The Long Beach Entry List has been posted, and reveals a 28-car grid for next weekends sprint race.
28 Entries For IMSA Grand Prix of Long Beach
www.dailysportscar.com
Of particular note, Laurin Heinrich will be replacing Nico Pino in the #5 JDC-Miller Porsche 963, and
will be operating as JDC's second pilot for the remaining sprint races this year, with Nico still being present for the remaining MEC rounds. The entry list also confirms a second Vasser Sullivan RC F, donning the #89 race number this year (apparently a nod to Lexus' founding year).
The bigger news today imo is the
BoP table for Long Beach. The 2026-spec 963s will be entering Long Beach weighing a whopping
1100 Kilos 
. That's a
45 Kilo increase from Sebring, and 40 Kilos heavier than literally the rest of the GTP grid, including the 2025-spec Porsche (so much for both cars being treated the same). The 963 Evo will also have the lowest Stage 1 Power threshold in GTP at 92%.
In GTD, the Mustang GT3 Evo gets a major weight break from Sebring, entering Long Beach at 1330 Kilos, a 32 Kilo drop in weight from Sebring, making it the 2nd-lightest car in class. Meanwhile, the 911 GT3 R Evos gain 22 Kilos, weighing in at 1384 KGs, while also losing 5% of Stage 1 Power compared to Sebring.
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Regarding the GTP balancing, on one hand, the 963 Evo is, begrudginly, the best car in the field, with the 2026-Spec Cadillac being the only thing that can get close to it so far. In particular, it seems to have an advantage in fuel economy and tire wear compared to its rivals, so this might be IMSA trying to reel in its advantages.
On the other hand, this extreme amount of BoP adjusting imo leads to a situation where, on paper, it looks less like BoP and more like Success Ballast a la Super GT, and as I understand it (
really hard for me to stay up to watch, try as I might) Super GT makes that work better because the series and rules are created with the concept of Success Ballast in mind. While I acknoweledge that Team Penske is, on an operational level, arguably the best team in series, and that IMSA must do what it can to keep the playing field level, this could potentially be a bad look for the series depening on how Porsche Penske finish the weekend.
sportscar365.com
