IMSA Long Beach Preview

The 3rd round of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship is taking the GTP and GTD classes over to the lovely, sunny California. It's time for the first sprint race of the season, 100 minutes of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

(Image credit to IMSA.com)

Track 

Throughout the years, the Long Beach Circuit has been through a few changes, with it being designed as a Formula 1 circuit. The track consists of 3.167 km of temporary road around the Long Beach Convention Center, with scenic palm trees and a waterfront. The track has 11 corners with some highlights in turn 1 being a 90-degree left turn leading into the roundabout corners 2 and 3 and a final hairpin in turn 11.

As stated, this track has been the site of some brilliant racing, having hosted INDYCAR, Formula E, Formula DRIFT, Formula 1, the American Le Mans series, the Rolex Sports Car Series and of course, IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.

Álex Palou (INDYCAR) holds the current track record, a time of 1:07.2359 as the Grand Prix Circuit it is now.

IMSA Weathertech Schedule

The two-day schedule will feature 2 practices and a qualifying taking place on Friday and the 100 min race on Saturday.*

Friday, April 17, 2026

Practice 1

• 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET

Practice 2 

• 4:10 PM to 5:40 PM ET

Qualifying

• 8:25 PM to 9:00 PM ET

Saturday, April 18, 2026

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

• 4:05 PM to 5:45 PM ET

*The Porsche Carrera Cup and Mustang Challenge will also be racing this weekend.

Changes: Drivers

As this is a sprint race, the teams are only permitted to use their full-time drivers, letting go of the endurance drivers we have seen so far this season. We have some notable changes to this race, revealed by the IMSA Long Beach entry list.

In the GTP class, we have Frederik Vesti who will be filling in for Earl Bamber alongside Jack Aitken in the No.31 Whelen Cadillac. The other change is Laurin Heinrich, who won the two opening races in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, will be shifting over into the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 alongside Tijmen van der Helm.

In the GTD class, we have Robert Wickens returning to the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R alongside Mason Filippi, for a second time in the program. Corey Lewis will be making his second season start in Gradient Racing’s #66 Ford Mustang GT3 alongside Jake Walker. And finally Spencer Pumpelly will be filling in for Om Gamble alongside Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

Changes: BoP (Balance of Performance)

Due to the factory Penske Porsche 963s brilliant dominance so far this season they had been hit with an insane power-to-weight ratio. The now championship-leading Porsche No.7 will be running a ratio of 480 kilowatts at 1,100 kilograms, which is the heaviest in the entire history of the entire Hypercar/GTP regulations.

The second-place contender, No.6 Porsche, will only have a 5 kg increase in weight bringing it up to 1060 kg. 

Other notable changes include a 15 kg increase for the Cadillac V-Series.R, 11 kgs of additional weight for the BMW M Hybrid V8 and 8 kgs more for the Acura ARX-06.

What to Expect?

A strong performance from the Porsche Penske cars will be looking for a repeat of last year, and even despite their weight it's looking like that could happen, but it's not set in stone so keep an eye on the rest of the grid especially on those Cadillacs, namely the No.31 Cadillac Whelen, they will be wanting that podium they just missed last year.

With just 100 minutes and only the main campaign drivers, let the race begin.

Article Written by Georg Castiel Petersen