The 2019 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 13 April 2019. The race was the third round of the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Background

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018. It was the sixth consecutive year it was part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the thirteenth 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 BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix was the third of twelve scheduled sports car endurance races of 2019 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 (3.167 km) Long Beach street circuit in Long Beach, California on April 13, 2019.

On 4 April 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race. In the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) class, the Acura ARX-05 was made 20 kilograms lighter, and received an increase in turbo boost, along with the Nissan DPi. The Mazda RT24-P was restricted in its boost, while being made five kilograms lighter. The Cadillac DPi-V.R, which won the previous two events of the 2019 season, was given a 10 kilogram increase. In GT Le Mans (GTLM), there were less significant changes. The Porsche 911 RSR was lightened by 10 kilograms, while the Ford GT had a slight reduction in boost.

Before the race, Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 67 points, ahead of Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, and Eric Curran on countback followed by Hélio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor, and Alexander Rossi in third position with 58 points. With 63 points, Philipp Eng led the GTLM Drivers' Championship by 2 points ahead of Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy, and Frédéric Makowiecki in second position followed by Connor De Phillippi and Colton Herta with 59 points in third position. Cadillac and Porsche were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Konica Minolta Cadillac and Porsche GT Team each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries

A total of 19 cars took part in the event split across two classes. There were 11 cars in the Daytona Prototype International class, and eight entries in GT Le Mans (GTLM). The Le Mans Prototype (LMP2) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes would not be participating in the event. There were few changes to the full-season lineups in either class. Kyle Kaiser, who joined the No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R for the 24 Hours of Daytona, returned to the car alongside full-season driver Will Owen on a one-race deal. The Thursday before the race, it was announced one of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing's full-season drivers, Joey Hand, would be unable to compete due to suffering symptoms of the flu. His place would be taken by one of their endurance-event drivers, Sébastien Bourdais, who would also be competing in the IndyCar event.

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.

In the first practice session, Felipe Nasr set the fastest lap in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac, with a time of 1:12.394. Ricky Taylor's No. 7 Acura was second fastest followed by Juan Pablo Montoya in the sister No. 6 Acura Team Penske entry. The GTLM class was topped by the No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:17.549, ahead of teammate Earl Bamber in the sister No. 912 Porsche. Oliver Gavin was third fastest in the No. 4 Corvette followed by Jesse Krohn in the No. 24 BMW and Antonio García rounded out the top five. The session was red flagged twice for on-track accidents. 50 minutes into the session, Misha Goikhberg crashed the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac at the turn 4 barrier. 17 minutes later, Simon Trummer spun the No. 84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac before hitting the turn 1 tire wall and causing the second red flag.

Hélio Castroneves led the final session in the No. 7 Acura, with a lap time of 1:11.918. Felipe Nasr's No. 31 Cadillac was second fastest followed by Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 55 Mazda. The GTLM class was topped by the No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR of Laurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:16.710. Nick Tandy in the sister No. 911 Porsche was second fastest followed by Oliver Gavin in the No. 4 Corvette.

Qualifying

Friday's late afternoon qualification session into was broken two sessions that lasted 15 minutes each. Cars in GTLM were sent out first and, after a ten-minute interval, DPi vehicles drove onto the track. All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap. IMSA then arranged the grid so that the DPi field started in front of all GTLM cars.

Hélio Castroneves in the No. 7 Acura set a new track record to clinch his first pole position of the season with a time of 1 minute and 11.332 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Nasr in the No. 31 Cadillac who was 0.218 seconds slower. Following in third was the No. 6 Acura of Juan Pablo Montoya with the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac of João Barbosa in fourth. Jonathan Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda set the fifth fastest time, but would start at the back of the DPi field after Mazda Team Joest rebuilt the car with a spare monocoque chassis as a result of Bomarito crashing at turn 6.

In GTLM, Nick Tandy clinched his first pole position of the season, with his fastest lap being 0.064 seconds faster than his teammate Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 912 Porsche. Following in third was Oliver Gavin's No. 4 Corvette with the No. 66 Ford GT of Sébastien Bourdais in fourth. Antonio García completed the top five in the No. 3 Corvette followed by Ryan Briscoe's No. 67 Ford GT in sixth, and both BMW Team RLL entries rounded out the GTLM qualifiers.

Qualifying Results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1DPi7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves1:11.332 —12DPi31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr1:11.550+0.21823DPi6 Acura Team Penske Juan Pablo Montoya1:11.847+0.51534DPi5 Mustang Sampling Racing João Barbosa1:11.870+0.53845DPi55 Mazda Team Joest Jonathan Bomarito1:11.884+0.552116DPi77 Mazda Team Joest Tristan Nunez1:12.147+0.81557DPi10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Jordan Taylor1:12.312+0.98068DPi84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Simon Trummer1:12.455+1.12379DPi85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Misha Goikhberg1:12.650+1.318810DPi50 Juncos Racing Kyle Kaiser1:12.694+1.362911DPi54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett1:13.389+2.0571012GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Nick Tandy1:16.313+4.9811213GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Laurens Vanthoor1:16.377+5.0451314GTLM4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin1:16.520+5.1881415GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Sébastien Bourdais1:16.662+5.3301516GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García1:16.685+5.3531617GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe1:16.874+5.5421718GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Tom Blomqvist1:17.021+5.6891819GTLM24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards1:17.236+5.90419Sources:

Car number 55 was moved to the back of the DPi field as a result of Jonathan Bomarito's crash in Turn 6 during qualifying. A crack was found in the car's monocoque chassis which required the team to rebuild the car using the team's spare tub. In accordance with Article 23.5.3 of the IMSA Sporting Regulations the car was moved to the back of the starting grid in its class.

Race

Post-race Sixth-place finishers Derani and Nasr took the lead of the DPi Drivers' Championship with 92 points while Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande dropped to fourth. Cameron and Montoya jumped to fifth after being seventh coming into Long Beach. With a total of 91 points, Bamber and Vanthoor's victory allowed them to take the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship while the absent Eng dropped to ninth. García and Magnussen advanced from fifth to third. Cadillac and Porsche continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Porsche GT Team continued kept their advantage in the GTLM Teams' Championships. Whelen Engineering Racing took the lead of the DPi Teams' Championship with nine rounds left in the season.

Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 DPi 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Filipe Albuquerque João Barbosa Cadillac DPi-V.R 73 1:41:01.368 Cadillac 5.5 L V8 2 DPi 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor Acura ARX-05 73 +0.740 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 3 DPi 6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya Acura ARX-05 73 +1.873 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 4 DPi 77 Mazda Team Joest Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez Mazda RT24-P 73 +21.066 Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 5 DPi 84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Simon Trummer Stephen Simpson Cadillac DPi-V.R 73 +25.483 Cadillac 5.5 L V8 6 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani Felipe Nasr Cadillac DPi-V.R 73 +35.280 Cadillac 5.5 L V8 7 DPi 50 Juncos Racing Kyle Kaiser Will Owen Cadillac DPi-V.R 72 +1 Lap Cadillac 5.5 L V8 8 GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 RSR 72 +1 Lap Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 9 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 72 +1 Lap Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 10 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R 72 +1 Lap Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V8 11 DNF GTLM 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Sébastien Bourdais Dirk Müller Ford GT 71 Out of Fuel Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 12 GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR 71 +2 Laps Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 13 GTLM 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook Ford GT 71 +2 Laps Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 14 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Tom Blomqvist Connor De Phillippi BMW M8 GTE 71 +2 Laps BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8 15 DPi 55 Mazda Team Joest Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Mazda RT24-P 71 +2 Laps Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 16 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Jesse Krohn BMW M8 GTE 71 +2 Laps BMW S63 4.0 L Twin-turbo V8 17 DPi 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Misha Goikhberg Tristan Vautier Cadillac DPi-V.R 68 +5 Laps Cadillac 5.5 L V8 18 DNF DPi 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande Cadillac DPi-V.R 30 Crash Cadillac 5.5 L V8 19 DNF DPi 54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin Braun Nissan DPi 0 Crash Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Turbo V6Sources:

Standings after the race

+DPi Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 1 Pipo Derani Felipe Nasr 92 2 1 Hélio Castroneves Ricky Taylor 90 3 1 Filipe Albuquerque João Barbosa 89 4 3 Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande 88 5 2 Dane Cameron Juan Pablo Montoya 77Source:

+LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Cameron Cassels Kyle Masson 67 2 Matt McMurry Gabriel Aubry 60 3 Sebastián Saavedra Pastor Maldonado Ryan Cullen Roberto González 35 4 Andrew Evans 35 5 Robert Masson Kris Wright 32Source:

+GTLM Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 4 Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor 91 2 Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy 87 3 3 Antonio García Jan Magnussen 87 4 Dirk Müller Sebastien Bourdais 84 5 2 Connor De Phillippi 83Source:

+GTD Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Mirko Bortolotti Rik Breukers Rolf Ineichen 70 2 Frankie Montecalvo Townsend Bell Aaron Telitz 54 3 Andy Lally John Potter Spencer Pumpelly 53 4 Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman Justin Marks 52 5 Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Felipe Fraga 51Source:

Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.