Acura secured its first overall victory at Long Beach since 2009 thanks to a longer strategy than the rest and the timely appearance of the race's third yellow flag. The Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 No. 93 started from pole with Nick Yelloly, and Renger van der Zande finished it 0.818 seconds ahead of the Cadillac V-Series.R No. 31 of Frederik Vesti (substituting for Earl Bamber) and Jack Aitken. It is also the Japanese manufacturer's first win at the California circuit since IMSA reunified its top class.

Yelloly started from the pole he set on Friday with a 1:11.626 and stayed out front until a GTD car held him up on lap 13. That allowed Jack Aitken in the Cadillac No. 31 to get past and take the lead. Meyer Shank had a longer strategy in its favor than the rest, and Yelloly handed the car to van der Zande after 38 minutes, at the exact moment the third yellow flag of what would be five cautions appeared. When the race resumed, van der Zande was in front and managed the rear tires over the remaining 47 minutes to the finish. Honda Racing Corporation's North American headquarters is in Santa Clarita, an hour from the circuit, and Acura has been the Grand Prix's title sponsor since 2019.

Photo By IMSA

Porsche Penske pays the price of BoP

The Porsche 963 arrived at Long Beach with the maximum applicable payload in the GTP class, a Balance of Performance adjustment that IMSA had been tightening on the model since Sebring following Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer's win at Daytona and Penske's podium streak early in the season. The team had started the year undefeated. In California, the correction showed immediately: Andlauer qualified fifth and Estre eighth in the No. 6, far from the Acura and the BMW of Marco Wittmann who was second, three hundredths off pole. At the start, Estre hit the back of Aitken's Cadillac, suffered minor damage to the left front, and pitted early on a one-stop strategy. Vanthoor took over during the driver change and brought it up to third. Nasr and Andlauer finished fourth.

The championship is still Nasr and Andlauer's, now with Laurin Heinrich second in the standings, 35 points behind. The German won both Michelin Endurance Cup rounds at Daytona and Sebring scoring points with Nasr and Andlauer in the 7, and for Long Beach he was released to JDC-Miller MotorSports in the Porsche 963 No. 5, where he set the fastest lap on his way to sixth place shared with Tijmen van der Helm. The extended program keeps him on track for the upcoming sprints and the Endurance Cup round at Road America.

The BMW M Hybrid V8 No. 24 of Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor recovered to fifth place despite contact between van der Linde and the Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman De Angelis on the second restart that race control did not penalize, leaving De Angelis in ninth when he was running fourth. For the other BMW in the team, the day was worse, with Philipp Eng receiving a stop-and-hold plus 60 seconds for blocking Heinrich on the back straight before sending the car into the barriers, which caused the caution for that incident.

Photo By IMSA

Vasser Sullivan ends winless streak in GTD

The last time Vasser Sullivan won in IMSA was right here, at Long Beach, in April 2024. Twenty-two races and two years later, Jimmy Vasser and James Sullivan's team returns to GTD victory on the same circuit with both of its cars in the top five of class. Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen started the Lexus RC F GT3 No. 12 from sixth on the grid. Pedersen handed the car to Telitz during the scheduled stop, and from there everything depended on restarts.

The one that decided the race came courtesy of contact between two GTP cars that completely shuffled the GTD order. Telitz went down the inside from turn 6 to turn 8 and passed the DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R No. 36 driven by Mason Filippi. Filippi got tangled with a BMW prototype in traffic at the next corner and lost another four positions. The Corvette had led the first 25 laps with Robert Wickens, who scored his first series pole, before the driver change. For Pedersen, it is his first career win in the WeatherTech Championship.

The team's other Lexus finished fifth after starting from the back of the grid. Frankie Montecalvo had set the fastest time in the GTD session on Friday with a 1:18.411, but post-qualifying inspection found a ride-height violation on the No. 89 and the lap was disallowed. The team reversed the driver order for the race, starting with Jack Hawksworth and handing the car to Montecalvo at the stop to meet the minimum drive-time requirement. The nominal pole went to Wickens' Corvette.

Foley and Gallagher finished second, just over five seconds behind the winning Lexus, in the Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO No. 96. The Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO No. 34, driven by Albert Costa and Manny Franco, was third. Pfaff Motorsports ran fourth for much of the race in the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 until Andrea Caldarelli received a drive-through penalty for contact with the Gradient Racing Ford Mustang GT3 No. 66 in the final minutes. Eduardo Barrichello remains at the front of the championship in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo No. 27, holding a 54-point advantage over Foley and Gallagher.

Photo By IMSA

Questions over Acura GTP program's future

The question about the future of Acura's GTP program for 2027 remains open. U.S. media reports suggest Honda is reviewing the continuity of the project with Meyer Shank Racing at the end of 2026, with scenarios ranging from switching to a customer program to closing the factory effort. The manufacturer has not issued a public position.

The next round of the WeatherTech Championship is the Monterey SportsCar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on the first weekend of May.

Photo By IMSA

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach 2026

Pos	class	#	drivers	team	brand	car	Gap
1	GTP	#93	Renger van der Zande Nick Yelloly	Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian	Acura	Acura ARX-06	-
2	GTP	#31	Frederik Vesti Jack Aitken	Cadillac Whelen	Cadillac	Cadillac V-Series.R	+0.818
3	GTP	#6	Laurens Vanthoor Kevin Estre	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche	Porsche 963	+2.429
4	GTP	#7	Felipe Nasr Julien Andlauer	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche	Porsche 963	+3.272
5	GTP	#24	Sheldon van der Linde Dries Vanthoor	BMW M Team WRT	BMW	BMW M Hybrid V8	+3.671
6	GTP	#5	Tijmen van der Helm Laurin Heinrich	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Porsche	Porsche 963	+4.494
7	GTP	#60	Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun	Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian	Acura	Acura ARX-06	+5.103
8	GTP	#40	Jordan Taylor Louis Deletraz	Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing	Cadillac	Cadillac V-Series.R	+6.022
9	GTP	#23	Ross Gunn Roman De Angelis	ASTON MARTIN THOR Team	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Valkyrie	1 Lap
10	GTD	#12	Aaron Telitz Benjamin Pedersen	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Lexus	Lexus RC F GT3	2 Laps
11	GTD	#96	Patrick Gallagher Robby Foley	Turner Motorsport	BMW	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	2 Laps
12	GTD	#34	Manny Franco Albert Costa	Conquest Racing	Ferrari	Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO	2 Laps
13	GTD	#70	Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff	Inception Racing	Ferrari	Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO	2 Laps
14	GTD	#89	Jack Hawksworth Frankie Montecalvo	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Lexus	Lexus RC F GT3	2 Laps
15	GTD	#36	Mason Filippi Robert Wickens	DXDT Racing	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	2 Laps
16	GTD	#16	Sheena Monk Felipe Fraga	Myers Riley Motorsports	Ford	Ford Mustang GT3	2 Laps
17	GTD	#19	Valentin Hasse Clot Rory van der Steur	van der Steur Racing	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	2 Laps
18	GTD	#57	Russell Ward Philip Ellis	WINWARD RACING	Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG GT3	2 Laps
19	GTD	#27	Dudu Barrichello Spencer Pumpelly	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	2 Laps
20	GTD	#81	Henrik Hedman Giacomo Altoè	DragonSpeed	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	2 Laps
21	GTD	#13	Orey Fidani Matthew Bell	13 Autosport	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	2 Laps
22	GTD	#177	Harry King Mikkel Pedersen	AO Racing	Porsche	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	2 Laps
23	GTP	#10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque	Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing	Cadillac	Cadillac V-Series.R	3 Laps
24	GTP	#25	Philipp Eng Marco Wittmann	BMW M Team WRT	BMW	BMW M Hybrid V8	3 Laps
25	GTD	#46	Andrea Caldarelli Zachary Vanier	Pfaff Motorsports	Lamborghini	Lamborghini Temerario GT3	3 Laps
26	GTD	#120	Adam Adelson Callum Ilott	Wright Motorsports	Porsche	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	3 Laps