Considering Frederik Vesti’s recent travel schedule – both intended itineraries and otherwise – the talented Danish racer’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach debut in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship may seem relatively straightforward.

The 24-year-old will make his second sprint start in IMSA’s premier Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) ranks, climbing back into the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R he helped drive to podium finishes at both the season’s opening endurance events, the Rolex 24 At Daytona and more recently, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

With an already busy schedule handling all the sim work as the Formula 1 Mercedes-AMG Petronas team’s reserve driver, Vesti will spend this rare down time between F1 races co-driving the Whelen Cadillac prototype with Jack Aitken in the April 17-18 IMSA weekend at the famed Long Beach street circuit. Vesti will fill in for Cadillac Whelen team driver Earl Bamber, who is driving a Cadillac in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar class race the same weekend.

Vesti’s raced at some of the world’s most iconic street circuits in his junior open-wheel career such as Monaco and Macau and can’t wait to add Long Beach to his record.

“Getting to race in Long Beach is actually quite awesome to me,” Vesti said. “Obviously the long races are very cool and are some very big endurance races, but this is sort of the next step.

“I did Laguna [Seca] last year, but I have big ambitions for Long Beach and I’m quite excited to experience a new track. It’s very challenging, especially when you haven’t been there before.

“I think the experienced guys will have a little advantage especially in the first practices but it’s a track I know from iRacing since I was 10 years old, so I’m quite familiar with the track. It will be interesting to get a first look in FP1.’’

As noted, Vesti’s only other IMSA sprint start came at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey last year, when he and Aitken finished sixth overall. Vesti, Aitken and Bamber would go on to claim wins in both the six-hour TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks and 10-hour season finale, Motul Petit Le Mans, at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

The opportunity in Long Beach further enhances Vesti’s expanding resume – racing commitments stateside that have at times required some complex navigation. And patience.

As the Mercedes team’s third driver he is at every F1 race globally. So, the start of his season included not only the two IMSA races in Florida, but also challenging global travel with the F1 world championship races starting in March in Australia then on to China and then to Japan.

A pre-season tire test in Bahrain proved especially challenging, as the same military conflict in the Middle East that has since cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia F1 races greatly impacted Vesti’s travels. That’s included long airport delays and unpredictable schedules, including impromptu hours-long bus trips. He figures he’s already accumulated 100,000 kilometers in airplane travel alone.

“April seems easy now,” Vesti allowed with a smile.

Certainly, Mercedes’ success has also been an upside. Team drivers George Russell and 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli have won the three races this year.

“It’s amazing to see,” Vesti said. “I’ve been working on this car. I’ve driven it more than anyone in the simulator.

“There’s 2,000 people working on these cars and it’s been amazing to see the commitment in the factory and then go to Melbourne and be very competitive and get a one-two [finish] and then again in Shanghai. You can only dream of those starts to a season, even though we worked hard, everyone worked hard in the F1 paddock, so very pleased with the start of the year.”

And he’d love to continue that trajectory. The IMSA Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach provides a welcome challenge for Vesti, who as his 2026 success with the team indicates, has already proven himself very much up for it.

Not only do he and Aitken present as a hugely capable pairing, but also, their Cadillac has been strong in the early-season endurance tests. That provides genuine optimism for the sprint race portion of the IMSA schedule.

“I think it’s definitely taken a step forward,” Vesti said of the car, which like most in the GTP field took on a degree of “evo” updates for 2026. “I’m quite impressed by Cadillac Racing and how much they have improved since last year, not only in the car but also as a team and how the engineers are working.

“I think we’re making progress all the time. And when you make progress with both the car and the team, I think those are steps forward. I’m expecting a strong season and looking forward to challenging for wins.”

Vesti will go for his third IMSA win, and first in a sprint race, on Saturday, April 18 in Long Beach. Live race coverage starts at 4 p.m. ET on network NBC, also streaming on Peacock and internationally via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.

IMSA Wire Service PR