Acura wins in Long Beach, with a stroke of luck

Michael Shank had dreamed of it for a long time, and he finally achieved it: victory at Long Beach! Starting from pole position, the No. 93 Acura won the first sprint race of the season after one hour and forty minutes of racing. However, it wasn't a foregone conclusion, as Nick Yelloly led for the first few minutes, but was quickly caught out by an overtaking maneuver on one of the GTD class Corvettes. After 17 minutes, Jack Aitken's No. 31 Cadillac took the lead.

The Briton handed the car back to his teammate Fred Vesti in the lead, but in a race sponsored by Acura, fate clearly wanted to favor the "home" manufacturer! After 39 minutes of racing, just as Yelloly was handing over to Renger van der Zande, a crucial safety car period, following the off of the No. 25 BMW, handed the lead to the No. 93.

On a track where overtaking is particularly difficult, van der Zande held on during the final hour, which saw three more safety car interventions. The Acura and the Cadillac ultimately finished ahead of the two PorscheNo. 6 ahead of No. 7. Heavily burdened following their victories at Daytona and Sebring, the Porsche Penske Motorsport machines nevertheless managed to salvage the situation, despite a more discreet race.

In GTD, after the disappointment suffered by the #89 Lexus, disqualified after having secured pole position, smiles returned thanks to the victory of the #12 of Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen, ahead of the #96 BMW and the Classic Ferrari for sale No. 34. Starting from pole position, the No. 36 Corvette of Robert Wickens and Mason Filippi led the first half of the race, but the latter lost a little ground in the second half of the race, ultimately finishing fifth, just ahead of the No. 89 Lexus, which benefited from an XXL first stint by Jack Hawksworth to move up to sixth place.

IMSA 2026 – Long Beach
The classification of the race

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