{"id":274511,"date":"2026-04-18T18:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/274511\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T18:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:31:10","slug":"long-beach-pre-race-notebook-sportscar365","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/274511\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Pre-Race Notebook \u2013 Sportscar365"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo: Mike Levitt\/IMSA<\/p>\n

***The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 is good to go for this afternoon\u2019s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach following the completion of a chassis change after Colin Braun\u2019s accident in Friday\u2019s second practice session. It\u2019s understood the Ohio-based team worked until 1 a.m. this morning to build up what is essentially a new car for the 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.<\/p>\n

***Frederik Vesti, who is subbing for Earl Bamber this weekend, is making his Long Beach debut, one year after the Dane took part in his first non-IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, also in place of the Kiwi due to a clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship.<\/p>\n

***Vesti told Sportscar365: \u201cI love my time in IMSA and get to do new races that I haven\u2019t done before is huge. The first laps were really cool. I had a massive smile under my helmet. I was just looking to explore the track. There were a few tricks that I was told and had explored. That\u2019s good when you have experienced teammates. They like to tell you a few things and it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

***While set to again contest the Endurance Cup races in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, Vesti\u2019s schedule has increased significantly for this year as he also serves as the third driver in Mercedes-AMG\u2019s Formula 1 team, which sees him attend all 22 F1 rounds.<\/p>\n

***Vesti was one of two drivers who were stranded in Bahrain when the Iran war began in late February, as he was due to take part in a wet-weather F1 tire test with the German manufacturer. \u201cWhen you do it in reality, it actually becomes very difficult for the body and the mind to travel all the time,\u201d he said of his intense travel schedule.<\/p>\n

***He added: \u201cI see every single race weekend in F1 and in IMSA as an opportunity to prove myself and to further my career, and I\u2019m absolutely loving everything I\u2019m doing this year. I think the program, being part of two massive manufacturers, is quite a special thing, and [them] letting me do that is huge. I think both Mercedes and Cadillac sees that I\u2019m benefitting from both programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

***Sean Heckman, of \u2018Dinner With Racers\u2019 fame, recently joined Conquest Racing as the team\u2019s new race strategist. Heckman, who began working with the GTD squad at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, told Sportscar365 that he plans to be with the Eric Bachelart-led team for all remaining races that Magnus Racing is not contesting, as his duties with the John Potter-led operation have traditionally taken priority,<\/p>\n

***Sportscar365 understands that Porsche Penske\u2019s partnership with Apple, which is sponsoring the pair of 963s this weekend with its Apple Music brand, could expand for next month\u2019s race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.<\/p>\n

***It\u2019s understood that Long Beach marks the first time the tech giant\u2019s logo has been on a race car since 1995, when Rick Sutherland ran a IMSA WSC-class Spice under the \u2018Power Macintosh Racing\u2019 banner that featured an Apple logo. The most famous Apple-sponsored sports car came in 1980, with the rainbow liveried Dick Barbour Racing-run Porsche 935 K3 that took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Bobby Rahal, Bob Garretson and Allan Moffat.<\/p>\n

***Apple has recently become more involved in motorsports, in having produced last year\u2019s summer blockbuster F1 movie and also now holding F1\u2019s U.S. broadcast rights.<\/p>\n

***AO Racing has launched a \u2018Kids Club\u2019<\/a> that will include a number of at-home and at-track activities and merchandise. Priced at $10 USD, the 2026 membership includes a personalized member ID card, an AO kid lanyard, an official member patch and button, \u2018Mighty Missions Merit\u2019 booklet with stickers, a welcome note from Spike, Rexy, and Roxy and discounts on site and online for youth merchandise, along with monthly\u00a0activity sheets, birthday emails, meet and greets at race events and more.<\/p>\n

***A portion\u00a0of every \u2018Kids Club\u2019 membership purchase supports the Austin Hatcher Foundation, an Official Charity of IMSA, that helps provide lifelong care to families battling pediatric cancer.<\/p>\n

***A number of cars, across all series, are carrying a special tribute decal honoring Jim Michaelian, the longtime promoter and architect of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, who passed away last month at the age of 83.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

***United Autosports has essentially ruled out a future expansion in the WeatherTech Championship, with team CEO Richard Dean suggesting there\u2019s no available space for an additional entry. The team has operated McLaren 720S GT3 Evos in the European and Asian Le Mans Series, and up to last year, in the FIA World Endurance Championship.<\/p>\n

***Dean told Sportscar365: \u201cRahal now has the Pro car. It looks like they\u2019re getting on top of that. What\u2019s really difficult, for a team like us that\u2019s got a foothold in all of these series, you can\u2019t just assume to add another car. Because it\u2019s full. Everything\u2019s full. Even if we wanted to add a second GT3 car in ELMS, that\u2019s not a given that we place our entry, we\u2019re going to get it. There\u2019s a lots of teams that didn\u2019t get on the grid in ELMS, and the same for IMSA, it\u2019s sold out.\u201d<\/p>\n

***Robert Wickens, who makes his return to the WeatherTech Championship paddock this weekend for his second consecutive five-race sprint campaign in DXDT\u2019s Corvette, having inherited the GTD pole for this afternoon\u2019s race<\/a>, revealed that the 2025 season marked the first year he didn\u2019t score a single podium finish in his racing career.<\/p>\n

***Wickens said that he\u2019s working on a drive for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa this year, given that he will not be in DXDT Corvette for the Sahlen\u2019s Six Hours of The Glen, an event that has rules out Corvette factory drivers such as Nicky Catsburg, Alexander Sims and Charlie Eastwood in competing at the Belgian endurance classic.<\/p>\n

***Sportscar365 understands that Wickens, who uses a Bosch-developed hand control system, would likely fill one of the empty seats in JMR Johor Racing\u2019s Pro class Corvette entry, which both Catsburg and Sims, as well as fellow GM factory driver Earl Bamber, ran in February\u2019s Intercontinental GT Challenge season-opening Meguiar\u2019s Bathurst 12 Hour.<\/p>\n

***He said: \u201cOnce I couldn\u2019t do the full season of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, I was already looking on how I can still get endurance experience. Trying to do the 24 Hours of Spa was high on my list, and I am still working toward that. So we\u2019re going to try see what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

***There will be no GT3-spec Corvettes at next month\u2019s N\u00fcrburgring 24 as the car is not yet homologated for the ADAC-specific ruleset, although Wickens, who finished on the TCR class podium in the race last year, has also expressed a desire to run for overall honors one day.<\/p>\n

***Several WeatherTech Championship drivers, including Robby Foley, Harry King and Adam Adelson, secured their Nordschleife \u2018A Permits\u2019 in last weekend\u2019s NLS3 race. Porsche-contracted driver King, notably, fit in the four-hour race during his European Le Mans Series weekend in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

***Foley was at the wheel of a BMW M2 Racing with fellow Turner Motorsport driver Francis Seldorff, who earned his \u2018B Permit\u2019 in the process. \u201cI basically went in circles and tried to learn the track,\u201d Foley told Sportscar365. \u201cIt was my first time [racing] properly there. I\u2019ve driven there in a rental car before. We had a good weekend. It was my first time experiencing the way the race goes there with Code 60s. You never actually do a full complete lap [without a Code 60]. It was good fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

***While now qualified to race a GT3 car at the Nordschleife, Foley said he has no current plans to contest next month\u2019s N\u00fcrburgring 24. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where between GT World Challenge America and IMSA, I haven\u2019t really had a chance to get over there,\u201d he said. \u201cI just wanted to do it to have it in my pocket. We\u2019ll see what the future brings but at this point, no more plans for this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

***Adelson, meanwhile, will be at the wheel of one of three HWA EVO.Rs, an un-homologated race car based on the Mercedes-Benz 190E Evo II from the 1990\u2019s DTM era that will compete in the SPX class in the N24 alongside BMW\u2019s M3 Touring 24H special. The Wright Motorsports team owner also confirmed that he has purchased one of the 100 road car examples HWA will produce.<\/p>\n

***He said: \u201cI would say that I\u2019m a streetcar aficionado, but I don\u2019t think that even comes close to describing how obsessed I truly am. It\u2019s almost a disease at this point! I became introduced to them through their street car resto mod program, and I developed a really great relationship with several of the executives over there. They\u2019re very like-minded people to myself, with the same real, true passion and obsession, and once they informed me about this program, it was something that was very hard to say no to.\u201d<\/p>\n

***Ford set another Nordschleife record on Friday, with Dirk Mueller taking a pre-production Mustang GTD Competition to a 6:40.835 lap time, marking the fastest-ever time in the pre-production\/prototype class. Earlier this month, Frederic Vervisch clocked a 6:15.977 in a Ford GT Mk IV<\/a>, becoming the third-fastest ever lap around the German circuit.<\/p>\n

***The Mustang GTD Competition surpassed both the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1\u2019s time of 6:50.763 and the ZR1X\u2019s time of 6:49.275, in what has bee a highly competitive battle between the two American brands in recent months.<\/p>\n

***The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach gets underway at 1:05 p.m. PST, with live coverage on network NBC from 4 p.m. EST with the commentary team of Brian Till and Calvin Fish in the booth and Marty Snider and Kevin Lee on pit lane. International viewers will be able watch the race on IMSA\u2019s YouTube channel, featuring commentary from IMSA Radio\u2019s John Hindhaugh and Ryan Myrehn.<\/p>\n

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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. Contact John<\/a><\/p>\n

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