Joshua Morrow Who Takes Pole For Long Beach Pro/Celebrity Race
Joshua proved he's a racer at heart," said President and CEO of the Long Beach Grand Prix Association Jim Michaelian. "He returned to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro/Celebrity Race this year to improve on his three previous performances — and he succeeded. All the drivers did a great job today, and will be ready to put on an impressive show in Saturday’s race."
Morrow, who is competing for the charity “Racing for Kids," received a Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro/Celebrity Race Pole Position plaque and a Replay XD Prime X camera. This is Morrow’s fourth go-round in the Pro/Celebrity race, last competing in 2007.
This is an incredible honor," Morrow said. “I woke up this morning and tried to convince myself that the pole position wasn’t important, but I was lying to myself. I caught the racing bug in 1998 after my first race and I am so honored and humbled to be invited back."
Raul Mendez, a Mexican-born actor best known for his role as ‘Victor ‘Chacorta’ Casillas’ in “El Senor de los Cielos," will start second, followed by Nathan Kress, who is known around the world for his lead role in Nickelodeon’s hit show iCarly." The celebrity drivers will get a 30-second advantage over the professional drivers at the start of Saturday’s race.
In the professional category, Alfonso Ribeiro scored the fastest driving time overall of the same session, with a lap of 1:44.449, followed closely by last year’s celebrity champion, Brett Davern at 1:45.058 and Antron Brown, who turned a lap of 1:46.329.
Ribeiro, who won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro/Celebrity race in 1994 and 1995, praised Toyota in a press conference, saying this event “has a special place" in his heart.
“I love this race," he said. “This whole event is amazing – Toyota does a fantastic job, and I am super thankful to be invited back again after a 19-year hiatus."
Toyota will donate $5,000 to Racing for Kids in the name of each participant and an additional $5,000 to the winning racer’s charity of choice. Racing for Kids is a national nonprofit program benefiting children’s hospitals in Long Beach and Orange County, Calif. Toyota has donated more than $2 million on behalf of the race and its participants to various children’s hospitals since 1991.
Saturday’s race starts at 11:50 a.m. PDT.
Fans can follow the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Facebook at GrandPrixLB, Twitter @ToyotaGPLB (#TGPLB) and Instagram at ToyotaGPLB.
Lineup
Pos Class Name Lap Time
1 Celebrity Joshua Morrow 1:47.446
2 Celebrity Raul Mendez 1:48.062
3 Celebrity Nathan Kress 1:48.065
4 Celebrity Dave Pasant 1:48.435
5 Celebrity Robert Patrick 1:48.927
6 Celebrity Tricia Helfer 1:50.064
7 Celebrity Willie Gault 1:50.229
8 Celebrity James Maslow 1:50.697
9 Celebrity Mark McGrath 1:51.459
10 Celebrity Mekhi Phifer 1:51.644
11 Celebrity John Rzeznik 1:51.701
12 Celebrity Donna Feldman 1:54.815
13 Celebrity Steve Mason 2:05.487
14 Pro Alfonso Ribeiro 1:44.449
15 Pro Brett Davern 1:45.058
16 Pro Antron Brown 1:46.329
17 Pro Rutledge Wood 1:46.897
18 Pro Dara Torres 1:47.472