IMSA Sportscar Round 3 Repor – Another strong fourth at Long Beach

South Africa’s US IMSA sportscar star Stephen Simpson and his Russo-Canadian teammate Misha Goikhberg continued their strong run in the 2017 WeatherTech series with another strong fourth position aboard their JDC-Miller Oreca Gibson in Saturday’s Long Beach Grand Prix.

The duo, who won their class in this race last year and have finished fourth and fifth in each of the three races so far this season, once again ended up the top privateer entry behind the factory Cadillac, Nissan and Mazda entries to move into a tight third in the championship behind Cadillac teams, the dominant Taylor brothers and Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, but the fraught title chase sees three points splitting the next seven drivers.

“It is always good being in a race car driving fast around the streets of Long Beach!” Stephen admitted. “All things said and done, it was another solid performance by the JDC-Miller Motorsports team, who did a great job as always. “We tried various changes to the car over practice and even made some bold changes going into the race – all of them were positive moves resulting from good decision making.

“We were quick in the race and set the second fastest lap, but ultimately, track position on a busy street track with lots of cars around and traffic to pass saw to it that a strong podium finish was just out of reach. “We are now a close third in the premier IMSA Prototype title race and getting stronger by the race, so we’re already looking forward to the next race at the Circuit of the Americas early in May