The 2021 Grand Prix of Long Beach (formally known as the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach) was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Long Beach Street Circuit in Long Beach, California on September 25, 2021. It was the tenth round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and seventh the round of 2021 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
Background
The race marked IMSA's return to Long Beach after the previous year's edition was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally scheduled to be run on April 17, 2021, the race was to kick off the two "West Coast Swing" rounds also consisting of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, however, the event postponed to September 25, 2021, due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic in California. As a result of getting postponed, the race was set to clash with the 6 Hours of Fuji WEC race at Fuji, however the WEC event would get cancelled. The race marked the first time since the 2021 Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio where spectators and fans were mandated to wear masks. GTD Would be returning to Long Beach for the first time since 2017.
On September 17, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. In GTD, the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 received a 10 kilogram weight increase while the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo got a fuel capacity reduction of 2 liters. No changes were made in DPi and GTLM.
Before the race, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 2765 points, ahead of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr in second with 2667 points, and Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell with 2597 points. Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 2562 points, 187 points ahead of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy followed by Cooper MacNeil in third. With 2242 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley, ahead of Zacharie Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, Corvette Racing, Turner Motorsport and each led their own Teams' Championships.
Entries
A total of 26 cars took part in the event, split across three classes. 6 cars were entered in DPi, 3 in GTLM, 17 and in GTD. In GTLM, Cooper MacNeil would be joined by Mathieu Jaminet in the #79 WeatherTech Racing entry. GTD saw Scuderia Corsa return for the first time since Daytona. GMG Racing would be competing in the series for the first time since 2014 featuring drivers Kyle Washington and James Sofronas. US RaceTronics also made their IMSA SportsCar Championship debut at this event.
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 75 minutes.
Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 9:00 AM PT on Friday and ended with Felipe Nasr topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:13.498, ahead of Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac. The GTLM class was topped by the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:19.734, ahead of Antonio García in the No. 3 Corvette. Patrick Long set the fastest time in GTD with a time of 1:20.544, ahead of Bryan Sellers in the Paul Miller Racing entry. The session was red flagged three times. The No. 55 Mazda of Oliver Jarvis stopped at turn ten due to a mechanical problem in the opening minutes of the session. Alex Riberas spun at turn 9 resulting in the second red flag of the session. The final stoppage came when Oliver Pla crashed the No. 60 Acura with 14 minutes remaining in the session resulting in the session ending early. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi31Whelen Engineering RacingFelipe Nasr1:13.498_2DPi01Cadillac Chip Ganassi RacingRenger van der Zande1:14.333 +0.8353DPi60Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-AgajanianOliver Pla1:14.393 +0.895Sources:
Practice 2 The second and final practice session took place at 12:45 PM PT on Friday and ended with Felipe Nasr topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:11.983. Loïc Duval's No. 5 Cadillac was second fastest followed by Kevin Magnussen in the No. 01 Cadillac. The GTLM class was topped by the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Antonio García with a time of 1:17.516, ahead of Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette. Patrick Long set the fastest time in GTD with a time of 1:20.089. Zacharie Robichon in the No. 9 Porsche was second fastest followed by the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Bryan Sellers. The session was stopped with less than two minutes remaining when Dane Cameron spun the No. 60 Acura at turn eight and stalled resulting in the session ending early. ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi31Whelen Engineering RacingFelipe Nasr1:11.983_2DPi5JDC-Mustang Sampling RacingLoïc Duval1:12.145 +0.1623DPi01Cadillac Chip Ganassi RacingKevin Magnussen1:12.290 +0.307Sources:
Qualifying
Qualifying was broken into three sessions. The first was for cars in the GTD class. Madison Snow qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 1 car for Paul Miller Racing, beating Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW by more than one-tenth of a second. Richard Heistand was third in the No. 39 CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing Audi followed by Zacharie Robichon in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche.
The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 3 car for Corvette Racing, besting teammate Tommy Milner in the sister No. 4 Corvette Racing entry. Laurens Vanthoor set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session driving the No. 9 car for Pfaff Motorsports and earned 35 championship points. Vanthoor was 0.148 seconds clear of Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. Jack Hawksworth was third in the No. 14 Lexus followed by Bill Auberlen in the No. 96 BMW. The session was shortened after Alex Riberas, driving the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, spun at turn eight and attempted to rejoin the track. Riberas blocked the track and squeezed Patrick Long's No. 16 Porsche to the barrier. For causing a red flag, Riberas had his best two laps from the session deleted.
The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi class. Felipe Nasr qualified on pole driving the No. 31 car for Whelen Engineering Racing, beating Kevin Magnussen in the No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing entry by 0.104 seconds. Loïc Duval was third in the No. 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac followed by Dane Cameron's No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura in fourth. The session was shortened after Oliver Jarvis, driving the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda RT24-P, crashed at turn nine. For causing a red flag, Jarvis had his best two laps from the session deleted.
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr1:11.620_12DPi01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Kevin Magnussen1:11.724 +0.10423DPi5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Loïc Duval1:11.827 +0.20734DPi60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Dane Cameron1:12.440 +0.82045DPi10 WTR-Konica Minolta Acura Filipe Albuquerque1:12.461 +0.84156DPi55 Mazda Motorsports Oliver Jarvis1:13.179 +1.55967GTLM3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor1:16.801 +5.18178GTLM4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner1:17.098 +5.47889GTD1 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow1:19.475 +7.8551010GTD96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley1:19.609 +7.9891111GTLM79 WeatherTech Racing Cooper MacNeil1:19.686 +8.066912GTD39 CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing Richard Heistand1:19.707 +8.0871213GTD9 Pfaff Motorsports Zacharie Robichon1:19.772 +8.1521614GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Daniel Mancinelli1:19.849 +8.2291715GTD16 Wright Motorsports Trent Hindman1:20.018 +8.3981316GTD14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Aaron Telitz1:20.083 +8.4631417GTD23 Heart Of Racing Team Roman De Angelis1:20.196 +8.5761518GTD12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Frankie Montecalvo1:20.221 +8.6011819GTD66 Gradient Racing Till Bechtolsheimer1:20.272 +8.6521920GTD26 O'Gara Motorsport - USRT Steven Aghakhani1:20.283 +8.6632021GTD19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Misha Goikhberg1:20.498 +8.8782122GTD76 Compass Racing Matt McMurry1:20.635 +9.0152223GTD27 Heart Of Racing Team Ian James1:21.133 +9.5132324GTD88 Team Hardpoint Rob Ferriol1:21.167 +9.5472425GTD44 Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports John Potter1:21.697 +10.0772526GTD34 GMG Racing Kyle Washington1:22.435 +10.81526Sources:
The No. 55 Mazda Motorsports entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
Race
Post-Race The result of the race meant Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor were still in the lead of the DPi Drivers' Championship with 3071 points, but their advantage had been reduced by 79 points as the victory of Derani and Nasr meant the two drivers were nineteen points behind. The result kept Antonio García and Jordan Taylor atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Jaminet advanced from sixth to fifth. As a result of winning the race, Sellers and Snow advanced from fourth to second in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Robichon and Vanthoor jumped from second to first while Auberlen and Foley dropped from first to fourth. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Porsche continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura and Corvette Racing kept their respective advantages in their respective Teams' Championships. Pfaff Motorsports took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship with two rounds remaining in the season.
Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and .