Long Beach Pre-Race Notebook

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

***The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 is good to go for this afternoon’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach following the completion of a chassis change after Colin Braun’s accident in Friday’s second practice session. It’s understood the Ohio-based team worked until 1 a.m. this morning to build up what is essentially a new car for the 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.

***Frederik Vesti, who is subbing for Earl Bamber this weekend, is making his Long Beach debut, one year after the Dane took part in his first non-IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, also in place of the Kiwi due to a clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship.

***Vesti told Sportscar365: “I love my time in IMSA and get to do new races that I haven’t done before is huge. The first laps were really cool. I had a massive smile under my helmet. I was just looking to explore the track. There were a few tricks that I was told and had explored. That’s good when you have experienced teammates. They like to tell you a few things and it’s good.”

***While set to again contest the Endurance Cup races in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, Vesti’s schedule has increased significantly for this year as he also serves as the third driver in Mercedes-AMG’s Formula 1 team, which sees him attend all 22 F1 rounds.

***Vesti was one of two drivers who were stranded in Bahrain when the Iran war began in late February, as he was due to take part in a wet-weather F1 tire test with the German manufacturer. “When you do it in reality, it actually becomes very difficult for the body and the mind to travel all the time,” he said of his intense travel schedule.

***He added: “I see every single race weekend in F1 and in IMSA as an opportunity to prove myself and to further my career, and I’m absolutely loving everything I’m doing this year. I think the program, being part of two massive manufacturers, is quite a special thing, and [them] letting me do that is huge. I think both Mercedes and Cadillac sees that I’m benefitting from both programs.”

***Sean Heckman, of ‘Dinner With Racers’ fame, recently joined Conquest Racing as the team’s new race strategist. Heckman, who began working with the GTD squad at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, told Sportscar365 that he plans to be with the Eric Bachelart-led team for all remaining races that Magnus Racing is not contesting, as his duties with the John Potter-led operation have traditionally taken priority,

***Sportscar365 understands that Porsche Penske’s partnership with Apple, which is sponsoring the pair of 963s this weekend with its Apple Music brand, could expand for next month’s race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

***It’s understood that Long Beach marks the first time the tech giant’s logo has been on a race car since 1995, when Rick Sutherland ran a IMSA WSC-class Spice under the ‘Power Macintosh Racing’ banner that featured an Apple logo. The most famous Apple-sponsored sports car came in 1980, with the rainbow liveried Dick Barbour Racing-run Porsche 935 K3 that took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Bobby Rahal, Bob Garretson and Allan Moffat.

***Apple has recently become more involved in motorsports, in having produced last year’s summer blockbuster F1 movie and also now holding F1’s U.S. broadcast rights.

***AO Racing has launched a ‘Kids Club’ that will include a number of at-home and at-track activities and merchandise. Priced at $10 USD, the 2026 membership includes a personalized member ID card, an AO kid lanyard, an official member patch and button, ‘Mighty Missions Merit’ booklet with stickers, a welcome note from Spike, Rexy, and Roxy and discounts on site and online for youth merchandise, along with monthly activity sheets, birthday emails, meet and greets at race events and more.

***A portion of every ‘Kids Club’ membership purchase supports the Austin Hatcher Foundation, an Official Charity of IMSA, that helps provide lifelong care to families battling pediatric cancer.

***A number of cars, across all series, are carrying a special tribute decal honoring Jim Michaelian, the longtime promoter and architect of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, who passed away last month at the age of 83. 

***United Autosports has essentially ruled out a future expansion in the WeatherTech Championship, with team CEO Richard Dean suggesting there’s no available space for an additional entry. The team has operated McLaren 720S GT3 Evos in the European and Asian Le Mans Series, and up to last year, in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

***Dean told Sportscar365: “Rahal now has the Pro car. It looks like they’re getting on top of that. What’s really difficult, for a team like us that’s got a foothold in all of these series, you can’t just assume to add another car. Because it’s full. Everything’s full. Even if we wanted to add a second GT3 car in ELMS, that’s not a given that we place our entry, we’re going to get it. There’s a lots of teams that didn’t get on the grid in ELMS, and the same for IMSA, it’s sold out.”

***Robert Wickens, who makes his return to the WeatherTech Championship paddock this weekend for his second consecutive five-race sprint campaign in DXDT’s Corvette, having inherited the GTD pole for this afternoon’s race, revealed that the 2025 season marked the first year he didn’t score a single podium finish in his racing career.

***Wickens said that he’s working on a drive for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa this year, given that he will not be in DXDT Corvette for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, an event that has rules out Corvette factory drivers such as Nicky Catsburg, Alexander Sims and Charlie Eastwood in competing at the Belgian endurance classic.

***Sportscar365 understands that Wickens, who uses a Bosch-developed hand control system, would likely fill one of the empty seats in JMR Johor Racing’s Pro class Corvette entry, which both Catsburg and Sims, as well as fellow GM factory driver Earl Bamber, ran in February’s Intercontinental GT Challenge season-opening Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

***He said: “Once I couldn’t do the full season of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, I was already looking on how I can still get endurance experience. Trying to do the 24 Hours of Spa was high on my list, and I am still working toward that. So we’re going to try see what we can do.”

***There will be no GT3-spec Corvettes at next month’s Nürburgring 24 as the car is not yet homologated for the ADAC-specific ruleset, although Wickens, who finished on the TCR class podium in the race last year, has also expressed a desire to run for overall honors one day.

***Several WeatherTech Championship drivers, including Robby Foley, Harry King and Adam Adelson, secured their Nordschleife ‘A Permits’ in last weekend’s NLS3 race. Porsche-contracted driver King, notably, fit in the four-hour race during his European Le Mans Series weekend in Barcelona.

***Foley was at the wheel of a BMW M2 Racing with fellow Turner Motorsport driver Francis Seldorff, who earned his ‘B Permit’ in the process. “I basically went in circles and tried to learn the track,” Foley told Sportscar365. “It was my first time [racing] properly there. I’ve driven there in a rental car before. We had a good weekend. It was my first time experiencing the way the race goes there with Code 60s. You never actually do a full complete lap [without a Code 60]. It was good fun.”

***While now qualified to race a GT3 car at the Nordschleife, Foley said he has no current plans to contest next month’s Nürburgring 24. “It’s one of those things where between GT World Challenge America and IMSA, I haven’t really had a chance to get over there,” he said. “I just wanted to do it to have it in my pocket. We’ll see what the future brings but at this point, no more plans for this year.”

***Adelson, meanwhile, will be at the wheel of one of three HWA EVO.Rs, an un-homologated race car based on the Mercedes-Benz 190E Evo II from the 1990’s DTM era that will compete in the SPX class in the N24 alongside BMW’s M3 Touring 24H special. The Wright Motorsports team owner also confirmed that he has purchased one of the 100 road car examples HWA will produce.

***He said: “I would say that I’m a streetcar aficionado, but I don’t think that even comes close to describing how obsessed I truly am. It’s almost a disease at this point! I became introduced to them through their street car resto mod program, and I developed a really great relationship with several of the executives over there. They’re very like-minded people to myself, with the same real, true passion and obsession, and once they informed me about this program, it was something that was very hard to say no to.”

***Ford set another Nordschleife record on Friday, with Dirk Mueller taking a pre-production Mustang GTD Competition to a 6:40.835 lap time, marking the fastest-ever time in the pre-production/prototype class. Earlier this month, Frederic Vervisch clocked a 6:15.977 in a Ford GT Mk IV, becoming the third-fastest ever lap around the German circuit.

***The Mustang GTD Competition surpassed both the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1’s time of 6:50.763 and the ZR1X’s time of 6:49.275, in what has bee a highly competitive battle between the two American brands in recent months.

***The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach gets underway at 1:05 p.m. PST, with live coverage on network NBC from 4 p.m. EST with the commentary team of Brian Till and Calvin Fish in the booth and Marty Snider and Kevin Lee on pit lane. International viewers will be able watch the race on IMSA’s YouTube channel, featuring commentary from IMSA Radio’s John Hindhaugh and Ryan Myrehn.

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