Chip Ganassi Racing won the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach without losing a race.
Saturday’s 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race provided an opportunity for the factory Cadillac Racing hybrid GTP team, led by Ganassi, to redeem itself after a rough debut in 2023, when Sebastien Bourdais arrived at Turn 1 on the first lap with the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R sliding sideways against the outside wall. One year later, Bourdais and teammate Renger van der Zande delivered a magnificent performance, while the Cadillac Racing crew made an equally impressive strategy choice to forego changing tires, saving time in the pits and propelling the No. 01 to first place.
A brutal start to the season for Ganassi’s IMSA squad, which will say goodbye to the Cadillac program at the end of the year, made the Long Beach victory all the more sweet, and with Scott Dixon repeating the feat on Sunday with the execution of a perfect strategy that delivered the IndyCar win with his No. 9 Honda, he reflected on the fantastic results for both of CGR’s teams.
“I’m probably more happy for the 01 guys, to be honest,” Dixon said after winning his 57th IndyCar race. “They have had a poor run. It’s been frustrating working with that crew. Despite the fact that they are a wonderful group of people, I do not believe they deserved the outcomes they have received. Daytona was a bummer. I believe it was ours to lose, which we did through no fault of our own. Sebring couldn’t be worse. Leading for the bulk of the race, but lost with four minutes to go. Being a member of that team for a long time and seeing the ups and downs, as well as the grief, was a tremendous deal. It was great to see how the strategy worked out.”
Just like Dixon employed tremendous fuel conservation to defeat the pack on Sunday, running the same pair of Michelin tires for the entire IMSA race was a brave decision.
“It was a little aggressive, but they got it done,” Dixon went on to say. “Hopefully that gets them a roll on, because they certainly deserve it. Chip is obviously the team owner, but the others on that team have worked extremely hard. It’s wonderful to see people celebrating.”
