Acura wins the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
📷 © IMSA at Long Beach. Ready to go
Acura finally found victory lane at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, with the Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian duo of Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande delivering a win at Acura’s home race.
Under the Californian sun, the 28 starters delivered an exciting 100-minute race. The Long Beach street sprint was marked by five caution periods due to on-track incidents. These repeatedly bunched up the field and created intense battles for position.
📷 © IMSA at Long Beach. One of five cautions with #93 Acura ahead of Cadillac #31 and the two Porsche 963
Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande win
Starting from the pole position in the #93 Acura ARX-06, Nick Yelloly led for a majority of his stint before handing over to co-driver Renger van der Zande to bring home their Acura machine in the 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.
The pair would combine to lead 53 of 70 laps on the day to secure the win for Acura in the brand’s 40th anniversary year. It is the first win of the year for Acura and Acura MSR and the first while sporting the 76 livery for the California swing of events—Long Beach and the next race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
📷 © IMSA at Long Beach. #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06.
Nick Yelloly (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished first: “Winners of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, fantastic! Obviously, we've been wanting this victory for a long, long time and we managed to do it today. Getting our #93 Acura on pole yesterday was most of the battle, and then from there it was all about trying to keep it clean as much as we could. We had a little sketchy moment at one point with one of the GTD cars, which caused a bit of chaos, but we did everything right. Big congrats to Acura, Honda, Meyer Shank Racing, and of course a great job to my teammate for bringing it home for us. We’re all very, very happy.”
Renger van der Zande (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) Finished first: “Fantastic job by the whole team this entire week. We know this car pretty well by now and everyone remained calm when we had a bit of trouble with the setup yesterday in practice. We stayed on it, let the track come back to us, and we were confident with our strategy and ability to execute in the pit stop. I think we all did a great job to get this done and win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, so I’m very happy.” Source: Acura
Whelen Cadillac second
Cadillac Racing came close but finished runner-up in the 51st running of the Long Beach Grand Prix IMSA race. Jack Aitken and Fred Vesti, drivers of the #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, started fourth and finished second, just .818 of a second behind the winning car of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly of Michael Shank Racing.
There was a full-course caution which hampered the #31 and benefited van der Zande and Yelloly with pit strategy.
That said, it was the fifth consecutive podium for the #31 Whelen Cadillac as they won twice to end the 2025 season (Indianapolis and Road Atlanta) and then a second-place effort in the 2026 Rolex 24 at Daytona and a third at Sebring.
📷 © IMSA at Long Beach. #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R
Jack Aitken: “I think we had a really good day to be honest from our side. There are a few key things you need to do a street track like this, you need to have a good start, have a good stop and don’t make mistakes and I think everyone on the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac pretty much checked those boxes, so it hurts a little bit not to get the win, but the yellow was timed perfectly for the 93 but that’s how it goes, but it was a lot of fun driving. It’d felt good and it felt quick and it was a really good run, so you can’t complain too much, but we are hungry for that win.”
Frederik Vesti: “Being a little frustrated with a second-place finish says a lot about this team. Jack did amazing today going from fourth to first and we were slightly unlucky with that full course yellow, which was a little bit frustrating. But from my side we were trying to keep it clean because we need to get to the finish line, but I was pushing every where I could to get by Renger, but he has experience around these streets and he wasn’t easy to get by, but the fifth straight podium for me and for the team and I’m super proud of that.” Source: Cadillac Racing
Both factory Porsche 963 with Apple Music livery third and fourth
Traffic management between GTP prototypes and GTD class cars also required strong situational awareness. Unlike many of their rivals, the Porsche factory drivers avoided major damage to their cars. Only the #6 car required minor front-end repairs during a pit stop, completed without time loss. The damage occurred in a contact during the opening phase but had no impact on performance. Estre and Vanthoor were rewarded with third place.
📷 © IMSA at Long Beach. Porsche 963 #6 ahead of sister #7
Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche 963 #6): “If someone had offered me third place before the weekend, I would have gladly taken it. I’m very satisfied with this result. We scored a lot of points. The race was anything but easy – but once you’re celebrating on the podium, that no longer matters. Our long-term goal is clear: winning the championship.”
Andlauer and Nasr crossed the line just behind them in fourth in the #7 Porsche 963. In the overall standings, Porsche, the Porsche Penske Motorsport team, and factory drivers Nasr and Andlauer all retained their championship leads.
📷 © IMSA at Long Beach. #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 969
Felipe Nasr (Porsche 963 #7): “Third and fourth place is a great result for our team. Once again, we maximized our potential today. The pit crew delivered perfect stops, and the strategy was spot-on. We’re still leading the championship and are already looking forward to the next race at Laguna Seca.” Source: Porsche
Top-five result for BMW M Team WRT
Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde finished the first sprint race of the season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the BMW M Team WRT #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 in fifth place. The #25 sister car started from second position after a strong qualifying by Marco Wittmann, but Philipp Eng dropped a long way back during his stint following a collision and subsequent repairs.
📷 © IMSA at Long Beach. BMW M Team WRT #24 BMW M Hybrid V8
Dries Vanthoor (#24 BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team WRT, 5th place GTP): “Of course, it’s not the result we had envisioned. We weren't completely sorted at the start of the weekend, which also put us behind in qualifying. In the race, I tried to preserve the car and the tyres so that Sheldon could push hard towards the end. That worked well, but we struggle in direct fights with other cars. We collected important points, but now we need to take a step forward.” Source: BMW
Related Info
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring. Whelen Cadillac third despite incident
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring. Porsche 963 tops GTP and the 911 GT3 R leads GT
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2026. Both Porsche Penske still lead the race at 18:10
