Top drivers will be all together on streets of Long Beach

Long Beach will play host to its grand prix auto race again Sunday and, for the first time in several years, all of the sport’s top drivers will be there.

Danica Patrick, Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan and Ryan Briscoe are among the IndyCar Series drivers racing in the 35th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach now that the two major U.S. open-wheel racing series have reunified.

“The race has a great vibe, almost a carnival party atmosphere,” Dixon, the reigning IndyCar Series champion, said of the 1.97-mile, 11-turn race on the city’s seaside streets.

The weekend also features several support races in other forms of motor sports, including the American Le Mans Series, the Indy Lights developmental series, the Speed GT Challenge, Formula Drift and a pro/celebrity race. All have practice or qualifying starting today.

Dixon, Patrick and the other IndyCar stars were precluded from the grand prix in recent years because IndyCar was separate from the other major open-wheel league, the Champ Car World Series, which did race at Long Beach.

The two series finally ended a long civil war a year ago when IndyCar absorbed Champ Car and kept the IndyCar name.

But scheduling commitments required Champ Car to hold the Long Beach grand prix one last time while IndyCar raced in Japan. Patrick won the IndyCar event to become the first woman to win a major U.S.-sanctioned open-wheel event, and Australian Will Power won in Long Beach.

Now they are together at Long Beach in the second race of the IndyCar season. Briscoe, Power’s teammate at Team Penske, won the series opener two weeks ago in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Like St. Petersburg, Long Beach is a twisty street course, and passing isn’t easy. So the best place to gain spots will be Saturday’s qualifying session that sets the grid.

“It’s critical” to qualify well, said Dixon, a New Zealander who finished a disappointing 16th at St. Petersburg for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. “We don’t want too many of those [finishes] but we can come back from that performance,” he said, adding that “by all means we should be able to repeat” as champion.

Briscoe, meanwhile, is hoping to be a repeat winner after his victory at St. Petersburg. The Australian has raced at Long Beach before but in an ALMS car.

“The thing that stands out about Long Beach is its history, and the event that goes on around the racing,” said Briscoe, 27. “It’s just so exciting that the Indy cars are coming here.”

He’s also excited that Power is his teammate. “I’ll be leaning on him a lot this weekend,” Briscoe said. “He knows how to win here.”

Other racing

Cars will be on the track virtually all day today with practice and/or qualifying for all the series competing at Long Beach.

On Saturday, the pro/celebrity race -- which includes actor Keanu Reeves and “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek -- starts at 11:40 a.m., followed by the drifting races, qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix and the ALMS race. The full schedule is available at www.gplb.com.

--

james.peltz@latimes.com