Blomqvist leads the way for Acura in opening Long Beach IMSA practice

Acura Meyer Shank Racing opened up its IMSA Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend with the fastest time in the first 60-minute practice session around the legendary street circuit.

Leading the way was Tom Blomqvist in the orange and black No. 60 MSR Acura ARX-06, who set a 1m13.335s a third of the way into the session. It’s the start of a packed day for IMSA, with Practice 2 set to begin at 1:10pm local time, followed by qualifying at 5:25pm PT.

Behind Blomqvist, the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R of Filipe Albuquerque was second quickest with a 1m13.402s. Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 set a 1m13.436s to go third fastest in GTP. This is with the significant Balance of Performance adjustment headlined by a 45-kilogram weight increase for the factory 963s.

Jack Aitken timed in fourth in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R (1m13.462s), followed by Laurin Heinrich in the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports, who was fifth quickest on his debut session for the sole remaining Porsche customer prototype team.

Some cars in GTP are sporting new liveries this weekend: The two Porsche Penske Motorsport entries carry additional sponsorship from Apple Music, and a refreshed livery that takes some inspiration from the famous Dick Barbour Racing Apple Computers Porsche 935 of 1980.

The No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura also has a special blue and orange livery featuring the famous 76 fuel station brand, which has its roots in California and is now owned by ConocoPhillips, for the Long Beach round.

In GTD, Matthew Bell put the 13 Autosport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R at the top of the board with a 1m19.226s. Bell’s time unseated Jack Hawksworth from the top spot, but his 1m19.330s in the No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 was still good for second fastest. The No. 89 Lexus is one of three GTD Pro entries making one-off GTD cameo appearances at Long Beach.

Behind him, Philip Ellis went third fastest in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, and Giacomo Altoè was fourth in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

DragonSpeed unveiled a new livery yesterday, re-uniting with streetwear company Anti-Social Social Club who designed a striking pink and green livery. Pfaff Motorsports is also running a one-off livery for the No. 46 Lamborghini Temerario GT3, setting its signature red and black plaid aside for the blue and white of longtime sponsor Lithia Auto Group.

Also unveiling a new look and sponsorship is DXDT Racing, with Wealthspire adding a splash of gold to the blue No. 36 Corvette. Robert Wickens set the car’s fastest time in the session, but that time was only good enough for 13th fastest in the 17-car GTD field.

Despite a few drivers going off in the run-off areas, the entire first practice session was run without any red flags.

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