DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The “36 Hours of Florida” moniker is well-used to open the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Now, the season is set to launch the “260 Minutes of California” by contrast at this weekend’s 100-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, followed by the two-hour, 40-minute run two weeks later at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Diversity tells the story of the opening quartet of rounds on the IMSA season spanning four different race lengths in two different states at polar opposites of the country. That juxtaposition is appealing.
“With these first four races, you see what makes IMSA great and why so many drivers enjoy being here,” said Matt Bell, driver of 13 Autosport’s No. 13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, net second in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) championship.
“You start with two long-distance, but vastly different tracks in Daytona and Sebring, now to a 100-minute street event at Long Beach and then a sprint race at a place like (WeatherTech Raceway) Laguna Seca. All four tracks and events test the teams, the cars and us as drivers. You don’t get this variety really anywhere else in the world. It’s great fun and why I enjoy being back here year after year.”
The Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring provide ample testing opportunities in advance. By contrast, the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) competitors always tackle the 1.968-mile Long Beach street circuit “cold” and work through significant track evolution over three sessions Friday while four other series add their rubber to the track.
That makes past track knowledge and simulator work more beneficial, as Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Julien Andlauer explained.
“(Testing) is something we’re a bit more limited for Long Beach,” said the co-driver of the No. 7 Porsche 963. “Luckily, the team has been driving there for years, and they have some good data. They may be able to correlate the improvement since Long Beach last year to this year.
“With the other series driving on the track we bring a different grip, and this is something we can only experience on the race weekend. That’s why I think we need to use the full potential of the break between the sessions to work on the car.”
Fellow Long Beach first-timer Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello, also a points leader to start 2026 in his No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, noted his desire to learn quickly.
“At Long Beach, you just have to get comfortable with the walls, as I think it’s very easy for you to touch the wall anywhere,” he said. “I think the last corner is really tight. I’ve never done something that tight. So yeah, it’s gonna be a new experience for me. I think you just have to build up to it and that’s my plan for the first practice and the rest will, we’ll see how we get on.”
That noted motorsport sage, Yogi Berra, is said to have observed, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
Could that line bear fruit for Porsche Penske Motorsport again, as its No. 7 Porsche 963 entry of Andlauer and Felipe Nasr seeks an encore of its 2025 “hat trick” to start the year?
It starts with qualifying, which takes on greater importance in Long Beach. Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid said the team’s Long Beach approach is diametrically opposed to Daytona and Sebring.
“At Daytona and Sebring, we said, ‘I don’t care if you’re last place after the first corner, we don’t really want you to be aggressive on the start,’” Diuguid explained.
“It’s probably the opposite (at Long Beach). I think in ’24, Nick (Tandy) went from eighth to second on the start. Those are the kind of aggressive moves you’re gonna see in the first couple laps. I think you’re gonna see the drivers be a lot more aggressive in traffic, and that’s definitely a clear mentality change.
“And then from a setup perspective, you know, we’re not planning on doing full double stints on tires. It’s a 100-minute race, so it ends up being one and a half stints if you don’t change tires. So, we can be a little bit more aggressive on tire usage in the setup of the car and the tools and the things the drivers have (to work with).
“Really, it’s just, it’s aggressiveness from the drop of the green flag until the checkered flag, which is probably slightly different from the approach that’s been taken in Sebring and Daytona.”
Among the 10 other GTP cars the No. 7 Porsche is trying to beat is a driver who raced the first two events of 2026 in the No. 7 Porsche. That’d be Laurin Heinrich, added to JDC-Miller MotorSports’ No. 5 Porsche 963 for most remaining 2026 rounds.
“I think it’s going to be more of a fun scenario,” Andlauer laughed. “We talked about it recently and it’s great for him to get more track time in the car, even though he doesn’t need it because he’s already flying.”
Diuguid added, “Obviously he’s one of the co-points leaders currently in the driver’s championship, and I’d be happy for him to stay there. But we race everybody on track, and we’re trying to beat the JDC team, and subsequently, now, Laurin, as hard as we would race any of the other competitors.
“JDC’s been very competitive at racetracks from over the years with the 963. So, you know, I don’t count them out at all. Laurin is a strong talent. It’ll give that group a very good benchmark to set up their car around, and he comes with experience from working with our team for three races.”
It’s worth reiterating the desire of Acura and Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian to win here at Long Beach with either of its two cars, as Renger van der Zande explained heading into the race.
“It’s the event of the year for Acura,” said the two-time Long Beach winner, who shares the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 with Nick Yelloly. “We’re trying to make it happen this year. I think it’s one of those events last year we tried hard. We got tapped a little bit on the left rear by one of the Porsches, and it broke something off the rear tail. Otherwise, I think we would have been on the podium.”
