The 49th Acura Grand Prix Long Beach opens to fans Friday for qualifying and practice rounds

The race weekend continues as the gates for the 49th Acura Grand Prix Long Beach open to fans early Friday morning.

It’s the start of the annual three-day spring event, where the streets of downtown Long Beach transform into a 1.97-mile, 11-turn racetrack, and on Friday, qualifying and practice sessions get things started.

More than 192,000 fans attended the race in 2023, the largest attendance for the event since the “Indy car reunion” of 2008.

“We had a great event last year with the best attendance in modern times,” said Long Beach President and CEO Jim Michaelian.

“With the addition of GT America sports cars, classic Indy car racing and free-to-participate simulator competition from new sponsor Cooler Master, we think this year’s Acura Grand Prix will be the most exciting weekend yet.”

This year’s event features six race series, GT America sports cars, Super STADIUM Trucks, Super Drift Challenge for drifting and burning tires, Historic Indy Cars re-enacting Grand Prix history, the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship and NTT. INDICAR SERIES.

Friday practice sessions begin with Saturday and Sunday’s GT America races from 7:45 to 8:15 a.m. The second practice session runs from 11:30 a.m. to noon, with qualifying set for 4:25 to 4:40 pm.

IMSA practice races will be from 9 to 10 am and 12:50 to 2:20 pm, with qualifying from 5 to 5:50 pm.

The practice session for the Saturday and Sunday Stadium Super Trucks races will start at 12:15 to 12:35 pm.

The first part of the drift competition will be from 6:30 to 8:30 pm In drift, drivers deliberately steer their cars down controlled side slides at high speed and winning depends on execution and style. The last part will be from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on Saturday.

Friday race ticket holders get to enjoy The Ape Drums concert for free, starting around 6:30 pm on the terrace in front of the TerraceTheater, near the Long Beach Convention Center.

Acura Grand Prix ticket prices ranging from $40 for a Friday General Admission ticket to $185 for a three-day ticket that includes Saturday and Sunday reserved seating in the upper tiers. Children 12 and under will be admitted free with a ticketed adult.

Julie Bright

Julie Sharp is a digital producer at kcalnews.com. Julie has written for The Beach Reporter covering the city of Manhattan Beach and community articles for the Palos Verdes Post. She is a native of the South Bay and majored in newspaper journalism at Cal State Long Beach. Julie covers breaking news, crime, and community and niche events in civic news and feature pieces. Julie also previously worked for CBS in the Los Angeles market as a video reporter.

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