“Rexy” Answers the Long Beach GT Challenge

For the past couple of years, no IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) or GTD PRO class team or manufacturer has had an answer for Vasser Sullivan Racing and Lexus on the streets of Long Beach. Although that was (arguably) again the story in the 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, one team and manufacturer finally found the answer to Vasser Sullivan and Lexus in the pits. That would be AO Racing and Porsche as “Rexy” (aka the No. 177 Porsche 911 GT3 R) got the better of the pit stop strategy – taking a short fuel fill and not changing Michelin tires during the 100-minute race’s lone scheduled visit to pit lane – to grab the lead.

The strategy worked to perfection, vaulting the Porsche past the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus that had shown the field a clean pair of heels in the early stages of the race. After that – and with the help of a full-course yellow – it was just a case of AO Racing’s Laurens Vanthoor driving a flawless stint to maintain the lead the rest of the way to secure the win.

“The team made a very good decision for us not to change tires and be aggressive on the fuel side,” said Vanthoor. “That was our only chance as the Lexus, as we saw the first stint, had a lot of speed. It’s not easy to overtake here so we had to try and take track position. We managed that but then the fun part starts, trying to stay ahead on older tires (and) especially when the yellow came out I was able to save some fuel. In the beginning I wasn’t very sure. But after 10-15 laps, I could see he was not able to come very close, so I knew if I did everything right and not make any mistakes everything will be all right. And at the end that’s how it turned out.”

Vasser Sullivan’s Parker Thompson in the No. 12 Lexus took full advantage of the pole position to sprint to a comfortable lead in the race’s opening segment, but AO’s Jonny Edgar kept things close in third spot behind the lead Lexus and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO of Tom Gamble; so close that when the balance of the GTD field (including the lead Lexus) pitted on Lap 25, shortly after the GTD minimum drive time of 35 minutes elapsed, Edgar put in a flyer of a lap on hot tires before heading to the pits (along with Gamble) the following lap.

“We had plans for whether we would be pitting before other cars or after,” said Edgar. “With the Lexus pitting it was a ‘full push’ in lap. I had the Aston ahead of me so there was a little time lost there, but the in-lap was good, the driver change was very quick good. I think not changing tires and being aggressive on fuel was good to get track position and then it was a case of anyone else having to pass us rather than us being stuck in traffic.” 

After the driver swap, Vanthoor not only beat Casper Stevenson’s Aston Martin out of pit lane, he emerged ahead of the Nos. 89 and 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus cars of Aaron Telitz and Jack Hawksworth. Although Telitz subsequently yielded to his teammate, Hawksworth had no answer for Vanthoor; nor did the Belgian put a wheel wrong en route to the checkered flag, coming home 2.378 seconds clear of the lead Lexus with Telitz and the No. 89 Lexus a further five seconds back in third.

“We had a great weekend,” said Hawksworth. “We won the pole and led the first stint. We had a caution towards the end of the first stint and just pitted a little too early. The other guys were able to run a couple more lap or two in clean air and overcut us. And at Long Beach the overcut usually works out. Obviously at the end I tried to put some pressure on him but the tires went off.” 

All was far from lost for Vasser Sullivan and Lexus. Given that the AO Racing entry was a cameo appearance in GTD, Vasser Sullivan and Lexus maximized their points haul compared to their season-long GTD rivals, a fact which was not lost on Thompson who won the pole on Saturday and led the first part of today’s race in the No. 12 Lexus.

“We always knew our fellow competitors that aren’t in the full-time (GTD) championship were going to take the risks,” he said. “They took the risks. I look at this as this as a long war; they might have won the fight, but we’ll take our points and move on.”

Vasser Sullivan, Lexus and Hawksworth and Thompson now hold down second place in the GTD standings, 91 points back of GTD leaders Winward Racing, Mercedes-AMG and Philip Ellis and Russell Ward who came home fourth in the No. 57 Mercedes AMG GT3 today.