Global Information2016 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix information
The 2016 Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) held on the Long Beach Street Circuit in California, United States, on April 16, 2016, as part of the Long Beach Grand Prix event weekend. The race was the third of twelve scheduled rounds of the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and was held for the Prototype, Prototype Challenge (PC) and Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) categories. The race was the shortest of the 2016 IMSA Championship calendar.
The No. 5 Corvette Daytona Prototype of Christian Fittipaldi and João Barbosa qualified in pole position and initially held their advantage until Fittipaldi was overtaken by Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing car and Tom Long on the race's first lap. The car kept the lead through the following sequence of pit stops and Jordan Taylor drove the WTR Corvette DP across the start/finish line at the end of the race to claim his and Ricky Taylor's fifth SportsCar Championship victory. Action Express Racing's No. 5 car of Fittipaldi and Barbosa finished second and the No. 31 Corvette DP of Dane Cameron and Eric Curran came in third.
The Prototype Challenge (PC) category was won by JDC-Miller MotorSports' Oreca FLM09 car of Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson. Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande finished second, while James French and Kyle Marcelli were classified third after Marcelli crashed on the final lap. Frédéric Makowiecki collided with Tommy Milner with around 2 minutes remaining, allowing Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet to take victory in GTLM while Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin finished second. The Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella completed the class podium in third place.
The result meant Barbosa and Fittipaldi took over the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 93 points. Cameron and Curran moved from fourth to second, 1 point ahead of race winners Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor. Honda continued to lead the Prototype Manufactures' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to 1 point over Chevrolet. Simpson and Goikhberg's victory allowed them to take over the lead of the Prototype Challenge Drivers' Championship with 101 points. Popow and van der Zande moved from third to second while the absent José Gutiérrez dropped to fifth. The result of the race meant Gavin and Milner extended their advantage to eighteen points as Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner took over second in the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Chevrolet moved further ahead of Porsche in the GTLM Manufactures' Championship with nine races left in the season.