Long Beach does not forgive, and it does not forget. The walls are always close enough to read your mistakes like fine print, and with two GT classes constantly filling every mirror, the GTP race at the Sports Car Grand Prix of Long Beach was less about heroics and more about surviving the city’s squeeze.
After 2 hours and 40 minutes around the 11-turn, 1.90-mile Long Beach Street Circuit on Saturday, the #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac V-Series.R delivered the kind of measured, street-smart performance that has earned them the series championship last year, as much as it has won them this race. Dani Fonte and Álvaro Martínez took the GTP victory by 8.589 seconds, with the #21 Delta Racing BMW M Hybrid V8 finishing second and the debuting #123 Twin Turn SR by Debeka Bornheim Porsche 963 completing a statement podium in third.
Qualifying mattered, and the polesitter proved it
Long Beach has a way of making qualifying feel like a down payment on the race result, and the numbers backed that up again. Thiago Mello put the #20 Bravo Snow Schatten BMW M Hybrid V8 on pole with a 1:12.393, planting his flag at the front before the race even began.
At the green flag, Mello converted that pace into early control, leading the GTP class into the opening phase while the field tried to find a rhythm in traffic that never truly thinned out. In a race where breathing room is a luxury item, the early laps were already asking drivers the same question: how hard do you push when the penalty for overreaching is a concrete handshake?
Early trouble, early lessons, and Long Beach’s first bite
The first half hour hinted at how quickly a clean plan could unravel. The #2 No Limits SimRacing Academy Acura took an early hit in track position, losing four places to slip from ninth to thirteenth in class. Not long after, the #554 RedLab Competizione Porsche had its own moment in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, with an incident at the hairpin putting the entry on the back foot and dropping it from tenth to thirteenth.
Meanwhile, the #10 Vision 1 Motorsports Ferrari’s race became a long repair story early on, with extended pit time and a growing lap deficit. Long Beach doesn’t always end your day in one hit, but it can turn it into a slow bleed of time and track position that never comes back.
The FCY that everyone feared, and the restart that reshaped the race
After Daytona’s record-breaking parade of cautions, the paddock arrived in Long Beach nervous about more of the same. Instead, the race delivered one Full-Course Yellow, but it was a big one: FCY1 came out 33 minutes into the race and kept the field under yellow for 21 minutes, with the green flag returning around the 54-minute mark.
That long neutralization did more than bunch the field up. It turned pit timing into a chessboard and made track position feel like a lottery ticket you still had to earn. During the FCY pit cycle, the order flipped in ways that looked almost unreal on paper, and by the mid-FCY phase the #25 BMW M Team TSR BMW surged into class control, officially taking over the GTP lead under yellow.
But Long Beach rarely lets anyone relax for long. The polesitting #20, which had been leading, slid into deep trouble after contact in a turn one accident that required extensive repairs. Following the repair, the team suffered a spin top make matters worse. In a street race, that sort of moment can feel like watching your whole weekend fall down a stairwell.
Five lead changes, one team with the steadiest hands
When the race went green again around the 54-minute mark, the GTP fight finally got its sharp edge back. The #51 Cadillac asserted itself quickly after the restart, claiming the class lead shortly after the field was released and beginning the stint that would define the race’s tone: fast enough to control, clean enough to survive.
In total, the event featured five lead changes in GTP class. Some of those came through pit sequencing, some through penalties and disruptions, and some simply through the constant tug-of-war between pace and patience. Through it all, the defending series champion #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac ended up leading the most laps—87—and that statistic told the story of who truly dictated the rhythm once the race settled.
Street-race pressure, penalties, and the cost of small mistakes
Long Beach punished impatience with interest. The #12 BMW M Team Delta Racing BMW had a rough run through the opening third, collecting incidents that spiraled into lost ground and post-race consequences. In a separate thread of drama, the #55 PAX Simsport Porsche endured a difficult day that included a significant FCY contact ruling and, despite finishing in the top ten on the road, carried the weight of post-race penalty decisions in the wider event narrative.
And hovering over everything was the new reality teams brought into Long Beach: self-serving penalties for non-procedural incidents. In theory it offers control. In practice, it demands awareness and discipline in the middle of a two-hour-and-forty-minute street brawl. The teams that managed their risks, their traffic, and their judgment calls were the ones earning the best results at Long Beach.
The movers: #96’s climb through the concrete canyon
If there was a drive that felt like a quiet masterpiece, it came from the #96 Albrecht Motorsports Cadillac. Starting twelfth and finishing fifth, Maik Steinicke and Marc Scherschel gained seven positions in a race where passing is never simple and traffic never stops. It was the kind of result that doesn’t always scream for attention, but it absolutely demands respect.
The finish: #51 seals it, #21 pounces, #123 announces itself
At the front, the final act belonged to the #51 Cadillac. The margin of victory was enough to be clear, not enough to be comfortable when you’re threading prototypes through street-circuit traffic and waiting for the next moment of chaos that might never come.
The #21 Delta Racing BMW M Hybrid V8 delivered a hard-earned second place with Felypi Sauner and Felipe Silveira, converting a difficult Daytona into a podium that resets their season’s momentum. Third went to the #123 Twin Turn SR by Debeka Bornheim Porsche 963, a new GTP entry that arrived from last year’s LMP2 title success and left Long Beach with champagne in their very first top-class start, courtesy of Ryan Suralik and Lucas Moncla.
Behind them, the #32 Wastegate Racing Ferrari 499P finished fourth with Niclas Pedersen and Selena Ward, a strong haul in a race where the walls never stopped asking questions. The #25 Tri-State Racing BMW M Hybrid V8 took sixth with Geordi Vermeulen and Seth Neufeld after leading earlier in the race, while the #554 RedLab Competizione Porsche 963 recovered to seventh with Miguel Ruiz and Sebastian Gonzalez Burgues. The polesitting #20 Bravo Snow Schatten BMW ultimately salvaged eighth with Thiago Mello and Henrique Gomes after the FCY misfortune, the #7 VSR Competición Porsche 963 brought it home ninth with Samuel Aragón and Sergi Lázare, and the #55 PAX Simsport Porsche 963 completed the GTP top ten in tenth with J.D. Daniel and Christopher Daniel.
Post-Race Reactions
Dani Fonte, #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac: “We’re really happy to win here. Last year we finished second and it felt like the victory slipped away, so to come back and actually get it done this time feels amazing.”
“Of course it would be perfect if we could stay in this championship position all season, but that’s going to be very tough. The competition is strong and performance changes a lot from track to track, so we’ll have to work hard to stay on top.”
“We’re not feeling pressure yet, it’s still early. And after Daytona, where a mistake cost us a lot of points, this was the response we needed.”
“Long Beach is a place where speed isn’t everything. Luck matters, and qualifying is a huge part of the race.”
“Our plan was simple: don’t touch the walls, be smart in traffic, and stay calm with the lapped cars.”
“The key moment for us was when the two cars ahead got into trouble while we were running third. From there, it was about holding position and bringing it home.”
Álvaro Martínez, #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac: “Wow, I’m really happy to be back here. This was a circuit we hadn’t won before, and now we can finally tick that box.”
“We honestly weren’t expecting to leave here leading the championship. After Daytona, the main goal was to close the gap and recover from that disappointment.”
“I also don’t think last year was some kind of total domination. We did win the title, yes, but this year people are very strong and very well prepared. We’ll be ready to fight, but it won’t be easy at all.”
“Daytona was frustrating. We fought so hard and still couldn’t compete for the podium. But we never gave up, we kept pushing until the end, and now we’ve shown what we can do.”
“We’re not under pressure. We’re racing calmer and more relaxed now, and that helps.”
“Long Beach is a challenge for everyone. It gives you no room for mistakes, and if you make one, you’re basically done.”
“For us there were two key moments. First was qualifying, because starting near the front matters here, and Dani did a fantastic job.”
“Then it was all about staying calm and avoiding the big situations, especially the kind of trouble you can get into at Turn 1.”
“Our spotter was huge, constantly guiding us on track conditions so we could anticipate things and make the right calls. We knew that would be the key.”
Felipe Silveira, #21 Delta Racing BMW: “We’re feeling great. When we crossed the line I told Sauner, my teammate, that our 2026 really starts now.”
“It’s good to see we have the pace to fight at the front, and not just for one car. Both of our entries can be in the mix.”
“Honestly, we were just focused on running our race and seeing how it played out.”
“When I saw a real chance to go for second, I went for it. Going side by side at Long Beach is always a risk, but it worked out and it was actually a really enjoyable drive.”
“I think we’re a solid team. The long-term goal is to stay clean, stay out of trouble, and drive the best race we can.”
“Everything is still wide open, so we’ll always push to finish as high as possible. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Ryan Suralik, #123 Twin Turn SR by Debeka Bornheim Porsche: “This podium feels absolutely incredible. It was completely unexpected.”
“We came into the weekend just trying to dip our toes into the top level, so to leave with a podium in our first GTP race feels wild.”
“There’s a big difference between LMP2 and GTP. The cars drive so differently, and learning the GTP honestly felt like trying to fly a spaceship with all the dials and buttons.”
“The result is fantastic, but we still have a lot to learn.”
“Like any racing driver, the goal is to win. But right now the priority is understanding this car and adapting to the higher level of competition.”
“Missing Daytona makes the full championship tough, but if we keep this momentum, we really hope we can fight for the Sprint Cup.”
Lucas Moncla, #123 Twin Turn SR by Debeka Bornheim Porsche: “We’re absolutely ecstatic with this result. I genuinely did not expect this.”
“I messed up my last qualifying lap and started sixth, and honestly I would have been happy just finishing where we started.”
“Ryan did a fantastic job bringing it home with no mistakes, and at the same time he took advantage when others made mistakes.”
“Third place is a massive result for our debut in the top class, and we’re already looking forward to the next one.”
“Our approach didn’t really change from how we race in LMP2.”
“Yes, GTP is faster and it’s a completely different beast, and the learning curve is real, but our main goal was still consistency and clean racing. That’s always been our recipe.”
“We weren’t on the grid at Daytona because the car wasn’t ready, but I think we’ve got a strong driver group for the rest of the season.”
“We want to make an impact in this class. As always, we’ll keep it clean and consistent and see where that puts us by the end of the year.”
Standings shake-up: familiar faces, new pressure
The Long Beach result moves the #51 World Of SimRacing Team Cadillac V-Series.R to the top of the SportsCar Championship GTP standings with 915 points. The #32 Wastegate Racing Ferrari drops to second, 35 points behind, while the #96 Albrecht Motorsports Cadillac holds third, 70 points off the lead.
In the Sprint Cup, the #51 Cadillac also leads with 525 points. The #21 Delta Racing BMW sits second, 45 points back, with the #123 Twin Turn SR by Debeka Bornheim Porsche third, 75 points behind after an unforgettable debut weekend.
Next up: Sebring’s endurance test
The season now turns toward the Monster Energy 12 Hours of Sebring on February 28, 2026, with the race scheduled to start at 14:00 GMT. It will be Round 3 of 11 in the 2026 VSCA SportsCar Championship, and Sebring’s bumps and brutality will offer a very different kind of pressure than Long Beach’s walls.