It’s been a long and frustrating relationship with the Long Beach Grand Prix for world-reknowned racer Gil de Ferran, but victory was finally his as the Acura ARX 02a he shares with partner Simon Pagenaud crossed the finish line first to win the American Le Mans Series race yesterday.  It was the first win for De Ferran Motorsports, which debuted less than a year ago and can now count an overall victory under its belt.

“I came close a few times,” de Ferran said of his attempts to win in Long Beach as an open-wheel driver in the 90’s. “There were some great battles but I always came up a little short.  It feels great to be here and talking to you, finally, as a winner.”

It was Pagenaud who made the winning move for the team, passing leader and polesitter Scott Sharp in the Patron ARX 02a early on in the race.  Sharp and teammate David Brabham had looked stellar all weekend, but couldn’t catch back up to de Ferran as he brought the car home to victory in the P1 class.

The race, though, ended under caution as a Corvette C6-R competing in the GT1 class burst into flames after overshooting Turn 1 near the end of the race.  There was no collision and the driver was not hurt, but it provided an entertaining exit for Corvette Racing.  The team, having competed in the GT1 class only against themselves for several years, will begin to make the move to the crowded GT2 class following this race.

“I think we are the only GT1 because no one wants to race Corvette,” said Olivier Barreta, part of the winning duo that captured GT1 victory when the other car expired.  “Corvette is racing to have competition, and that is why we’re switching to GT2.”

In that GT2 class, the Flying Lizard Motorsports team captured victory with their Porsche GT3-RSR after jumping out to a big lead.  Victory in the P2 class went to the #15 Lowe’s Acura.

The P2 winning car of Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez. Photo by Russell Conroy