23 Entries for Long Beach

Photo: John Dagys

IMSA released Thursday the entry list for next month’s Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach.

The 100-minute race, for the first time, will feature only the Prototype and GT Le Mans classes, totaling 23 entries for the second round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

ENTRY LIST: Long Beach

Twelve Hours of Sebring winners Chip Ganassi Racing headline the 13-car P field, but as expected, have only entered one Riley-Ford for its season-long pairing of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas.

CGR will be joined by Wayne Taylor Racing (Corvette DP), Michael Shank Racing (Riley-Ford), Marsh Racing (Corvette DP) and a two-car contingent from Action Express Racing (Corvette DP), which again fields its No. 9 entry for Burt and Brian Frisselle.

On the P2 side, Extreme Speed Motorsports’ two HPD ARX-03bs will be looking for back-to-back Long Beach class wins, with OAK Racing (Morgan-Nissan), Muscle Milk Pickett Racing (Oreca 03 Nissan) and the two-car SpeedSource Mazda outfit completing the entry in class.

Of note, the DeltaWing DWC13 has not been entered. The car, in roadster form, had also skipped the Long Beach ALMS round last year. A team spokesperson told Sportscar365 they will spend the time on further testing and development and plan to return for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Additionally, the No. 78 Starworks Motorsport Riley-Honda, which debuted with the new 3.5-liter turbo at Sebring, will also not make the trip to California.

Team owner Peter Baron told Sportscar365 that conversations are ongoing with HPD after the engine’s initial run to determine a timeline to have a competitive DP installation. It’s expected the team’s DP entry could also skip the Monterey round.

The GTLM class features all of the contenders seen at Sebring, with the exception of Krohn Racing, which has been entered for only select rounds.

On the driver front, both Giancarlo Fisichella and Matteo Malucelli, who suffered a race-ending accident at Sebring, are both not listed in the No. 62 Risi Competizone Ferrari F458 Italia, although Fisichella has been confirmed by the team as being present in Long Beach  with a to-be-determined co-driver.

Driver lineups for the factory Corvette, BMW Team RLL, SRT Motorsports and Porsche North America entries, plus Team Falken Tire’s Porsche 911 RSR, remain unchanged.

The race is set for April 12, with live coverage on FOX Sports 1.

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