KyraSage
This afternoon Gradient Racing announced that they will have a brand new livery for the 2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the third round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Their Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, driven by Mario Farnbacher and Marc Miller, will run the 100 minute sprint race, which serves as the opening round of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sprint Cup, will run a very unique livery supporting Chiaki’s Journey.
Chiaki’s Journey is a four part anime series set at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The series will showcase the all new Acura Type-S performance vehicle lineup, driven by the young hero on her quest to overcome multiple challenges on her path to victory.
“Chiaki’s Journey combines anime with Acura’s ‘Less Talk, More Drive’ cinematic style, to draw a new generation of premium car buyers to Acura,” Jon Ikeda, Vice President and Acura Brand Officer, said. “I can’t think of a better place to showcase our performance driven Acura Type S line than on the beautiful Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 to be raced on the streets of Long Beach by Mario and Marc, just as Chiaki races to victory here in the anime series.” You can check out the entire series on Acura’s official YouTube channel.
Team Principal Andris Laivins, had this to say about competing at Acura’s home race, “Long Beach is going to be a really fun addition to our endurance schedule. The entire team has performed at a super high level at Daytona and Sebring but we’ve had some bad luck, so an extra outing with our Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 is a nice way to keep the momentum up. Marc and Mario have both been on the podium in this chassis, our pit stops this season have been clicking, and I think we have a great shot next week.”
For HPD Pro Mario Farnbacher, the opening of the IMSA Sprint season can’t come soon enough, “I’m thrilled that we get to participate in Acura’s backyard. I’m also excited because Marc and I are able to race together. I really enjoy the challenge of street circuits. The tight corners basically give you no run off and no margin for error, that is such a great challenge. The risk versus reward nature of the track is what every driver really wants. Marc is a really good driver and I have enjoyed racing against him over the last few seasons. But having worked with him in Daytona, I am confident that we have a car capable of making the podium and possibly even making it to the top step.”
Mario’s co-driver for this race and Gradient Racing regular, Marc Miller, echoed the statements made by the German, “I am really looking forward to Long Beach. Our Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 should be strong and as a home race for the Acura brand we will be pushing hard for a great result. Having spent the last couple seasons racing against Mario, it will be especially fun to team up to go for a win together.”
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach kicks off on Saturday, April 9th with the green flag dropping at 2:05 pm PST/5:05 pm ET. Flag to flag coverage will be available on USA and Peacock. For those outside of the US, IMSA.tv will have all the action from Long Beach. For Gradient Racing coverage from Long Beach, check out their Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages.
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