Conquest Racing With Ferrari is gearing up for the first sprint race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with the historic Grand Prix of Long Beach taking place from April 19th to 21st. Teammates Manny Franco and Albert Costa Balboa will be taking on the street circuit in the #34 Corsa Horizon Ferrari 296 GT3, running in support of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. 

The 1.968 mile, 11-turn circuit is famous for its concrete walls and unforgiving nature, serving as the longest-running major street race in North America. The Grand Prix of Long Beach provided some of the most thrilling, action-packed events for nearly fifty years, and this edition is shaping up to be just as competitive. 

Conquest Racing currently sits fourth in the GTD Class standings with 545 points following a strong start to the season, including a third-place finish at Daytona. As they prepare for the California coastal showdown, their focus remains steady as they continue to strive for top results in their championship quest.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do in Long Beach,” said Manny Franco. “It’s our first sprint race of the season, and this is a notoriously challenging track. We’ll be putting in a lot of work to familiarize ourselves and get up to speed, but it’s exciting because I think there’s a lot of potential. There’s always an element of unpredictability in a race like this, and we have the opportunity to capitalize on it.” 

“Long Beach is a new track for me,” added Albert Costa Balboa. “This will be my first time racing on an urban circuit in the middle of the city in GT machinery. I have done some street circuit races a couple of times in the past in a single seater,  and I really loved the ambience and the atmosphere. It was exciting to be pushing the car to the limit while racing between the walls.”                                                                       

“The run time on track will be very limited,” he continued. “It will be very important to maximize all the time we have on track, as it’s our first time in Long Beach and we only have a couple of practice sessions. We will focus on putting in as many laps as we can. We will try to do our best and enjoy ourselves this weekend, and the rest will come.” 

The team will take to the track for Practice 1 on Friday, April 19th, at 9:00 AM PDT, followed by Practice 2 at 12:50 PM PDT. The Qualifying session will take place later that same day at 5:00 PM local time. The green flag will wave at 1:35 PM PDT on Saturday, April 20th to kick off the race.