For round three of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, we move to the first sprint race of the season, after the opening two long distance classics at Daytona and Sebring. Today, it is the tight confines of the Long Beach street circuit in Long Beach, California, a track that has seen races run on it, for over 40 years. Today it'll be a street fight. The first race held, was a Formula 5000 open wheel race in 1975. The course has 11 corners. In qualifying, it was a rough day for Acura and Michael Shank Racing, as they had to have the car put together again after a crash. This is Jeff Segal's first Long Beach race, while his co-driver, Ozz Negri has run here before.
We have a 100 minute race ahead of us. We don't need to be too concerned about minimum drive times. 30 minutes is the minimum, in GT Daytona, and is a non factor in Prototypes and GT Le Mans. Cautions, and crucial pit stops are going to be the key. No spinning wheels, no dropping parts, and no running over air hoses. Qualifying was very tight, and so competition will be a big thing. We must remember there is one car, that will not take the start. The #90 Visit Florida Racing Multimatic Riley, was to be shared by Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens. But, that car had a major shunt in qualifying, and the tub was damaged beyond repair. So, they have been scratched and will not start the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach.
This provides a pit advantage for two GT cars and teams to have more room to work in the confines of their pit boxes. The #62 GTLM Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE and the #28 Alegra Motorsports GT Daytona Porsche 911 GT3. For everyone else, it is going to be a real squeeze. Some of the drivers might just drive for as few as five minutes. The pit lane is on a curve on the inside of the road on Shoreline Drive. This is IMSA's shortest race of the season. Strategy is more important here than anywhere else. Track position is pivotal. It is not out of the realm of possibility, that maybe a GT car could win this race overall. The field lines up, two by two. We're set to go racing. It's a street fight at Long Beach, and it begins... now!
There's already tight scrapping going on as the two Cadillac's are in it, and so is the Mazda, the #55 car. Tristan Nunez was not going to allow Christian Fittipaldi to get away. Ricky Taylor takes the #10 WTR Konica Minolta Cadillac into the race lead. These boys have won the opening endurance events. They are looking for a sprint race victory here on the streets of Long Beach. Will they earn it? We'll find out. There's argy bargy and demolition derby already! The #22 ESM Nissan gets plowed into and turned around, by the #62 Risi Ferrari! Joey Hand in the #66 Ford GT is also tangled in this mess. There's a local yellow flag at turn five.
We stay fully green around the rest of the course. Toni Vilander is at the wheel of the Ferrari. So, those were the top two GT Le Mans contenders getting into that dust up. Vilander actually started third in GTLM, after clipping the wall on the final turn during qualifying. Ed Brown has the #22 car running again, but the pits are closed and we're going full course yellow. Vilander is stopped on the road. He's not moving. There was nowhere for anyone to go, in that turn five shemozzle. Vilander went around Hand and tried to pass the Nissan, but was stuffed into the corner, and spun the green and black car around. Game over for Toni Vilander.
Jan Magnussen has lost places in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R. He had to stop, and hit the back of the Ford. He's dropped to the level where the GT Daytona cars are. Bryan Sellers leads GT Daytona in the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, and is pursued hotly by the #15 Lexus RC F GT3 in the hands of Jack Hawksworth, and by the #28 Alegra Porsche, with Daniel Morad at the wheel of it. Toni Vilander is OK, but it's game over for Risi Competizione. The car isn't fixable in a short race like this. So, the #57 Audi R8 of Stevenson Motorsports in GTD, will have a clear pit. The #22 Nissan is in the lane. Johannes van Overbeek will take over. He'll have to pit a few more times, but he's clear to drive the remainder of the race.
We remain under yellow and car #22 has quite a bit of superficial right side damage. The team pulls the engine cover off and Ed Brown stays in the car. The exhaust has been damaged. Close shave too as the yellows appeared, between the #70 Mazda of Tom Long, and the #85 JDC Miller Oreca of Misha Goikhberg. Ed Brown is out of the #22 car. Game over for them. Two cars out, within the first laps of this race. The Ligier Nissan was having a great run. Risi's retirement will cost them quite a bit in the points standings, losing a dozen or so to whoever will win. The #2 ESM Nissan, will have to drive around it's stricken sister car, to make their pit stops. The other Prototype runners will be back in sequence. But, we've lost ten minutes of racing time.
Lights are still on atop the Ford Focus safety car. All strategy from the race start is out the window. We're set to go back to racing. There's damage to the #3 Corvette from the pileup a few minutes ago that put us under yellow. We go back to green after 12 minutes under caution. Ricky Taylor flies ahead of Tristan Nunez's Mazda. Normally aspirated 6.2 liter V8 vs. 2.0 liter turbocharged four cylinder. Joey Hand is now working his way through the field. Down Pine Avenue, through the right hand turn onto Seaside Way. Boris Said in the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 leaves plenty of room for Joey Hand to pass.
Jan Magnussen, with an ill handling Corvette, is trying to make a pass on Jack Hawksworth. Misha Goikhberg is stopped on the road now. He locks up over the bumps in turn nine. Goikhberg locked the rear brakes but didn't hit anything. He does have to find reverse and get going again. Ricky Taylor still leads Tristan Nunez and Christian Fittipaldi. Laurens Vanthoor leads GT Le Mans for Porsche in the #912 entry, as local hero Bill Auberlen has the #25 BMW M6 GT for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, second in class. John Edwards in the sister #24 BMW that had a litany of woes at Sebring, is fourth in class, right behind Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette. As the cars turn through the fountain area, it is amazing to see speeds of 180 miles an hour, on a street where for the rest of the year, traffic travels at a maximum speed limit of 35 miles an hour.
Ricky Taylor ran a 1:16.4 on his most recently completed lap. Three Cadillac's from three separate teams are running together. Tom Long in the #70 Mazda RT24P has made it to fourth place in the overall. He's the man on the move at the moment. There's quite a bit of damage to the #66 Ford GT. Patrick Pilet at the wheel of the #911 Porsche 911 RSR has also dropped down the order. Actually, he's moving up from starting at the back of the grid. Joey Hand makes a pass on the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in GT Daytona, driven by Corey Lewis. Lewis sharing with Jeroen Mul. We now have a full course yellow. There's debris on the road, and it may be the missing front end piece from the #66.
There is a brake duct hose sitting offline. Actually it is sitting on the racing line. Lots of carbon fiber shards are around. Prototype teams can pit now and will need to make just one more stop. Only Prototypes can pit first. This too, will be a quick yellow, because it came within 15 minutes of the start. Make that 20 minutes. Tom Long set the fastest lap at 1:15.86 and then, Tristan Nunez lowered it to 1:15.56. The pits are not open yet. Everyone has sticker tires ready to go. Jordan Taylor will replace his brother Ricky in the #10 Cadillac on their pit stop. Dirk Mueller will take over Ford #66. Both Mercedes AMG GT3's from Riley Motorsports will pit. The leaders have gambled and stayed out.
The #2 Patron ESM Nissan Ligier DPi is in the lane. Scott Sharp jumps out, handing over the driving chores to Ryan Dalziel. Four new Continental tires go on the car, as it drove around it's stricken sister car #22. The #85 car is also in the lane. There's almost an unsafe release for the #2, as Dalziel nearly hits the yellow bird, exiting his stall, and needing to leave room for Misha Goikhberg. Goikhberg stays in the car. Fuel only. No tires. GT Daytona cars come to the lane. No further action, according to the marshals, on the lap one scrum that saw the Risi Ferrari retire from the race. The Cadillac teams kept their drivers out on the road. None of the GTLM leaders are in either. Laurens Vanthoor leads Bill Auberlen and Oliver Gavin.
Three of the GTLM cars next in the order have pitted. John Edwards in BMW #24, Richard Westbrook in the #67 Ford GT, and the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R of Jan Magnussen. Two car teams are splitting their strategy. There's serious damage to the #66 Ford without it's front bonnet and also, the #3 Corvette has had it's grille on the front air dam, punched in. Four new tires. Antonio Garcia is now in the #3. Dirk Mueller will take over the #66. No damage repair on the Ford or the Corvette. Gunnar Jeanette takes over the #50 GTD Mercedes AMG GT3. Ryan Briscoe has taken over the #67 Ford, while Martin Tomczyk has replaced John Edwards in the #24 BMW.
We're back to green and already, a three way battle for the lead between the Cadillac's and the Mazda. Cadillac, Mazda, Cadillac, Mazda. That's the running order, with the third Cadillac of Eric Curran also in hot pursuit. The field has been fractured with cars coming out of pit lane. Ryan Dalziel has brought the #2 Nissan back up to 19th in the overall. The GTLM cars that stayed out, could get track position as Boris Said is now hounding Misha Goikhberg. Problems for Stevenson Motorsports. Lawson Aschenbach hands the car to Andrew Davis. They have had electrical issues on their Audi R8. Christian Fittipaldi will soon have his hands full with Tom Long.
The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier is running very well, with Will Owen currently at the controls. Owen is sharing with Tom Kimber-Smith. Ricky Taylor has to be decisive with his moves through traffic. The Cadillac's have had their corner drive negated by IMSA, making a rule about their gear ratios for here at Long Beach. Eric Curran is now right on Tom Long's gearbox. Laurens Vanthoor still has the #912 Porsche 911 RSR in the GTLM lead. Vanthoor, Auberlen, and Gavin, none of these three chaps has made a pit stop yet.
Ford #67 is 23rd overall but is still on the lead lap in GTLM. No one has dropped off the lead lap in their respective classes. They brake into turn nine, a right hand corner. The Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 and the Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 are going a lap down to these cars, but they are in two different classes. The #57 car has a battle on it's hands with the #96 car, the Turner machine, in the hands of Bret Curtis who is sharing with Jens Klingman this weekend. Three wide onto Pine Street! Oliver Gavin wants to make the pass! No dice on the pass for Gavin as there is bodywork shed from one of those cars.
Ryan Dalziel is making his way through this traffic as we watch the GT battle. Dalziel has gone around and ahead of Misha Goikhberg. Misha Goikhberg is from Russia, but now lives in Canada. Cadillac #5 set the fastest lap last time by, but now, it is all for naught! The #5 is stuffed into the tires! It is game over for Christian Fittipaldi and the #5 Action Express Mustang Sampling Cadillac! There's big damage to the rear end of that Cadillac DPi-V.R. Another full course yellow, at the end of Seaside Way, at turn nine. If they have a whole tail section, they might be able to get the car back out.
The pits is not accessible from the paddock, because it is on the other side of the track. The #5 team has a spare nose. But is there a spare tail? Ah. They have both. Christian Fittipaldi is getting out of the car, and may hand it over to Joao Barbosa, assuming the damage isn't as severe as first thought. The pits were closed and this counts as emergency service. They need to come back in, assuming the damage is fixed. They will lose a lap and take the penalty. They replaced a damaged tire but did not do any further work. That was emergency service and they'll come back in when the pit lane opens. In replay, we can see he just went past the #50 Mercedes AMG GT3. He was clipped by the Mercedes, spun around, and wham! He hit the tire wall.
Gunnar Jeanette had just been passed down the straight by the Cadillac before diving inside or outbraking the Cadillac. Marshals repair the barriers. There are a few cars that can cycle past the safety car and catch up to the rest of the field. They get the "lucky dog" as it were. There was a moments hesitation by Joao Barbosa to see if he could come out of the lane, going around the safety car or not. You are not allowed to make a driver change under emergency service. #5 will have to take a couple of penalties. IndyCar was policing the lane, and IMSA will be doing the exact same thing.
Mazda runs second and third, as we come down to the last hour. Can we please have green flag racing? We have 60 minutes of racing left, well, 59 minutes. Let's make sure it is clean and green. Bryan Sellers, Daniel Morad, and Boris Said, all pit from good spots in GT Daytona. Joao Barbosa will also bring the #5 Cadillac to the lane again. These cars won't need to stop again. Bryan Sellers hands over the #48 Lamborghini to Madison Snow. Michael Christensen takes over the #28 Porsche. The #5 Cadillac is having the bodywork at the back ripped off and the rear suspension checked. Dirk Werner in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR chases the Ford of Joey Hand. You can't move in the braking zone. You have to hold your line.
Pick a side and stick with it. The stewards might have something to say about that one. Side by side into turn nine and three wide into turn ten. That's wild. Martin Tomczyk in the #24 BMW was in there. Green flag pit stop for the #14 Lexus RC F GT3 of Scott Pruett and Sage Karam. Corvette #4 pits and Tommy Milner takes over. Kevin Estre will take over Porsche #912. The #5 Cadillac smartly pulls aside and lets the two Mazda RT24P's through. Off the road in the #52 Ligier goes Will Owen. He missed his braking point at turn one without hitting anything. Laurens Vanthoor is now in pit lane. Will Owen was under pressure from Ryan Dalziel and spun out.
More argy bargy as Corey Lewis and Colin Braun get together. Braun is in the #54 CORE Autosport Porsche 911 GT3R he shares with Jon Bennett. Laurens Vanthoor hands the #912 Porsche over to Kevin Estre. Estre is the last leading GTLM car to stop. Ricky Taylor leads by 1.3 seconds over the Mazda's of Tristan Nunez and Tom Long. The #15 Lexus is in the lane. The #5 car is in the penalty trapezoid at the end of the pit lane. Tom Long tries to muscle his way past the Porsche of Kevin Estre! Not a good move. The stewards will be eyeing that one. There's damage to the #912 Porsche. The left rear tire is disintegrating. It's smoking badly, rubbing on the rear fender.
The #48 Lamborghini is in the sin bin. They pitted while the lane was closed. Four wide down the hill to turn eight. Dirk Mueller is now back to fourth in GTLM. Martin Tomczyk is the class leader as the #66 Ford spins. The rear wing on Mueller's Ford is missing. Mueller is trying to reverse the car. Mueller tries to move forward and there's a traffic jam, because Prototypes have had to stop, at the hairpin. Everyone is tied up at the hairpin and there's overtaking under yellow, which is clearly against the IMSA rules. This is not good driving on Dirk Mueller's part. #85 goes past. But, Mueller has blocked the Corvette and the BMW M6 GT.
Full course yellow. There will be protests stemming from this incident, and Mueller automatically and dubiously wins the "what were you thinking?" award. Finally, other cars can move through. This crash has changed the race in a major way. This is a symptom of street circuit racing. Let's review as there are penalties being assessed. The safety car had not been parked at the end of pit lane, so clearly, the lane had not been opened yet. We have 48 minutes left in the race. We have not had 15 minutes of green flag racing at this stage, so not sure this is going to be a quick yellow or not.
The leaders will need to pit now. Some of the GT cars can make it, but the Prototypes will come in now. Pit lane is not open just yet. By staying out, the field will not be reset just yet. So many cars came in under a closed pit. The #28 car needs to take its penalty. Arguing with the marshals won't work. What will happen with the melee at the last corner? Dirk Mueller is going to get a slap on the wrist even though he'll probably argue force majeur. Are you allowed to improve your position as the yellow flag appears? The pits are open and the #10 Cadillac leads the Prototype field into the lane. All Prototypes except #5 pit. The #10 gets sticker Continental tires. Jordan Taylor into the #10. Joel Miller is now in the #70 car. #2, no driver change. Ryan Dalziel stays in. The #52 car is taken over by Tom Kimber-Smith.
Dane Cameron is in the #31 Cadillac. Joel Miller had a tire that was loose on the Mazda. Stephen Simpson takes over the #85 car from Misha Goikhberg. Mazda #70 will lose a lap. They will be held at the end of pit lane. Ford #66 is in the lane, with it's missing rear wing, just as the #67 car was on Friday. A new tail section is attached to the car. They are not concerned about replacing the front section. Nissan #2 had been into the lane earlier, thusly needing less fuel than the two Cadillac's did. Ryan Dalziel is leading the Prototype class at the moment. We have 38 minutes left in the race. Martin Tomczyk, Antonio Garcia, and others in GTLM, they might be in contention to win.
Jeroen Mul is second in GTD having taken over from Corey Lewis. Jeroen Bleekemolen is next in the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3. We've shuffled the deck with GT cars leading the race. Boris Said dives around the Stevenson Audi. Check that. Tristan Vautier is in the car, trying to get a lap back in GT Daytona. Andrew Davis is in a battle with Andy Lally. One of the Acura's as well as one of the Mazda's is hitting pit lane. No, wait. That was the #28 Porsche of Michael Christensen coming in for a penalty. Martin Tomczyk leads by 1.1 seconds over Antonio Garcia. Could the GTLM cars win overall?
The two Cadillacs seem to be holding each other up as they go through traffic. Dirk Werner is in pit lane to serve a penalty, trundling straight through. Eric Curran passes for second in Prototype. The #31 Cadillac of Eric Curran has moved ahead of Cadillac #10. GTLM and GTD cars hold the top seven places right now. The first Prototype is the Nissan in fifth. Dane Cameron gets blocked by a couple GT cars and the #10 Cadillac says "merci beaucoup" and slides through! Madison Snow has done substantial damage to the #48 Lamborghini.
Meanwhile, Dane Cameron has hit the wall in the #31 Cadillac! He turned off Pine onto Seaside and crunched the barrier. This will be the fifth full course yellow, with half an hour to go. He clips the inside wall, turns in, can't steer, and... boom! He slams the opposite wall. That's a massive impact! He moved the concrete barrier back a foot and a half at least. It's game over for Whelen Engineering and Dane Cameron. Thankfully, Cameron will be OK. They will try to extricate Dane Cameron from the wrong side of the car.
Will pit stops be made? The top three cars have been able to save fuel under all these yellows. The weather has been great, but we've definitely had a street fight today. Three GTLM cars lead overall. Gunnar Jeanette and Jeroen Bleekemolen lead GT Daytona in class for Mercedes. We are back to green, with Martin Tomczyk leading with 20 minutes to go. Ryan Dalziel is up to third. Ryan Dalziel is catching Martin Tomczyk. Dalziel passes for the lead in the left hand turn onto Pine Avenue. Jordan Taylor is struggling to pass GTLM cars and has Jonathan Bomarito in the #55 Soul Red Mazda. Jordan Taylor now moves to second.
It is Ligier Nissan vs. Dallara Cadillac. Jordan Taylor goes purple in the middle sector. Fastest of all. Taylor takes a second out of Dalziel. Ryan Dalziel locked the brakes and ran wide into one of the turns, turning right onto Seaside Way. Debris all over the exit on the final corner. It's a big lump of rubber, perhaps. Dalziel runs 1:15.228 and Taylor runs a 1:14.966 as the fastest lap of the race. Ryan Dalziel responds to pressure from Jordan Taylor, running a 1:14.6! It's faster than the previous pole time record and also the fastest lap record. Oh no! Martin Tomczyk and BMW are out of this race! Tomczyk slows and allows Antonio Garcia to take the lead with Ryan Briscoe in the Ford, behind! So we go from BMW domination, to Chevrolet leading Ford.
Tommy Milner puts the sister #4 Corvette into second. What a cruel twist of fate for BMW! We have a Corvette 1-2. Chevy, Chevy, Ford, Porsche, BMW. Did the car run out of fuel or throw a belt off the motor? Dalziel and Taylor will battle for the last ten minutes. Jordan Taylor has a new fastest lap. Check that. Stephen Simpson, too, runs the fastest third sector at 1:14.7. We should have seen this for the whole race. Sorry for the boredom fest, folks. Alessandro Balzan passes Jeroen Mul for third in GTD. Ryan Dalziel lowers fast lap to 1:14.367, a new track record!
The leaders are coming to a major clump of traffic. Martin Tomczyk is now back up to speed, but he's working his way through GTD cars. The leaders are now nose to tail. Nissan and Cadillac almost touch! Three wide with GTD! Cadillac breezes back to the lead! Jordan Taylor pushes the 6.2 liter V8 past the 3.8 liter turbo V6. The #24 car barges past the leader! Two into one doesn't go. Jonathan Bomarito is being hounded by Stephen Simpson. These two cars are closing up on the leaders, too. More argy bargy and tradin' paint in GTD! This is like your local short track stock car race. Not a sports car event. This is for third in GTD.
It's Corvette, Corvette, Ford in GTLM. Ryan Briscoe in the #67 Ford is coming, fast. Two minutes remain. Jordan Taylor has set sail and leads by 5.7 seconds. More drama at turn nine! Jeroen Mul along with one of the Prototypes has stuffed it into the barriers. That's likely Joel Miller in the #70 Mazda. White flag and a local yellow. One lap to go. Both of those cars have actually moved. Maybe two laps to go. Jordan Taylor is going to give Cadillac and Wayne Taylor Racing their third victory in IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship 2017! WTR wins the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix!
Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner, and Ryan Briscoe will battle for GTLM honors, as we have another huge shemozzle at the hairpin! Three GTD cars are tangled up down there. The #15 Lexus, the #86 Acura, and the #96 BMW. Tom Long has a tire going down. The hairpin is blocked as the Corvette's go side by side to prevent the Ford from getting through. #3 is stopped! The #4 car will take the fight to the line! #4 wins! Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin win GT Le Mans at Long Beach! Antonio Garcia will be steaming! Robert Alon in the #15 Lexus caused the wreck. Jeroen Mul was spun by the Park Place Porsche and Tom Long had nowhere to go.
Wolf Henzler in the #991 Porsche was stopped as well. Winning in GT Daytona, finally, it is the #50 Riley Motorsports - WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 of Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeanette.
Overall/Prototype: #10 Taylor/Taylor Cadillac DPi-V.R
GT Le Mans: #4 Gavin/Milner Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-
GT Daytona: #50 MacNeil/Jeanette Mercedes AMG GT3
Mazda has their best finish. Nissan ran well today. There's no stopping Cadillac though. We've seen less chaotic chariot races than this thing. Wow! What a race! The next race on the schedule will be at Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas. It is the Advance Auto Parts Sports Car Showdown at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, coming up in three weeks or so.
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