34 Entries in Series’ Street Circuit Debut at Long Beach

Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands is set for its street course debut with 34 entries confirmed to take part this weekend in Long Beach.

The pair of 40-minute races for the IMSA-sanctioned single-make series — its first appearance in California — will be part of the Grand Prix of Long Beach event that will also feature the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

With 34 cars, the entry list for Rounds 3 and 4 of the season is among the largest ever to race at Long Beach.

Fifteen drivers will contend for overall Pro class honors with points leader Kay van Berlo in the No. 3 Kelly-Moss Road and Race Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car leading the way.

Van Berlo, who was a close runner-up in the inaugural season of the championship last year, had a nearly clean sweep of the season-opener at Sebring, having won both pole positions, both races and set the fastest race lap in Round 1.

He was narrowly bettered for fastest race lap in Round 2 by teammate Riley Dickinson in the No. 53 Porsche.

Dickinson is second in points just ahead of JDX Racing’s Parker Thompson and driver of the No. 6 MDK Motorsports Porsche, Trenton Estep.

The Pro-Am class sees Alan Metni leading the standings with one win at Sebring. Justin Oakes is second with Jeff Mosing in third.

Efrin Castro is in fourth-place with a win in Race 2 at Sebring. A total of 12 entries make-up the class.

The Am class – open to drivers 57 years old and older – had a repeat performer in both Sebring rounds as well.

Mark Kvamme piloted his new No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche to twin wins in Florida but comes to California with six other Am class contenders looking to knock him off the top step.

Four drivers have direct ties to the state of California. Adam Adelson, driver of the Pro class No. 24 Premier Racing Porsche, is a graduate of the University of Southern California, and lives and works in Los Angeles.

TJ Fischer lives in Vacaville and drives the No. 58 Topp Racing Porsche, also in the Pro class.

Newport Beach’s Hutton McKenna is in his second season piloting the No. 88 Pro-class Porsche for Wright Motorsports while Kyle Washington is from Indio, Calif. and races the No. 32 Pro-Am class car for Santa Ana-based GMG Racing.

“Southern California is home for Porsche Motorsport in North America, so it is only natural we take this opportunity to race in front of one of our largest customer bases and a wildly enthusiastic fan base.

“Long Beach is internationally recognized as one of the foremost city circuits so there is no better place to make our street course debut with the Porsche Carrera Cup North America than here in our own backyard,” said Troy Bundy, One-Make and GT Sport Manager, Porsche Motorsport North America.

“The challenges of racing here are not small, almost every part of putting on an event at a street course is unique. However, our Carrera Cup customer teams and drivers, as well as our corporate partners, know the value of being here.

“It is extremely exciting and gratifying to be asked to be a part of this event and have the opportunity to connect to the local fans both on track and off the track. We look forward to putting on a great show.”

Practice and qualifying sessions will be held on Friday, with the first of the two races will take the green flag at 10:45 a.m. PT (1:45 p.m. ET) on Saturday just prior to IndyCar series qualifying.

Race 2 of the weekend will close the weekend of competition with a start time of 4:20 p.m. PT (7:20 p.m. ET) on Sunday, with both races broadcast live on the series’ official website and on Peacock, featuring commentary from IMSA Radio.