The Porsche GT Team tackles round three of the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship season at Long Beach (USA) as the leader of the manufacturer and team classifications. After a hard-fought victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida, the two 510 hp Porsche 911 RSR start under very different conditions at the Pacific coast. Contested over just 100 minutes, the so-called Sports Car Grand Prix in Long Beach is the shortest race of the season.
The winners of the Sebring race, Patrick Pilet (France) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain) share the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR. The pair won the twelve-hour race in Florida with their works driver colleague Frédéric Makowiecki (France).
The sister car is driven by Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium). At last year’s Sebring race, these two led the race for over half of the distance in the No. 912 car. The Porsche 911 GT3 R vehicles fielded by Park Place Motorsports and Pfaff Motorsports will not compete at the Long Beach, however the GTD class will be back on the programme again on 5 May in Mid-Ohio.
“I’m a big fan of street circuits so I’m looking forward to Long Beach,” commented Bamber. “Last year we were super quick here, but we had really bad luck. We were leading and had to retire. We’re looking for redemption this year. We have already switched to sprint mode in our minds and are excited for the shorter IMSA series races. We’re aiming for a podium finish.”
The race
Five kilometres of fencing and around 1,400 concrete blocks are needed for the construction of the 3.167-kilometre street circuit in the port area of Long Beach, California.
The race is regarded as the American equivalent to the Monaco Grand Prix. In fact, the street course, which features only eleven turns, was the venue for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix from 1976 to 1983.
A popular photo motif along the racetrack is the decommissioned British passenger ship, the RMS Queen Mary. Today, the ocean liner serves as a floating hotel. A round of the popular IndyCar Series is also contested as part of the Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend.
The race takes off on Saturday, 13 April, at 14.05 hrs local time (23:05 hrs CEST) and can be viewed live outside the USA and Canada on www.imsa.com.
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