Just a few moments ago Acura VP and Long Beach Grand Prix Association CEO Jim Michaelian announced that Acura will step up to be the Grand Prix of Long Beach title sponsor.
Exact terms were not detailed but we do know it will be a “multi-year agreement”.
The previous title sponsor, Toyota stayed with the race for several decades yet, stepped down last year after.
Many speculated who the new title sponsor would be and early leaks suggested Honda would be the sponsor since they are somewhat local to Long Beach with an HQ in Torrance, CA. Though, I am not sure many anticipated that Honda would go with their luxury brand.
When asked about this Acura VP Jon Ikeda stated that for Acura “The time was just right” for the brand to have it’s own race.
Former F1 driver and current IMSA SportsCar driver Juan Montoya was on hand along with Indy Car driver Graham Rahal to take part in the announcement.
It will be interesting to see how the face of the race changes with Acura as the new title sponsor and what implications it may have in respect to events that could be added to the Grand Prix weekend.
We will update this post with more info as we get it so stay tuned!
UPDATE: Official press release and a few photos from the event added.
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Feb. 5, 2019) – The Grand Prix Association of Long Beach announced today that it has reached a multi-year agreement with Acura to become title sponsor of the Grand Prix of Long Beach starting in 2019.