Let Me Ride: The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Makes Noise in the LBC — The

Friday was the first day the track was hot with cars, with the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series in its first practice session in their spec 911 Cup car, Type 992.2. TylerMaxson, in the number 77 Top Racing Porsche, finished the session first with the fastest time of 1:20.502 to set the pace for the Grand Prix. 

After the Carrera Cup cars ran, the Historic Sportscar Racing had a 20-minute practice session, showing off old sports cars from the 60s to the 90s, from an Oldsmobile to an Audi Quattro. 

After the Historics, the International Motor Sports Association WeatherTech SportsCar Championship began practice. IMSA has two classes of cars running in Long Beach: Grand Touring Prototypes and Grand Touring Daytona. 

Once IMSA left the track, ramps were set up for Super Stadium Trucks. Robby Gordon’s series featured purpose-built off-road trucks that adapt to the concrete and asphalt of Long Beach. 

Once the trucks were returned to their paddocks and the ramps were taken off the track, the Porsche Carrera Cup cars came back out to practice for the second time during the weekend. 

The Porsche started to set up their cars for the final session of the day. GMG Racing number 32 driver Tom Sargent finished first in the final practice session with a time of 1:19.827, giving him the best car before qualifying. 

Later BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 number 24, driven by Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde, set the fastest prototype lap with a 1:12.284. For the GTD class, Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 number 89, driven by Jack Hawksworth and Frankie Montecalvo, took the fastest lap with a 1:18.654. 

When IMSA returned to the paddock, the NTT IndyCars roared to life for the first time that weekend. Andretti Global’s No. 26 car, driven by Will Power, set the fastest lap of the session.

IMSA qualifying began with the GTD class. With 15 minutes on the clock for their class, Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, driven by Hawksworth and Montecalvo, took first place with a 1:18.411, as the DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, driven by Robert Wickens and Mason Filippi, just got inched out with a 1:18.562. Wickens, a paraplegic driver who suffered a spinal injury in 2018, competed using hand controls adapted for his car. 

The Formula Drift Challenge opened with a brief delay after fans breached a fence separating media from spectators. Once the fence was reestablished, Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis led Day 1, and Jeff Jones took second.