SIMPSON DOMINATES AT LONG BEACH

SA’s Stephen Simpson & Canadian teammate Goikhberg take a flag-to-flag win in California

South African Stephen Simpson and Canadian Misha Goikhberg drove their #85 Hi-Tide Red Line JDC Miller Motorsports ORECA FLM09 Chevrolet to a dominant victory on the Long Beach Prototype Challenge Grand Prix in California Saturday afternoon.

The win consolidates the duo’s lead at the top of the IMSA Prototype Challenge Championship following their Daytona 24-hour victory and a fighting fourth in the Sebring 12-hour and Simpson was delighted by the result. “We had a great day at Long Beach!” the Indianapolis-based Capetonian admitted. “We started from pole position and lead every lap and that makes this victory all that much sweeter.

“It feels great to win at Long Beach – this is such a historic race track in North American motorsport and I am very proud with our achievement today. “The JDC Miller Motorsports team did an outstanding job and credit goes to everyone for today’s result — we improved the car as the weekend went on and we had good pace in the race, which allowed us to control it from the front”

“To have won two out of the first three races of the year is good reward for all the hard work we have put in and I am very happy to have achieved this result with this great team of people.”

Simpson, Goikhberg and the JDC Miller squad now head to the second of IMSA Prototype Challenge’s two back-to back Californian rounds at the twisty, challenging and quick Laguna Seca for the fourth round of the championship on 30 April.