The 2015 Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase 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 18 April 2015. The race was the third round of the 2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Background
editThe 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. The race was also the joint-shortest of the season, at just 100 minutes, identical to the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic.
Entries
editA total of 17 cars took part in the event; 9 in the Prototype (P) class and 8 in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.[1] The Prototype Challenge (PC) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes would not be participating in the event. After only competing on permanent circuits since its competition debut in 2012, The DeltaWing would make its first appearance at a street course.[2] Due to scheduling conflicts for full-season drivers Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, who were preparing for their LMP1 debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship, drivers Frédéric Makowiecki and Richard Lietz would replace them for the Long Beach event.[3]
Practice
editThere were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, both on Friday. The first session lasted two hours on Friday morning while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted 35 minutes.[4]
Practice 1
editThe first practice session at 7:45 am PT on Friday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Action Express Racing, with a lap time of 1:16.063.[5]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing | Dane Cameron | 1:16.063 | _ |
| 2 | P | 90 | VisitFlorida.com Racing | Richard Westbrook | 1:16.141 | +0.078 |
| 3 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing | João Barbosa | 1:16.159 | +0.096 |
| Source:[6] | ||||||
Final Practice
editThe second and final practice session took place at 4:45 pm PT on Friday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Wayne Taylor Racing, with a lap time of 1:15.879.[7]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing | Ricky Taylor | 1:15.879 | _ |
| 2 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Scott Pruett | 1:16.165 | +0.286 |
| 3 | P | 90 | VisitFlorida.com Racing | Eric Curran | 1:16.447 | +0.568 |
| Source:[8] | ||||||
Qualifying
editQualifying was broken into two sessions. The first session of qualifying was for the GTLM class. Bill Auberlen qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 25 BMW Team RLL entry.[9]
The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Ricky Taylor qualified on pole driving the No. 10 car for Wayne Taylor Racing.[10][11]
Qualifying results
editPole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 10 |  Wayne Taylor Racing
|
Ricky Taylor
|
1:14.790 | _ | 1‡ |
| 2 | P | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing
|
Scott Pruett
|
1:15.048 | +0.258 | 2 |
| 3 | P | 5 | Action Express Racing
|
 Christian Fittipaldi
|
1:15.274 | +0.484 | 3 |
| 4 | P | 90 | VisitFlorida.com Racing
|
 Michael Valiante
|
1:15.553 | +0.763 | 4 |
| 5 | P | 31 | Action Express Racing
|
Eric Curran
|
1:15.915 | +1.125 | 5 |
| 6 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL
|
Bill Auberlen
|
1:17.268 | +2.478 | 6‡ |
| 7 | P | 0 | DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone
|
 Memo Rojas
|
1:17.405 | +2.615 | 7 |
| 8 | P | 60 | Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian
|
John Pew
|
1:17.427 | +2.637 | 8 |
| 9 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL
|
John Edwards
|
1:17.516 | +2.726 | 9 |
| 10 | GTLM | 62 | Risi Competizione
|
 Giancarlo Fisichella
|
1:17.709 | +2.919 | 10 |
| 11 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing
|
 Jan Magnussen
|
1:17.739 | +2.949 | 11 |
| 12 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing
|
 Oliver Gavin
|
1:17.756 | +2.966 | 12 |
| 13 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche North America
|
 Richard Lietz
|
1:17.932 | +3.142 | 16 |
| 14 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche North America
|
 Patrick Pilet
|
1:18.185 | +3.395 | 17 |
| 15 | GTLM | 17 | Team Falken Tire
|
Bryan Sellers
|
1:18.728 | +3.938 | 13 |
| 16 | P | 70 | SpeedSource
|
did not participate | 14 | ||
| 17 | P | 07 | SpeedSource
|
did not participate | 15 | ||
| Source:[12] | |||||||
Results
editClass winners are denoted in bold and ‡.
References
edit- ^ "17 Cars on Long Beach Entry List". sportscar365.com. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- ^ "DeltaWing goes where it has never gone before: A street course". motorsport.com. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- ^ "Porsche Set to Switch Up Long Beach GTLM Lineup". sportscar365.com. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- ^ Dagys, John (April 18, 2015). "Continental Tire Keys to the Race: Long Beach". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (April 17, 2015). "Cameron Tops Opening Practice at Long Beach". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "ResultsQuery" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. April 18, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (April 17, 2015). "Ricky Taylor Quickest in Final Practice at Long Beach". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "ResultsQuery" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. April 18, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (April 17, 2015). "Auberlen Leads BMW 1-2 in GTLM Qualifying at Long Beach". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (April 17, 2015). "Ricky Taylor Rockets to Long Beach Pole". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "TUSCC: Long Beach, Qualifying, Taylor In Prototype While Auberlen Leads BMW Sweep". dailysportscar.com. April 18, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "ResultsQuery" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. April 18, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ "ResultsQuery" (PDF). dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 17 December 2022.