The 2023 Grand Prix of Long Beach (formally known as the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach) was a sports car race held at Long Beach Street Circuit in Long Beach, California on April 15, 2023. It was the third round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the first round of the 2023 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The No. 10 Acura driven by Filipe Albuquerque won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying and held the lead until a slow pit stop. This handed the lead to Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche who held the first position until 2 laps remaining. Ricky Taylor attempted a pass at turn one, but crashed into the tire barrier and handed Jaminet the victory. The No. 25 BMW of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly finished in second, and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport car of Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr came in third.
Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus were unchallenged throughout the race and took the victory in the Grand Touring Daytona Professional (GTD Pro) class ahead of second-placed No. 3 Corvette Racing drivers Antonio García and Jordan Taylor. The Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class was won by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow after they took the lead during the pit stop cycle to secure their second victory of the season, and was followed by the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team car of Roman De Angelis and Marco Sørensen.
The result meant Jaminet and Tandy took over the lead of the GTP Drivers' Championship with 955 points. Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr moved from sixth to fifth while Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims dropped from first to second. Cadillac remained in the lead of the Manufcatures' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to 41 points as BMW and Porsche jumped one position each. In the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship, Barnicoat and Hawksworth the lead from Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella as Lexus took lead of the GTD Pro Manufactures' Championship. Sellers and Snow jumped from second to first in the GTD Drivers' Championship with 1008 points, as BMW took the lead of the GTD Manufactures' Championship with eight races left in the season.
Background
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2022. It was the ninth year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the fifteenth annual running of the race, counting the period between 2006 and 2013 when it was a round of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series respectively. The 2023 Grand Prix of Long Beach was the third of eleven scheduled sports car races of 2023 by IMSA, the shortest of the season in terms of distance, and it was the first round held as part of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn 1.968 mi (3.167 km) Long Beach street circuit on April 15, 2023.
After the 12 Hours of Sebring four weeks earlier, Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, and Jack Aitken led the GTP Drivers' Championship with 670 points, ahead of Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, and Louis Delétraz with 660 points followed by Sébastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, and Scott Dixon with 600 points. With 708 points, GTD Pro was led by Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella, and Maro Engel with a twenty-six point advantage over Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Brendan Iribe, Ollie Millroy, and Frederik Schandorff with 629 points; the trio held a one-point gap over Corey Lewis, Bryan Sellers, and Madison Snow. Cadillac, Mercedes-AMG, and McLaren were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Whelen Engineering Racing, WeatherTech Racing, and Inception Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.
On April 3, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the GTP, GTD Pro, and GTD classes. In GTP, all cars received weight reductions compared to Sebring. The Cadillac ran at the lowest weight (1031 kg), with the BMW and Porsche at 1036 kg, and the Acura at 1045 kg. As a result, the Cadillac ran on 513 kilowatts of power, while the BMW ran on 515 kW (up 2 kW from Sebring), the Porsche ran on 515 kW (down 2 kW from Sebring), and the Acura on 520 kW. Maximum stint energy figures were also adjusted. In GTD Pro and GTD, the Acura and BMW received weight adjustments. The Corvette, Lamborghini, and the Mercedes received air restrictor size changes. Other changes included a change in fuel tank capacity for almost all cars, except the BMW and Mercedes, and an adjustment of average power delta.
Entries
A total of 28 cars took part in the event, split across three classes. 8 were entered in GTP, 5 in GTD Pro, and 15 in GTD. Risi Competizione and Iron Lynx were absent in GTD Pro while Turner Motorsport moved its entry to GTD. In GTD, Jeroen Bleekmeolen replaced David Brule in the #92 Kelly-Moss lineup. Wright Motorsports scaled down to 1 car after initially citing BoP concerns and scaling back their #16 entry to only contesting the Michelin Endurance Cup. Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR added a partial sprint campaign in addition to committing to the Michelin Endurance Cup.
Practice There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, one on Friday morning and one on Friday afternoon. The first session lasted one hour on Friday morning while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted 105 minutes.
Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 9:00 AM PT on Friday after being delayed by ten minutes due to the opening practice for Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America having track communication issues which delayed the practice session. Eventually, opening practice for the IMSA SportsCar Championship got underway and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, with a lap time of 1:11.942. Tom Blomqvist was second fastest in the No. 60 Acura followed by Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry. The GTD Pro class was topped by the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Alex Riberas with a time of 1:19.303, 0.071 seconds faster than Jack Hawksworth's No. 14 Lexus. Alec Udell was fastest in GTD with a time of 1:19.488, ahead of Loris Spinelli in the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by US RaceTronics entry. ClassTeamDriverTime1 GTP 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Ricky Taylor 1:11.942 _2 GTP 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Tom Blomqvist 1:12.800 +0.8583 GTP 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Mathieu Jaminet 1:13.550 +1.608Sources:
Final Practice The second and final practice session took place at 12:45 PM PT on Friday and ended with Tom Blomqvist topping the charts for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:10.391. Filipe Albuquerque was second fastest in the No. 10 Acura followed by Nick Yelloly in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL entry. The GTD Pro class was topped by the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a time of 1:17.876. Patrick Pilet was second in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche and Antonio García rounded out the top 3. Mario Farnbacher was fastest in GTD with a time of 1:18.516. ClassTeamDriverTime1 GTP 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Tom Blomqvist 1:10.391 _2 GTP 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Filipe Albuquerque 1:10.714 +0.3233 GTP 25 BMW M Team RLL Nick Yelloly 1:11.693 +1.302Sources:
Qualifying Friday's qualification session was divided into two groups with the first session lasting 15 minutes while the second session lasted 20 minutes. Cars in GTD Pro and GTD were sent out first. After a ten-minute interval, GTP vehicles drove onto the track. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put GTP vehicles ahead of the GTD Pro and GTD cars.
Qualifying was broken into two sessions. The first was cars in the GTD Pro and GTD classes. Jack Hawksworth qualified on pole in GTD Pro driving the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry, beating Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team entry by 0.141 seconds. Following in third was Pilet's No. 9 Porsche. The No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD and the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes rounded out the GTD Pro qualifiers. Marco Sørensen set the fastest time among all GTD cars driving the No. 27 car for Heart of Racing Team, 0.006 seconds faster than GTD Pro pole winner Hawksworth. Sørensen was five-tenths clear of Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Lexus followed by Madison Snow in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Car in third. The session was shortened after Ashton Harrison driving the No. 93 car for Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR crashed at turn eight. Moments later, P. J. Hyett driving the No. 80 car for AO Racing Team also crashed at turn eight. The Racers Edge Motorsports Acura caught fire and Harrison walked away from the accident. Hyett walked away from the incident unhurt. For causing the red flag, both the No. 93 and No. 80 had their best two times from the session deleted. Due to the extensive damage on their cars, Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR and AO Racing Team withdrew from the event.
The final session of qualifying was for the GTP class. Several teams scrubbed tires in the first half of the session for the race. Filipe Albuquerque qualified on pole driving the #10 car for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, beating Tom Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry by over six-tenths of a second. Following in third was the No. 01 Cadillac of Sébastien Bourdais, with the No. 25 BMW of Nick Yelloly in fourth. Augusto Farfus completed the top 5 in the slower No. 24 BMW. Porsche Penske Motorsport were sixth and eighth: Nick Tandy in the No. 6 car was faster than the sister No. 7 entry of Felipe Nasr. They were separated by the seventh-placed Alexander Sims in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1GTP10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Filipe Albuquerque1:09.909_12GTP60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Tom Blomqvist1:10.583 +0.67423GTP01 Cadillac Racing Sébastien Bourdais1:10.981 +1.07234GTP25 BMW M Team RLL Nick Yelloly1:11.002 +1.09345GTP24 BMW M Team RLL Augusto Farfus1:11.368 +1.45956GTP6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Nick Tandy1:11.406 +1.49767GTP31 Whelen Engineering Racing Alexander Sims1:11.410 +1.50178GTP7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Felipe Nasr1:11.591 +1.68289GTD27 Heart of Racing Team Marco Sørensen1:17.811+7.902910GTD Pro14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Jack Hawksworth1:17.817 +7.9081011GTD Pro23 Heart of Racing Team Ross Gunn1:17.958 +8.0491112GTD Pro9 Pfaff Motorsports Patrick Pilet1:18.083 +8.1741213GTD Pro3 Corvette Racing Antonio García1:18.329 +8.4201614GTD12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo1:18.376 +8.4671715GTD1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow1:18.383 +8.4741316GTD32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mike Skeen1:18.455 +8.5461417GTD78 Forte Racing Powered by US RaceTronics Misha Goikhberg1:18.831 +8.9221518GTD57 Winward Racing Russell Ward1:18.943 +9.0341819GTD97 Turner Motorsport Chandler Hull1:19.159 +9.2501920GTD96 Turner Motorsport Patrick Gallagher1:19.171 +9.2622021GTD70 Inception Racing Brendan Iribe1:19.188 +9.2792122GTD Pro79 WeatherTech Racing Daniel Juncadella1:19.436 +9.5272223GTD93 Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR Ashton Harrison1:19.583 +9.6742724GTD77 Wright Motorsports Alan Brynjolfsson1;19.629 +9.7202525GTD66 Gradient Racing Sheena Monk1:19.716 +9.8072626GTD80 AO Racing Team P. J. Hyett1:19.767 +9.8582827GTD92 Kelly-Moss w/ Riley Jeroen Bleekemolen1:19.807 +9.9892328GTD91 Kelly-Moss w/ Riley Alan Metni1:20.789 +10.88024Sources: