Long Beach GP – Page 6 – Syndication Server

Blomqvist keeps Acura ahead in second Long Beach IMSA practice

So far at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach there are the two Acura ARX-06s…and then there’s everybody else. The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura kept trading fast laps in the second practice session before Tom Blomqvist finally claimed supremacy for MSR with a 1m10.391s (100.65mph), 0.323s ahead of Filipe Albuquerque. Albuquerque was going quicker in the first two sectors on his final circuit, but a little bobble at the end scuppered a lap that could have been quickest.

As for everyone else, the first non-Acura was nearly a full second behind Albuquerque and 1.3s off Blomqvist. The No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 claimed the third spot in the session with Nick Yelloly at the wheel, a 1m11.693s being the best of the rest. Alexander Sims was fourth in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, with Philipp Eng in the second BMW rounding out the top five, followed by the two Porsche Penske Motorsports 963s. The defending Long Beach champs, Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, have so far languished in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, bringing up the rear of the GTP field in both sessions.

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Acura was on top in GTD as well, with Mario Farnbacher putting the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR NSX GT3 Evo22 at the top of the time sheet with a 1m18.516s (90.23mph) lap. That time is knocking on the door of Madison Snow’s GTD lap record set in qualifying last year. Seb Priaulx in the No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was the second-quickest GTD driver, only 0.056s shy of Farnbacher’s best. Marco Sorensen was third with a 1m18.572s lap in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Frankie Montecalvo (No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus) and Frederik Schandorff (No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S) completed the top five.

It wasn’t until the GTD cars received their virtual checker flag in the split session, leaving the pro classes alone on the track, that a GTD PRO driver went faster, Jack Hawksworth going quicker and turning the first 1m17s GTD PRO lap at Long Beach. His 1m17.876s lap, a 90.98mph average, was under Jordan Taylor’s record lap set in qualifying for last year’s race. The final minutes saw lap times tumbling for all the GTD PRO cars, Patrick Pilet coming closest in the No. 9. Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, 0.424s back. Antonio Garcia was third at 1m18.429 in the No. 3 Corvette.

Up Next: Qualifying at 5:15 p.m. PT. The GTD classes will qualify first in a 15-minute session, then GTP drivers will have 20 minutes on their own to set the grid for tomorrow’s 100-minute race.

RESULTS

Ricky Taylor leads as Acuras pace first Long Beach IMSA practice

Filipe Albuquerque predicted that Acura had closed the gap to Cadillac on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s rougher circuits such, and he and co-driver Ricky Taylor delivered solid evidence that he was correct during the first practice …

As the GTP cars are getting their first experience on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit, Taylor snatched the fast time from Albuquerque late in the hour-long session, then lowered it several times, finally setting a 1m11.942s lap on his final circuit in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport ARX-06. Tom Blomqvist was second in the other ARX-06, the No. 60 entry from Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian, with a 0.858s margin to Taylor.

The two Porsche Penske Motorsports 963s were next, Mathieu Jaminet setting the third-quickest time at 1m13.550s in the No. 6, with Augusto Farfus completing the top five in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8. Outside of Taylor’s stellar lap, second through sixth (Pipo Derani, No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R) were covered by a second.

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Defending Long Beach GTD PRO winners Heart of Racing topped that class, Alex Riberas turning a 1m19.303s lap in the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Jack Hawksworth was only 0.71s shy in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. With a 1m19.660s lap, Jordan Taylor was third with a time that put him behind the first GTD entry as 19 GT cars were covered by one second.

Alec Udell led the GTD class in the No. 92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R with a 1m19.488s lap good for third overall among the GTs. Loris Spinelli was second in the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, 0.201s slower than Udell. Bryan Sellers was third in the 2022 Long Beach-winning No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 with a 1m19.697s lap.

UP NEXT: The second, and last, practice session before qualifying, a 1h45m split session at 3:45pm ET.

RESULTS

Harrison and Farnbacher to race NSX with ‘Chiaki’s Journey’ livery at Long Beach

Ashton Harrison and Racer’s Edge with WTR had planned a Michelin Endurance Cup-only campaign with the No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, so it was a bit of a surprise to see Harrison partnered with Mario Farnbacher for the first sprint round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. But with Acura’s sponsorship of the event, the entry wasn’t entirely unexpected, either.

The second Acura entry in GTD, joining Sheena Monk and Katherine Legge in Gradient Racing’s No. 66 NSX, will celebrate the release of the second season of “Chiaki’s Journey,” Acura’s anime series celebrating the Type S line. The car carries a livery designed to emulate the anime style of illustration. At last year’s Long Beach race, Farnbacher and Marc Miller raced Gradient’s NSX entry that marked the initial release of “Chiaki’s Journey” to a second-place finish.

“With ‘Chiaki’s Journey’ season two coming out, I think it was important for Acura, especially at their home track at Long Beach,” Harrison said. “Mario and Marc Miller did ‘Chiaki’s Journey’ last year, and now Mario and I are representing and it’s exciting. I think that when the partnership came available, we’d started talking about it, and I’ve never been to Long Beach. I think it’s important that they had as many Acuras on track as possible, and we were available and even though it wasn’t on our schedule originally, when the topic came up, we were like, ‘Yes! We want to do it.’ And to do it with Mario is exciting. I’m excited for the livery, I think it looks so good.”

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While Harrison hasn’t raced at Long Beach, she raced some street circuits in Mazda MX-5 Cup. Farnbacher, however, has raced the Long Beach street circuit numerous times. His advice for Harrison?

“Respect the walls. Obviously it’s a street circuit so it’s a really small margin of error. But it’s a nice challenge, in my opinion,” he said.. I think it’s also a very good perspective for her side to to see the less respectful tracks. So I think it’s good for her to grow, to get experience with street circuits. And it’s always great to be here. It’s a cool track — I love street circuits.”

While racing at Long Beach will be a new experience for Harrison, she saw last year’s race from a different perspective, sitting on the Wayne Taylor Racing timing stand.

“I feel like I’ve been almost over studying,” she said. “So I’m excited to get on track and get to see it behind the wheel of our car. I did get to do some laps, in the street car for last week at the media day, so I have gotten a feel for it and I’m excited to see it in action, especially sharing the track with all of our other competitors and the GTP cars. I was here last year with Wayne Taylor Racing and their 10 car program, so I got to see a little bit from their side and their point of view. And now getting to actually participate myself is is different. I learned so much being with the 10 car up on the stand with Ricky and Filipe, but now it’s my turn.”

Harrison and the rest of the WeatherTech Championship drivers have two practice sessions to get up to speed before qualifying commences at 5:15pm Pacific time.