WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will host the third annual Electrify Your Career in Motorsports workshop, an immersive two-day program presented by Women in Motorsports North America (WIMNA) and Bosch. Taking place during the IMSA race weekend from …
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will host the third annual Electrify Your Career in Motorsports workshop, an immersive two-day program presented by Women in Motorsports North America (WIMNA) and Bosch. Taking place during the IMSA race weekend from May 9-11, the workshop is designed to inspire and equip women interested in exploring career opportunities in motorsports, particularly in STEM fields, and is open for applications now.
Available to all college and university students, the Electrify Your Career in Motorsports workshop will be hosted at three major racetracks in 2025. The program starts at Laguna Seca, an appropriate venue as the raceway’s newly appointed CEO, Lauri Eberhart, is a founding board member of WIMNA and recently launched a Monterey Chapter of the organization. This event aligns perfectly with WIMNA’s mission to Advance, Connect, and Enable (ACE) women across all motorsports industry sectors.
“Electrify Your Career in Motorsports aims to do just that — empower and educate the next generation of women in motorsports,” said Cindy Sisson, Executive Director of WIMNA. “With the ongoing collaboration with Bosch, we’ve been able to expand this program each year, and we are thrilled to add Laguna Seca as a host venue in 2025. The raceway is an iconic destination and a dream location for anyone passionate about motorsports.”
Bosch, a leader in innovation and technology, continues to play an instrumental role in the growth of the program. “For Bosch, hosting a program that fosters education, creates opportunities, and drives the industry forward is a win-win,” said Brooke Bond, Motorsports Operations Lead for Bosch USA. “We’ve seen firsthand how initiatives like this directly contribute to opening doors for the next generation, and we are honored to be part of this important effort.”
STEM education is one of the core pillars of the IMSA race series, making this program a natural fit within the broader vision for the 2025 season. As IMSA continues to emphasize technological advancements and sustainable engineering, Electrify Your Career in Motorsports serves as an ideal platform to showcase the expanding career pathways available within the industry. By integrating STEM-focused opportunities throughout its race events, IMSA reaffirms its commitment to developing the next generation of motorsports professionals.
The workshop offers participants an invaluable opportunity to gain industry insights through networking sessions, classroom discussions, behind-the-scenes tours of paddocks and garages, and access to manufacturer areas. Students will also have the chance to hear directly from professionals across various disciplines in motorsports, helping them discover the diverse career paths available within the industry.
The program continues later in the season at the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge event at VIRginia International Raceway, Aug. 22-25, and at the Lone Star Le Mans FIA WEC weekend, Sept. 5-7 at Circuit of The Americas. Those interested can register to participate in Electrify Your Career in Motorsports on WIMNA’s website.
German automaker BMW is evaluating a potential switch of IMSA GTP service provider for the 2026 season, according to RACER sources, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan in line to potentially be replaced by one of a selection of teams currently in …
German automaker BMW is evaluating a potential switch of IMSA GTP service provider for the 2026 season, according to RACER sources, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan in line to potentially be replaced by one of a selection of teams currently in discussions with the brand.
RLL has represented BMW at a factory level since 2009 and has since won 24 races, including a class victory at the 2020 Rolex 24 At Daytona while competing in GTLM. It also won both the manufacturers’ and teams’ championships in the ALMS’ GT category in 2010 and swept all three GT titles in 2011. More recently, the team was crowned the IMSA GTLM Michelin North American Endurance Champion in 2020.
Since stepping up to the top class with the M Hybrid V8 in 2023, RLL has struggled to consistently compete at the sharp end of the field. Although it has collected race wins at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis since the program debuted, it has failed to convert three straight poles into a single win to kick off the 2025 season.
RACER understands via multiple sources that three teams have been shortlisted to potentially replace the Indiana-based outfit. Chip Ganassi Racing is among the leading candidates, though according to one source, longtime Corvette factory GT outfit Pratt Miller Motorsports is considered to be another strong contender.
PMM is currently competing in the IMSA LMP2 class for the first time alongside its commitments as Corvette’s GTD PRO representative with the Z06 GT3.R. It has been actively seeking a factory GTP program in recent months.
RLL, meanwhile, is believed to still be involved in talks with BMW about retaining the contract. Should BMW decide to make a change, it would leave RLL with seven races left in the top class with the M Hybrid V8, including three Endurance Cup rounds at Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta. BMW had considered bringing RLL to Europe to run a third car for the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, but that plan was eventually shelved.
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This evaluation process by BMW, which is widely known to be conducted on a yearly basis, coincides with RLL’s recent appointment of Jay Frye as its new president. The former IndyCar president joined the team in the wake of a split with Steve Eriksen, who acted as its chief operating officer from January 2023 to April 2025.
A final decision is expected to be made by BMW this summer. RACER approached BMW for comment on this subject, and it politely declined.
All this follows a swathe of major moves across the Hypercar and GTP categories over the past 12 months. Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing parted ways at the end of the 2024 season, making way for Wayne Taylor Racing and Hertz Team JOTA, while Meyer Shank Racing returned to Acura for the 2025 season in response to WTR’s shift from racing with the ARX-06 to the V-Series.R.
Lamborghini has also seen its SC63 LMDh program service provider change over the off-season, with Riley Technologies taking over the reins for 2025 following a breakdown in the relationship between Iron Lynx and the Italian brand.
The 50th anniversary Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is complete, the final figures are in, and the three-day celebration was indeed the largest on record since Champ Car and IndyCar merged in 2008. Eclipsing the record of 194,000 fans set in 2024, …
The 50th anniversary Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is complete, the final figures are in, and the three-day celebration was indeed the largest on record since Champ Car and IndyCar merged in 2008.
Eclipsing the record of 194,000 fans set in 2024, the 2025 edition moved north of 200,000 attendees, according to the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, for the event in which Porsche Penske Motorsport captured its third straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win on Saturday and Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood dominated on Sunday to claim his first IndyCar Series victory of the year.
“We are delighted with how the entire Acura Grand Prix weekend turned out,” said GPALB president Jim Michaelian. “This was our most complicated schedule of events including are normal weekend activities, overlayed with all the specific 50th anniversary commemorations, and further enhanced by the special recognition of the First Responders to the January Southern California wildfires.
“And all of these events came off just as planned thanks to the efforts of our Grand Prix team, volunteers, partners and the City of Long Beach staff. Now we can focus on creating another exciting weekend along with our new owners, Penske Entertainment, next April 17-19, 2026.”
Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET …
Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week.
Q: A 17-race IndyCar schedule is way too short, which in my opinion is the reason for the dip in viewership. They need to stop make these excuses that the Masters and NCAA Tournament is going to hurt viewership. It is what it is, the series is in competition with the United Football League, Major League Soccer, the NBA and the NHL. Just expanded to 22 races by adding Homestead, New Orleans and Richmond and keep Thermal. Having races every weekend will add more viewers for the series. Having these three week breaks in the schedule hurts the series.
Alistair, Springfield, MO
MARSHALL PRUETT: I don’t see the citing of The Masters or other big rival events as excuses. If an independent film debuts on the same weekend as a new Star Wars movie, there’s a 100-percent chance it gets overlooked and its ticket sales will suffer. Why wouldn’t the same effect happen here?
Without competition, IndyCar tends to generate solid TV audiences. Pitted against sports that are more popular? IndyCar falls to second or third on the list, if not fourth or fifth.
Its audience size reflects its current ranking among major sports, which is a mile behind anything involving a bat, ball, or club, and at least a half-mile behind NASCAR and F1. To quote Juan Pablo Montoya, “It is what it is.” I’ve lived in times where the opposite was true and IndyCar was the big dog, and I’m among the many who pray for its return to that exalted place.
I love the idea of more races being the answer to bigger TV audiences, if those extra events fall on weekends where IndyCar has the broadcast window to itself. But if it’s got big competition from one or two sports that have more fans, logic says those folks will go to what they prefer before checking out IndyCar.
More of something doesn’t automatically equate to greater popularity. MLB teams play 162 games per year, and most struggle to fill two-thirds of their stadiums and record TV ratings that suck.
Here’s what Sunday’s FOX audience of 552,000 viewers tells us: All of IndyCar’s diehards tuned in on big FOX, and that’s about it. Last year, buried on NBC’s USA cable channel, Long Beach produced 307,348, which was dismal. In the switch from a cable channel that nobody associated as the place to watch IndyCar, to a giant network home in a featured slot, Long Beach went from 300k to 550k. It’s nearly double, so that’s obviously a good thing, but it’s still a tiny number. Especially for the race that’s rightly hailed as the second biggest on the IndyCar calendar after the Indy 500.
Despite the competition from golf on CBS, I would have expected IndyCar on FOX at Long Beach to attract more than 550k. It’s disappointing, at least to me, and also acts as a reminder that no matter how much we love IndyCar, a massive effort lies ahead for the series and for FOX to bring it out of the shadows. This is an unwelcome reality check, but it is indeed what it is.
Q: I just read the news item saying that Hy-Vee will no longer sponsor the Iowa doubleheader. Do you know why Hy-Vee pulled out? It went from sponsoring a car and the doubleheader to getting out of IndyCar completely. Do you think this is a harbinger of rough times for IndyCar and teams finding sponsors?
Peter, Indianapolis, IN
MP: This change happened last year, so I wouldn’t take the news of Sukup (Sue-cup) Manufacturing being signed just now as a sign of anything meaningful in April of 2025. Hy-Vee underwent a CEO change, with Randy Edeker, a huge IndyCar fan who drove the deals with RLL and the series at Iowa, stepping down. A failure to renew the contracts after their completion in 2024 was not a surprise, since CEO changes often result in sponsorships going away.
Hy-Vee said Bye-Vee, but Iowa will still be awesome. Travis Hinkle/IMS Photo
Q: The talk about tariffs made me remember Swift. Back when IndyCar was choosing a new car, Swift was making Formula Nippon cars (now known as Super Formula). What are they doing nowadays?
That car was nice, it raced well and sounded great. I remember Swift’s IndyCar project was beautiful. I always wondered why Japan had an American company making its cars, but IndyCar couldn’t go with Swift to make theirs.
Also now with this talk in F1 about the V10 (which looks like will result in a V8), maybe IndyCar could switch to a V8. Ask Honda and Toyota if they still have those engines around. They sounded better than the IndyCar V8 from those years.
This seems like a very complicated moment to decide engine rules, isn’t it? So much uncertainty.
William Mazeo
MP: Made in San Clemente, Calif. I grew up working Swift’s NorCal distributor and built/prepped/ran countless Swifts. Of all the marques, it’s the closest to my heart, and I’d rate the longtail Swift DB-1 as one of the most beautiful race cars made.
V10s would be a play for entertainment alone since there’s zero road-car relevance at the point in time. Same with V8s as a mandated formula. But if a series lacks auto manufacturers, there’s no reason not to go with something loud, screaming, and entertaining. I feel for Penske Entertainment on this front. We know hybridization is genuinely important to a lot of manufacturers today. But will it hold the same importance in three to five years?
Q: Not surprisingly, push-to-pass was often talked about during the Long Beach broadcast. I swear the FOX guys never even mentioned the hybrid. Is the stored electric energy not self-deployed on demand to assist with overtaking and defense?
Shawn, MD
MP: The energy recovery system can harvest automatically, if that option is enabled prior to whatever session, but is not allowed to deploy automatically. That’s the sole responsibility of each driver.
And yes, if I’m an auto manufacturer in IndyCar and compete with hybrid engines to showcase or promote hybrid road-car technology, I’m livid.
I rewatched the race Monday night and don’t recall a single mention of the ERS being available as a push-to-pass tool. Heard tons about the turbo P2P and who had however much time left to use, but it’s as if the other, newer P2P is invisible. I did note, however, that in the Acura commercial I saw during the race, it used its hybrid IMSA GTP car in the ad.
When the checkered flag fell after Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Long Beach, Robert Wickens, Tommy Milner, and the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R were classified 15 th in the GTD class – by no means …
When the checkered flag fell after Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Long Beach, Robert Wickens, Tommy Milner, and the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R were classified 15th in the GTD class – by no means representative of the form that they showed leading up to the race.
But to merely get to this point in his second racing career was a significant milestone for Wickens, who still took away several positives from the weekend.
“I’m disappointed with the result, but I am proud of what we achieved,” Wickens said after the race on Saturday evening. “It definitely wasn’t the end to the weekend that we wanted. Qualifying dictated the weekend for us, unfortunately.”
Wickens had his fastest lap from Friday afternoon’s qualifying session deleted for bringing out a red flag in the preceding practice session. A collision with the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari during the 15-minute Qualifying session bent the right-rear suspension and limited Wickens’ potential to do better than eighth on the grid.
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“We knew it was going to be a track-position race,” he said. “Qualifying was not what we deserved; we know we had more speed than that, but it is what it is. This is a competitive championship, and we did what we could in the race.
“I kept the car clean and gave it to Tommy, and he got out in P10. We lost some track position, but then Tommy drove his heart out. He got us up to P5 and was making things happen. It was awesome to see.”
In an unfortunate case of deja vu from Daytona, contact between Milner and a BMW M4 GT3 EVO while exiting a hairpin corner caused damage to the rear bodywork of the No. 36 DXDT Corvette.
And just like the Daytona incident between Milner and Paul Miller Racing’s BMW in GTD PRO, this accidental clash between Milner and the Turner Motorsport BMW of Robby Foley resulted in IMSA ordering the No. 36 Corvette to pit for repairs.
“I think that was a little harsh, but there is nothing you can do when race control gives you a black flag for repairs,” Wickens said of the decision from race control.
Before the incident, Wickens spent his 35-minute opening stint running seventh after the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari went off course and later retired from the race. During the team’s scheduled pit stop, it took less than 19 seconds for DXDT Racing’s crew to assist Wickens out of the Corvette and for Milner to jump into the car.
Wickens’ excitement upon completing his first race stint was clear to see and hear.
“It was good, he said after getting out of the car. “We stayed clean, which is the most important thing. I feel like we had more pace than what we showed in qualifying and unfortunately we kind of paid the price. I feel like if we had clear track, I had more in it. But I just made sure we kept the car in one piece so Tommy could have a go.
“I’m having a lot of fun. This is exactly what I wanted. I love the fact that we didn’t maximize qualifying and we were nearly outside the top 10. That’s the way it should be, and that just proves how strong it is in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and that’s why I worked so hard to get to this through this level. Hopefully now I can prove that I belong and then I can stay here.”
Despite causing a red flag in the second practice session, Wickens still set the fastest time of all 16 GTD cars and 32 drivers once he got back in the car. And despite not being able to gain track position on the road, Wickens’ race pace was still better than most of the Silver-graded drivers that started the race with him.
And it came at one of the most demanding circuits on the calendar – with several tight corners that would be a significant challenge for a driver using their hands to control steering, braking, and throttle input.
“I think we all knew coming into this weekend that this was almost the worst-case scenario of learning the hand-control system in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R at Long Beach,” he said.
“Honestly, I even surprised myself with the pace that I had in in FP2 and our potential pace that we could have had in quali, and even in the race. I felt super comfortable and I felt like I was always attacking more than defending, although I didn’t do a whole lot of attacking. But I think that’s just the nature of this track.
“There are a lot of positive takeaways from the weekend. We proved we belong here, that we can be competitive. The Bosch hand-control system worked flawlessly, DXDT Racing gave us a great Corvette. The car was very good all weekend and I feel like we had one of the cars to beat. We just couldn’t maximize it, and that is what hurts right now.”
Less than 24 hours later, Wickens was in Victory Lane at Long Beach after coaching Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood to the victory in the IndyCar Series main event on Sunday afternoon. In four weeks, Wickens will be back on track for DXDT Racing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, hoping to continue his progress and get the result that reflects the pace he had at Long Beach.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach set an all-time attendance record in 2024, and with the downtown city event swelled to capacity last weekend for its 50th anniversary, another record is expected to be set. “We’re still waiting to get the final …
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach set an all-time attendance record in 2024, and with the downtown city event swelled to capacity last weekend for its 50th anniversary, another record is expected to be set.
“We’re still waiting to get the final tally on walk-up ticket sales, but we expect the number to surpass the record 194,000 people we had last year for the 49th,” Grand Prix Association of Long Beach president Jim Michaelian told RACER.
The 50th running was also the first for the grand prix under its new owners at Penske Entertainment, which purchased the rights to hold the famous street race late last year. With newfound insights into how the event is run by Michaelian’s team, which was retained by Penske, and the depths of entertainment it offers through IndyCar, IMSA, SRO, Stadium Super Trucks, Formula Drift and historic racing, Penske Corporation president Bud Denker left the track in awe of all he witnessed from the inside.
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“This is my 19th year going there, and now it’s very different from a promoter standpoint for me,” Denker told RACER. “To see the people lined up along the fence in front of the grandstands, three or four deep, just light up… They were along the fence because general admission tickets were all we had left; they couldn’t get a seat because every seat was sold.
“The demographics too, the younger audience, obviously cross-generational, but also across all ethnicities, with a heavy Hispanic presence, which the market represents.
Penske Entertainment’s Denker sees opportunities for events like Detroit to incorporate some of Long Beach’s festival-style elements. Chris Owens/IMS Photo
“I used to think maybe they had too much stuff going on at that track. Every minute, there’s something filling up the track. But it works there, because it’s just working that subculture; the car cultures and the drifting every night. It was incredible. I’d never seen drifting in my life until I went over there at night, and they’re under the lights. They’re having a party. The grandstands are full.”
Denker has been in charge of running Penske’s Detroit Grand Prix and is centrally involved in similar ways with the Iowa Speedway doubleheader and the upcoming Arlington Grand Prix in 2026. The three-day-long beach party he just experienced is expected to influence how some of the other races under Penske’s care will look in the future.
“They created this great festival event,” Denker said. “There’s music, DJs in front of the convention center, people dancing around, and at every junction, there was something going on to create things for people to do. All those little bars they have, and food trucks, and the festival nature of it that you always want.
“The other part of it for Detroit is, well, Long Beach has five or six different series competing there. And that really works there. Now Detroit, the problem we have is we don’t have any paddock space to hold that many series. But it’s given us a lot to think about because some of the other series, the stadium trucks, or the SRO cars, or the drifting, those bring a lot of different ages of people that really have a chance to see things they haven’t seen before, especially in Detroit.”
With the November purchase of the grand prix and preparations for 2025 well under way, Penske Entertainment left the 50th anniversary event in the hands of Michaelian. Given a full year to apply some of Penske’s polish and upgrades, Denker expects the 51st running of the Long Beach Grand Prix to feature the same high-level oversight from the GPALB team along with some new looks to the venue.
“It’s got a great foundation. It really does there, and we have some ideas there,” he said. “We’re going to invest there in some areas. The last thing I was going to do is jump into their world and upset it. And the coming-together with Jim and everyone has been seamless. For next year, I hope to help him more by investing in some of the areas, and we’re going to do that because, man, they’ve always said Long Beach is this gem, the biggest event after the Indianapolis 500, and you saw it this weekend. It is so true.”
A brand new evo-spec Porsche 911 GT3 R is set to make its competitive debut this weekend in a 12-hour race at Circuit Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The revised GT3 car from the German marque will be campaigned in the 24H Series’ 12H …
A brand new evo-spec Porsche 911 GT3 R is set to make its competitive debut this weekend in a 12-hour race at Circuit Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
The revised GT3 car from the German marque will be campaigned in the 24H Series’ 12H Spa-Francorchamps by longstanding customer team Herberth Motorsport, with reigning IMSA GTD Pro Champion Laurin Heinrich set to share the wheel with Ralf Bohn and Alfred Renauer.
The race, which is run by Dutch organiser Creventic, features a grid of GT3, GT4, 992 Cup, and touring cars and is split into two parts. The first part of the race features five hours of running on Saturday, before an overnight break and seven further hours on Sunday.
This first assignment for the car comes amid its development program. A full launch is scheduled for later this summer, before a planned rollout to customers around the world in 2026.
The evo aims to build on Porsche’s current 911 GT3 R 992, which debuted in 2023. Since its debut as Porsche’s flagship customer GT car it has claimed several accolades, including titles in the FIA WEC’s LMGT3 class, DTM, IGTC and IMSA GTD Pro, as well as victories at the Le Mans 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours.
Porsche says its engineers have placed a strong emphasis on “enhancing driveability” with the evo. Modifications to aerodynamic components aim to reduce pitch sensitivity, improving front-end behaviour under braking and acceleration.
Important software updates have also been implemented, and the steering system has been refined by the engineering team in Weissach.
“The Creventic Series offers the ideal environment for such an important test. The competition features numerous privateer teams racing at a high level, there’s a lot of track time, and the Spa-Francorchamps circuit poses a formidable challenge for both drivers and machines,” said Sebastian Golz, project manager for the Porsche 911 GT3 R.
“As a long-time Porsche customer team, Herberth Motorsport can provide valuable feedback on vehicle handling, serviceability, ergonomics, and operational functions. We’re also eager to hear the drivers’ impressions.”
Further technical details about the evolved Porsche 911 GT3 R will be disclosed at a later date.
The story continues in 2025 – Porsche Penske Motorsport, Nick Tandy, and Felipe Nasr remain undefeated in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Tandy and Nasr drove the No. 7 Porsche 963 to victory in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, …
The story continues in 2025 — Porsche Penske Motorsport, Nick Tandy, and Felipe Nasr remain undefeated in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Tandy and Nasr drove the No. 7 Porsche 963 to victory in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, leading a Penske 1-2 finish — 3s ahead of the No. 6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell. It’s Porsche and Penske’s second straight 1-2 finish, and extends the No. 7 car’s lead to 123 points in the WeatherTech GTP standings.
Pole-winning RLL BMW with their No. 24 M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor and Philip Eng led until the race went under a full course yellow after the first 20 minutes of Saturday’s 100-minute sprint. Quicker pit work from Porsche Penske Motorsport’s two crews helped get the two factory cars out ahead of the No. 24 BMW, where they remained until the checkered flag.
Whelen Cadillac led the V-Series.R contingent as the No. 31 (Jack Aitken/Earl Bamber) finished fourth, holding off the No. 25 RLL BMW (Sheldon van der Linde/Marco Wittmann) in fifth.
Behind the two Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs, the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie of Ross Gunn and Roman de Angelis completed a trouble-free race and finished eighth, while the two Meyer Shank Racing Acuras lost out on strategy — and, in the case of the No. 93, a mechanical black flag for damage from an earlier incident that dropped Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly to last in class.
The No. 60 MSR Acura ARX-06 (Tom Blomqvist/Colin Braun) could only muster a ninth-place finish, and lost its left-rear wheel after the finish just to add further insult to a tough day.
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Laurens Vanthoor also remains undefeated in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech series, as he and co-driver Jonny Edgar teamed up to give AO Racing the win in GTD.
AO Racing and “Rexy” used the overcut to their advantage as the No. 177 Porsche 911 GT3 R, making a one-off cameo appearance in GTD, took the win. It was AO Racing’s second GT win in a row, after taking the GTD PRO victory in last month’s 12 Hours of Sebring.
Vasser Sullivan Racing narrowly missed out on a Long Beach three-peat. The No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth led early but dropped to second, one place ahead of the No. 89 of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz — which, like the winning car, was making a special entry out of GTD PRO.
GTD Championship leaders Russell Ward and Philip Ellis finished fourth in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Patrick Gallagher/Robby Foley) in fifth.
Robert Wickens and Tommy Milner ran a strong race in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, but contact between Milner and Foley at the hairpin Turn 11 inflicted damage on the Corvette and forced Milner to pit from fifth place. They finished a lap down in 15th.
IMSA returns to action further up the California coast at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on May 11th.
Today, it’s showtime as one of professional motorsport’s greatest comeback stories truly begins. And thankfully, Robert Wickens hasn’t had to do all of this on his own. Bosch and Pratt Miller were the companies most invested in developing a system …
Today, it’s showtime as one of professional motorsport’s greatest comeback stories truly begins. And thankfully, Robert Wickens hasn’t had to do all of this on his own. Bosch and Pratt Miller were the companies most invested in developing a system that would allow the former IndyCar Rookie of the Year to get behind the wheel of a GT3 car, seven years after his life-changing accident at Pocono Raceway.
Wickens’ co-driver for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Corvette Racing factory driver Tommy Milner, helped ensure that Bosch’s newest generation of hand-controlled throttle and braking was good to go before Wickens even set foot in the car for the first time. After all, if anyone is qualified to ensure that an ambitious project within the Corvette Racing umbrella is good to go, would it not be the man that has headed up the task of testing and developing both the Z06 GT3.R and the previous Corvette C8.R behind the wheel, before they ever raced?
It began in between Milner’s regular assignment at Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, after the Roar Before the 24 but before the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona, when the first shakedown at The FIRM (Florida International Rally and Motorsports Park) in Starke, Fla., proved to be a positive — and very eye-opening — experience for the two-time IMSA champion and winner at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans.
“It was about as smooth a test as I’ve ever had,” Milner tells RACER. “Everything worked. There was obviously a plan from Bosch and from Pratt Miller who, together, designed all the different bits and pieces to integrate into the Corvette well. And everything worked as expected.”
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For the test to work, Milner had to put himself in the shoes of the man the car was built for and get used to not only steering and shifting, but applying the throttle and brake with his hands instead of his feet.
It was one thing for Milner to shake the car down and confirm if all the systems were working as intended, but the next day he’d have to start driving for performance. “I told them, I’m not sure that I’m going to be able to do performance running — this feels very unnatural, what I’ve done so far,” he recalls of the first performance test of the accessible Corvette. “They said, ‘Well, that’s fine, we’ll just try.'”
Milner’s apprehensions melted away after only a few laps that morning, running on a damp track with wet tires. “I was shocked at how quickly your body can start forgetting about your feet, and then your legs — what you’re used to — and just focus on driving with the hand controls,” he says. “We just stayed on wet tires just to be safe. But I was within a second of what I was doing with all the normal controls, and it felt very natural, in some ways, to actually drive that way.
“Obviously the big thing is feel, right? How do you feel with what the car is doing braking-wise, because now you’re pulling a paddle as opposed to getting feedback from your feet.”
Having to shed those instinctual responses and learn a different way to drive is, of course, a temporary necessity for Milner. It’s why the car that he and Wickens share can be switched over to a traditional pedal box for feet with just the press of a button on a separate panel inside the cockpit of this specially homologated Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
On board with Robert Wickens during qualifying at the 50th Anniversary Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach!
But this is what Wickens is used to since Aug. 19, 2018 at Pocono: The accident, the plateau in his recovery from a spinal cord injury, realizing the limitations of his mobility — and yet, defying the odds to get back behind the wheel of a race car and not only make up the numbers, but to win races and championships in the Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR category.
“There are situations where, for me it’s awkward, but maybe not as much for Robert,” Milner says. “There’s a very tight hairpin at The FIRM where you have to crank all the way over, and you have to, obviously, use your hands that use the throttle on the wheel. That took me a while to get comfortable. But again, I was surprised — the way that the systems are set up, there’s two throttles, two paddles on the back of the steering wheel for the brakes.
“So if your hand moves in a position where it’s awkward to grab the throttle still, you can compensate with the other one. I mean, all of that started to make sense as you drive it and use it. And obviously for someone like Robert, that’s what he has been used to. That’s how he has to drive now. He’ll be more in tune with that stuff.”
The ergonomics of driving with one’s hands have been tried and tested by Wickens over his entire second career in racing, beginning when he stepped into a car that was originally built for fellow paraplegic racer Michael Johnson, with a much less sophisticated hand control system, just to see if he could still do it.
It continued on, culminating in the introduction of Bosch’s newest hand controls that originally made their debut as Wickens neared the end of his full-time TCR run at Bryan Herta Autosport. Pratt Miller, which constructs the Corvette Z06 GT3.R, has clearly done a good job making sure the hand controls have integrated into a car that is finding success around the world in 2025.
The versatility of the Bosch system in the DXDT Corvette is serving both Milner and Wickens well. Michael Levitt/IMSA
The level of sophistication and ease with which Wickens and Milner (and whoever DXDT Racing appoints to share the car with Wickens in the other IMSA WeatherTech sprint events) can share the car is such a leap forward, reminiscent of what Alex Zanardi helped bring forward when he made his racing return after losing his legs in a 2001 accident.
“Obviously, this is a performance world, and so having the ability to make those adjustments is super important,” Milner says.
When Wickens spoke to the media at Long Beach after the first practice session, he was a bit downbeat due to some trouble on an installation lap, which cost him a lot of time in the 60-minute session. Milner, who has worked closely with Wickens over the last three months, talking profoundly and extensively as peers to share their extensive knowledge, heaped praise upon what his co-driver had already achieved.
“I know his standards for himself are super high, but to come here for the first time to Long Beach in a long time, driving basically a car new to himself and be a second off the pace in about 10 minutes of practice is quite impressive,” Milner said of his co-driver. “He’s talking from the position of who he is. He wants to be the fastest. And that’s why, for me, I’m excited to be here this weekend with him and his journey.
“But also just having a teammate as competitive as Robbie is awesome, rewarding and exciting for me. It’s been easy talking to him about driving this Corvette because it’s like talking to any other teammate that I’ve ever had in my career.”
The rest of Friday had its struggles — a stoppage in the afternoon practice and contact for Wickens during qualifying that limited his potential — but also the uplifting high of him setting the fastest time during the second practice session, hours after he and Milner spoke to the press.
This afternoon, Robert Wickens will begin a journey that’s been seven years in the making. Then there will be a pit stop, Wickens will be assisted out of the car and Corvette legend Tommy Milner, as he has done so many times before, will do his best to make sure that this first chapter ends as well as it possibly can.
Dries Vanthoor is still perfect in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying in 2025, and on Friday, Vanthoor led an all-BMW M Team RLL sweep of the front row for Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Vanthoor and the No. 24 BMW M …
Dries Vanthoor is still perfect in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying in 2025, and on Friday, Vanthoor led an all-BMW M Team RLL sweep of the front row for Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Vanthoor and the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 won their third straight pole of 2025 after the Belgian wrestled the top spot from his teammate Sheldon van der Linde in the No. 25 BMW. The pole time for Vanthoor was a 1m11.539s, only 0.2s behind the 2024 pole-winning time, but 0.25s ahead of van der Linde’s 1m11.789s.
The first four rows of the grid for the 100-minute sprint race are all-manufacturer aligned. Porsche Penske Motorsport locked out the second row; Nick Tandy qualified third in the championship-leading No. 7 Porsche 963, ahead of former co-driver Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Penske Porsche who hustled his way to fourth.
Then it was the two Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06es, led by the red No. 93 of Nick Yelloly, ahead of the No. 60 of Tom Blomqvist, and then the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing car of Filipe Albuquerque in seventh.
Jack Aitken was seventh before all of his times were deleted for a breach of pit lane protocol from the Cadillac Whelen team. He will start 11th and last in GTP, behind Tijmen van der Helm, Louis Deletraz, and then the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie of Ross Gunn, just 1.8s off the pole time and continuing to find pace in every session.
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Parker Thompson won his second consecutive GTD pole position at Long Beach. The Vasser Sullivan Racing driver held off all challengers and put his No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 up front, ahead of AO Racing’s Jonny Edgar in second.
Edgar was the first driver to dip under the 1m20s range, taking provisional pole with a 1m17.937s aboard the No. 177 Porsche 911 GT3 R. But Thompson found some pace in reserve, and with a 1m17.877s, he took pole by just 0.06s.
Thompson and Jack Hawksworth will try and complete Vasser Sullivan’s Long Beach three-peat, starting alongside Edgar and the yet-to-be-defeated Laurens Vanthoor aboard AO Racing’s “Rexy.”
Heart of Racing’s No. 27 of Tom Gamble found traffic at the worst time and his Aston Martin Vantage GT3 qualified third, only 0.062s short.
Behind him, Manny Formal was an impressive fourth place in the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. Patrick Gallagher qualified fifth in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, ahead of Vasser Sullivan’s second car, the No. 89 Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo in sixth.
Robert Wickens qualified eighth for his first race in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Driving with hand controls, Wickens’ best time of 1m18.239s was good enough to have put him on the third row of the grid (in fifth).
Due to an outstanding penalty for causing a red flag in the second practice session, he would fall back on a 1m18.411s, putting himself and Tommy Milner on the outside of the fourth row behind championship leader Russell Ward in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, who was seventh.
After Trent Hindman crashed in the afternoon practice session, the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 did not set a representative time in qualifying and will start from the rear of the 27-car grid Saturday afternoon.
The green flag for the IMSA Grand Prix of Long Beach drops at 2:05 p.m. PT with live coverage in the United States on USA Network and Peacock, and live streaming coverage in most other countries on the official IMSA YouTube channel and IMSA.TV.
: Green Flag: Saturday April 12, 2:05PM PT
: Peacock TV
: IMSA. tv | IMSA YouTube Live
: IMSA Radio
