This upcoming week is an exciting one, with the Grand Prix of Long Beach on the schedule. This is the longest-running street circuit event in the U.S., and it’s one that I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of many times. Just last year, I drove the historic Mazda 792 Prototype at Long Beach.
This year will be a bit of a different dynamic for me since I’ll be at Long Beach coaching for the JDX team in Carrera Cup. Ironically, my experiences at Long Beach have all involved Prototype race cars, so this will definitely be different for me! GT cars actually tend to be better suited to bumpy, narrow streets that are lined by walls, so I’m really looking forward to this change of pace.
The Carrera Cup season started a month ago during the 12 Hours of Sebring event. While Sebring is a traditional road course, the next two stops on the schedule will be very challenging street circuits, including Long Beach this weekend and the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
The iconic Turn 2-3 fountain complex that the racecars navigate around, inches from the landscaping!
The JDX drivers are new to the series and haven’t raced at Long Beach or Miami before, but since these events are on street courses, we can’t get testing time on them in advance. This requires our prep work to be done on the sim and through reviewing in-car video.
For 17-year-old Elias De La Torre, who is new to many of the circuits we’ll be going to this year, the sim time has been a key factor for him. Of course, he’ll be able to go and test at the traditional road courses on the schedule later in the season. Elias has been a quick study, and although the next two rounds will be the most challenging, he’s proven to have a ton of smarts and speed despite his age.
Having experienced street racing in series like IMSA and MX-5 Cup, we know that survival will be an important component in addition to raw speed. The coaching style I use and the goals we set don’t necessarily change for a street circuit, with finishing each race being paramount no matter where we are, but the driving style is certainly unique at these types of venues. It will be exciting to share the track with IndyCar once again at Long Beach, and I look forward to letting you know our results next week!