Marc Goossens and Ryan Hunter-Reay will co-drive the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype. Full season Visit Florida Racing driver Ryan Dalziel is participating at Silverstone this weekend as part of his World Endurance Championship commitment.
 
RHR PULLS DOUBLE DUTY: It’s safe to say that Ryan Hunter-Reay will be a busy guy this weekend as he’ll participate in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event for Visit Florida Racing and the Verizon IndyCar Series event for Andretti Autosport. In addition to drivers meetings, autograph sessions, and appearances, Hunter-Reay will have over nine hours of track time between the two series. He is the only driver to have ever done the IndyCar/IMSA double.
 
HISTORY AT LONG BEACH: Visit Florida Racing has campaigned the Grand Prix of Long Beach twice before. Last year, the squad took a podium finish of third with drivers Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook. In 2014, the No. 90 Corvette DP sustained damage from another car but persevered to a fifth place finish.
 
MARC GOOSSENS AT LONG BEACH: Goossens has had two previous starts at Long Beach driving a Dodge Viper for SRT Motorsports in GT competition. His best finish came in 2013 with a third place finish. He took home a seventh place result in 2014.
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY A TWO-TIME WINNER AT LONG BEACH: Hunter-Reay has competed at Long Beach in IndyCar competition for 10 years with two victories in 2010 and 2014. Those wins came while driving for his current team in the Verizon IndyCar Series, Andretti Autosport. This year’s IMSA event will mark Hunter-Reay’s 11th motorsport start at the venue.
 
2016 CHAMPIONSHIP PURSUIT: Heading into the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Visit Florida Racing had a firm focus on emerging as the 2016 IMSA Champions. That championship pursuit got off to a good start with a third place podium finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona after 736 laps of racing. A fifth place finish in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring has the team looking to make up ground from firmly fourth in the standings.
 
LONG BEACH MEDIA DAY: Though not participating in this weekend’s event due to his ELMS commitments, Ryan Dalziel was on hand to help promote the event for the Long Beach media day on April 5 giving media members rides in the Visit Florida Racing two-seater around the Long Beach circuit.
 
RYAN HUNTER-REAY FRESH OFF RETURN TO PHOENIX IN INDYCAR COMPETITION: Ryan Hunter-Reay looked like the one to beat as the IndyCar Series returned to Phoenix International Raceway for the first time in 11 years. But a pair of untimely yellows during the race saw Hunter-Reay lose out on track position, though he had spectators on their feet as he made up several positions around the outside on multiple restarts. The Florida resident has been keeping busy, going from the Phoenix race right to the IndyCar Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week in preparation for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in May.
 
TROY’S TAKE: “We made some progress at Sebring with the car on that bumpy track surface. We know that we’ve still got some work to do there but hopefully we can put what we learned at Sebring to good use at Long Beach – it’s another bumpy place! We had a decent car last year but I think we have a better piece this year. I’m excited to have Ryan Hunter-Reay back again with Marc Goossens. Between Ryan’s IMSA and IndyCar schedule, he’ll have a lot of track time. He knows the track very well. I’ve been very happy with Marc’s performance. With the shorter race, I’m excited just to go and race hard. It’s going to be about good track position, good execution on pit lane, and making good decisions. Passing is difficult at Long Beach so trying to get track position in qualifying and putting yourself in good position in the race with about 45 minutes to go is critical. I’m excited because we’ve made really good progress on the handling of the car and I think we have the most competitive car we’ve had yet.”
 
DRIVER QUOTEBOARD:
 
Marc Goossens: “Long Beach is always an interesting one. We have little track time on a street course that starts out very green and rubbers up as more and more cars go around. The key for all street circuits is to stay on track during practice so that you don’t lose track time! I’m looking forward to being in the car with Ryan (Hunter-Reay) again. Of course we will miss the other Ryan (Dalziel) who is in Silverstone. We want to have the best possible result but at the same time we want to make sure that Ryan (Hunter-Reay) doesn’t need to go back and forth too many times between our Visit Florida car and his Indycar. Car wise, I think we learned a lot again from Sebring to improve our car and make life a little easier. But again it’s a completely different track and so we hope that we roll off the trailer with a good set up on which we can improve during the weekend.  I can’t wait to get back in the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP and aim for another podium finish!”
 
Ryan Hunter-Reay: “The last time I did a double was with A.J. Foyt at Homestead when I was also driving for Level 5, but that was different because the IndyCar race was on the oval and the ALMS race was on the road course. What I’m doing at Long Beach with Andretti Autosport and Visit Florida Racing is on the same track jumping back and forth between sessions. It’s going to be pretty intense. I have to thank Michael Andretti who’s allowing me to do this, and I appreciate [VFR team owner] Troy Flis who hired me to drive in the endurance races this year, but with [VFR teammate] Ryan Dalziel away with a conflict, it was cool to get the invite to do one of the short IMSA races.
 
“It would be one thing if I hadn’t driven a DP car for quite some time, but I’ve been in both (IndyCar and DP) a lot in the last month. I know the two driving styles of the cars, I’ve been driving IndyCars and DPs for a long time, so that’s the easy part. Where it’s hard, regardless of my experience, is finding the last few tenths because they are completely different driving styles. It’s two different grip levels, the turn-in points are different, the braking points are different. I’ll have to compartmentalize the two styles so they don’t get confused. And I’ll have to work the schedule so it optimizes my focus in each car. When I’m in the DP [on] Friday morning, that’s all I need to think about. When I move to my IndyCar, that’s all I need to think about. If I’m trying to worry about both at the same time, that’s where problems would occur.”