| After the Longest Races of the Season on Road Courses, WeatherTech Championship Drivers Prepare for One of the Shortest on the Tight Street Circuit March 31, 2022 By Mark Robinson IMSA Wire Service  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s like night and day – literally and figuratively – as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers prepare for next week’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. After starting their season with the two longest races of the year – the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts; a total of 36 grinding hours of racing through day and night – they head to one of the two shortest in time, 100 minutes. Not only that, they go from the distinct high speeds of the Daytona International Speedway road course that encompasses most of the high-banked oval and the bone-jarring bumps of Sebring International Raceway to the Long Beach street course that may be nearly half the length of the first two circuits but carries greater ever-present risk through its concrete-lined twists and turns. It’s the diversity and challenge of the WeatherTech Championship in a nutshell, one the drivers crave. “I think the beauty of this championship is exactly this, the variety of tracks and layouts,” said Filipe Albuquerque, co-driver of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 along with Ricky Taylor that competes in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class. Also on the card at Long Beach are the GTD PRO and GT Daytona (GTD) classes, making for a total of 27 cars fighting for real estate on the tight 1.968-mile temporary street circuit. “It shows the diversity of the championship,” added Pipo Derani, who shares the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R with Tristan Nunez. “You go from Daytona – (a) very big track – to then Sebring – (a) very bumpy track – and then to a street track at California. I think it brings something good for the championship and for the teams to adapt quickly to these changes. “It’s great to have such a great combination of tracks where you have to keep yourself and your team on your toes and do the best job possible to stay ahead.” A big part of that approach lies in the true sprint nature of the 100-minute Long Beach race. The risk-versus-reward aspect may be greater but some are willing to take that gamble through bold overtaking maneuvers or different race strategies. “We’ve seen it in Long Beach in years past – guys taking risks early on and it paying off in the end,” said Jordan Taylor, co-driver of the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD with Antonio Garcia. Taylor is a three-time Long Beach winner, each coming in the prototype class when he drove for Wayne Taylor Racing. “Historically it has worked, so the risk-reward is decent at a track like Long Beach, especially if you don’t have the fastest car,” Taylor added. “It’s so difficult to pass sometimes that it’s a good place to take that risk.” Strategy could play a key role in the GTD PRO and GTD classes, particularly in deciding when to pit. The GT3-spec cars in both classes typically can go about 60 minutes on a full tank of fuel. It opens a wide window for teams to select when to pit and factor in the driver change since refilling the tank likely won’t take as long as during a full-fill stop. Ben Barnicoat will be racing for the first time at Long Beach, but the co-driver of the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 with Jack Hawksworth in GTD PRO is well aware of what’s at stake. “It seems like strategy can play out quite a lot with the fuel on the cars being around 60 minutes but the race being 100 minutes long, that opens up quite a window where you can play around with it,” Barnicoat said. “There’s a lot of options to look at and you can prepare a million ways, but none of us are really going to know what the best thing to be or how we’re going to feel until we’re in the race and see what’s happening on track.” Practice and qualifying for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach take place Friday, April 8. The race airs live at 5 p.m. ET Saturday, April 9 on USA Network, Peacock and IMSA Radio. |
