Long Beach IMSA Newcomers Welcome Digital Version to Practice before Real Thing
By Tony DiZinno
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A key part of a professional driver program is simulator work. While that’s not new, it can be more helpful at some circuits than others.
There’s a decent number of Long Beach rookies in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition this year, at a track where Friday’s first practice marks the first time anyone runs on the track in a calendar year.
Nearly a quarter of the field – 13 of the 56 drivers (Laurin Heinrich, Julien Andlauer, Frederik Vesti, Felipe Fraga, Valentin Hasse-Clot, Rory van der Steur, Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello, Mason Filippi, Andrea Caldarelli, Zachary Vanier, Jake Walker, Henrik Hedman, Giacomo Altoè) in the 28 cars – will make their first WeatherTech Championship Long Beach appearance in this week’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (Saturday, April 18, 4 p.m. ET, NBC).
Two others are new to IMSA but have past IndyCar experience at the track (Benjamin Pedersen and Callum Ilott). Kevin Estre is set to make his first Long Beach start in nearly a decade, since 2017.
With that lack of experience factored in, learning and quickly understanding the nature of the ever-evolving 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit is key to success at the circuit.
“It definitely brings some excitement to me,” said Andlauer, who has won the opening two Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) races of 2026 at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 with Heinrich and Felipe Nasr.
“Street tracks with this car would be quite a challenge. I prepared myself on the sim in Weissach (Germany, home to the Porsche Development Center) with the engineers. I mean, we spent today together, running through the testing programs and also some familiarization for me.
“But I have to say, I felt quite comfortable with the car on the track, so hopefully it’s going to be realistic, and I would also feel comfortable on the track.”
Fellow early-season points leader Barrichello, the sole full-season Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) driver in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, is also relying on the sim to succeed at Long Beach.
“I’ve never driven a GT car on a street track,” Barrichello said. “I’ve been doing a lot of sim here in Phoenix with the team and also in iRacing. The track seems to be quite similar to real life.”
With Andlauer, Heinrich and Estre combining for one past Long Beach start (Estre was third in GT Le Mans in 2017), Porsche has a rare situation where more of its prototype drivers are less experienced at a track compared to other IMSA venues. That adds to the importance of what’s done at Weissach. As Team Penske President Jonathan Diuguid explained, it’s more than just track learning that’s important on the sim.
“The simulation is the closest replacement we can get for physically testing at the track, and it’s one of the processes that is integral in our preparation for the race weekends, is the driving simulator,” Diuguid said.
“As a team, we invest heavily financially in making it the closest it can be, but also (maximizing it) from a time perspective. Julien doesn’t live in Germany; he flies all over the world. Felipe flies all over the world, too. They put forth the effort to be in Weissach, to put the simulator time in to be prepared, and it’s the best thing we’ve got.
“It’s quite a good model, and we’ve tuned it over the past three or four years to where it’s very repeatable and applicable, and can transfer to the track.
One of the interesting things particularly important in sim work this year is GTP teams adapting to Michelin’s new-for-2026 Pilot Sport Endurance tire. Teams will have an additional set of tires for Long Beach, up from four sets to five for the race weekend. Tire modeling is one of the things that can be adjusted on a sim.
“We’ve got a lot of partners and a lot of information that are feeding that thing from tire models to racetrack scans to vehicle models, and we’re quite happy with where it’s at,” Diuguid said. “The amount of effort the drivers put in just to get there, and the time they spend on it shows that it’s beneficial for them as well.”
Andlauer added he thinks there are certain corners he’ll thrive in, and others he is waiting to see how he’ll adapt to them in reality. He was candid about where he didn’t feel perfect on the sim.
“I’ve been struggling quite a bit with the last two corners (Turns 10 and 11, a left-hand sweeper into a tight right-hand hairpin), getting the right rhythm through the last two corners,” he said. “I think it’s quite a challenge. The rest seems quite okay.
“I like the fountain area as well as the double right after because it’s a bit of like a flooring corner and if you take the curb right or wrong, it can go right or wrong. I’m not sure how bumpy it is. On the sim it gives you this impression of a bit smoother than Detroit, for example or for sure, Sebring. But for sure on the brakes, it’s a big challenge. You know, if you can’t brake properly with a stable car on the braking, it can lead you to some trouble. So, I think I got the basics on the sim.”
Barrichello summarized it well.
“I think at Long Beach, you just have to get comfortable with the walls,” he said. “If you make a mistake, you’re in the wall. So, I think you just have to build up to it and that’s my plan for the first practice and the rest, we’ll see how we get on.”