The 2014 Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach was a sports car race held on the Long Beach Street Circuit in California, United States, on 11–12 April 2014 as part of the Long Beach Grand Prix event weekend. The race was the third round of the inaugural Tudor United SportsCar Championship season and held exclusively for the Prototype and GT Le Mans categories, the first such event in the history of the series to not feature all four classes. Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas followed their 2014 12 Hours of Sebring victory with a win at Long Beach, and giving Chip Ganassi Racing their second victory in the history of the sports car event. Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express Racing's Chevrolet Corvette DPs completed the race podium. Jan Magnussen and Antonio García earned Corvette Racing their first GTLM category win of the season, as well as the first win for the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
Background
Preview International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed that the race was part of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship schedule in September 2013. It was the first year that the race was part of the series calendar, and the ninth annual running of the race, counting the period between 2006 and 2013 when it was a round of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series respectively. The race was the third of 2014's thirteen scheduled IMSA automobile endurance races, the shortest of the season in terms of distance, and it was the first round not held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn Long Beach street circuit in Long Beach, California on April 12, 2014.
Entry list A total of 21 cars took part in the event split across 2 classes. In P, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Action Express Racing scaled down to one car. Starworks Motorsport, Fifty Plus Racing, and DeltaWing Racing Cars skipped the event. Muscle Milk Pickett Racing missed the event in order to focus on testing its Oreca 03 before the team closed. In GTLM, Krohn Racing were absent. Dane Cameron replaced Matteo Malucelli who got suspended for dangerous driving at Sebring, in the Risi Competizione entry.
Practice There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, one on Friday morning and one on Friday afternoon. The first session lasted two hours on Friday morning while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted 30 minutes.
Practice 1 The first practice session at 7:40 am PT on Friday and ended with Scott Pruett topping the charts for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, with a lap time of 1:16.441. ClassTeamDriverTime1P01Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix SabatesScott Pruett1:16.441_2P60Michael Shank Racing with Curb/AgajanianOswaldo Negri1:16.681 +0.2403P5Action Express RacingJoão Barbosa1:16.688 +0.247Source:
Final Practice The second and final practice session took place at 5:05 pm PT on Friday and ended with Christian Fittipaldi topping the charts for Action Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:16.081. ClassTeamDriverTime1P5Action Express RacingChristian Fittipaldi1:16.081_2P01Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix SabatesScott Pruett1:16.135 +0.0543P10Wayne Taylor RacingJordan Taylor1:16.475 +0.394Source:
Qualifying
Pruett in the No. 01 CGR Riley DP took his first pole position of the season with a lap of 1 minute, 15.325 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Negri whose best lap in the No. 60 MSR car was 0.041 seconds slower. Christian Fittipaldi qualified the No. 5 AER Corvette DP in third. Olivier Pla's No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan was the highest placed of all the LMP2 entrants in fourth position. The No. 10 Corvette DP of Ricky Taylor started from fifth place.
In GTLM, Magnussen took his pole position of the season with a lap of 1 minute and 17.939 seconds. He was joined by Bill Auberlen's No. 55 BMW Z4 on the grid's front row with his best lap being 0.152 seconds slower, and Dirk Müller drove the No. 56 BMW to third place. Milner qualified the No. 4 Corvette in fourth position. The two Porsches were fifth and sixth (the No. 911 car driven by Tandy in front of the No. 912 vehicle of Christensen).
Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1P01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Scott Pruett1:15.325_12P60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Oswaldo Negri Jr.1:15.366 +0.04123P5 Action Express Racing Christian Fittipaldi1:15.571 +0.24634P42 OAK Racing Olivier Pla1:15.668 +0.34345P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor1:15.743 +0.41856P90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Michael Valiante1:15.952 +0.62767P2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Johannes van Overbeek1:17.129 +1.80478P1 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ryan Dalziel1:17.833 +2.50889GTLM3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen1:17.939+2.614910GTLM55 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen1:18.091 +2.7661011GTLM56 BMW Team RLL Dirk Müller1:18.246 +2.9211112GTLM4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner1:18.489 +3.1641213P31 Marsh Racing Boris Said1:18.549 +3.2241614GTLM911 Porsche North America Nick Tandy1:18.574 +3.2491715GTLM912 Porsche North America Michael Christensen1:18.675 +3.3501316GTLM62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella1:19.037 +3.7121417GTLM91 SRT Motorsports Dominik Farnbacher1:19.223 +3.8981518GTLM17 Team Falken Tire Bryan Sellers1:19.270 +3.9451819GTLM93 SRT Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito1:19.980 +4.6551920P07 Speedsource Tristan Nunez1:25.331 +10.0062021P70 SpeedsourceNoneNo Time Established21Sources:
Race
Race result Class winners are indicated with bold.
+Final race classificationClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/Retired Engine 1 P 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Scott Pruett Memo Rojas Riley MkXXVI 771:40:46.184 Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 2 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Corvette DP 77 +0.759 Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V8 3 P 5 Action Express Racing João Barbosa Christian Fittipaldi Chevrolet Corvette DP 77 +4.251 Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V8 4 P 42 OAK Racing Olivier Pla Gustavo Yacamán Morgan LMP2 77 +29.247 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 5 P 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Michael Valiante Richard Westbrook Chevrolet Corvette DP 77 +1:19.445 Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V8 6 DNF P 1 Extreme Speed Motorsports Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel HPD ARX-03b 76 Did Not Finish Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 7 P 2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ed Brown Johannes van Overbeek HPD ARX-03b 76 +1 lap Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 8 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen Antonio García Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 75 +2 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 9 GTLM 56 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Dirk Müller BMW Z4 GTE 75 +2 Laps BMW 4.4 L V8 10 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner Oliver Gavin Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 75 +2 Laps Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 11 GTLM 911 Porsche North America Nick Tandy Richard Lietz Porsche 911 RSR 75 +2 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 12 GTLM 912 Porsche North America Patrick Long Michael Christensen Porsche 911 RSR 75 +2 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 13 GTLM 55 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen Andy Priaulx BMW Z4 GTE 75 +2 Laps BMW 4.4 L V8 14 GTLM 91 SRT Motorsports Dominik Farnbacher Marc Goossens Jonathan Bomarito SRT Viper GTS-R 75 +2 Laps SRT 8.0 L V10 15 GTLM 17 Team Falken Tire Bryan Sellers Wolf Henzler Porsche 911 RSR 74 +3 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 16 GTLM 62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella Dane Cameron Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 73 +4 Laps Ferrari 4.5 L V8 17 P 07 Speedsource Tristan Nunez Joel Miller Mazda Prototype 71 +6 Laps Mazda Skyactiv-D 2.2 L Turbo I4(Diesel) 18 DNF GTLM 93 SRT Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito Kuno Wittmer Marc Goossens SRT Viper GTS-R 56 Did Not Finish SRT 8.0 L V10 19 DNF P 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian John Pew Oswaldo Negri Riley MkXXVI 39 Did Not Finish Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 20 DNF P 31 Marsh Racing Eric Curran Boris Said Chevrolet Corvette DP 22 Did Not Finish Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V8 21 DNF P 70 Speedsource Sylvain Tremblay Tom Long Mazda Prototype 3 Did Not Finish Mazda Skyactiv-D 2.2 L Turbo I4(Diesel)Source:+ Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer Continental Michelin Falken Tire
References