The three-day 50th Long Beach Grand Prix begins Friday with qualifying or practice sessions for all races, the start of the drifting competition and a concert by the Canadian DJ duo DVBBS.
A practice session for Sunday’s featured IndyCar race will be from 3:05 to 4:25 p.m. on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn street circuit surrounding the Long Beach Convention Center. IndyCar drivers will participate in an autograph session from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. in the IndyCar paddock, open to all spectators.
Friday’s action will begin with a practice session for Saturday and Sunday’s GT America sprint sports car races from 7:45 to 8:15 a.m. A second practice session will be conducted from 11:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m., with qualifying set for 4:35 to 4:50 p.m.
Practices for the IMSA sports car races will be from 9 to 10 a.m. and 1 to 2:30 p.m., with qualifying set for 5:10 to 6 p.m.
Practice for Saturday and Sunday’s Historic Formula Exhibition races will be from 10:15 a.m. to 10:35 a.m. with cars representing all three eras of the Grand Prix — Formula 5000, Formula One and IndyCar.
The cars include the Formula 5000 All-American Racers Gurney Eagle, the event’s first pole winner; the John Player Lotus 77 driven to victory by Mario Andretti in the 1977 Formula One race; and the Ford Lola driven by Sebastien Bourdais when he won the 2005 IndyCar race.
A practice session for Saturday and Sunday’s Stadium Super Trucks races will be from 12:25 to 12:45 p.m.
The series for 600-horsepower V-8 engine trucks was founded in 2013 by former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, who also drives on the series as does his 16-year-old son Max, who was third in last year’s series standings, two spots behind his father. The younger Gordon has been racing since he was 8 years old.
The initial part of the drifting competition will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
In drifting, drivers intentionally maneuver their cars into controlled sideways slides at high speeds through a marked course, with a judging panel determining the winner based on execution and style.
The final portion will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
The DVBBS concert will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the Terrace Plaza outside the Long Beach Convention Center and is free to Friday race ticket holders.
Gates will open at 7:30 a.m.
Saturday’s schedule features qualifying for the IndyCar race, a concert by the British-American Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band Foreigner and Andretti, Al Unser Jr., Paul Tracy and Brian Redman set to participate in an autograph session.
The Long Beach Grand Prix was first run in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race for open wheel cars with a maximum 5.0 liter engine capacity. It was a Formula One race from 1976 to 1983. For financial reasons it was switched to an IndyCar race in 1984 and has remained once ever since.
The planned 2020 race was canceled due to Long Beach’s ban on events with estimated attendance of more than 250 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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