PRESS-TELEGRAM LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX NOTEBOOK

A bumpy ride

Saturday's American Le Mans Series race was a contentious affair, especially during the early laps in the GT class.

It began in the 24 th minute of the two-hour race, when Bill Auberlen was spun near the fountain turn and found himself turned the wrong way as traffic approached.
One of the drivers that struggled to get past him was teammate Joey Hand, who was leading the class at the time.

That allowed Oliver Gavin and Patrick Long to zip past Hand, who fell to third.
"My eyes were popping out of my head but that's how street racing is," Hand said. "The incident with Bill was interesting. I went to the right and he went to the right. It wasn't his fault because he couldn't see me."

At the 42-minute mark, Hand dipped inside of Gavin and Long at Turn 7 to retake the lead. But Long responded seven minutes later by using a slower car to get around Gavin and Hand at Turn 8.
As Long neared Turn 9, he caught up to traffic, including Scott Sharp, who was on cold tires.
That caused Long to lock up his brakes, and he skidded into the tires, causing extensive suspension damage to his car and ending his race.

"That's Long Beach. It's hard street racing," Long said during a televised interview from the pits. "But I have to wonder what Scott was thinking. Maybe he was doing his hair in the rear-view mirror."

A short work day

Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut drove to victory in the LMP2 class. But that wasn't much of an accomplishment, considering theirs was the only LMP2 car to start the race, and they didn't even complete the two-hour event.

Level 5 Motorsports brought two LMP2 cars to Long Beach - the only two entered - but sent out only Tucket and Bouchut to qualify.

Then, once the race began, they drove only the minimum number of laps required to earn points before loading the Lola Honda Coupe onto the trailer.

The strategy was to save the car for the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Level 5 drivers will be in Le Mans next week for testing.

"We decided this was the best thing to do in the overall picture," Tucker said. "The car did OK here. There are a couple of things we'd like to improve with our power, but we're getting there."
- David Felton