Nick Yelloly had a very successful 2026 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. He earned pole position, and along with his teammate Renger van der Zande, also won the race in his Acura ARX-06 IMSA GTP car! Nick took the usual route to sports car racing success. He started in karting as a kid and moved up the open-wheel ladder in Europe competing in Formula Renault, GP3, and GP2. He then switched to sports cars winning the China GT Championship as well as competing stateside and winning with the RLL BMW GTP team. He switched to Acura in 2025 and has continued his success. Meanwhile, he’s also been an F1 test driver since 2014 and is currently doing those duties for the Aston Martin F1 team. We caught up with Nick just after his post-race winning press conference where he spent a few moments filling us in on his keys to victory. Enjoy!

By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2026 Larry Mason

Interview and photos Copyright © by Larry Mason (unless otherwise noted)

photo courtesy of Acura

Renger van der Zande (L) and Nick Yelloly celebrate their victory at the 51^st Anniversary of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – in an Acura!