IMSA at
Long Beach
2026

Long Beach is a temporary circuit built on downtown city streets rather than a permanent race track. The walls are close, the run-offs are minimal, and a single mistake can end your race instantly. There's no margin for error.

Unlike Sebring's 12-hour endurance grind, Long Beach is a 100-minute sprint. No mandatory pit stops, no driver changes required — pure flat-out racing from lights to flag. Strategy is simpler but pace matters every single lap.

Long Beach only fields GTP and GTD — LMP2 and GTD Pro do not compete here. The result is a leaner, faster grid of 28 cars. With fewer class overlaps on track, it can actually be easier to follow than a 55-car Sebring field.

The Long Beach Street Circuit winds through the streets of downtown Long Beach near the convention center and waterfront. With concrete walls lining the course throughout, there is no room for error. The track rewards drivers who can push right to the limit without touching the barriers.

Key sections include a long straight down Shoreline Drive, a tight hairpin, and a challenging sequence of medium-speed corners that test car balance. The track surface is smooth by IMSA standards — a sharp contrast to Sebring's famously brutal concrete.

IMSA sports cars have raced at Long Beach more than 20 times, dating back to 1990 when the GTO and GTU classes ran a 60-minute event. Today IMSA shares the weekend with the IndyCar Series — both series getting top billing at one of North America's most iconic street racing venues.

The race counts toward the IMSA WeatherTech Championship points standings for both GTP and GTD. It does not count toward the Michelin Endurance Cup, which is reserved for the longer endurance events.

Less than a month after winning the 12 Hours of Sebring together, Nasr (#7 Penske) and Heinrich (#5 JDC-Miller one-off) both start at Long Beach. Heinrich's appearance in the JDC Porsche is a standout single-event drive — can the Sebring winner carry that momentum onto the streets?

Frederik Vesti, Mercedes-AMG's Formula 2 graduate and reserve F1 driver, steps into the #31 Whelen Cadillac alongside Jack Aitken. It's a high-profile IMSA appearance for a young driver with serious single-seater credentials — Long Beach's tight walls will test his ground-level adjustment quickly.

Wickens, who suffered a severe spinal injury at Iowa Speedway in 2018, continues his remarkable racing comeback in the #36 DXDT Corvette. Street circuits demand extreme precision — every lap Wickens races competitively is a reminder of one of motorsport's most extraordinary recoveries.

Eduardo "Dudu" Barrichello — son of F1 legend Rubens — races in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. His father raced at Sebring 2026 in the same team. Street circuits like Long Beach are where the next generation gets to make their mark.

After a Porsche 1-2 at Sebring, the #6 and #7 Penske entries start as favorites again. BMW, Acura, Cadillac, and Aston Martin all need results. Long Beach's tight street circuit can produce chaos — a safety car or barrier contact can upend the order instantly.

The #21 AF Corse Ferrari won the GTD class at Sebring with a last-lap pass — one of the season's most dramatic moments so far. Can they carry that form to the streets of Long Beach? Ferrari GT3 cars have always been quick on tight circuits.

The #93 Acura ARX-06 claimed Acura's first IMSA prototype win at its home track since 2009. Van der Zande executed a perfectly timed pit stop — cycling into the lead just before a caution period locked in the field — and held off the chasing Cadillacs and Porsches to the flag. Margin of victory: 0.818 seconds.

Vasser Sullivan ended a two-year winless streak with an authoritative drive in the #12 Lexus RC F GT3. Telitz made the decisive move with about 40 minutes remaining, passing the #36 DXDT Corvette — which had led early — to put the Lexus at the front and stay there. The #96 Turner Motorsport BMW finished second in GTD.

Yelloly put the #93 Acura ARX-06 on pole the evening before and led from the start, with the Acura and its Meyer Shank crew controlling the front. The race was interrupted by five caution periods — high for a 100-minute sprint — which repeatedly compacted the field and kept rivals within striking distance.

The winning move came at the pit stop. Meyer Shank called Yelloly in a lap before a caution flag fell and the field bunched, letting the team cycle into clean air at the front. Van der Zande took over and controlled the closing laps, holding off the #31 Whelen Cadillac of Vesti — who was charging hard on fresh tires — to win by 0.818 seconds. The #93 led 53 of the race's 70 laps.

The GTD battle turned on the final restart. Pedersen started the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 sixth on the grid and worked it forward before handing to Telitz at the scheduled stop. Filippi in the #36 DXDT Corvette had been running at the sharp end early, but with about 40 minutes left Telitz found the gap on a restart and pulled through cleanly.

Once ahead, Telitz built the cushion steadily and crossed the line five seconds clear of the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Gallagher and Foley. For Vasser Sullivan, it ended a 22-race winless run — their last GTD win had come at this exact circuit two years earlier in 2024.