27-car IMSA field for Long Beach

IMSA has published a 27-car entry list for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 12, the first sprint race of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. The 100-minute sprint on Saturday afternoon forms part of the Long Beach GP’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The entry list features 11 cars in GTP and 16 in GTD.

The No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie makes its first sprint appearance in IMSA, joining a grid which features the three factory Cadillac V-Series.Rs, the two Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s, two BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8s, two Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06es, and JDC-Miller MotorSports’ privateer 963.

It will be the first race without either the Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63 or the Proton Competition privateer 963, which will only appear in the five Michelin Endurance Cup events.

In the IMSA WeatherTech GTP Championship, the No. 7 Penske Porsche and drivers Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy lead the standings by 91 points over their teammates Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche. Behind them, the No. 60 MSR Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun is third in the standings, trailing by 173 points. Porsche also leads the GTP manufacturers’ standings by 56 points over Acura.

Cadillac was last year’s winning manufacturer, though this year Renger van der Zande will drive the No. 93 MSR Acura and his 2024 co-driver Sebastien Bourdais will not race at Long Beach in any capacity for the first time since 2010.

The much-anticipated IMSA GTD debut of Robert Wickens in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R headlines the category’s 16-car field. Wickens will share the cockpit with Corvette Racing factory driver Tommy Milner, in a specially prepared chassis with next-generation hand controls developed by Bosch and Pratt Miller.

GTD’s 14 full-season entries are joined by previously confirmed one-off entries from AO Racing and Vasser Sullivan Racing, who’ve brought their GTD PRO cars to Long Beach with revised driver line-ups. Jonny Edgar and Laurens Vanthoor will drive for AO Racing, while Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo will drive Vasser Sullivan’s second Lexus.

Long Beach also sees Gradient Racing debut its new pairing of Jenson Altzman and Robert Megennis in the No. 66 Ford Mustang GT3.

After winning the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Winward Racing’s Russell Ward and Philip Ellis lead the GTD standings by 41 points over Heart of Racing Team’s new pairing of Tom Gamble and Casper Stevenson. New Wright Motorsports owner/driver Adam Adelson and co-driver Elliott Skeer are only 57 points out of first place.

And in the GTD manufacturers’ championship, Mercedes-AMG leads Aston Martin by 40 points.

IMSA teams will get two practice sessions on Friday leading into qualifying that evening, starting at 5:10pm local time, with the 100-minute race set for a 2:05pm green flag.

FULL ENTRY LIST