Connell lead commandingly into the first corner.
There was action further back, but no one actually made contact in what was a surprisingly clean first turn. However, it all went pear-shaped in turn 2, the entrance to the famous fountain corner, when GTS contender Jack Baldwin made heavy contact with the #52 Always Evolving Racing Mustang of David Sterckx.
After a 15-minute caution period, the race got back under way and O’Connell simply didn’t look back. The two Cadillacs stretched their lead until they encountered some difficult GTS backmarkers. Less-than-ideal mixed class traffic for the two Cadillac drivers of O’Connell and Pilgrim lead to a mid-race charge by third-placed Anthony Lazzaro. Close action between Alex Figge and Tim Bergmeister for eighth was briefly punctuated by a tire failure on Robert Thorne’s K-PAX Racing McLaren, prematurely ending the Coloradan’s day but thankfully not generating another caution.
Ultimately, O’Connell cruised to victory after leading all 32 laps of the 50-minute race. Teammate Andy Pilgrim held off a hard-charging Anthony Lazzaro for second, while Andrew Palmer, only 19 years old, lead an Audi brigade of James Sofronas and Mike Skeen, who took fifth and sixth. Trouble in the closing minutes of the race for Nick Mancuso led to a somewhat surprising GT-A win for Michael Mills in the #41 EFFORT Racing Porsche GT3R. Henrik Hedman and Jeff Courtney took second and third in class.
“You want to hit up the tracks you know that will favor us,” O’Connell commented after the race. “If you make no mistakes, good things happen. We didn’t make any mistakes all weekend.”
In fact, the Cadillac team was perhaps even more untouchable than Reiter Engineering at St. Petersburg, as O’Connell lead every session.
“Honestly, it’s going to be a long season climbing back from what happened at St. Pete,” he continued. “We came away with barely any points there. We have to score points, and we got maximum points. Getting so close last year I was super motivated to get the win today.”
GTS Race
Almost as soon as the lights went to green, Nic Jonsson made quick work of polesitter Jack Roush Jr in the Cadillac CTS-V Move of the Race. The action was interrupted by a major incident between David Sterckx and Jack Baldwin, spawning a lengthy caution just a few moments into the race.
Jonsson began where he left off at the restart and never looked back. Despite pressure from the second-placed #33 Capaldi Racing Mustang of Tony Buffomante, the Swedish-American ace took his Kia Optima to victory lane. Canadian Mark Wilkins took the other Kia Optima to third in class.
“It was a bit bunched up off the start and I took an outside line,” Jonsson said. “The 15 minutes of yellow slowed the flow but we got going again. We started racing and I was fortunate to maintain it through the rest of the race. It’s been a long run of tough luck; we had pace all the time, I just couldn’t finish it.”
Polesitter Roush Jr finished in fourth, followed by another Mustang in Alec Udell, who placed fifth. After losing multiple positions on the opening lap, Andy Lee overtook Tony Gaples for ninth, for which the Coloradan was rewarded the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race award. Lee gained more positions to finish seventh in GTS.
Despite a perfect weekend for O’Connell, Pilgrim leads the GT standings 224-188 over his teammate, benefiting from two consecutive second-placed finishes. Anthony Lazzaro is in third with 181, while fourth-placed Andrew Palmer trails by only one point with 180. In eleventh, Nick Mancuso is the highest GT-A driver in the standings with 121 points on the board.
In GTS, race winner Jonsson leads Buffomante 220-195, followed by Andy Lee in third (187 points) and Jack Roush Jr in fourth (173 points).
The Pirelli World Challenge will roar into its third round of the season at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, a circuit new to World Challenge drivers. Practice kicks off at 8:00 PM (GMT) on April 24 and pre-race festivities begin at 8:45 PM on April 27 after the IndyCar feature event.
Beck Duggleby
