27 cars entered the streets of Long Beach

THEIMSA sets sail for Long Beach. After its first two rounds in Florida (the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, both won by Porsche), the North American championship is heading to the other side of the United States, to California, for its third meeting of the 2025 season.

As usual, the streets of Long Beach will host the third round of this year's season. Beyond a simple change of scenery, this event also represents a change of face for the championship: it is the first sprint race of the year, lasting only 100 minutes, and only two categories will be involved, with the GTP and GTD. In 2024, Sébastien's #01 Cadillac Bourdais and Renger van der Zande had won.

Saturday, April 12, on the eve of the third round ofIndyCar of the year also organized on the Long Beach urban circuit, 27 cars will be at the start with crews of two drivers. In GTP, the field goes from 13 to 11 cars, with the already planned absences of the Porsche 963 n°5 of Proton Competition and the Lamborghini SC63, only entered in Endurance Cup. TheAston Martin Valkyrie will be competing in her third race since her competitive debut at the 1812 km of Qatar, her first in such a short format.

The GTD field will be made up of 16 cars, with occasional appearances in this category from a second Lexus RC F GT3 for Vasser Sullivan (the #89 co-driven by Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo) as well as the #911 AO Racing Porsche 3 GT177 R (Laurens Vanthoor and Jonny Edgar) and its famous Rexy livery. Two cars usually entered in GTD Pro.

This race on the streets of Long Beach will also mark Robert Wickens's debut with Corvette in IMSA. The Canadian driver, seriously injured in an IndyCar crash at Pocono in 2018 where he lost the use of his legs, will make his debut in the North American championship thanks to a wheel-mounted braking system specially adapted by Bosch and Pratt Miller. He will drive the No. 06 Z3 GT36.R of the DXDT Racing team alongside Tommy Milner.

Check out the Long Beach entry list HERE

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