Since moving to P1 this year, they had been plagued by bad luck, not finishing at Sebring or St, Pete.
Finally, the spell has been broken: Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud drove their de Ferran Racing P1 Acura ARX-2a to victory on the streets of Long Beach, leading the David Brabham/Scott Sharp Highcroft Patrón P1 Acura and the P2 Lowes/Fernandez Acura ARX-01b of Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz to an all-Acura podium.
“For us as a team, we’ve been existence for less than a year,” de Ferran said. “To be here at the top of the podium is a fantastic accomplishment for a team like ours.”
The victory was not without controversy. The runner-up Patrón Highcroft P1 Acura of Scott Sharp and David Brabham lost the lead on the first corner, but recaptured it after 28 minutes of racing and stayed ahead until their driver change pit stop, an hour into the race. While the car was in the pits, an IMSA official mistakenly penalized the car twenty seconds for improper pit crew safety equipment, giving the lead—and eventually the race—to the De Ferran Acura.
Another official then admitted that the first official had erred, the pit crew gear was to specification, and the penalty had been wrongly assessed.
“On our first pit stop the IMSA official incorrectly assessed a 20-second penalty for us for our fire extinguisher guy wearing the wrong type of helmet,” said team owner Duncan Dayton. “We were subsequently told that we shouldn’t have received the penalty. We had no choice but to protest the decision and it is pending review.”
David Brabham closed the gap to six seconds by the end of the race, but a full-course caution prevented a final showdown, which, given the gap, probably wouldn’t have happened anyway.
