Spring has sprung and the “World’s Fastest Beach Party” has arrived in the form of the 51st Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. There have already been four races completed in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES this year with Kyle Kirkwood (last year’s AGPLB winner) holding a slight points advantage over last year’s dominant champion and Long Beach runner-up, Alex Palou. Team Penske has seemed to recover their normal form with two poles by newcomer David Malukas (replacing Will Power) and Scott McLaughlin. Teammate Josef Newgarden won the only oval race this year in a return to Phoenix. The aforementioned Power has taken Colton Herta’s place at Andretti Global but has had an up and down year. We sat down with Power at the Press Day prior to the event and will have that podcast interview coming up soon. Marcus Ericsson is in a contract year and his performance this year is way ahead of where he was last year by earning his first-ever pole at the inaugural Java House Grand Prix in Arlington, TX. As is always the case at Long Beach, it should be a super-tight field in qualifying as typically the top 21 cars are usually within a second of each other going into qualifying. Who will win? With the domination of Kirkwood and the Andretti team in particular on street circuits, look for Power to finally bring home some good luck this year with at least a pole if not a win too. Does anyone else stand a chance? Absolutely, as there are multiple Long Beach winners entered and all the teams have tons of data to rely on in getting their setups just right.

In the IMSA WeatherTech Series, Penske Porsche has been perfect in the first two races of the season, comprising the 24hrs of Daytona and 12hrs of Sebring. After 36 hours of racing, the teams get a chance to gamble on pit strategy and hope to bring home the glory in only 100 minutes of racing as the headline act on Saturday. The other class racing besides the top-line GTP class will be GTD. The 17-car GT3-spec field featuring cool sports cars like Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin will have two drivers to pay particular attention to. In the DXDT Corvette, Robert Wickens makes his return to the team. Wickens, in his first drive with the team last year, was quickest in the first practice session. Driving for the Wright Motorsport team in a Porsche will be Callum Ilott, who raced here last year for the PREMA team in IndyCar. That team has gone through financial difficulties and is hoping to return to IndyCar later this season.

Other support race series of interest include the incredibly competitive Porsche Carrera Cup North America that will have two races over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Historic SCCA TransAm cars will also race twice on the weekend along with the always popular and high-flying Stadium SUPER Truck series. Drifting will take place Saturday night along with concerts Friday and Saturday.
Inside the gates, there will be a free Motorsports Lifestyle Expo with multiple vendors showing off their wares. Alas, FastLane will not be in the Expo this year, but we will be running a Grand Prix special for those interested in coming out to Buttonwillow Raceway Park to go through our racing school. Please call: 877-731-3140 for more info.

The actual racing weekend is preceded by the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame induction ceremony on Thursday morning and will see two-time Long Beach winner Alexander Rossi and former Long Beach mayor Bob Foster inducted. Later in the evening there will also be a pit-stop competition that is free to attend.
If you haven’t been to the Grand Prix before, make sure you make it this year on April 17-19, 2026. The action, excitement, glitz and glamour will be well worth your time! For more information visit: www.gplb.com

NOTE: Long-time president and CEO and one of the founders of the Long Beach Grand Prix, Jim Michaelian, passed away on Saturday, March 21, 2026. Jim started with the Grand Prix in the financial department, and after Chris Pook left, he was promoted to the top position in 2001. He was due to hand over the reins to Jim Liaw this summer, but unfortunately didn’t make it to the 51st annual event. He leaves a lasting legacy of commitment to making this event as grand as ever and will be missed. www.RaceSchool.com interviewed Jim, and you can listen to the podcast here.

By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2026 Larry Mason

photos Copyright © by Rebecca Case

Kyle Kirkwood leads the way at the start of last year’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Can he make it two in a row this year?

This Acura ARX-06 IMSA GTP car is just one of the 11 cars entered in the headline class. 17 GTD cars will be mixing it up in the feature race on Saturday.

Big crowds and packed grandstands are the norm at the biggest IndyCar race outside of the Indy 500.

Fighter jet flyovers are just some of the highlights of being at the Grand Prix in person.