Earl Bamber along with Belgium’s Laurens Vanthoor will compete in the second Porsche 911 RSR (#912) fielded by the Porsche GT Team in the BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach this weekend, the latest round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The 100-minute event at Long Beach California is the shortest race of the year on a 3.167-kilometre street circuit.
“Long Beach is unique,” commented Bamber. “The city circuit is one of the most beautiful in the world, but it’s also one of the most difficult. There are virtually no run-off areas. Every mistake has immediate consequences. If you take a corner too fast you’ll hit the wall. I love street circuits. They’re something very special and a wonderful change for us drivers. And aside from that, California with its sun and beaches is simply fun.”
After winning the Sebring 12-hour race, Porsche has moved into second place in the manufacturers’, drivers’ and team classifications of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Porsche also ranks second in the prestigious North American Endurance Cup. The long-distance races at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans count towards the toughest category in terms of performance and reliability in GT racing worldwide.
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, a sports car race series contested in the USA and Canada, was run in 2014 for the first time. The series was formed from the merger of the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am Series. Sports prototypes and sports cars start in three different classes: GTLM (GT Le Mans), GTD (GT Daytona) and P (Prototype). The Porsche 911 RSR runs in the GTLM class, with the Porsche 911 GT3 R contesting the GTD class. Only the GTLM and P classes will be contested at Long Beach.
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