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[h=2]GTD the X factor in IMSA's Long Beach race[/h] By Marshall Pruett / Images by LAT

IMSA's visit to Long Beach for this weekend's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race will be radically altered by the inclusion of the GT Daytona class.

As IMSA's biggest contributor in terms of car count, the popular Pro-Am GTD category and its GT3-spec cars will tip the balance of the WeatherTech Championship event from being a prototype feature with GTs as the underclass to a true GT celebration where production-based GTD and GT Le Mans entries will comprise 71 percent of the field.


The notable change, which came after IMSA pulled the PC class from Long Beach and added GTD for the first time, will still see the LMP2-based Prototype class lead the time sheets with its 10 entries, but the rest of the grid, with nine GTLMs and 16 GTDs, is where fans will get their fill of door-banging action.

And then consider the different attributes in each class. With Prototypes and GTD on spec tires made by Continental and GTLMs on open tires supplied by Michelin, the higher top speeds and use of ABS braking in GTD which can make passing for the faster GTLM cars extraordinarily hard, and the rocket-fast prototypes having to dodge and weave through an explosion of GT cars without smacking the concrete-lined street circuit, Saturday's 100-minute race will pose a genuine challenge for many in the 35-deep field to make it to the finish.

"To me, the GTLM cars are always more difficult for us," Tequila Patron ESM Nissan prototype driver Ryan Dalziel told RACER. "More than just the sticky tires, there's always a group that's in a very close battle they don't want to give up. Honestly the GTD cars, being that they're GT3 machinery and they're very good on street courses, apart from their numbers, will actually be easier to deal with than the GTLM cars."

The last two Long Beach WeatherTech Championship races went flag to flag without a caution period. With the revised class lineup and hard-fought passing in mind, it would require a miracle for a third yellow-free race to be completed with so many GT cars in motion.
"Now we have the GTD cars which are fast in a straight line and can brake really deep, so it should add some interesting strategic plays," said factory BMW Team RLL GTLM driver John Edwards (pictured). "We had a couple of years without yellows, but with more Pro-Am cars there, I don't think that's going to happen. You're going in expecting yellows to shake up the ebb and flow of the race."
It's an obvious statement to make, but Edwards says patience will be the key for drivers in all three classes to get through the race with body panels and egos intact.
"We're in a profession where fighting to gain hundredths of a second is all that we do, but when you go to a place like Long Beach and have the three different types of classes, you have to ignore that urge to go for hundredths in traffic and look at the big picture," he said.
"You might lose three or four seconds by not making a desperate lunge going into a tight corner, but if you avoid a crash, you're going to make up the time elsewhere in the race. And you can be pretty sure the guy chasing you will lose and gain the same kind of time in similar situations. You just need to be smart about it."
Patrick Lindsey shares Edwards' views on how drivers should approach survival at Long Beach. The GTD race winner will be competing in front of family and friends on home turf with his Park Place Motorsports Porsche, and believes generosity could be the secret ingredient to racing in harmony with GTLM and Prototype drivers this weekend.
"It's going to be really hard for everybody, especially the GTLM guys without ABS on a bumpy street circuit," he said. "It's really going to be down to how generous the GTD guy feels at the moment and if they want to give up the spot. Long Beach has the front straight and one other place where passing is easy, but that's about it.
"One thing I'm happy about is the prototypes are faster now so they should go by easier, but sometimes they're coming from a long way back, so it comes down to who's looking in their mirrors and if they feel like opening the door for them. If they aren't so inclined, keeping it clean will be hard."
Owing to the size of the GTD class and the quality of its racing, Lindsey hopes the TV cameras follow the action from start to finish.
"I think fans are going to enjoy the dynamic of seeing so many GTD cars, honestly," he said. "One second will cover most of our field, but it doesn't get played up as much as it should. The other classes get a lot of attention, but hopefully they focus on us for a change. We can't afford to crash at Long Beach because it does so much damage to the car, but you can't really take it easy. It should be a good one."