The 2014 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at The Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan on May 31, 2014. The race was the fifth of thirteen scheduled rounds of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship, and was held for Prototype and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) categories.

Background

Preview

Similar to the Grand Prix of Long Beach, this event was held in conjunction with the Detroit Grand Prix in the IndyCar series, with one event held on the same day as the IMSA event, and another held a day after as a double-header.

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed that the race was part of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship schedule in September 2013. It was the first year that the race was part of the series calendar, and the fifth annual running of the race, counting the period between 2007 and 2013 when it was a round of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series respectively. The race was the fifth of 2014's thirteen scheduled IMSA automobile endurance races, the shortest of the season in terms of distance, and it was the third round not held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the fourteen-turn Belle Isle Park on May 31, 2014.

Before the race, João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 127 points, 3 points clear of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in second, and Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor with 124 points. With 87 points, Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell led the GTD Drivers' Championship, ahead of Andy Lally and John Potter on countback with 87 points followed by Nelson Canache and Spencer Pumpelly with 83 points. Chevrolet and Ferrari were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Action Express Racing and AIM Autosport each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entry list Thirty-two cars were entered for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, with most of the entries in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) category. Six Daytona Prototype (DP) chassis were represented in the Prototype class, including four Chevrolet Corvette DP cars and a duo of Riley MkXXVI vehicles. They were joined by five Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) cars represented in the class. Speedsource fielded two Lola B08/80-Mazda cars, and Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) entered two HPD ARX-03b cars. OAK Racing entered one Morgan LMP2.

With the absence of the Prototype Challenge and Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) categories from the field, only two racing classes were represented in Belle Isle. GTD was represented by 20 entries from manufactures such as Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, and SRT. Scuderia Corsa entered a second Ferrari 458 Italia GT3.

Practice and qualifying 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 90 minutes on Friday morning while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted 90 minutes.

In the first session, Oswaldo Negri's No. 60 MSR Riley lapped quickest at 1 minute, 26.475 seconds, 0.081 seconds faster than Christian Fittipaldi's No. 5 Corvette DP. Memo Rojas was third-fastest in CGR's No. 01 Riley, Jordan Taylor's No. 10 car placed fourth, and Ryan Dalziel's No. 1 ESM HPD rounded out the top five. James Davison's No. 007 TRG Aston Martin led GTD from Pumpelly's No. 45 Flying Lizard Audi and Davis' No. 27 Dempsey Porsche.

Pruett led the final session in the No. 01 CGR car with a lap of 1 minute, 26.582 seconds, 0.328 seconds faster than Westbrook's No. 90 Corvette DP. ESM were third after a lap from Dalziel in its No. 1 car. Yacamán No. 42 Morgan, along with Barbosa's No. 5 AER car were fourth and fifth. Audi paced GTD with Flying Lizard's No. 45 R8 of Pumpelly lapping at 1:33.756, ahead of Leh Keen's No. 22 AJR Porsche. Kuba Giermaziak set the third-fastest time in class in NGT Motorsport's No. 30 entry. The session ended prematurely when Sebastian Asch crashed at the No. 18 Mühlner Motorsports America entry in the closing minutes.

Friday afternoon's 35 minute two-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first and, after a five-minute interval, Prototype vehicles drove onto the track. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put the Prototypes ahead of all GTD cars.

Westbrook for Spirit of Daytona took the first pole position of his career, on his final lap with a time of 1 minute, 25.011 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Dalziel who had pole position for ESM until Westbrook's lap. On his final timed lap, Fittipaldi qualified the No. 5 Corvette DP third, and Olivier Pla took fourth in the No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan. WTR's Jordan Taylor was fifth, and Negri's No. 60 MSR car was sixth. van Overbeek's No. 2 ESM car, Rojas' No. 01 CGR vehicle, and Said's No. 31 Marsh car were seventh to ninth.

In GTD, Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Audi clinched his second pole position of the season, with his fastest lap being 0.278 seconds faster than Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 33 Viper. Kévin Estre qualified the No. 73 PPM Porsche to third, ahead of Dane Cameron's fourth-placed Turner BMW and James Davison's fifth-placed TRG Aston Martin.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . +ClassTeamDriverTime1P90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Richard Westbrook1:25.011_12P1 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ryan Dalziel1:25.029 +0.01823P5 Action Express Racing Christian Fittipaldi1:25.139 +0.12834P42 OAK Racing Olivier Pla1:25.555 +0.54445P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Jordan Taylor1:25.586 +0.57556P60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Oswaldo Negri1:25.776 +0.76567P2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Johannes van Overbeek1:26.192 +1.18178P01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Memo Rojas1:26.199 +1.18889P31 Marsh Racing Boris Said1:26.952 +1.941910P07 Speedsource Joel Miller1:31.344 +6.3331011P70 Speedsource Sylvain Tremblay1:31.929 +6.9181112GTD45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Spencer Pumpelly1:32.914 +7.9031213GTD33 Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen1:33.192 +8.1811314GTD73 Park Place Motorsports Kévin Estre1:33.246 +8.2351415GTD94 Turner Motorsport Dane Cameron1:33.346 +8.3351516GTD007 TRG-AMR North America James Davison1:33.379 +8.3681617GTD22 Alex Job Racing Leh Keen1:33.383 +8.3721718GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Alessandro Balzan1:33.560 +8.5491819GTD23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher1:33.691 +8.6801920GTD58 Snow Racing Jan Heylen1:33.717 +8.6062021GTD30 NGT Motorsport Kuba Giermaziak1:33.897 +8.8862122GTD555 AIM Autosport Townsend Bell1:34.051 +9.0402223GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Christopher Haase1:34.057 +9.0462324GTD81 GB Autosport Damien Faulkner1:34.118 +9.1072425GTD35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Dion von Moltke1:34.218 +9.2072526GTD64 Scuderia Corsa Kyle Marcelli1:34.359 +9.3482627GTD27 Dempsey Racing Andrew Davis1:34.577 +9.5662728GTD18 Mühlner Motorsports America Sebastian Asch1:34.873 +9.8622829GTD46 Fall-Line Motorsports Charles Espenlaub1:34.968 +9.9572930GTD44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally1:34.969 +9.9583031GTD19 Mühlner Motorsports AmericaNoneNo Time Established3132GTD71 Park Place MotorsportsNoneNo Time Established32Sources:

Race

Post-race With a total of 160 points, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor's victory allowed them to take the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship. The final results of GTD meant Sweedler and Bell increased their advantage to 1 point as fifth-placed Keen and MacNeil moved from fourth to second. Lally and Potter dropped from second to third with 107 points, ahead of James and Farnbacher on countback. Miller and Haase's third-place finish meant they rounded out the top five with 102 points. Chevrolet and Ferrari continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR took the lead of the Prototype Teams' Championship. AIM Autorsport kept their advantage in the GTD Teams' Championship with eight races left in the season.

Race result Class winners are indicated in bold and . P stands for Prototype, and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona). +Final race classificationClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/RetiredEngine1P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor Jordan TaylorChevrolet Corvette DP571:40:26.112Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V82P90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Michael Valiante Richard WestbrookChevrolet Corvette DP57 +0.207Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V83P42 OAK Racing Olivier Pla Gustavo YacamánMorgan LMP257 +8.817Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V84P60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian John Pew Oswaldo NegriRiley MkXXVI57 +9.713Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V65P1 Extreme Speed Motorsports Scott Sharp Ryan DalzielHPD ARX-03b57 +17.718Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V66P5 Action Express Racing João Barbosa Christian FittipaldiChevrolet Corvette DP57 +33.286Chevrolet LS9 5.5 L V87P2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ed Brown Johannes van OverbeekHPD ARX-03b56 +1 lapHonda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V68GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Jeff Westphal Alessandro BalzanFerrari 458 Italia GT356 +1 lapFerrari 4.5L V89GTD23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Ian James Mario FarnbacherPorsche 911 GT America56 +1 lapPorsche 4.0L Flat-610GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Bryce Miller Christopher HaaseAudi R8 LMS ultra56 +1 lapAudi 5.2 L V1011GTD007 TRG-AMR North America James Davison Al CarterAston Martin V12 Vantage GT356 +1 lapAston Martin 6.0 L V1212GTD22 Alex Job Racing Cooper MacNeil Leh KeenPorsche 911 GT America56 +1 lapPorsche 4.0L Flat-613GTD94 Turner Motorsport Dane Cameron Markus PalttalaBMW Z4 GT356 +1 lapBMW 4.4 L V814GTD18 Mühlner Motorsports America Sebastian Asch Tomy DrissiPorsche 911 GT America56 +1 lapPorsche 4.0L Flat-615GTD555 AIM Autosport Bill Sweedler Townsend BellFerrari 458 Italia GT356 +1 lapFerrari 4.5L V816GTD58 Snow Racing Jan Heylen Madison SnowPorsche 911 GT America55 +2 LapsPorsche 4.0L Flat-617GTD81 GB Autosport Ben Barker Damien FaulknerPorsche 911 GT America55 +2 LapsPorsche 4.0L Flat-618GTD33 Riley Motorsports Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben KeatingSRT Viper GT3-R55 +2 LapsSRT 8.0 L V1019P07 Speedsource Tristan Nunez Joel MillerMazda Prototype55 +2 LapsMazda Skyactiv-D 2.2 L Turbo I4 (Diesel)20GTD35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Seth Neiman Dion von MoltkeAudi R8 LMS ultra55 +2 LapsAudi 5.2 L V1021GTD44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally John PotterPorsche 911 GT America55 +2 LapsPorsche 4.0L Flat-622P70 Speedsource Sylvain Tremblay Tom LongMazda Prototype54 +3 LapsMazda Skyactiv-D 2.2 L Turbo I4 (Diesel)23 DNFGTD45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Spencer Pumpelly Nelson Canache Jr.Audi R8 LMS ultra53 Did Not FinishAudi 5.2 L V1024GTD46 Fall-Line Motorsports Charles Espenlaub Charlie PutnamAudi R8 LMS ultra53 +4 LapsAudi 5.2 L V1025GTD64 Scuderia Corsa Kyle Marcelli Chris CummingFerrari 458 Italia GT353 +4 LapsFerrari 4.5L V826GTD27 Dempsey Racing Patrick Dempsey Andrew DavisPorsche 911 GT America52 +5 LapsPorsche 4.0L Flat-627 DNFGTD73 Park Place Motorsports Kévin Estre Patrick LindseyPorsche 911 GT America26Did Not FinishPorsche 4.0L Flat-628 DNFGTD30 NGT Motorsport Kuba Giermaziak Henrique CisnerosPorsche 911 GT America18Did Not FinishPorsche 4.0L Flat-629 DNFP31 Marsh Racing Eric Curran Boris SaidChevrolet Corvette DP14Did Not FinishChevrolet LS9 5.5 L V830 DNFP01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Scott Pruett Memo RojasRiley MkXXVI12Did Not FinishFord EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V631 DNSGTD19 Mühlner Motorsports America Sebastian Asch Tomy DrissiPorsche 911 GT America --Did Not StartPorsche 4.0L Flat-632 DNSGTD71 Park Place Motorsports Jim Norman Craig StantonPorsche 911 GT America --Did Not StartPorsche 4.0L Flat-6Source:+Tyre manufacturersKeySymbolTyre manufacturerContinental

Standings after the race