2016 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix: The Taylor Brothers Win at Long Beach

The 2016 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix was an IMSA SportsCar Championship race held at the Long Beach Street Circuit in California on 16 April 2016. It formed part of the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend and was the third of twelve scheduled rounds that year. Ricky and Jordan Taylor won in a Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP.

What made this round unusual?

The race was the shortest on the 2016 IMSA calendar in terms of distance. It was also the first round not held as part of the North American Endurance Cup, which made it a sprint in a season that was otherwise mostly sprint racing.

IMSA president Scott Atherton confirmed the race for the 2016 schedule in August 2015. This was the third year in a row that the event had run under the WeatherTech name. It was also the ninth running of the race, counting 2006 to 2013, when it belonged to the Rolex and American Le Mans series.

The circuit is eleven turns long and measures 1.968 mi (3.167 km). The Prototype Challenge category returned for the first time since 2013. The Grand Touring Daytona class was absent, so only three racing classes were on the grid.

Going into Long Beach, a four-driver group of Ed Brown, Pipo Derani, Johannes van Overbeek and Scott Sharp topped the Prototype Drivers' Championship on 72 points. Scott Pruett had 62 points, and Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi were third on 60. In the Prototype Challenge class, Robert Alon, Jose Gutierrez and Tom Kimber-Smith led with 66 points, one point ahead of Misha Goikhberg, Kenton Koch, Chris Miller and Stephen Simpson.

In GTLM, Marcel Fassler, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 72 points, a ten-point gap over Earl Bamber, Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki. Honda and Chevrolet led their respective manufacturers' championships.

The shortest race on the 2016 IMSA calendar gave the Corvette DPs a 1-2-3 finish at Long Beach.

What balance of performance changes did IMSA make?

IMSA altered the balance of performance in both the Prototype and GTLM categories to try to create parity. The Ligier JS P2 was given less turbo boost, and the Lola B12/80 was given more. The DeltaWing had its weight decreased by 10 kg (22 lb).

The BMW M6 GTLM had its turbo boost pressure reduced and a change to its refuelling hose restrictor. The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R and the Ferrari 488 GTE also received new refuelling hose restrictors.

Who entered the race?

Twenty-five cars were officially entered, with most of them in the Prototype and GTLM categories. Teams ran their regular driver pairings for the first time that season, because most of the remaining rounds were sprint races.

Wayne Taylor Racing returned as the defending winners. Action Express Racing fielded two Chevrolet Corvette DP cars, and VisitFlorida Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing each fielded one. Mazda Motorsports had two Lola B12/80 entries, and Michael Shank Racing brought one Ligier JS P2.

Panoz returned the DeltaWing for the second successive year. Tequila Patron ESM did not take part because it was focused on the North American Endurance Cup, and Alegra Motorsports, DragonSpeed and Highway to Help also skipped the event. The Prototype Challenge class had seven Oreca FLM09 cars, and GTLM had ten entries from five brands.

How did practice and qualifying go?

Two practice sessions preceded the race, one on Friday morning and one on Friday afternoon. Jonathan Bomarito set the early pace in the No. 55 Mazda, with a lap of 1 minute, 15.917 seconds that was 0.039 seconds quicker than Jordan Taylor's No. 10 Corvette DP. Ricky Taylor was fastest in the final session with a time of 1 minute, 15.474 seconds.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was third fastest in the first session, and Joel Miller's Mazda was fourth. That session ended early when Richard Westbrook's Ford GT caught fire in the closing minutes.

Friday afternoon's qualifying lasted 55 minutes, with a 15-minute session for each category. Christian Fittipaldi took pole in the No. 5 Corvette DP with 1 minute, 14.962 seconds, his third career pole and his first of the season, set on his fifth attempt. Ricky Taylor was second, 0.171 seconds slower.

Tom Long was third in the No. 70 Mazda, Eric Curran fourth in the No. 31 Corvette DP and Trisan Nunez fifth in the No. 55 Mazda. The DeltaWing was sixth. Marc Goossens spun the No. 90 Corvette DP at turn eleven and stalled it, which brought out a red flag.

Kvamme crashed at turn one in the Prototype Challenge session, and the red flag stopped the session before a valid lap was completed. Misha Goikhberg was given pole, because the session did not reach the minimum time to be official and starting positions were set by the teams' championship standings.

In GTLM, Bill Auberlen secured a second straight pole for the season with a lap of 1 minute, 17.272 seconds. Bamber's Porsche qualified second, and the two Corvettes took fourth and fifth.

How did the race unfold?

Christian Fittipaldi lost the lead on the first lap to Ricky Taylor and Tom Long. Wayne Taylor Racing kept the advantage through the pit stops, and Jordan Taylor drove the team's Corvette across the line first.

The victory was the fifth SportsCar Championship win for Ricky and Jordan Taylor together. Action Express Racing's No. 5 car, driven by Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, finished second, and the No. 31 Corvette DP of Dane Cameron and Eric Curran was third.

Fittipaldi said his car had got past the Mazda going into the hairpin and had closed on the leader, which had been about four seconds ahead.

Ricky Taylor said the team had given them an awesome car, and that a Corvette DP 1-2-3 finish was very special. Jordan Taylor said he had pulled a small gap over the Corvette in the No. 31 and held it, because the team did not catch much traffic in the final 10 to 15 laps.

Frederic Makowiecki collided with Tommy Milner with around two minutes remaining. That incident cost the No. 912 Porsche its GTLM victory, and Makowiecki later accepted responsibility, saying he had been a touch too optimistic heading into the corner.

Who won the other classes?

Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson won the Prototype Challenge class in a JDC-Miller MotorSports Oreca FLM09. Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande were runners-up, while James French and Kyle Marcelli took third after Marcelli had crashed on the last lap.

Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet took the GTLM win after the Porsche collision. Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin were second, and Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella took the final podium place in a Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.

What changed in the championship?

Barbosa and Fittipaldi took the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 93 points after their second-place finish. Cameron and Curran moved up to second, one point ahead of the Taylors.

Honda kept the Prototype Manufacturers' Championship lead, but only by one point over Chevrolet. Goikhberg and Simpson took the Prototype Challenge Drivers' Championship lead with 101 points, while Gavin and Milner extended their GTLM Drivers' Championship lead to eighteen points.

Auberlen and Dirk Werner moved into second in the GTLM standings. Chevrolet extended its GTLM Manufacturers' lead over Porsche, with nine races left in the season.

Results by class at a glance