Victory for Parente headlines double podium for McLaren 650S GT3 at Long Beach

McLaren Factory Driver Alvaro Parente continued his strong start to the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) season on the streets of Long Beach California, U.S.A. During qualifying, Parente set a time of one minute and 18.883 seconds in the #9 K-PAX Racing 650S GT3, to score pole position by exactly a 10^th of a second. This lap broke his own lap record, which was set during the same session last year.

From the front of the grid, the Portuguese driver could control proceedings during the 50-minute sprint race around the tight and twisty 3.1km street course, creating healthy margins at each of the three restarts. A burst water pipe on the back straight caused a prolonged red flag period after 10 laps of racing, but Parente remained calm and in control on the restart, steadily building a 1.7-second lead. A Full-Course Yellow was then called a handful of laps later for an on-track incident at the final hairpin.

When the action resumed once again, the 2016 PWC champion pulled out a gap to the rest of the field one final time, crossing the line in style to score his second win of the season, and his second in as many races at Long Beach. K-PAX Racing's Bryan Sellers also put in an equally impressive performance, qualifying P3 with a time of one minute and 19.088 seconds. From the second row of the grid, he maintained his position throughout the race to score his first podium with the K-PAX Racing team.