Long Beach Thursday Notebook

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

***IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams unloaded in Southern California on Thursday for this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. This year’s race marks the 20th anniversary of Grand-Am/IMSA’s debut at the event, which saw a DP-only Rolex Sports Car Series race in 2006 that was won by Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz in a Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Lexus DP.

***The American Le Mans Series made its debut at the 1.968-mile street circuit one year later, and through the post-merger era, IMSA’s top sports car racing series has been part of the Grand Prix of Long Beach ever since, except for the canceled 2020 event due to the COVID pandemic.

***In addition to the new Apple Music design on the pair of Penske Porsche 963s, the No. 31 Action Express Racing and No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.Rs and No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06s are also running revised liveries this weekend.

***Action Express has partnered with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund to run the organization’s logo on the nose of the Cadillac, along with the names of 365 officers whose lived were lost in duty on the side of the doors. NLEOMF is dedicated to honoring the fallen, supporting their families, telling the story of American law enforcement, and making it safer for those who serve.

***Japanese electronics giant Sharp is on the side of the No. 40 WTR Cadillac, in place of DEX, while the MSR Acura features sponsorship from the 76 fuel brand, which is part of the Phillips 66 company, transforming the car into a blue and orange livery, which will also be on the car for next month’s round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

***New liveries from Pfaff Motorsports, which is giving the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 its street course debut, and DragonSpeed’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, are set to be revealed later. Click Here to download IMSA’s official spotter’s guide for the weekend, created by Andy Blackmore.

***There are a number of drivers making their Long Beach debuts, including Julien Andlauer, Laurin Heinrich and Frederik Vesti in the GTP ranks, while Andrea Caldarelli, Zachary Vanier, Harry King, Mikkel Pedersen, Eduardo Barrichello, Valentin Hasse-Clot, Rory van der Steur, Giacomo Altoe, Mason Filippi and Jake Walker in the GTD class. It means that nearly one-third of GTD drivers are Long Beach rookies.

***Andlauer believes the addition of Heinrich to the grid, in JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Porsche 963, will be a “fun scenario” this weekend, given the two of them, plus Felipe Nasr, are all tied for the GTP points lead after winning the ’36 Hours of Florida’ together in the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963.

***The Frenchman said: “We talked about it recently and it’s great for [Laurin] to get more track time in the car, even though he doesn’t need it because he’s already flying. I think it is going to be cool to have another Porsche fighting maybe a bit more up front. I don’t know what to think on the other hand; hopefully [he’s] not going to be too quick in the other car and take our points! But no, I have to say it’s cool.”

***Heinrich will be in the privateer JDC-Miller Porsche, which is 40 kg lighter than the factory Porsche Penske entires this weekend, for all remaining rounds except the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Motul Petit Le Mans, where he has a clash with the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, and be in the No. 7 Penske Porsche, respectively.

***Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid added: “He’s one of the co-points leaders currently in the drivers’ championship. I’d be happy for him to stay there but we race everybody on track and we’re trying to beat the JDC team, and subsequently now, Laurin, as hard as we would race any of the other competitors.”

***IMSA and Michelin have increased the tire allocation from four to five sets for both the GTP and GTD classes this weekend, and for the other street race of the year in Detroit. GTP teams, which will race on Michelin’s new-for-2026 Pilot Sport Endurance Soft compound for the first time, will still be limited to a maximum of three sets between qualifying and the race, although there are no specific session limits for GTD.

***A statement by IMSA provided to Sportscar365 read: “IMSA has observed an increasing number of teams utilizing the wet specification tires during dry practice conditions at the Long Beach and Detroit events. To maintain the intended use of tire specifications, the use of wet specification tires is prohibited during all dry practice conditions at street courses. To maintain current tire usage and based on available practice time, IMSA and Michelin have added one additional set of dry specification tires to the Long Beach and Detroit event tire allocation for all classes.”

***Diuguid, who calls race strategy on the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre, indicated that their cars’ added weight could force their hand in changing tires during the race due to having higher degradation. Both of Porsche Penske’s victories at Long Beach (2023, 2025) came by running the entire 100-minute race on the same set of Michelin tires.

***Diuguid said: “I do think tires may come into play more, especially in our case, depending on how we wear the tires, and also the regulatory change of the short yellow procedure and the additional set we get throughout the race weekend.”

***He added: “I think the default strategy will be not to change tires because the tires have been more durable rather than less durable on what we see on the Medium compound. We’ll see how the weekend goes. The one thing is that everybody’s going to be pushing quite hard. Hopefully we’ll see a few different strategies out there.”

***Diuguid also pointed out the adjusted rule for this year that sees the short yellow procedure being used in the first 30 minutes and final 30 minutes of each race could also impact tire strategy. “It’s really only 40 minutes in the middle where a yellow can catch you out. I think that will be some of the response, strategy-wise from some of the teams. It will be interesting to see what people will be doing.”

***Porsche Penske tested at Laguna Seca last weekend with IMSA’s updated BoP, which sees its GTP cars now weigh in at 1,100 kgs. The factory-run Multimatic-chassised LMDh cars are now the all-time heaviest in IMSA GTP/FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar history, with the previous-heaviest car having been the Toyota GR010 Hybrid (1,089 kg) in the 2024 Qatar 1812km.

***Renger van der Zande, in a pre-event IMSA-hosted media session, expanded on his interview with IMSA Radio during last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, when he voiced his frustrations over Porsche Penske’s superior pace advantage and its ability to deploy team orders at the end of the race.

***The Dutchman said: “To see them kind of like deciding between them who is allowed to win, that hurt the most. Because there were another, I don’t know, nine cars behind who would love to win one of those races. If you’re that dominant to just say, ‘Okay, after you, no it’s me,’ that didn’t feel good at all.”

***Felipe Fraga is set for his first-ever IMSA street race, with the driver of the No. 16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 EVO set to team up with recently confirmed full season co-driver Sheena Monk, who of note, is an owner of a Ford GT road car. “I’ve always loved this kind of track in other series, like Brazilian Stock Car, so I can’t wait to take on Long Beach with the Mustang,” said Fraga.

***Team boss Bill Riley confirmed to Sportscar365 that Fraga will miss the next round at Laguna Seca, as well as the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway in August due to the Brazilian’s full season European Le Mans Series LMP2 commitments with CLX Racing.

***Aston Martin factory driver Valentin Hasse-Clot, who along with Van der Steur Racing are making their first WeatherTech Championship sprint race start, as part of the team’s first full season program in GTD, will also prioritize his ELMS effort with Racing Spirit of Leman. Replacement drivers for both GTD entries have yet to be announced.

***Wright Motorsports owner/driver Adam Adelson revealed that he was initially courting Heinrich for this weekend, if Callum Ilott’s NTT IndyCar Series program with Prema had materialized. Ilott, who is under contract with Prema this year, originally indicated that he would pull double duty between the two series at Long Beach, although it has since become a non-issue as Prema’s 2026 IndyCar program has still yet to materialize.

***Adelson said: “There were discussions with other drivers. Someone who I really wanted to have in the car was Laurin Heinrich, obviously. He’s raced with us twice before, the Indy 8 Hour the past two years. He’s also a friend and just an exceptional talent. It was a little bit odd of a situation for me because Callum, being a friend, I wanted what’s the best for him, and I wanted his IndyCar program to come to fruition in time for Long Beach, as early in the season as it could.”

***Aston Martin announced on Tuesday that factory driver Mattia Drudi has been named the official reserve driver for the Heart of Racing Valkyrie program, across both WeatherTech Championship and WEC campaigns, effective immediately. The 27-year-old Italian, who first drove the car in last year’s WEC Bahrain rookie test, is again undertaking a full WEC season in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in LMGT3.

***Drudi said: “I’m really grateful both to the The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin to give me the chance to be more involved in the Valkyrie program. I really enjoyed driving the car at the WEC rookie test in Bahrain. I’m looking forward to get more driving time, and to get even more comfortable with the car, and with such a promising season, I will be ready to step up into the seat if I’m needed.”

***A number of WeatherTech Championship cars, teams and drivers will be at the annual Thunder Thursday at the Pike Outlets this evening, a free-of-charge event that runs from 6-10:30 p.m. local time.

***Track action for the GTP-GTD only round kicks off on Friday with a one-hour session at 9 a.m. PST, followed by a 90-minute session at 1:10 p.m. and qualifying, which will be streamed live on Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel from 5:25 p.m. PST (8:25 p.m. EST).

Source: Sports Car 365