LONG BEACH, Calif. - Can what works in the East play on the West Coast? Tafel Racing, fresh off its maiden American Le Mans Series GT2 victory in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.), looks to find out this Saturday in the Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.). Like its St. Pete predecessor, the 100-minute Long Beach event challenges the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC over city streets rather than on a purpose-built racing facility. The Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.) owned program found the magic setup on the streets just off of Tampa Bay and, with modifications, hopes to bring that same success to Southern California for drivers Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) and Dirk Müller (a native of Germany living in Monaco) on April 19.

The classic Long Beach configuration with its long, bending front-straightaway and hairpin final corner is a favorite of both sophomore driver Farnbacher and 2000 GT2 Champion Müller. However, despite being similar in length to the Florida track, the 34 year-old SoCal course brings an entirely new set of circumstances to Technical Director Tony Dowe (Cumming, Ga.) and the Tafel team. The track is narrower and bumpier than the Florida facility or the Detroit temporary circuit that is the third "street" course on the calendar. Unlike the other two facilities that have limited public use- St. Petersburg mixes airport runways and city streets while the Detroit track runs through the Belle Isle city park- Long Beach is made- up entirely of streets used for daily traffic. The surface construction is different and oil has built up from everyday motorists. All these small differences lead to magnified handling characteristics for the Bell Micro Ferrari at Long Beach.