2014 Monterey Grand Prix

The 2014 Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix were a pair of sports car races sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) held on the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on May 4, 2014. The events served as the fourth of thirteen scheduled rounds of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship. Both races were contested over two hours. The race marked the first time that the course had been used for IMSA racing and the first time that the venue had featured a doubleheader weekend with two races.

Track map of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Background

Preview

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where the race was held.

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed that the race was part of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship schedule in September 2013.^[1] It was the first year the event was held as part of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. The 2014 Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix was the fourth of thirteen scheduled sports car races of 2014 by IMSA, and it was the second round not held as part of the North American Endurance Cup.^[1] The events were held at the eleven-turn 2.238 mi (3.602 km) Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey County, California on May 4, 2014.^[1] Due to the field size, IMSA would use a doubleheader race format where the Prototype Challenge and GTD classes would participate in the first event while the Prototype and GTLM classes would participate in the second event.^[2]

Before the race, João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 98 points, 5 points clear of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in second, and Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor with 91 points.^[3] With 101 points, PC was led by Jon Bennett, Colin Braun, and James Gue with an twelve-point advantage over Tom Kimber-Smith and Michael Marsal.^[3] In GTLM, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bill Auberlen and Andy Priaulx with 90 points; the duo held an two-point gap over Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz.^[3] Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell led the GTD Drivers' Championship, ahead of Marco Seefried with 67 points followed by Maurizio Mediani with 62 points.^[3] Ford, BMW, and Ferrari were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Action Express Racing, CORE Autosport, BMW Team RLL, and AIM Autosport each led their own Teams' Championships.^[3]

Entry list

Fifty-five cars were officially entered for the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix, with the bulk of entries in the Prototype (P) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes. Since the majority of the remaining rounds of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship were sprint races, PC and GTD teams entered their regular driver pairings for the first time this season.^[4] Action Express Racing (AER) fielded two Chevrolet Corvette DP cars while VisitFlorida Racing (VFR) and Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) fielded one.^[5] Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) and Michael Shank Racing (MSR) entered one Ford-powered Riley MkXXVI. Mazda Motorsports had two Lola B12/80 while Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) entered two HPD ARX-03b cars and OAK Racing entered one Morgan LMP2 chassis with Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 engine.^[5] The DeltaWing car after skipping the previous round at Long Beach.^[6] The Prototype Challenge (PC) class was composed of ten Oreca FLM09 cars: two from Starworks Motorsport and RSR Racing. BAR1 Motorsports, CORE Autosport, JDC-Miller MotorSports, Performance Tech, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, and 8Star Motorsports entered one car each.^[5] GTLM was represented by eleven entries from five different brands.^[6] Pierre Kaffer joined Giancarlo Fisichella in the Risi Competizione Ferrari.^[7] In the list of GTD entrants, twenty-one GT-specification vehicles were represented by six different manufacturers. Although it was listed as an entrant, the No. 009 TGR Aston Martin withdrew from the event.^[8]

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the races on Sunday: both on Saturday.The first one-hour session was on Saturday morning while the second one-hour session ran on Saturday afternoon.^[9]

Qualifying

Saturday afternoon's 80-minute four-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM, PC, and Prototype had three separate identically timed sessions. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order.^[9]

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡. P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid 1 P 2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Johannes van Overbeek 1:18.561 — 1‡ (2) 2 P 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Richard Westbrook 1:18.788 +0.227 2 (2) 3 P 1 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ryan Dalziel 1:18.970 +0.409 3 (2) 4 P 42 OAK Racing Gustavo Yacamán 1:19.076 +0.515 4 (2) 5 P 5 Action Express Racing Christian Fittipaldi 1:19.175 +0.614 5 (2) 6 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor 1:19.504 +0.943 6 (2) 7 PC 09 RSR Racing Bruno Junqueira 1:19.723 +1.162 1‡ (1) 8 P 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Memo Rojas 1:19.962 +1.401 7 (2) 9 P 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Oswaldo Negri Jr. 1:10.107 +1.546 8 (2) 10 PC 8 Starworks Motorsport Renger van der Zande 1:20.117 +1.556 2 (1) 11 P 0 DeltaWing Racing Cars Katherine Legge 1:20.327 +1.766 9 (2) 12 PC 25 8Star Motorsports Sean Rayhall 1:20.421 +1.860 3 (1) 13 PC 54 CORE Autosport Colin Braun 1:20.453 +1.892 4 (1) 14 PC 08 RSR Racing Alex Tagliani 1:20.568 +2.007 5 (1) 15 PC 38 Performance Tech David Ostella 1:20.836 +2.275 6 (1) 16 PC 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Gunnar Jeannette 1:20.933 +2.372 7 (1) 17 PC 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Stephen Simpson 1:21.261 +2.700 8 (1) 18 P 31 Marsh Racing Boris Said 1:21.393 +2.832 10 (2) 19 P 07 Speedsource Tristan Nunez 1:22.010 +3.449 11 (2) 20 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García 1:22.373 +3.812 12‡ (2) 21 GTLM 56 BMW Team RLL John Edwards 1:22.578 +4.017 13 (2) 22 GTLM 911 Porsche North America Nick Tandy 1:22.678 +4.117 14 (2) 23 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin 1:22.768 +4.207 15 (2) 24 GTLM 55 BMW Team RLL Andy Priaulx 1:22.810 +4.249 16 (2) 25 GTLM 91 SRT Motorsports Dominik Farnbacher 1:23.076 +4.515 17 (2) 26 GTLM 62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella 1:23.142 +4.581 23 (2) 27 GTLM 912 Porsche North America Patrick Long 1:23.263 +4.702 18 (2) 28 GTLM 93 SRT Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito 1:23.341 +4.780 19 (2) 29 GTLM 17 Team Falken Tire Wolf Henzler 1:23.660 +5.099 20 (2) 30 P 70 Speedsource Sylvain Tremblay 1:26.302 +7.741 21 (2) 31 GTD 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Spencer Pumpelly 1:26.695 +8.134 9‡ (1) 32 GTD 22 Alex Job Racing Leh Keen 1:26.962 +8.401 10 (1) 33 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Christopher Haase 1:27.101 +8.540 11 (1) 34 GTD 64 Scuderia Corsa Kyle Marcelli 1:27.121 +8.560 12 (1) 35 GTD 35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Dion von Moltke 1:27.121 +8.560 13 (1) 36 GTD 33 Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen 1:27.327 +8.766 14 (1) 37 GTD 58 Snow Racing Jan Heylen 1:27.371 +8.810 15 (1) 38 GTD 30 NGT Motorsport Kuba Giermaziak 1:27.416 +8.855 16 (1) 39 GTD 44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally 1:27.448 +8.887 17 (1) 40 GTD 94 Turner Motorsport Dane Cameron 1:27.471 +8.910 18 (1) 41 GTD 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher 1:27.549 +8.988 19 (1) 42 GTD 81 GB Autosport Damien Faulkner 1:27.750 +9.189 20 (1) 43 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Alessandro Balzan 1:27.867 +9.306 21 (1) 44 GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Kévin Estre 1:27.963 +9.402 22 (1) 45 GTD 555 AIM Autosport Townsend Bell 1:28.234 +9.673 23 (1) 46 GTD 71 Park Place Motorsports Craig Stanton 1:28.238 +9.677 24 (1) 47 GTD 27 Dempsey Racing Andrew Davis 1:28.480 +9.919 25 (1) 48 GTD 007 TRG-AMR North America James Davison 1:29.051 +10.490 26 (1) 49 GTD 18 Mühlner Motorsports America Nico Verdonck 1:29.581 +11.020 27 (1) 50 GTD 46 Fall-Line Motorsports Charles Putman 1:29.634 +11.073 28 (1) 51 GTD 19 Mühlner Motorsports America Mark Kvamme 1:30.205 +11.644 29 (1) 52 GTD 51 Spirit of Race Jack Gerber 1:34.022 +15.461 30 (1) 53 PC 7 Starworks Motorsport No Time Established 31 (1) 54 PC 88 BAR1 Motorsports No Time Established 32 (1) 55 GTLM 57 Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn No Time Established 22 (2) Sources:[10][11][12][13]

Key Meaning (1) Race One (2) Race Two

Races

Race 1

Race results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡. PC stands for Prototype Challenge and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Engine 1 PC 8 Starworks Motorsport Mirco Schultis Renger van der Zande Oreca FLM09 C 82‡ Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 2 PC 25 8Star Motorsports Luis Díaz Sean Rayhall Oreca FLM09 C 82 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 3 PC 09 RSR Racing Duncan Ende Bruno Junqueira Oreca FLM09 C 82 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 4 PC 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Gunnar Jeannette Frankie Montecalvo Oreca FLM09 C 82 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 5 PC 08 RSR Racing Chris Cumming Alex Tagliani Oreca FLM09 C 82 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 6 PC 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Chris Miller Stephen Simpson Oreca FLM09 C 81 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 7 PC 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Oreca FLM09 C 78 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 8 GTD 94 Turner Motorsport Dane Cameron Markus Palttala BMW Z4 GT3 C 78‡ BMW 4.4 L V8 9 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Christopher Haase Bryce Miller Audi R8 LMS ultra C 78 Audi 5.2 L V10 10 GTD 44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally John Potter Porsche 911 GT America C 78 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 11 GTD 22 Alex Job Racing Leh Keen Cooper MacNeil Porsche 911 GT America C 78 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 12 GTD 35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Dion von Moltke Seth Neiman Audi R8 LMS ultra C 78 Audi 5.2 L V10 13 DNF GTD 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Nelson Canache Jr. Spencer Pumpelly Audi R8 LMS ultra C 77 Audi 5.2 L V10 14 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Alessandro Balzan Jeff Westphal Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 C 77 Ferrari 4.5L V8 15 GTD 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher Ian James Porsche 911 GT America C 77 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 16 GTD 73 Park Place Motorsports Kévin Estre Patrick Lindsey Porsche 911 GT America C 77 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 17 GTD 64 Scuderia Corsa Stefan Johansson Kyle Marcelli Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 C 77 Ferrari 4.5L V8 18 GTD 58 Snow Racing Jan Heylen Madison Snow Porsche 911 GT America C 77 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 19 GTD 30 NGT Motorsport Henrique Cisneros Kuba Giermaziak Porsche 911 GT America C 77 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 20 GTD 007 TRG-AMR North America Al Carter James Davison Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 C 77 Aston Martin 6.0 L V12 21 GTD 555 AIM Autosport Townsend Bell Bill Sweedler Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 C 77 Ferrari 4.5L V8 22 GTD 71 Park Place Motorsports Craig Stanton Jim Norman Porsche 911 GT America C 76 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 23 GTD 33 Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating SRT Viper GT3-R C 76 SRT 8.0 L V10 24 GTD 81 GB Autosport Bob Faieta Damien Faulkner Porsche 911 GT America C 76 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 25 GTD 18 Mühlner Motorsports America Matt Bell David Calvert-Jones Porsche 911 GT America C 76 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 26 GTD 51 Spirit of Race Eddie Cheever III Jack Gerber Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 C 75 Ferrari 4.5L V8 27 GTD 27 Dempsey Racing Andrew Davis Patrick Dempsey Porsche 911 GT America C 75 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 28 GTD 19 Mühlner Motorsports America Mark Kvamme Dillon Machavern Porsche 911 GT America C 69 Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 29 DNF PC 38 Performance Tech David Ostella Charlie Shears Oreca FLM09 C 60 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 30 DNF PC 7 Starworks Motorsport Sam Bird Martin Fuentes Oreca FLM09 C 30 Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 31 DNF GTD 46 Fall-Line Motorsports Charles Espenlaub Charles Putman Audi R8 LMS ultra C 21 Audi 5.2 L V10 32 DNS PC 88 BAR1 Motorsports Doug Bielefeld Ryan Eversley Oreca FLM09 C -- Chevrolet 6.2 L V8 Sources:[14][15]

Tyre manufacturer Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental

Race 2

Race results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡. P stands for Prototype, and GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans).

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Engine 1 P 2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ed Brown Johannes van Overbeek HPD ARX-03b C 87‡ Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 2 P 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Jordan Taylor Ricky Taylor Chevrolet Corvette DP C 87 Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V8 3 P 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Scott Pruett Memo Rojas Riley MkXXVI C 87 Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 4 P 5 Action Express Racing João Barbosa Christian Fittipaldi Chevrolet Corvette DP C 87 Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V8 5 P 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Michael Valiante Richard Westbrook Chevrolet Corvette DP C 87 Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V8 6 P 31 Marsh Racing Eric Curran Boris Said Chevrolet Corvette DP C 86 Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V8 7 P 70 Speedsource Tom Long Sylvain Tremblay Mazda Prototype C 85 Mazda Skyactiv-D 2.2 L Turbo I4 (Diesel) 8 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 84‡ Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 9 GTLM 55 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen Andy Priaulx BMW Z4 GTE M 84 BMW 4.4 L V8 10 GTLM 62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella Pierre Kaffer Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 84 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 11 GTLM 17 Team Falken Tire Wolf Henzler Bryan Sellers Porsche 911 RSR F 84 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 12 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R M 84 Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 13 GTLM 91 SRT Motorsports Marc Goossens Dominik Farnbacher SRT Viper GTS-R M 84 SRT 8.0 L V10 14 GTLM 93 SRT Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito Kuno Wittmer SRT Viper GTS-R M 84 SRT 8.0 L V10 15 GTLM 912 Porsche North America Michael Christensen Patrick Long Porsche 911 RSR M 83 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 16[a] GTLM 911 Porsche North America Nick Tandy Richard Lietz Porsche 911 RSR M 83 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 17 GTLM 56 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Dirk Müller BMW Z4 GTE M 83 BMW 4.4 L V8 18 GTLM 57 Krohn Racing Niclas Jönsson Tracy Krohn Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 82 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 19 P 42 OAK Racing Alex Brundle Gustavo Yacamán Morgan LMP2 C 73 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 20 DNF P 0 DeltaWing Racing Cars Katherine Legge Andy Meyrick DeltaWing DWC13 C 66 Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L I4 Turbo 21 DNF P 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Oswaldo Negri Jr. John Pew Riley MkXXVI C 65 Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 22 DNF P 1 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ryan Dalziel Scott Sharp HPD ARX-03b C 45 Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 23 DNF P 07 Speedsource Joel Miller Tristan Nunez Mazda Prototype C 30 Mazda Skyactiv-D 2.2 L Turbo I4 (Diesel) Sources:[17][18]

Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer C Continental M Michelin F Falken Tire

1. The No. 911 Porsche North America entry was given a time penalty for failing to serve a stop + 60 penalty.^[16]