It's a street fight, in the first sprint race of the season for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Penske and Acura have pole. Juan Pablo Montoya was the driver to set quick time. The laid back atmosphere of southern California, is about to be shattered. Drivers, start your engines! Let's go sports car racing! Exotic sports car cruise southern California all the time. But, today, we have racing sports cars on these streets. It's the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix. This is the first sprint race of the season. It's only an hour and 40 minutes.
Acura and Mazda has been quick, but they need to turn it around, and see if they can go for the win. Juan Pablo Montoya set a new track record in his pole run. You can't make any mistakes because of the short distance of this motor race. It's like "Survivor", that crazy game show. Don't get voted off the island. Everything in the lane, must be perfect. The safety car ducks to pit lane, and now, we are racing! Green flag! Good start for everyone as Helio Castroneves wants by the Cadillac of Felipe Nasr. There's a car in the wall already! Deary me. It's the #38 Performance Tech Racing Prototype with Kyle Masson at the wheel of it. The #99 Gainsco car also went off the road.
Cadillac vs. Acura, but we have a full course yellow instantly. Gustavo Yacaman, who spun is in the #52 PR1 Motorsports car. We've got gorgeous weather at the beach. Acura leads Cadillac, Mazda, and Nissan, in the Prototype division so far. Laurens Vanthoor in the Porsche, has gone around the Ford GT in GT Le Mans, in the hands of Joey Hand who is the starting driver. The Taylor brothers both want to win, but they are racing now for two different teams. Wayne Taylor Racing vs. Team Penske.
You can't win at the first corner, but you surel can lose. Execute pit stops. Put verything on the line. These chaps have already started doing so. Watch for the front tires because they are not up to temperature yet. Joey Hand has damage to the diffuser of the Ford GT as he plays catch up back to Laurens Vanthoor in the Porsche 911 RSR. Porsche #911 slammed the back of Joey Hand. Patrick Pilet had a head of steam, and... smash! How heartbreaking. The diffuser should be OK. But, it's the panel above the diffuser that's a concern. Meantime, Felipe Nasrt gets a jump, and Montoya gets around him.
Nasr is feisty. He wants to go for it, tucked up right under Montoya's deck lid. Both of these blokes are former Formula 1 drivers, and Harry Tincknell is learning his way around this track. Tincknell is doing really well having used the Mazda simulator and in doing so, also changed the differential setup on the car. Joey Hand has lost that loose bodywork. Laurens Vanthoor is pressing hard, but Hand is really close as is the Corvette. That mesh screen from the Ford is offline. So, nobody will hit it before the marshals get a chance to retrieve it.
No action on the contact, except for the #38 prototype. Be fast, but don't burn fuel. That's hard to do in a short race, on a street circuit. Lean on the brake pedal during a yellow flag, to keep heat in the tires. The wheel and brake heats the tires to keep them warm. Porsche, Ford, and Corvette are 1-2-3 in GTLM. You could throw a blanket over them. Long Beach has the same mystique here in the U.S. that a place like Monaco would. These city streets are full of bumps. Every intersection has a crown in the road. There's a margin for error at a track like Sebring where we just ran the 12 Hours. But no so here at Long Beach on the streets, with a crown in the road.
The second Porsche 911 RSR is certainly crunched in front. Felipe Nasr continues to hound Juan Pablo Montoya. Acura vs. Cadillac. It used to be that technology went from racing to road cars. But now, it is a two way street, where road going cars and that tech can transfer to race cars. Tristan Nunez is seventh in the overall in the #77 Mazda RT24P. Harry Tincknell in the sister #55 Mazda is fourth in class and in the overall. Oh! #10 runs wide and the Mazda makes the pass. Cadillac, Ford anhd others are doing the tech transfer also between having two cars between IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Two cars in North America, and two cars in Europe.
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing will test the cars at Monza in Italy in preparation for the FIA World Endurance Championship "super season" coming up in a few weeks. BMW in the pit lane. There may be a problem there. Ah. It's a regular pit stop for #25, with Connor De Philipi, handing over to Alexander Sims. BMW must be rolling the dice on strategy. Problems for Robert Alon in "the Banana Boat". The #85 JDC-Miller car is stopped on the road. Felipe Nasr is inside Juan Pablo Montoya and takes the spot away!
Full course yellow as Robert Alon has a gearbox issue on "The Banana Boat". GTLM cars will make one pit stop and here are the Prototype cars in the lane. Acura #7 pits and Ricky Taylor will replace Helio Castroneves. Pandemonium in the lane. Joao Barbosa is now driving the #5 Action Express Cadillac. Dirk Mueller replaces Joey Hand in the #66 Ford GT. Loads of excitement in the lane. Unbelievable! We have an hour of racing remaining. BMW #25 may be in the lead of GTLM because they didn't stop. All the GT Le Mans cars race on Michelin tires.
Pick your criteria for a tire. Michelin can make tires for any condition. Nissan ran very well here last year. They are down on speed, though. The bar has been raised in IMSA competition. OK. We are back to green flag racing. #6 and #31 still insist on doing one green flag pit stop-. Save fuel. Every two laps under yellow equals one lap under green. But, this race is surely by time. This is sprint racing in sports cars. Dirk Mueller is fourth in class in GT Le Mans after the damage to the car. Jonathan Bomarito is racing the #55 Mazda RT24P right now. The Mazda program is definitely improving, with Joest managing the car.
Reinhold Joest, Ralf Juttner and the crew, they are really improving on the car. Mazda ran very well with this car, last year. Mazda should not perform at this track, but indeed, they are starting to perform. Felipe Nast continues to lead. 30 laps in the bag in this timed race. Top lap times are in the 1:14-1:15 range, for the Prototypes. 1:17, for GT Le Mans. Felipe Nasr, has obliterated the best lap time! He's down to 1:13.688! Yikes! BMW is running very well in GT Le Mans. They touch! Here comes the Corvette! Alexander Sims vs. Earl Bamber! This is dodge 'em cars stuff! Will Sims retaliate on Bamber? No. Sims will charge after him, and here comes the Corvette with Oliver Gavin at the wheel of it.
Problems for Nissan. Game over. Pippo Derani, out., The winners of the 12 Hours of Sebring will not be California dreaming today. Scott Sharp in the sister #2 Nissan DPi is still out there. Back time the races to calculate your fuel mileage. Alexander Sims and Earl Bamber continue their dice. Maybe it is clean racing. It is. Hard, but fair, let's say. Side by side stuff for the Mazda's. The two red carsd are flying. Now, Nasr is in the lane. Pit stop time for the Whelen Cadillac. He will get out of the car and hand it to Eric Curran. Alexander Sims has crashed into the fence! Things have gone pear shaped for BMW. Too many cars, and... crunch! Straight into the fence.
Prototypes are making their final pit stops and now have to make their way back through GT Le Mans traffic. Acura #7 is fueled for eleven seconds and the same for Cadillac #5. 1/3rd of a tank of petrol. Mandatory fuel fill of 30 seconds, per IMSA rules. Again we watch Alexander Sims go off the rtoad, slamming into the wall. He was off in the marbles, like driving on ice... and again, crunch! Straight into the wall. Acura #6 in the lane. Dane Cameron will finish out this motor race. Cameron is a very quick driver who crashed here last year when he raced for Cadillac.
Eric Curran ran wide and almost got sandwiched by GTLM machines! Wow. Outside of the racing line, there's zero grip. You are in no man's land out there. Porsche runs wide! The streets of Long Beach are a skating rink. Porsche has great history in sports car racing, and it's their 70th anniversary. The Peterson Automotive Museum in L.A. has an exhibit of their motorsport history. Porsche is doing a world tour with the 919 and they opened the car up and Neel Jani set a lap record at Spa. They are headed to Formula E next year.
Sebring of course, will have FIA WEC and the 12 Hours, and WeatherTech is the new sponsor of Laguna Seca Raceway. Drivers must be quick and efficient, speak in terms of engineering, are able to do PR and business, and perform on the track. Porsche #911 has an unscheduled pit stop for debris. There's a big chunk of debris on the road that could have come from the Porsche. Oh my! That's not good. GT Le Mans cars race at 160 miles an hour, and we watch a replay of the contact with the #31 Cadillac. We have a short full course yellow, and less than 30 minutes to go before this race is done and dusted.
49 laps have been completed. This is our third full course yellow. We have a smaller field this year, with no GT Daytona cars at Long Beach. Green flag! Ryan Dalziel has gone past the Acuras. Nissan goes for it, and Jordan Taylor is loose. Yikes! The two red Mazda's are running Harry Flatters as well. Tire rub on the $912 Porsche 911 RSR! Big trouble for Earl Bamber! Tommy Milner in the #4 Corvette C-7-R- takes the GTLM lead. There's suspension damage for the #912 Porsche. Porsche in the pit lane, taking a look at the damage. This won't be a quick stop for Porsche.
Tommy Milner leads Ryan Briscoe and Dirk Mueller. Corvette, Ford, Ford. Game over for Earl Bamber and the #912 Porsche. Front and rear suspension, both broken. Filipe Albuquerque leads. We're getting close to the end of this one. Filipe Albuquerque in the Cadillac leads overall, and we have some very scrappy Ford GT's here in GT Le Mans. Corvette and BMW are getting an occasional look in, but it's the blue oval boys who are going for it. Ryan Briscoe puts down the power, and on the inside, he makes the move as Dirk Mueller has to give in, at least temporarily.
Tommy Milner is pulling away from his rival from Porsche. Corvette is aiming for their first 2018 win in their 20th anniversary season. More ding dong battles for Mazda. The two red cars are really pushing. Track position, means order. Gamble, to get farther up the road. Get ahead in the order. Rob Peter to pay Paul in order to do it. It's sibling rivalry now, between the Taylor brothers. It's Penske vs. Wayne Taylor Racing. Acura vs. Cadillac. When the two were team mates, there was no distance between them. Now, they are opposing teams.
Filipe Albuquerque is your leader and now, Ryan Dalziel lost time and the Taylor brothers are scrapping. Less than ten minutes to go. Oliver Jarvis dives on the brakes and the Mazda is a car that has very good brakes. Are Ricky Taylor's tires fading? Here comes his brother. Ricky Taylor runs wide, and slides right in front of Oliver Jarvis in the Mazda. Taylor is wide again and he touches the wall. Problems for Acura, again. The two Mazda's are there, and here comes the sister Penske Acura with Dane Cameron at the controls.
Zero grip. Keep off the walls. The rubber from the exhibition races for the drift cars, is really affecting the tires for the sports cars. Ricky Taylor is in trouble and has to let Dane Cameron go. Taylor's tires are knackered. Mazda and Acura have stepped up. But, Cadillac is right there, just as they were at the Rolex 24 while Nissan won at Sebring. Other than on pit stops, don't touch the clutch on these sports cars. Ford had good and bad fortune at Sebring. #67 won the Rolex 24. Back in the old days, drivers used actual manual transmissions with an H pattern, sequential gearbox. Everything is electronic today.
Corvette has caught both Ford GT's, now with just two minutes to go. Briscoe compromises his exit on the next to last corner! Yikes! He very well could have lost grip there. Egad! Briscoe is losing grip on his rear tires and Dirk Mueller, he's coming, and fast! White flag lap, this time by. Filipe Albuquerque is clear. But, he can't throw away his race trying to pass these blokes in GTLM. One more lap even though the clock is expiring. Mueller runs wide. He's hit something somewhere.
Antonio Garcia gets passed by a Prototype. Cadillac and Corvette are your winners! Filipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa have won the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach. So, your winners are:
Overall/Prototype: #5 Barbosa/Albuquerque Cadillac DPi-V.R
GT Le Mans: #4 Gavin/Milner Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-
This race, is done and dusted. Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin give Corvette the win in GT Le Mans. The next race is in three weeks, in a return to the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. It is the Mid Ohio Sports Car Showdown. We'll see you, for that race, three weeks from today, on May 5th. So long, for now.
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