After so much questions about the Balance of Performance and DP wins in Daytona, Sebring and Long Beach, it seems like the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship seems on equal terms for DPs and LMP2s, and especially, it came the so much awaited first LMP2 victory in the Prototype category, by the hands of the Extreme Speed Motorsports.
The No. 2 HPD ARX-03b, driven by Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek, got the pole for P/GTLM class 2-hour race this sunday in Laguna Seca, and after so much lead changes, no yellow flags, accidents and problems with the main contenders, the ESM car got the top spot.
The race started with the 2nd placed No. 90 Spirit of Daytona DP taking the lead with Michael Valiante, as well the No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan jumping to 2nd, by the competent hands of Gustavo Yacamán. The first part of the race was a show of the OAK Racing Racing colombian driver, as he tried everything he could think of to pass the Spirit of Daytona car, that appeared to be a moving wall in front of him, as Valiante didn't left any room to pass. After that, Yacamán's car lost contact with the leader, and the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP passed to second place.
Then it came the first round of pit stops, and the situation maintained almost the same: No. 90 leading, now with Richard Westbrook on the wheel and the No. 42 in second with Alex Brundle. The same DP block prevailed, even after the second round of pit stops, when Brundle threw away the OAK Racing winning chances trying to pass the No. 90 car on the corkscrew, with no room to do so, which made the No. 5 Action Express DP and the No. 07 SpeedSource Mazda as victims without having nothing to do with it. Brundle and Westbrook got stop-and-hold penalties for that, as well a broken front end for the No. 42 Morgan-Nissan.
With the main contenders out of the fight, there was new main contenders in the fight for victory: the leading No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP and the No. 1 Extreme Speed Motorsports. The ESM car was in the same situation as the OAK Racing car was, no room to pass the DP in front, and after some tough fight, ESM and Ryan Dalziel suffered a heavy blow when the No. 1 HPD stalled near the corkscrew.
Less than an hour to go, Wayne Taylor Racing in first, and I thought: "No, another DP win?". But after that I thought: "This time LMP teams lost by their own problems, not by BoP influence". And, to my complete surprise and joy, there was another guy coming to get the Corvette DP out of the top spot, and guess who: our polesitter, Johannes van Overbeek and his No. 2 Extreme Speed HPD, just closing the gap to the leader in lightspeed pace. He took a 10 second gap to the leader in a few laps, got right behind Jordan Taylor, and when the No. 10 DP missed the exit of the hairpin, van Overbeek took advantage of the error of the leader and grabbed the top spot until the finish. To Taylor, only the second place has left, as he didn't matched the pace of van Overbeek, and completing the podium was the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Riley DP.
In the GTLM class, after a tough battle, with sparks flying from all sides, the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia got his second straight class victory in TUSC, with the No. 55 RLL BMW Z4 GTE, of Bill Auberlen and Andy Priaulx, taking second place on the last turn from the No. 911 Porsche North America 911 RSR of Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz, as the Porsche passed the braking point, leaving enough room to pass.
This is the first LMP2 win at the new TUSC Prototype class, as well ESM's first win in 2014. Next round will be Grand Prix of Detroit at the Belle Isle street circuit, now only with the Prototype and GT Daytona classes on the road.
UPDATE:
After further review, the No. 911 Porsche North America was penalized with plus 60 seconds in the finish time due to on-track contact with the No. 55 RLL BMW, so the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia of Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer took the third position in the GTLM class.
Photos: Continental Tire/Twitter, TUDOR Championships/Twitter.
The No. 2 HPD ARX-03b, driven by Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek, got the pole for P/GTLM class 2-hour race this sunday in Laguna Seca, and after so much lead changes, no yellow flags, accidents and problems with the main contenders, the ESM car got the top spot.
The race started with the 2nd placed No. 90 Spirit of Daytona DP taking the lead with Michael Valiante, as well the No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan jumping to 2nd, by the competent hands of Gustavo Yacamán. The first part of the race was a show of the OAK Racing Racing colombian driver, as he tried everything he could think of to pass the Spirit of Daytona car, that appeared to be a moving wall in front of him, as Valiante didn't left any room to pass. After that, Yacamán's car lost contact with the leader, and the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP passed to second place.
Then it came the first round of pit stops, and the situation maintained almost the same: No. 90 leading, now with Richard Westbrook on the wheel and the No. 42 in second with Alex Brundle. The same DP block prevailed, even after the second round of pit stops, when Brundle threw away the OAK Racing winning chances trying to pass the No. 90 car on the corkscrew, with no room to do so, which made the No. 5 Action Express DP and the No. 07 SpeedSource Mazda as victims without having nothing to do with it. Brundle and Westbrook got stop-and-hold penalties for that, as well a broken front end for the No. 42 Morgan-Nissan.
With the main contenders out of the fight, there was new main contenders in the fight for victory: the leading No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP and the No. 1 Extreme Speed Motorsports. The ESM car was in the same situation as the OAK Racing car was, no room to pass the DP in front, and after some tough fight, ESM and Ryan Dalziel suffered a heavy blow when the No. 1 HPD stalled near the corkscrew.
Less than an hour to go, Wayne Taylor Racing in first, and I thought: "No, another DP win?". But after that I thought: "This time LMP teams lost by their own problems, not by BoP influence". And, to my complete surprise and joy, there was another guy coming to get the Corvette DP out of the top spot, and guess who: our polesitter, Johannes van Overbeek and his No. 2 Extreme Speed HPD, just closing the gap to the leader in lightspeed pace. He took a 10 second gap to the leader in a few laps, got right behind Jordan Taylor, and when the No. 10 DP missed the exit of the hairpin, van Overbeek took advantage of the error of the leader and grabbed the top spot until the finish. To Taylor, only the second place has left, as he didn't matched the pace of van Overbeek, and completing the podium was the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Riley DP.
In the GTLM class, after a tough battle, with sparks flying from all sides, the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia got his second straight class victory in TUSC, with the No. 55 RLL BMW Z4 GTE, of Bill Auberlen and Andy Priaulx, taking second place on the last turn from the No. 911 Porsche North America 911 RSR of Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz, as the Porsche passed the braking point, leaving enough room to pass.
This is the first LMP2 win at the new TUSC Prototype class, as well ESM's first win in 2014. Next round will be Grand Prix of Detroit at the Belle Isle street circuit, now only with the Prototype and GT Daytona classes on the road.
UPDATE:
After further review, the No. 911 Porsche North America was penalized with plus 60 seconds in the finish time due to on-track contact with the No. 55 RLL BMW, so the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia of Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer took the third position in the GTLM class.
Photos: Continental Tire/Twitter, TUDOR Championships/Twitter.
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