Kiwi Ryan Yardley heads to Long Beach in California this weekend for Round 2 of the 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup North America Series and his first time competing on a street circuit. Driving for TOPP Racing, Yardley currently sits 15th in the Pro standings having scored five points in the season-opener at Sebring last month.
“It’s going to be a new challenge, for sure. Long Beach is a tough street track, and there’s very little margin for error,” commented Yardley.
“If you make a mistake, you’re going to most likely end up in the wall. It’s going to be about learning, especially in the first two practices, as to where the grip will be on the track, and also trying to understand how the track will evolve over the weekend with IndyCar and IMSA on track as well. Our second race on Sunday is actually after the IndyCar main race as well.
“I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of time on the simulator in between rounds,” commented Yardley. “I actually managed to jump in the car for a few laps as well, about a week ago, which was nice—just preparing as much as I can outside the car, too, with physical training and a lot of sim time.
“I’m just trying to learn as much as I can with the track notes the team has from previous years and just soaking in as much information as I can before I get on the track on Friday.”
In support of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (IndyCar), a full grid of 35 cars will take to the Streets of Long Beach, with 20 competing in Yardley’s Pro class.
“The first practice is just going to be about learning, learning the track and learning the curbs. It’s quite bumpy by the looks of things as well, so I’ll take my time in practice one and really push on.”
Qualifying takes place on Friday afternoon and has been recognised as an area for improvement by Yardley ahead of the round, who recognises a good qualifying result will enable him to battle with the front-runners.
“It’s going to be important to qualify at the front. We didn’t maximise that at Sebring, so we’ll need to maximise that this weekend.
“We just need to qualify in the front three or four rows. If we can qualify in the top six or top eight, I think that’s going to put us in a position to race. I’m well aware of how challenging it’s going to be.
“The front three or four are super, super competitive, so I just need to string the laps together in qualifying and put myself in the best position to start up the front, keep the nose clean and race on from there.
The Porsche Carrera Cup North America series is one of the support categories for the NTT IndyCar Series round.
“It’s definitely a pretty crazy schedule this year, and being alongside IndyCar this weekend [is great]. We also have Formula 1 and NASCAR later on in the calendar, so it’s an amazing calendar, and I’m looking forward to watching IndyCar live.
“Hopefully, I catch up with some of the Kiwis that are going to be in the paddock this weekend; it’ll be nice to watch a few of their sessions and learn as much as possible when you’re outside the car and watching how those cars handle the bumps and brake zones and things like that. There’s always stuff to learn.
The first Porsche Carrera Cup North America race is scheduled to go at 12:15pm Sunday (NZ Time) with the second on Monday morning at 11.20 am (NZ time).
Qualifying and both races will be streamed live on the Porsche Carrera Cup North America website https://porschecarreracup.us/
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