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.

Background
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. 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. 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. The race was held at the eleven-turn 1.968 mi Long Beach street circuit on April 14, 2018.

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. 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. 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. Cadillac and Ford were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Whelen Engineering Racing and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing each led their Teams' Championships.

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. 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. 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.

Practice
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.

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.

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.

Qualifying
Friday afternoon's 35-minute qualifying session was divided into two groups. 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.

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

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. 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. 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.

Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Standings after the race

 * 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.