LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 11, 2018) – Following the recent announcement confirming Jeff Ward to Black Swan Racing’s stable for this weekend’s Grand Prix of Long Beach, the team is proud to announce the addition of a third entry, driven by long-time friend of the team, David Calvert-Jones. With two Porsche 911 GT3 R machines competing in the Pirelli World Challenge GTA class, and one Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport in the series’ GTSA category, the team will achieve a new multi-car milestone, as this will be the first-time fielding three entries.
 
“Long Beach is always an event we look forward to, and with three cars it’s a unique challenge,” stated Black Swan Racing team owner and driver Tim Pappas. “Adding David Calvert-Jones to our stable was something we were happy to do, he’s a long-time friend and we’ve enjoyed a number of cooperative runs together, so this was the next logical step. Between this program, Jeff’s, and my own, it’s a busy weekend for the guys but I’ve full faith in everyone on the team. We’re fortunate to have some great guys run our program, and they’ll do an excellent job as we scale up to a three-car program. It’s an opportunity we’ve wanted, and we’re grateful to Porsche Motorsport North America for helping us make it a reality.”

David Calvert-Jones, an Australian who spends a lot of time in nearby Los Angeles, is a long-time collaborator with Black Swan Racing. Beyond his personal relationship with Tim Pappas, the Porsche driver ran with the team to victory during October’s California 8 Hour, and similarly shared resources with Black Swan Racing through his Australian outfit during January’s 12 Hours of Bathurst, which Black Swan took victory at. Excited to take to the streets of Long Beach in the No. 12 Virgin Australia / Parmalat / Austalia Ice Break Porsche 911 GT3 R, Calvert-Jones relishes in the tricky 1.98-mile circuit.
 
“The Grand Prix of Long Beach is an event like no other,” stated Calvert-Jones. “For any sportscar driver, there’s a handful of events every driver wants to do at some point in their career, and this is definitely one of them. We literally just rolled our car out of the container from Bathurst last week. All we’ve done to it is change the oil, fit sprint brake pads on, give the car a wash and we’re ready for the next adventure. It’s a testament to the Porsche product that it can be versatile and reliable enough to switch over from ‘the Monaco of the Outback’ to ‘the Monaco of Southern California,’ without missing a beat. It’s no easy feat between the limited practice sessions and completely unforgiving nature of a street course, but I’m excited to be a part of it and look forward to the weekend. I really appreciate Tim and all the guys at Black Swan Racing for making this a reality, it’s a big undertaking to manage three cars but I’m sure they’ll handle it masterfully. I appreciate all of the supporters who’ve helped make this a reality, including multi-national dairy company Parmalat, Virgin Australia, and Australia Ice Break, an iced coffee beverage.”
 
Practice begins this Friday, April 13, with race action on Sunday, April 15 at 10AM ET. Live streaming will be available via world-challenge.com/streamvideo