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2018 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix

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The layout of the Long Beach Street Circuit

The 2018 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). It was held at Long Beach street circuit in Long Beach, California on 14 April 2018. The race was the third round of the 2018 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The overall race was won by the #5 Action Express Racing team of João Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque, the duo's second win of the season. In GTLM, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner won for Corvette Racing, their second consecutive victory at the event.[1]

Background

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The Long Beach Street Circuit (pictured in 2009), where the race was held.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017.[2] It was the fifth consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and the eleventh 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.[2] The 2018 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix was the third of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, 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.[2] The race was held at the eleven-turn 1.968 mi (3.167 km) Long Beach street circuit on April 14, 2018.[2]

The event was run as a support race to the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the annual IndyCar Series race held at the circuit. The Pirelli World Challenge and Stadium Super Trucks also ran during the weekend.[3] The race was also the joint-shortest of the season, at just 100 minutes, identical to the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

After the 12 hours of Sebring three weeks earlier, Eric Curran, Felipe Nasr, and Mike Conway led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 62 points, ahead of Jon Bennett, Colin Braun, and Romain Dumas with 58 points, and Filipe Albuquerque, João Barbosa, and Christian Fittipaldi with 56 points.[4] With 63 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, and Richard Westbrook with a five-point advantage over Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy, and Frédéric Makowiecki.[4] Cadillac and Ford were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Whelen Engineering Racing and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing each led their Teams' Championships.[4]

The event was run as a support race to the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the annual IndyCar Series race held at the circuit. The Pirelli World Challenge and Stadium Super Trucks also ran during the weekend.[5] The race was also the joint-shortest of the season, at just 100 minutes, identical to the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

Entries

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A total of 22 cars took part in the event; 14 in the Prototype (P) class and 8 in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.[6] The GT Daytona (GTD) class did not take part in the event, owing to a lack of garage space at the circuit. Spirit of Daytona Racing withdrew from the event following a late accident in the previous month's 12 Hours of Sebring. BAR1 Motorsports also withdrew after attending Daytona, but skipping Sebring. In GTLM, the lineup remained unchanged, apart from Risi Competizione's exit.[7]

Practice

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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 45 minutes.[8]

Practice 1

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The first practice session took place at 7:40 AM PT on Friday and ended with Felipe Nasr topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:13.582.[9]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 P 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr 1:13.582 _
2 P 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Filipe Albuquerque 1:13.675 +0.093
3 P 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves 1:13.735 +0.133
Source:[10]

Final Practice

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The second and final practice session took place at 4:45 PM PT on Friday and ended with Juan Pablo Montoya topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:13.160.[11]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 P 6 Acura Team Penske Juan Pablo Montoya 1:13.160 _
2 P 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr 1:13.210 +0.050
3 P 7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor 1:13.217 +0.057
Source:[12]

Qualifying

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Friday afternoon's 35-minute qualifying session was divided into two groups.[8] Both categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype cars ahead of all the GTLM entries.[13]

Qualifying results

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Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 P 6 United States Acura Team Penske Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya 1:12.922 1
2 P 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing Brazil Felipe Nasr 1:13.109 +0.187 2
3 P 55 Germany Mazda Team Joest United Kingdom Harry Tincknell 1:13.156 +0.234 3
4 P 7 United States Acura Team Penske Brazil Hélio Castroneves 1:13.346 +0.424 4
5 P 5 United States Mustang Sampling Racing Portugal João Barbosa 1:13.733 +0.811 5
6 P 10 United States Wayne Taylor Racing Netherlands Renger van der Zande 1:13.880 +0.958 6
7 P 77 Germany Mazda Team Joest United States Tristan Nunez 1:13.929 +1.007 7
8 P 2 United States Tequila Patrón ESM United States Scott Sharp 1:14.177 +1.255 8
9 P 52 United States AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Colombia Gustavo Yacamán 1:14.622 +1.700 9
10 P 22 United States Tequila Patrón ESM United States Johannes van Overbeek 1:14.821 +1.899 10
11 P 38 United States Performance Tech Motorsports United States Kyle Masson 1:15.764 +2.842 11
12 P 99 United States JDC-Miller MotorSports Canada Misha Goikhberg 1:15.807 +2.885 12
13 GTLM 66 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing United States Joey Hand 1:16.869 +3.947 15
14 GTLM 912 United States Porsche GT Team Belgium Laurens Vanthoor 1:17.013 +4.091 16
15 GTLM 911 United States Porsche GT Team France Patrick Pilet 1:17.263 +4.341 17
16 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Denmark Jan Magnussen 1:17.293 +4.371 18
17 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United Kingdom Oliver Gavin 1:17.533 +4.611 19
18 GTLM 67 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing United Kingdom Richard Westbrook 1:17.549 +4.627 20
19 P 54 United States CORE Autosport United States Jon Bennett 1:17.672 +4.750 13
20 GTLM 25 United States BMW Team RLL United States Connor De Phillippi 1:18.153 +5.231 21
21 GTLM 24 United States BMW Team RLL Finland Jesse Krohn 1:18.224 +5.302 22
22 P 85 United States JDC-Miller MotorSports Did Not Participate 14
Sources:[14][15]

Race

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Post-race

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As a result of winning the race, Albuquerque and Barbosa took the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande advanced from seventh to fourth. Goikhberg and Simpson moved to fifth after being eighth coming into Long Beach.[16] The result kept Briscoe and Westbrook atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 95 points. By winning the race, Gavin and Milner advanced from seventh to second while Pilet and Tandy dropped from second to fourth.[16] Cadillac and Ford continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Ford Chip Ganassi Racing kept their respective advantage in the GTLM Teams' Championship. Mustang Sampling Racing took the lead of the Prototype Teams' Championship with nine rounds left in the season.[16]

Results

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Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Final race classification
Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 P 5 United States Mustang Sampling Racing Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Portugal João Barbosa
Cadillac DPi-V.R C 70 1:41:03.988‡
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
2 P 2 United States Tequila Patrón ESM United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
United States Scott Sharp
Ligier Nissan DPi C 70 +4.766
Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6
3 P 10 United States Wayne Taylor Racing United States Jordan Taylor
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
Cadillac DPi-V.R C 70 +5.249
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
4 P 77 Germany Mazda Team Joest United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United States Tristan Nunez
Mazda RT24-P C 70 +6.748
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4
5 P 6 United States Acura Team Penske United States Dane Cameron
Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
Acura ARX-05 C 70 +10.537
Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
6 P 7 United States Acura Team Penske Brazil Hélio Castroneves
United States Ricky Taylor
Acura ARX-05 C 70 +15.532
Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
7 P 31 United States Whelen Engineering Racing United States Eric Curran
Brazil Felipe Nasr
Cadillac DPi-V.R C 70 +16.340
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
8 P 99 United States JDC-Miller MotorSports Canada Misha Goikhberg
South Africa Stephen Simpson
Oreca 07 C 70 +19.686
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
9 P 55 Germany Mazda Team Joest United States Jonathan Bomarito
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
Mazda RT24-P C 70 +19.986
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4
10 P 54 United States CORE Autosport United States Jon Bennett
United States Colin Braun
Oreca 07 C 70 +1:09.441
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
11 GTLM 4 United States Corvette Racing United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
United States Tommy Milner
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 69 +1 Lap‡
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
12 GTLM 67 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Australia Ryan Briscoe
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
Ford GT M 69 +1 Lap
Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
13 GTLM 66 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Racing United States Joey Hand
Germany Dirk Müller
Ford GT M 69 +1 Lap
Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6
14 GTLM 3 United States Corvette Racing Spain Antonio García
Denmark Jan Magnussen
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 69 +1 Lap
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
15 GTLM 24 United States BMW Team RLL United States John Edwards
Finland Jesse Krohn
BMW M8 GTE M 69 +1 Lap
BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
16 GTLM 911 United States Porsche GT Team France Patrick Pilet
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
Porsche 911 RSR M 69 +1 Lap
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
17 P 52 United States AFS / PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Colombia Sebastián Saavedra
Colombia Gustavo Yacamán
Ligier JS P217 C 68 +2 Laps
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
18

DNF

GTLM 912 United States Porsche GT Team New Zealand Earl Bamber
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 911 RSR M 52 Suspension
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
19

DNF

GTLM 25 United States BMW Team RLL United States Connor De Phillippi
United Kingdom Alexander Sims
BMW M8 GTE M 37 Did Not Finish
BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8
20

DNF

P 22 United States Tequila Patrón ESM Brazil Pipo Derani
Netherlands Johannes van Overbeek
Ligier Nissan DPi C 32 Transmission
Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6
21

DNF

P 85 United States JDC-Miller MotorSports United States Robert Alon
Switzerland Simon Trummer
Oreca 07 C 20 Did Not Finish
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
22

DNF

P 38 United States Performance Tech Motorsports United States James French
United States Kyle Masson
Oreca 07 C 0 Crash
Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
Sources:[17][18]
Tyre manufacturers
Key
Symbol Tyre manufacturer
C Continental
M Michelin

Standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.


References

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  1. ^ "Long Beach IMSA results: Cadillac, Chevrolet take WeatherTech SportsCar class wins in Prototype, GTLM". autoweek.com. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Goodwin, Graham (August 6, 2017). "IMSA Announce 2018 Calendar". DailySportsCar. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  3. ^ "2018 Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach Schedule". the562.org. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. March 20, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  5. ^ "2018 Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach Schedule". the562.org. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  6. ^ "IMSA Long Beach entry list released". racer.com. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  7. ^ "22 Car Entry List Released for 2018 IMSA Long Beach Contest". thedrive.com. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Continental Tire Keys to the Race: Long Beach". sportscar365.com. April 12, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  9. ^ Dagys, John (April 13, 2018). "Nasr Tops Opening Practice at Long Beach". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  10. ^ "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. April 13, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  11. ^ O'Malley, J.J (April 14, 2018). "Montoya, Gavin pace second IMSA practice". racer.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  12. ^ "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. April 13, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  13. ^ "2018 IMSA Sporting Regulations & Series Supplementary Regulations of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. May 16, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  14. ^ "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. 13 April 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  15. ^ "01_Starting Grid - Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. April 14, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. April 17, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  17. ^ "03_Results - Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. 17 April 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  18. ^ "2018 BUBBA Burger Grand Prix at Long Beach". racing-reference.info. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
[edit]
IMSA SportsCar Championship
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12 Hours of Sebring
2018 season Next race:
Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio