{"id":258027,"date":"2026-04-08T19:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/258027\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:23:10","slug":"hawksworth-montecalvo-in-second-lexus-at-long-beach-sportscar365","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/258027\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawksworth, Montecalvo in Second Lexus at Long Beach \u2013 Sportscar365"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-143348\" class=\"size-full wp-image-143348\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BB_LBGP_IMSA_4_12_9650.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-143348\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Brandon Badraoui\/IMSA<\/p>\n<p>Vasser Sullivan will field a second GTD class Lexus RC F GT3 in next weekend\u2019s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, with the No. 89 entry set to be driven by Frankie Montecalvo and Jack Hawksworth.<\/p>\n<p>Hawksworth, who has returned to full-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition in the GTD Pro class alongside Ben Barnicoat, will make a cameo appearance in the Pro-Am-enforced class, replicating the pairing from the 2024 edition of the race.<\/p>\n<p>The No. 89 Lexus finished third in class in last year\u2019s race, with Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz at the wheel.<\/p>\n<p>Telitz is part of the team\u2019s full season GTD entry alongside newcomer Benjamin Pedersen in the No. 12 car.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong Beach always puts the spotlight on teamwork and execution,\u201d said team co-owners Jimmy Vasser and James \u2018Sulli\u2019 Sullivan in a joint statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know what it takes to win this iconic race, and having Aaron and Benjamin in the No. 12 alongside Jack and Frankie in the No. 89 gives us two chances to bring home our third victory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lexus Motorsports North America senior manager Jeff Bal added: \u201cHaving our full-time GTD duo of Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen in the No. 12, along with Jack Hawksworth and Frankie Montecalvo sharing the No. 89, gives us two exciting opportunities to capture victory again on the streets of Long Beach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a historic event, and we\u2019ve been fortunate enough to win twice in recent years as well as a few other podiums here with the Lexus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re also excited to pay homage to the significance of the number 89 for Lexus, which is a nod to the debut of the Lexus brand, dating back to 1989.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe look forward to getting on track with Vasser Sullivan as the Lexus RC F GT3s prepare to battle our fierce GTD competitors on the streets of Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-del=\"avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/dagysheadshot3-80x80.jpg\" class=\"avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-60 photo \" height=\"60\" width=\"60\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide.  <a href=\"http:\/\/sportscar365.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#8eebeae7fae1fccefdfee1fcfafdedeffcbdb8bba0ede1e3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Contact John<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ss365-1.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Brandon Badraoui\/IMSA Vasser Sullivan will field a second GTD class Lexus RC F GT3 in next weekend\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-258027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}