Rites Of Spring 2023 Open Up For Three Classes Of IMSA At Long Beach Grand Prix

GTD PRO and GTD class cars as they enter Turn 6 onto Turn 7 and Turn 8 section along Pine Avenue after the short chute straightaway next to the Carousel at the Pike Outlets during the 47th Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach. This section may become one of the more critical sections given GTD platform racecraft dynamics of having to compete with a totally new Prototype Hybrid car weaving itself through your race. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

Rites Of Spring 2023 Open Up For Three Classes Of IMSA At Long Beach Grand Prix

One week before the cars and teams competing in the 48th Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach need to be placed in the paddock next to Shoreline Drive, four drivers from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), GT Daytona (GTD), and GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class designations participated in a ZOOM Call conference with members of the Press.

This street race scheduled to be run for a 100 minute sprint on the famed Long Beach 1.968 mile course (or 73 laps as attained in 2022). The previous two races run this season were endurance races run in Florida - Race 1, Rolex 24 At Daytona and Race 2, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring - comprised 36 hours of timed racing ... a different kettle of fish especially since all 5 classes were represented.

To be clear, as it relates to the performance type of cars competing within the concrete canyons of the street circuit that is Long Beach, the GTD and GTD PRO class cars are set up through the same specifications and BoP (balance of power) applications in the rules. 

In terms of information and anticipated track activity throughout the sprint race, there are two functional classes with the GTP (prototype) being the most dynamic and high-powered racing sport cars beginning here in 2023 using a two power plant hybrid (ICE & Electric) propulsion against the GTD cars with minor changes governing the ICE (internal combustion engine) powered sports cars over last year.

Zoom Media Interview - Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Driver Preview

GTP class

Renger van der Zande, co-driver of the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R

Ricky Taylor, co-driver of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06

GTD PRO class

Jordan Taylor, co-driver of the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R GTD

GTD class

Bill Auberlen, co-driver of the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3

- here is what transpired in total.

A total of 28 cars are entered in the three competing classes: eight in GTP, five in GTD PRO and 15 in GTD. Practice and qualifying take place Friday, April 14. The race airs live on USA Network and IMSA Radio at 2 p.m. PT Saturday, April 15.

Storylines

• Spectacular GTP Season Continues: The new Grand Touring Prototype class that debuted this year, featuring hybrid-electrified entries from four manufacturers, enters Long Beach with two races under its belt. Thus far, Acura and Cadillac have each won one race with BMW and Porsche in hot pursuit. Cadillac is seeking to continue a run that has seen it win the past five Long Beach races overall and in the top prototype class.
• The Long and Short of It: After opening the season with the two longest races of the year (Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring), the WeatherTech Championship shifts gears to the shortest race on the schedule – just 100 minutes at Long Beach. How will teams and drivers adapt to a true sprint race?
• Sprint Cup Season Commences: The Long Beach race also serves as the first of seven events that make up the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup for the GTD class. Points earned in these non-endurance races count toward both the overall season championship and the Sprint Cup crown.
• Once, Twice, Three Times a Winner? Paul Miller Racing and co-drivers Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow are seeking a rare three-peat of Long Beach victories in the GTD class. They won in 2021 driving a Lamborghini Huracán and last year in a BMW M4 GT3. The team is also fresh off a victory last month at Sebring.

Who’s Hot?

• GTD PRO Mercedes and Lexus: Only two teams have finished on the podium in the first two races of 2023, and both compete in the GTD PRO class. The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 topped the class at the Rolex 24 and finished third at Sebring. The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 placed third at Daytona and second at Sebring.
• Inception Racing: Embarking on its first full-season GTD effort, the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 hasn’t won yet this season but successive finishes of third and fourth have put drivers Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff in the class points lead heading into Long Beach.

Who’s Good Here?

• Cadillac and Action Express: The manufacturer rides a five-race Long Beach prototype winning streak into race weekend. Three of those (2018, ’19 and ’21) came via Action Express Racing, whose No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac V-Series.R also took the GTP and overall victory last month at Sebring. Co-drivers Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani are the GTP championship leaders after two races.
• Taylor Brothers: Jordan and Ricky Taylor teamed to win three consecutive Long Beach races from 2015-17 in the Prototype class when they drove for their father’s team, but neither has added a victory since. Ricky co-pilots the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 GTP with Filipe Albuquerque this year, with Jordan sharing the No. 3 Corvette C8.R GTD with Antonio Garcia in GTD PRO.

Motorsports Journal's Edmund Jenks was curious about the dynamics of having a totally new Prototype car to be racing with these previous two endurance races and how this may work out at Long Beach.

Motorsports Journal: Have you noticed any difference with the new hybrid GTP cars with the way they race around you or approach you, compared to the DPi prototypes in previous seasons?

Jordan Taylor - No. 3 Corvette Racing/Mobil 1 (Corvette C8.R GTD): It’s much different. The way they make speed seems different. They come by you a bit quicker on the straights and then their cornering speeds – especially in the medium-speed corners – is quite a bit lower than back in the DPi days. At Sebring, I had a BMW come by me and it must have been on a double-stint on the tires. It passed me into 15 and was so slow at apex that I was actually able to drive back around him. It’s a much different car, it seems, for them to learn and adapt to. It makes the style of racing a bit different because now in GT, we know that they struggle on second-stint tires and it will put us in a position to probably want to be a little more defensive in those sorts of spots to not lose laptime when they go by us. It’s definitely a learning process. They come by you a lot quicker in the straights like at Daytona before the Kink and out of the Kink. They’d arrive much quicker and when you wouldn’t expect it from years past in a DPi. When we go to different tracks, it’s going to be learning where those places are, and where they can get by us and where they can’t compared to what it was like back in DPi.

Bill Auberlen - No. 97 Turner Motorsport McIntosh (BMW M4 GT3): They (GTP cars) are so slow in the corners. I was very surprised. The old cars (DPi) used to corner like they were on rails, and would go around you in the middle of corners and put you in a bad position. Now they (GTP cars) never pass you in corners because they have their hands full as it is. When they’re on a second stint with the tires, they’re slower than us in the corners and hold us up. They go blasting by you on the straights where you want them to pass, but once you get past the brake zone they tuck in behind you and wait until the next straight to blast by you again. It makes them a lot easier to interact with (than previous DPi prototypes).

Renger van der Zande - No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac Racing V-Series.R: I feel it’s hard to overtake. The speeds are higher but we have to brake a bit earlier and the weight is higher as well. The minimum speed [in the corner] is quite a lot lower so you cannot really rely on. Let’s break super late and dive bomb someone. I think if you dive bomb someone you’re going straight ... you’re going to miss the corner. I think with the DPi you could actually overtake someone on track because you had a bit more downforce, you had a bit more minimum speed and grip to get away with a mistake. With these cars, it seems like if you try to outbrake, you actually are going outbrake yourself and going off the track, so you have to be a bit more careful.

Ricky Taylor - No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06: It is nice to be able to clear everybody in the straight, although the closing speed is so high that there becomes a level of commitment when you’re going down the straight and [the GT cars] are in their own battle. You have to pick a side to go, and especially when there are Ams [Amateurs] in the car ... do they see you, do they not … you’re trying to read body language from a much further distance and then commit to one side, because the penalty of picking the wrong side and having to lift and and move across is actually higher. (From Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport website: Starting the sprint race portion of the season is exciting. We get to go to another new track with the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, so it will be interesting how the new GTP cars adapt to the first street course of the year. Being the shortest race of the year, we can transition our energy from purely reliability to hopefully a bit more risk-taking for Acura’s home race in Long Beach.)

ENDS

After racing in the two longest events on the calendar at Daytona and Sebring, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has something entirely different coming up next weekend. The Long Beach race is notoriously difficult and hard on cars with the 100-minute sprint race length where the dynamics between the new GTP platform and the GTD platform may decide just who wins their class by end-of-day Saturday at the 48th Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach rites of spring motorsports event.

... notes from The EDJE

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TAGS: 2023. 48th Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach, Long Beach Grand Prix, IMSA, GTP, GTD PRO, GTD, Corvette Racing, Cadillac Racing, WTRAndretti, Auberlen, Taylor, van der Zande, The EDJE