Long Beach Thursday Notebook

Photo: Jonathan Grace

***A total of 28 cars are set for this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the third round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. GTP, GTD Pro and GTD class teams unloaded Thursday ahead of the start of on-track action on Friday, which will see two practice sessions and qualifying, the latter which will be broadcast live on Peacock at 5:15 p.m. PT (8:15 p.m. ET).

***The No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 competing is a new chassis following Mathieu Jaminet’s accident in last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring that also involved the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 of Filipe Albuquerque and collected Felipe Nasr’s No. 7 Porsche, which did not need a new tub.

***Albuquerque revealed that the WTR Andretti Acura only changed right-side uprights and the nose following the shunt, with no chassis damage sustained.

***Both the WTR Andretti and No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acuras cars completed a shakedown at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week, marking the first mileage for GTP class cars ahead of the WeatherTech Championship’s return to the Brickyard in September.

***Albuquerque and Tom Blomqvist handled testing duties of the Acuras in the single-day test.

***A number of drivers will be making their Long Beach debuts this weekend, including three of BMW M Team RLL’s four pilots as well as WeatherTech Racing’s entire lineup in its GTD Pro class championship-leading Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

***Connor De Phillippi is the only RLL driver to have previous experience at Long Beach, with his co-driver Nick Yelloly as well as No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 drivers Philipp Eng and Augusto Farfus new to the 1.968-mile circuit.

***Other Long Beach first-timers include WeatherTech Racing’s Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella, Pfaff Motorsports driver Klaus Bachler and Marco Sorensen of The Heart of Racing.

***Key staff from Cadillac, Chip Ganassi Racing, Corvette Racing and Porsche Penske Motorsport are split up this weekend because of parallel programs in the FIA World Endurance Championship at Portimao.

***GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser and Porsche’s factory LMDh director Urs Kuratle are in Portugal, while Porsche Penske managing director Jonathan Diuguid, Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach and Christie Bagne, GM’s assistant sports car racing program manager, are on-site in Long Beach.

***This weekend marks Corvette Racing’s first simultaneous race operation in its 25-year history. The Pratt Miller-run team has prepared for the Long Beach/Portimao double by having independent full-season crews, led by team managers Ben Johnson (IMSA) and Marc Maurini (WEC).

***It is the first of two direct clashes between the series this year, with the WeatherTech Championship weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on the same weekend as the WEC’s trip to Monza in July.

***History will be made this weekend as Corvette Racing photographer Richard Prince, who had been the remaining team member to have been present for every one of its 269 event starts since the program’s inception in 1999, will be missing Long Beach to be in Portimao to cover its GTE-Am effort.

***While having received a 20 kg weight break as part of the latest Balance of Performance adjustments, the BMW M4 GT3 is not able to take any additional weight out of the car according to Bill Auberlen, who confirmed that it ran without any ballast at Sebring.

***Auberlen is making his first GTD class start of the season, in the newly numbered No. 97 Turner BMW alongside Chandler Hull, who contested the opening two races of the season in the GTD Pro ranks. The duo will revert to GTD Pro classification alongside John Edwards for the final two Michelin Endurance Cup races of the year.

***Auberlen told Sportscar365: “Racing in Pro, we did it because we could bring in John Edwards and maybe have a chance that way. Now [in GTD] it’s going to be head-to-head, and it’s what we know. We’ve won [at Long Beach] quite a few times in GTD so we have to do what we know and try and get Chandler up to speed and if we can, we can have some success.”

***The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat is sporting a special ‘100 Thieves’ livery this weekend. The premium lifestyle brand and gaming organization is based in Los Angeles.

***Racers Edge Motorsports will unveil a special livery for its No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 during this evening’s ‘Thunder Thursday at The Pike Outlets’ fan event. Both Mario Farnbacher and Ashton Harrison will be in attendance “in character” according to a team spokesperson.

***AO Racing took its dinosaur-liveried Porsche 911 GT3 R to the Mattel Design Center in El Segundo, Calif. earlier this week in preparation for the production of a Hot Wheels version of the car. The Seb Priaulx and PJ Hyett-driven GTD class contender, named “Rexy”, is slated to be released by the end of this year or in early 2024.

***Sebastien Bourdais reflected that his and Renger van der Zande’s victory in last year’s race came through a “very unorthodox” method, having overcome a 20-plus second deficit early on after the Frenchman had an incident with a GTD car at the Hairpin.

***Bourdais said: “That’s how good the car was that day. We managed to pull the win, which was amazing. It was a great day for Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing.”

***Ricky Taylor is coming off a successful test at Monza with the new Tower Motorsport with TDS Racing joint effort for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will see Taylor be joined by Rene Rast and 2022 IMSA Jim Trueman Award winner John Farano at the wheel of an Oreca 07 Gibson in LMP2.

***Taylor told Sportscar365: “It was really good. I think we’ve got a really strong group together. After Le Mans, you wonder how many good shots you have to win the race and this, I have to say, is one of the best shots I’ve ever had to win in LMP2.”

***As was the case in previous years, WeatherTech Championship teams will be permitted to park their transporters at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Calif. beginning on Saturday night through May 10 prior to the round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca that weekend.

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