There is a lot of nostalgia at Long Beach because Formula One raced on those streets, and it’s the oldest existing street circuit in the U.S. The fan base is huge, and they are so passionate about IndyCars and sports cars there. All of that energy gives you an extra boost.
We got started on the right foot for the IMSA WeatherTech race on Saturday. The team has been working so hard since Sebring, and the progress in the development of the car was apparent from the drop of the green flag in the first session.
Qualifying didn’t go exactly how we wanted. Unfortunately for me, I got held up for a few laps in qualifying by a slower prototype, which really cost me because it was when the tires were at their prime. We would have our work cut out for us in the race. Kudos to our teammates for qualifying third!
Passing for 5th into Turn 1.
Long Beach is an extremely tight, difficult place to pass – hence my issue in qualifying – so we knew it was going to be a challenge. We felt good going into the race, though, and we had a solid car under us. In the opening two laps I got around two cars for position and was up in the top five. Having driven Long Beach for a few years in the prototype, I knew that getting the tires up to temperature can be difficult. You have to try to take advantage of others who are on cold tires so you can make passes for position.
As the race progressed, our Mazda was dialed in and I was able to overtake a couple of the Cadillacs to get into the top three, so Mazda was running second and third. But around the next bend, at the hairpin, there was a stopped Ford GT, which became a roadblock as traffic started to pile up behind it. I had to take evasive maneuvers and go into reverse before I could get clear of the mess.
That created a full course yellow, so we took the opportunity to do our service for tires, fuel and driver change. Unfortunately, we had an issue during the pit stop with the air jack system, which resulted in the right rear tire not being tightened fully. We lost valuable time fixing it, and we went a lap down. Since it was such a short race, we didn’t have the opportunity to make our lap back, and we finished in sixth place. Meanwhile, our teammates had a smooth race and brought home the first podium finish for the RT24-P! Long Beach is the home race since Mazda headquarters is just 30 miles away in Irvine, so it was a huge day for the team.
On Monday we took the cars to the Mazda R&D center, not only to prep the cars but also to present the trophy and do a Q&A for the R&D staff. This was a neat opportunity because the designers of the car were on hand. They had worked with our partners at Multimatic to design the bodywork, and you could feel the pride in the room from both the race team and the Mazda family. We know we’re not done because we have two more steps of that podium to climb. Next up is Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and we will be doing testing leading up to that.
The famed fountain corner, Turn 2.
Passing for 3rd at the hairpin, Turn 11.
The Mazda R&D center presentation.