The 2014 Oak Tree Grand Prix were a pair of sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on August 24, 2014. The events served as the eleventh of thirteen scheduled rounds of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship.

Background

Preview

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed that the race was part of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship schedule in October 2013. It was the first year the event was held as part of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. The 2014 Oak Tree Grand Prix was the eleventh of thirteen scheduled sports car races of 2014 by IMSA, and it was the eighth round not held as part of the North American Endurance Cup. The events were held at the seventeen-turn Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on August 24, 2014. Due to the field size, IMSA would use a doubleheader race format where the Prototype Challenge and Cooper Tires Prototype Lites would participate in the first event in a two-segment race format while the GTLM and GTD classes would participate in the second event.

Before the race, Jon Bennett and Colin Braun led the Prototype Challenge Drivers' Championship with 224 points, 35 points clear of Renger van der Zande in second. With 245 points, GTLM was led by Antonio García and Jan Magnussen with an eight-point advantage over Kuno Wittmer and Jonathan Bomarito. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell with 220 points; the duo held a three-point gap over Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil. Chevrolet and Ferrari were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while CORE Autosport, Corvette Racing, and AIM Autosport were their respective Teams' Championships.

Entry list Thirty-six cars were officially entered for the Oak Tree Grand Prix, with most of the entries being in the Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes. The Prototype Challenge (PC) class was composed of nine Oreca FLM09 cars: two from Starworks Motorsport and RSR Racing. CORE Autosport, JDC-Miller MotorSports, Performance Tech, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, and 8Star Motorsports entered one car each. Despite being listed an entry, the No. 88 BAR1 Motorsports car withdrew from the event. GTLM was represented by ten entries from five different brands. In the list of GTD entrants, seventeen GT-specification vehicles were represented by six different manufacturers.

Practice There were five practice sessions preceding the start of the races on Friday, four on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday morning lasted 60 minutes while the second on Friday afternoon ran for 30 minutes. The third scheduled for later that afternoon ran for 45 minutes while the fourth session scheduled later that afternoon lasted an hour. The fifth session on Saturday morning lasted 90 minutes.

Qualifying The first session of the week occurred on Saturday morning in the first of two sessions to set the starting order for the first race with the fastest lap times set by each team's quickest driver. Cars in Cooper Tires Prototype Lites were sent out first before those grouped in PC had one separate identically timed 15 minute session.

The second session occurred on Saturday afternoon to set the starting order for the second race. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM in a separate identically 15 minute timed session. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA would arrange the grid to put all GTLM vehicles ahead of GTD cars.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . PC stands for Prototype Challenge, GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona). +ClassTeamDriverTime1PC25 8Star Motorsports Sean Rayhall1:41.447_1 (1)2PC52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Frankie Montecalvo1:42.552 +1.1052 (1)3PC09 RSR Racing Duncan Ende1:42.610 +1.1633 (1)4PC08 RSR Racing Chris Cumming1:42.620 +1.1734 (1)5PC54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett1:43.033 +1.5865 (1)6PC85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Chris Miller1:43.617 +2.1706 (1)7PC38 Performance Tech James French1:43.651 +2.2047 (1)8GTLM62 Risi Competizione Pierre Kaffer1:43.797+2.3501 (2)9GTLM55 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen1:44.053 +2.6062 (2)10GTLM91 SRT Motorsports Marc Goossens1:44.072 +2.6253 (2)11GTLM56 BMW Team RLL Dirk Müller1:44.076 +2.6294 (2)12GTLM93 SRT Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito1:44.096 +2.6495 (2)13GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García1:44.105 +2.6586 (2)14GTLM17 Team Falken Tire Bryan Sellers1:44.322 +2.8757 (2)15GTLM912 Porsche North America Michael Christensen1:44.422 +2.9758 (2)16GTLM4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner1:44.812 +3.3659 (2)17PC8 Starworks Motorsport Mirco Schultis1:44.736 +3.2898 (1)18PC7 Starworks Motorsport Martin Fuentes1:45.247 +3.8009 (1)19GTD007 TRG-AMR North America James Davison1:47.660 +6.21310 (2)20GTD22 Alex Job Racing Leh Keen1:47.957 +6.51011 (2)21GTD94 Turner Motorsport Dane Cameron1:48.043 +6.59612 (2)22GTD45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Spencer Pumpelly1:48.173 +6.72613 (2)23GTD58 Snow Racing Jan Heylen1:48.388 +6.94114 (2)24GTD23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher1:48.405 +6.95815 (2)25GTD44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally1:48.596 +7.14916 (2)26GTD46 Fall-Line Motorsports Charles Espenlaub1:48.653 +7.20617 (2)27GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Alessandro Balzan1:48.692 +7.24518 (2)28GTD81 GB Autosport Damien Faulkner1:48.725 +7.27819 (2)29GTD35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Dion von Moltke1:48.739 +7.29220 (2)30GTD73 Park Place Motorsports Kévin Estre1:48.771 +7.32421 (2)31GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Christopher Haase1:48.931 +7.48422 (2)32GTD555 AIM Autosport Townsend Bell1:48.988 +7.54123 (2)33GTD33 Riley Motorsports Tony Ave1:49.197 +7.75024 (2)34GTD18 Mühlner Motorsports America Mark Kvamme1:55.663 +14.21625 (2)35GTD27 Dempsey RacingNoneNo Time Established26 (2)36GTLM911 Porsche North AmericaNoneNo Time Established27 (2)Sources: 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). ClassTeamDriversChassisTireTime/RetiredEngine1PC25 8Star Motorsports Luis Díaz Sean RayhallOreca FLM094718:09:02.126Chevrolet 6.2 L V82PC54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett Colin BraunOreca FLM0947 +1.220Chevrolet 6.2 L V83PC8 Starworks Motorsport Mirco Schultis Renger van der ZandeOreca FLM0947 +2.829Chevrolet 6.2 L V84PC7 Starworks Motorsport Kyle Marcelli Martin FuentesOreca FLM0947 +3.749Chevrolet 6.2 L V85PC38 Performance Tech David Ostella James FrenchOreca FLM0947 +5.634Chevrolet 6.2 L V86PC52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Gunnar Jeannette Frankie MontecalvoOreca FLM0947 +7.580Chevrolet 6.2 L V87PC85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Chris MillerOreca FLM0947 +8.466Chevrolet 6.2 L V88 DNFPC09 RSR Racing Duncan Ende Bruno JunqueiraOreca FLM0944Did Not FinishChevrolet 6.2 L V89 DNFPC08 RSR Racing Chris Cumming Alex TaglianiOreca FLM0936AccidentChevrolet 6.2 L V8Sources:+ Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer Continental

Race 2

Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and . GTLM stands for Grand Touring Le Mans and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona). ClassTeamDriversChassisTireEngine1GTLM62 Risi Competizione Giancarlo Fisichella Pierre KafferFerrari 458 Italia GT282Ferrari 4.5 L V82GTLM17 Team Falken Tire Wolf Henzler Bryan SellersPorsche 911 RSR82Porsche 4.0 L Flat-63GTLM56 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Dirk MüllerBMW Z4 GTE82BMW 4.4 L V84GTLM55 BMW Team RLL Bill Auberlen Andy PriaulxBMW Z4 GTE82BMW 4.4 L V85GTLM93 SRT Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito Kuno Wittmer Dominik FarnbacherSRT Viper GTS-R82SRT 8.0 L V106GTLM91 SRT Motorsports Marc Goossens Dominik FarnbacherSRT Viper GTS-R82SRT 8.0 L V107GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García Jan Magnussen Jordan TaylorChevrolet Corvette C7.R82Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V88GTD94 Turner Motorsport Dane Cameron Markus PalttalaBMW Z4 GT382BMW 4.4 L V89GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Alessandro Balzan Jeff WestphalFerrari 458 Italia GT382Ferrari 4.5L V810GTD27 Dempsey Racing Andrew Davis Patrick DempseyPorsche 911 GT America82Porsche 4.0L Flat-611GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Christopher Haase Bryce MillerAudi R8 LMS ultra82Audi 5.2 L V1012GTD22 Alex Job Racing Leh Keen Cooper MacNeilPorsche 911 GT America82Porsche 4.0L Flat-613GTD44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally John PotterPorsche 911 GT America82Porsche 4.0L Flat-614GTD35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Dion von Moltke Spencer PumpellyAudi R8 LMS ultra82Audi 5.2 L V1015GTD555 AIM Autosport Townsend Bell Bill SweedlerFerrari 458 Italia GT382Ferrari 4.5L V816GTD58 Snow Racing Jan Heylen Madison SnowPorsche 911 GT America82Porsche 4.0L Flat-617GTD81 GB Autosport Michael Lewis Damien FaulknerPorsche 911 GT America82Porsche 4.0L Flat-618GTD46 Fall-Line Motorsports Charles Espenlaub Charles Putman Marino FranchittiAudi R8 LMS ultra82Audi 5.2 L V1019GTLM912 Porsche North America Patrick Long Michael ChristensenPorsche 911 RSR81Porsche 4.0 L Flat-620GTD007 TRG-AMR North America Al Carter James DavisonAston Martin V12 Vantage GT381Aston Martin 6.0 L V1221GTD33 Riley Motorsports Ben Keating Tony AveSRT Viper GT3-R80SRT 8.0 L V1022GTD18 Mühlner Motorsports America Mark Kvamme Corey LewisPorsche 911 GT America79Porsche 4.0L Flat-623GTLM4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy MilnerChevrolet Corvette C7.R78Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 L V824GTD23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher Ian JamesPorsche 911 GT America73Porsche 4.0L Flat-625 DNFGTLM911 Porsche North America Nick Tandy Richard Lietz Michael ChristensenPorsche 911 RSR72Porsche 4.0 L Flat-626 DNFGTD45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Nelson Canache Jr. Spencer PumpellyAudi R8 LMS ultra71Audi 5.2 L V1027 DNFGTD73 Park Place Motorsports Patrick Lindsey Kévin EstrePorsche 911 GT America43Porsche 4.0L Flat-6Sources:+ Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer ContinentalMichelinFalken Tire

References