2018_BUBBA_Burger_Sports_Car_Grand_Prix
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]
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
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]
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
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
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] | ||||||
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
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 6 |  Acura Team Penske |
 Juan Pablo Montoya |
1:12.922 | — | 1‡ |
| 2 | P | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing |
 Felipe Nasr |
1:13.109 | +0.187 | 2 |
| 3 | P | 55 |  Mazda Team Joest |
 Harry Tincknell |
1:13.156 | +0.234 | 3 |
| 4 | P | 7 | Acura Team Penske |
Hélio Castroneves |
1:13.346 | +0.424 | 4 |
| 5 | P | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing |
 João Barbosa |
1:13.733 | +0.811 | 5 |
| 6 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing |
 Renger van der Zande |
1:13.880 | +0.958 | 6 |
| 7 | P | 77 | Mazda Team Joest |
Tristan Nunez |
1:13.929 | +1.007 | 7 |
| 8 | P | 2 | Tequila Patrón ESM |
Scott Sharp |
1:14.177 | +1.255 | 8 |
| 9 | P | 52 | AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports |
Gustavo Yacamán |
1:14.622 | +1.700 | 9 |
| 10 | P | 22 | Tequila Patrón ESM |
Johannes van Overbeek |
1:14.821 | +1.899 | 10 |
| 11 | P | 38 | Performance Tech Motorsports |
Kyle Masson |
1:15.764 | +2.842 | 11 |
| 12 | P | 99 | JDC-Miller MotorSports |
 Misha Goikhberg |
1:15.807 | +2.885 | 12 |
| 13 | GTLM | 66 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing |
Joey Hand |
1:16.869 | +3.947 | 15‡ |
| 14 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team |
 Laurens Vanthoor |
1:17.013 | +4.091 | 16 |
| 15 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche GT Team |
 Patrick Pilet |
1:17.263 | +4.341 | 17 |
| 16 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing |
 Jan Magnussen |
1:17.293 | +4.371 | 18 |
| 17 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing |
Oliver Gavin |
1:17.533 | +4.611 | 19 |
| 18 | GTLM | 67 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing |
Richard Westbrook |
1:17.549 | +4.627 | 20 |
| 19 | P | 54 | CORE Autosport |
Jon Bennett |
1:17.672 | +4.750 | 13 |
| 20 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL |
Connor De Phillippi |
1:18.153 | +5.231 | 21 |
| 21 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL |
 Jesse Krohn |
1:18.224 | +5.302 | 22 |
| 22 | P | 85 | JDC-Miller MotorSports |
Did Not Participate | 14 | ||
| Sources:[14][15] | |||||||
Post-race
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]
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
- "Long Beach IMSA results: Cadillac, Chevrolet take WeatherTech SportsCar class wins in Prototype, GTLM". autoweek.com. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- Goodwin, Graham (August 6, 2017). "IMSA Announce 2018 Calendar". DailySportsCar. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- "2018 Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach Schedule". the562.org. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. March 20, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- "2018 Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach Schedule". the562.org. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- "IMSA Long Beach entry list released". racer.com. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- "22 Car Entry List Released for 2018 IMSA Long Beach Contest". thedrive.com. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- "Continental Tire Keys to the Race: Long Beach". sportscar365.com. April 12, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- Dagys, John (April 13, 2018). "Nasr Tops Opening Practice at Long Beach". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. April 13, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- O'Malley, J.J (April 14, 2018). "Montoya, Gavin pace second IMSA practice". racer.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. April 13, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
- "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.
- "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- "01_Starting Grid - Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. April 14, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
- "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. April 17, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- "03_Results - Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- "2018 BUBBA Burger Grand Prix at Long Beach". racing-reference.info. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
| IMSA SportsCar Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 12 Hours of Sebring |
2018 season | Next race: Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio |