IMSA rescheduling 2021 schedule Long Beach, Laguna Seca

With the postponement of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series also will move its WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca round to September in a 2021 rescheduling to keep intact a West Coast road swing that initially was scheduled for April.

Instead of traveling from Southern California to the Monterey Peninsula on consecutive weeks in the original 2021 schedule released in September, sports car teams will travel from a Sept. 10-12 race weekend at Laguna Seca to Long Beach for the Sept. 24-26 weekend.

“The West Coast audience is extremely valuable to all of our stakeholders, and this necessary shift provides the best opportunity to serve our many IMSA race fans in California,” IMSA president John Doonan said in a release. “Likewise, it is important to our WeatherTech Championship teams to have both California races back-to-back on the schedule. We’re grateful to our partners at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach and all involved for their flexibility.”

The Laguna Seca headliner will be a two-hour, 40-minute race Sept. 12 with the DPi, LMP2, GTLM and GTD classes, and the weekend also will include races in the Michelin Pilot Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Global Mazda MX-5 Cup.

Long Beach’s 100-minute race Sept. 25 will feature DPi, GTLM and GTD and will be the penultimate round ahead of the Petit Le Mans on Oct. 6-9. The season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta previously had been preceded the Aug. 20-22 race weekend at Virginia International Raceway; the rescheduling of Laguna Seca and Long Beach will close that gap but also means IMSA will be idle for nearly two months in the spring (from the March 17-20 weekend at Sebring to the May 14-16 weekend at Mid-Ohio).

Because of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, IMSA was forced to cancel its Long Beach race in 2020. It held a rescheduled Laguna Seca event on Nov. 1.

Its 2021 race initially had been planned to open Laguna Seca’s race schedule next year.

“The entire IMSA team is a valuable partner and as such, we must continue to be flexible in scheduling to be able to provide fans with the best possible racing event possible,” president and general manager of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca president and general manager John Narigi said in a release. “The spring race would have been ideal to kick off our season for a variety of reasons, but we are ready to welcome fans, teams and sponsors back to the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship in September.”

“Thanks to everyone at IMSA for their help in making this transition of the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to the fall,” Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President and CEO Jim Michaelian said in a release. “We want to conduct the event when we have the best opportunity to provide our guests with all of the attractive features of the Grand Prix in a safe and inviting environment. That will certainly include the Saturday IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race with three classes battling it out in a 100-minute shootout.”

It took four attempts for Kyle Larson to win his first High Limit Sprint Car Series race in the series he co-owns with brother-in-law Brad Sweet, but once he found victory lane, he has been undefeated with his win at Eagle (Nebraska) Raceway. For the second week, Abreu led early only to fall prey to Larson.

The win was Larson’s third straight victory and the fifth consecutive top-five, giving him a perfect sweep of the season after finishing 10th in last year’s inaugural race at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana.

Larson started third behind Abreu and Brent Marks but was embroiled in a fierce battle with Anthony Macri for third during the first dozen laps. Larson slipped by Macri in traffic until a red flag waved for a flip by Lachlan McHugh.

Meanwhile at the front of the pack, Marks retook the lead from Abreu on Lap 18. Larson followed one lap later and then caution waved again. Tyler Courtney lost power and fell to 24th after starting eighth.

Marks scooted away on the restart but tragedy struck in Lap 26. Leading the race, Marks hit a pothole in Turn 1, bicycled and then flipped, handing the lead to Larson.

Abreu caught Larson again during the final laps and in a reprise of their battle at Tri-City Speedway, the two threw sliders at one another for several laps until Larson built some separation and ran away to the checkers.

𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧. 𝗪𝗔𝗦. 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗖.@EagleRaceway went above and beyond in their return to the main stage with the High Limit Sprint Car Series tonight!

pic.twitter.com/H3XKQEOpg6

— High Limit Racing (@HighLimitRacing) June 7, 2023

“I didn’t feel like my pace in [Turns] 1 & 2 slowed down a ton,” Larson said from victory lane. “I missed it once there and then I saw his nose in 3 & 4. I didn’t know if he nailed the bottom that well behind me and I think he might have slid me in the next corner, so he was definitely on the top.

“I was nervous to move up there because my car was really pogoing up in the entry of 1. I got up just in time, made a few mistakes and he threw a couple more sliders at me but he was just a little too far back and I was able to squirt around him. Then I really had to commit to hitting my marks – back my effort down a bit to avoid mistakes.”

After leading early, Abreu fell back as far as sixth, but faith in his car kept hope alive.

“I just needed to do a few things a few laps before I did and fix some angles, then my car got a whole lot better,” Abreu said. “I’m thankful for this team; they do an amazing job. They don’t give up on me. I know my car is going to be there right at the end of these races, so it’s just the discipline of being patient.”

For Abreu, it was his third near-miss this season. He was leading at Lakeside in the 2023 opener until a tire went flat in the closing laps and he lost the lead to Larson late in the Tri-City Speedway race. Abreu has finished sixth or better in his last three High Limit races with each result being progressively better until his pair of runner-up results.

Third-place finisher Scelzi was the hard charger, advancing from 17th.

“I had a very specific plan; don’t go near [the hole in Turn 1],” Scelzi said. “It worked out. No one wanted to start on the top. I think I gained a couple of rows there on the choose cone and ran the middle, which seemed to be better than right around the bottom.”

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid in fourth and Macri rounded out the top five.

World of Outlaws star and former NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne was one of 41 entrants, but he was not among the 26 starters. He failed to advance to the Main after finishing eighth in the B Main and seventh in his heat.

Feature Results

A Feature (40 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[4]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[17]; 4. 71-Michael Kofoid[5]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 6. 9-Chase Randall[9]; 7. 26-Zeb Wise[14]; 8. 1X-Jake Bubak[15]; 9. 8-Aaron Reutzel[10]; 10. 14D-Corey Day[18]; 11. 11-Cory Eliason[12]; 12. 5T-Ryan Timms[11]; 13. 88-Austin McCarl[13]; 14. 21H-Brady Bacon[22]; 15. 48-Danny Dietrich[16]; 16. 7S-Robbie Price[19]; 17. 21-Brian Brown[23]; 18. 22-Riley Goodno[26]; 19. 52-Blake Hahn[25]; 20. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[21]; 21. 3J-Dusty Zomer[6]; 22. 14-Cole Macedo[7]; 23. 19-Brent Marks[2]; 24. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[8]; 25. 25-Lachlan McHugh[20]; 26. 53-Jack Dover[24]

2023 High Limit Sprint Car Series

Race 1: Giovanni Scelzi wins at Lakeside Speedway
Race2: Anthony Macri wins at 34 Raceway
Race 3: Kyle Larson wins at Wayne County Speedway
Race 4: Kyle Larson wins at Tri-City Speedway

IMSA reschedules Laguna Seca, Long Beach race weekends to September

Kyle Larson wins third consecutive High Limit Sprint race at Eagle Raceway, Rico Abreu second again

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