Connect with us

WeatherTech Championship

GMG, Scuderia Corsa Boost Long Beach Entry to 26 Cars

Seventeen entries comprised of GT Daytona class cars for IMSA Long Beach contest…

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

The GT Daytona class will feature a strong 17-car entry in next weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, thanks to efforts from GMG Racing and Scuderia Corsa, among other additions to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship grid.

IMSA released Wednesday a 26-car overall entry list for the DPi, GT Le Mans and GTD-only event, featuring no major surprises at the top of the field.

GTD, however, sees a number of returning and one-off entries for the 100-minute race. 

It includes a Porsche 911 GT3 R entered by SRO America regulars GMG Racing for team principal James Sofronas and a yet-to-be-announced co-driver as well as the return of Scuderia Corsa’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 for the new lineup of Colin Braun and Daniel Mancinelli.

The Giacomo Mattioli-led squad will be making its first WeatherTech Championship start since the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona when it entered its Ferrari for Ryan Briscoe, Bret Curtis, Marcos Gomes and Ed Jones.

The previously announced Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo from O’Gara Motorsport/US RaceTronics is also listed for Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America co-drivers Steven Aghakhani and Jacob Eidson.

Grasser Racing Team, meanwhile, is slated to return to action with its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo for Franck Perera and Misha Goikhberg.

Both drivers for Compass Racing’s Acura NSX GT3 Evo are listed as TBD, although Mario Farnbacher is expected to continue at the wheel as the team’s full-season IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup driver.

The Heart of Racing is set for its second race with its No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for Alex Riberas and team principal Ian James, joining the full contingent of GT3-spec machinery that’s set for the shortest race of the season.

The GTD field is joined by the six full season DPi entries and the three GT Le Mans entries from Corvette Racing and WeatherTech Racing, which will see Cooper MacNeil paired up with Porsche factory driver Mathieu Jaminet. 

Track action gets underway on Friday Sept. 24, with practice and qualifying, followed by the race on Saturday Sept. 25 as part of the NTT IndyCar Series weekend.

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

Click to comment
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in WeatherTech Championship