In the concrete canyons of Long Beach, Cadillac Racing’s Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken fought their way through a tightly packed GTP Pro field to claim a hard-earned fourth-place finish at the IMSA Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R, run by Cadillac Racing, took the green flag from seventh on the grid with Great Britain’s Jack Aitken at the wheel after qualifying with a best lap of 1:12.512.
The GTP Pro field was led by Belgium’s Dries Vanthoor, who put the No. 24 BMW on pole with a blistering 1:11.539, backed by co-driver Philipp Eng.
Behind them, the grid was stacked with world-class talent. South Africa’s Sheldon van der Linde and Germany’s Marco Wittmann started second, with Nick Tandy (GBR) and Felipe Nasr (BRA) in third for Porsche Penske Motorsport.
With 27 cars on track and a 1-hour 40-minute time-certain race ahead, Aitken kept the Cadillac clean through the chaotic early stages, holding firm in seventh. Twenty minutes in, a clash in the GTD class brought out the first full-course yellow—Orey Fidani met the wall at Turn 8 after contact with Misha Goikhberg, scattering the GT field.
Cadillac Racing seized the opportunity to pit, swapping Aitken for Bamber and executing a clean stop that allowed the Kiwi to rejoin in seventh. As pit strategies played out, Bamber cycled up to fourth before the green flag flew again with 1 hour and 8 minutes remaining.
By Lap 37, Nasr had taken command of the race with teammate Matt Campbell close behind in second, followed by Eng in third. Bamber sat fourth, shadowing the BMW M Team driver and holding a six-second advantage over Porsche’s Gianmaria Bruni.
But the action was far from over.
With 46 minutes to go, a second full-course yellow flew after Bruni was tipped into the barriers at Turn 6 by GTD runner Casper Stevenson in the Aston Martin. The contact left debris strewn across the circuit, including Bruni’s rear wing. Though the Italian managed to limp the wounded Porsche 963 back to the pits and rejoin, he fell to tenth but still on the lead lap.
With 35 minutes left, the restart saw a four-car train at the front of the GTP Pro class, separated by just 2.5 seconds. Nasr maintained a steady gap while Bamber pressured Eng to get the final podium spot. But despite the Kiwi’s relentless pursuit, the order held firm in the closing laps.
When the checkered flag dropped, Nasr delivered victory for Porsche Penske Motorsport, followed closely by Campbell. Eng secured third for BMW, with Bamber and Wittmann completing the top five.
A great team result, great work in the pitlane,” Earl Bamber explained.
“Whenever you start here seventh and finish fourth, with a clean car or not a mark on it, I think that’s a pretty good day.”
In the GTD class, Laurens Vanthoor piloted his Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) to a class win ahead of Jack Hawksworth, Aaron Telitz, Philip Ellis, and Robby Foley.
With Long Beach in the rear-view mirror, Bamber now heads back across the Atlantic to rejoin the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he’ll team up with Sébastien Bourdais and Jenson Button for the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry at Imola this coming weekend.
They’ll once again pilot the Cadillac V-Series.R in a 36-car field split between the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories.
Header Image: IMSA
