IMSA Confirms 28-Car Long Beach Grid With Heinrich to JDC-Miller and Vesti In for Bamber

Scheduling pressures from sprint rounds plus WEC clashes reshape lineups.

Overview

IMSA released Wednesday the 28-car entry list with 11 top-class GTP prototypes and 17 GTD GT3 cars for the April 17–18 Long Beach sprint, with the race on NBC at 1 p.m. PT Saturday.
Porsche works driver Laurin Heinrich, tied for the early GTP points lead, will co-drive JDC-Miller’s No. 5 Porsche 963 for all sprint rounds, as Nico Pino shifts to Endurance Cup-only duty.
Frederik Vesti will sub for Earl Bamber in Action Express Racing’s No. 31 Cadillac due to Bamber’s FIA World Endurance Championship race at Imola.
The GTD field mixes one-off entries from AO Racing and Pfaff with two extra Lexus RC F GT3s from Vasser Sullivan, and Endurance Cup-only teams such as AF Corse and Manthey are not entered.
Robert Wickens returns to IMSA in DXDT’s No. 36 Corvette for the first of five sprint races with Mason Filippi, reflecting how sprint-only plans create short-term driver pairings.