There's a Lot at Stake for Whelen Engineering/Action Express at IMSA WeatherTech Long Beach Race

It’s now or never if the Whelen Engineering/Action Express No. 31 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Daytona Prototype of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr is going to legitimately contend for the 2021 championship.

And “now” means the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The Cadillac DPi team is close in points to the championship-leading Acura of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, which has a 98-point advantage going into Saturday’s race, but Nasr and Derani are also just 70 points ahead of the third-place car, the Mazda of Harry Tincknell and Oliver Jarvis.

“We’re not really thinking about the Mazda, to be honest,” Derani said. “We want to go for a championship here and we’re trying to make sure that we can try to win because that’s the best way that we can go for it in the last race. If we win here, if we do our jobs right, it will put us in a good position for the final race of the season.”