Long Beach Thursday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***Michael Shank Racing’s Ligier JS P2 Honda is fully repaired and sporting a new livery following an early end to it’s race at Sebring. The team, with both Ozz Negri and John Pew, completed a successful test at Sebring two days after the race to verify the car was back in perfect condition.

***This weekend’s Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase marks the first-ever street race for the Ligier. Shank has praised the support from Onroak Automotive, which has now built no fewer than nine Ligiers over the last 12 months. Shank’s entry this weekend is only one of three P2 cars in the race.

***Both the Nos. 24 and 25 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTEs have remained in their retro liveries this weekend. The liveries, which made their debut at Sebring, is to commentate BMW of North America’s 25th anniversary, modeled after its 1975 Sebring-winning BMW 3.0 CSL.

***John Edwards will make his Nürburgring 24 debut next month at the wheel of a BMW Z4 GT3 entered by Walkenhorst Motorsport. The BMW factory driver took part in last weekend’s Qualifying Race and has already completed his mandatory qualification to race at the Green Hell.

***Mazda drivers Tristan Nunez and Jonathan Bomarito spent two days earlier this week on Multimatic’s “Driver in the Loop” simulator to prepare for Long Beach. “It’s huge having a simulator like that. You can’t test at a street circuit, and with the simulator there’s no risk of crashing your real race car into the wall. You just hit reset!” Nunez said.

***Saturday’s race marks a milestone for Team Falken Tire, as the team made its Porsche debut on the streets of Long Beach in 2009. While initially under the command of Rod Everett, Derrick Walker took over the program in 2011.

***A 2015 Ford Mustang with a 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine will serve as the pace car for this weekend’s Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase. It marks the second consecutive year of Ford’s involvement with the Long Beach event.

***Porsche’s Alwin Springer served as Grand Marshal for this year’s California Festival of Speed, held this past weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. The longtime Porsche Motorsport North America manager has continued with the German manufacturer in a consultatory role.

***While FOX Sports 1 will have delayed coverage of the race on Sunday, fans will be able to watch the 100-minute street live on IMSA.com, beginning at 7:05 p.m. ET on Saturday.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John