Long Beach: Porsche vs Acura in the first ‘sprint’ of the year?

After the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12th Sebring, Long beach welcomes the third act ofIMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. America’s most important championship reserved for GTs and prototypes is preparing to have its first competition ‘sprint’ of the season, an event expected at an irregular distance of 1 h 40.

The test in California will be the first of two cities, the second will be held in June in Detroit. GTPfirst class, will be regularly on the starting line with GTD, while LMP2 and GTD PRO will return later in the championship. We remind you that as usual, not all classes participate in various category actions, especially the choice of equipment.

GTP, Acura vs. Porsche for the lead

Porsche and Acura compete for supremacy, Dane Cameron/Felipe Nasr/Matt Campbell #7 and Jordan Taylor/Louis Delétraz/Colton Herta #40 lead the field in points after two strong first races at Florida State. The Germans performed well at the Rolex 24, with Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti winning at the challenging Sebring round in March.

Porsche is trying to repeat what it did last year, a historic success achieved after a spectacular battle against Acura. In any case, the two brands will have to compete BMW and Cadillacstill without success despite the good start of 2024.

Special mention to General Motors who came close to winning at Daytona and fought to the finish at the Sebring 12h. Cadillac Racing #01 and Whelen Cadillac Racing #31 are keeping a close eye on their direct rivals in the long race for the title that will likely be decided again at Motul Petit Le Mans.

Finally, the crew switched to the #5 Porsche 963 Proton Competition. In fact, Gimmi Bruni will be accompanied by former DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller, the German who will return with the models after competing in some GTP challenges in 2023 with JDC-Miller Motorsport Porsche.

Let’s remember that we will not see the recognizable Lamborghini that raced Sebring in GTP on the track. The Italian model will definitely take part in the Michelin Endurance Cup stages and will therefore be back on the field for the 6 hours of the Glen in June.

Long Beach GTD, Sprint Cup race

The WeatherTech Sprint Cup begins this weekend, special trophy saved GTD which rewards achievements across Long Beach, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Road America and VIRginia International Raceway.

GTDs will be the only GT3 on the podium, the said unit has raced four times between the walls of California. For three editions, the Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow (Paul Miller Racing #1) duo performed well, the pairing missing from the track due to the move to GTD PRO.

The winning car will undoubtedly be the #57 Mercedes AMG GT3 of Winward Racing which won Daytona and Sebring. Philip Ellis/Russel Ward are expected to prove it, the pair had two great weekends at Florida State.

On the eve of the challenge in California, some changes in the lineup should be noted. The first concerns the exclusive addition of the second Lexus of Vasser Sullivan Racing. Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat, winners of the GTD PRO 12h Sebring in March and the 2023 title, will line up this weekend alongside owners Frankie Montecalvo and Parker Thompson. The former will drive alongside the American in the ‘regular #12’, while the latter is expected to be paired with the #89 alongside the former Porsche Carrera Cup North American champion.

Spencer Pumpelly replaces Marco Sorensen, busy at Imola in the FIA ​​WEC, in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, the American will swap with the proven Roman De Angelis.

Back, however, to Flying Lizard Motorsports in IMSA WTSC after last week’s race in Sonoma in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS. As with the SRO America division we will see Elias Sabo and Andy Lee #28 in action.

The final change to report at Gradient Racing Acura includes the presence of Stevan McAleer in place of Katherine Legge. The Briton, after running the Rolex 24, returns with the #66 NSX GT3 alongside Sheena Monk.

An unmissable event on Saturday 20 April, the race starts at 10.45pm (Italian time).

Luca Pellegrini

Photo. Courtesy of IMSA