Lukas Santos and Phillip Forrester and the #5 Screeching Moose Motorsports team continue to lead the charge in GT AM so far this season, winning their third consecutive race and their second points race in a row.
Starting from sixth place on the grid, Saturday’s race, which at only one hour and 40 minutes was the shortest race of the season, the win wasn’t the most likely outcome in this one, given how hard it is to pass at the street course of Long Beach.
But Lukas Santos put the team in a good position and upon completing its driver swap pit stop, Forrester took the lead on lap 47 and brought home the win for the team from Maple Ridge, British Columbia.
For Santos, this win at Long Beach carried an extra special meaning also.
"Winning at Long Beach feels amazing. Yes, this is my first of two home races, this one being where I watched my first motor race with my dad. The other home race is going to be Road America, Wisconsin, as that is the closest I can get to Minnesota. It’s absolutely an amazing feeling to win here.”
Long Beach’s street course comes with its own set of challenges for man and machine and Santos acknowledged that in victory lane.
“This track is so unforgiving, and when the cards play into your hands so well like what happened during this weekend, it’s awesome."
"Our focus going into this race was to prioritize the safety of the car while keeping a consistent pace. Like Daytona last month, position was not the top priority, which allowed for clear communication of expectations and allowed for Phillip (Forrester) and I to race how we needed to. A massive help for keeping the both of us calm throughout the race were the Deane brothers, Makena and David Deane, as they had the birds eye view of everything, and they had it locked down for us for strategy calls, fuel calculations, everything. A really big thanks to them."
In GT AM, things are looking good for race winners Screeching Moose Motorsports and their #5 Mercedes, taking a 119-point lead in the championship standings after two of ten races this season. But Santos and his team-mates remain on alert and fully aware the season is still young.
"I will go back to my answer from last time we talked about how we cannot be complacent. It feels good having our performances as we are having right now, but we still have over half of the season to go. Everyone in this team, including myself, are, and will forever be, so proud of this team for how we are working and capitalizing on everything - whether it’s learning lessons or bringing in new ideas.”
“We will keep working hard to keep raising the bar for performances and will take any result with sights of successes and areas of improvement. With Sebring coming up, we fall back to great setup work, clear communications of expectations per stint, perfection in our training, and lessons learned in strategy."
Continuing a strong upward trend, the #80 Digital Chicane Ferrari with drivers Paolo Calvo and Matthew Oravecz earned their best result to date, taking second place. The team previously finished sixth in The Roar Before The 24 and fourth in the 24 Hours of Daytona. On their way to the runner-up finish, they also led five laps at Long Beach.
Completing the GT AM podium at Long Beach were series veterans Daniel Avery and Sean Hatfield in the #29 Firestorm Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3, who took third place.
For the team out of Jacksonville, Florida it was the best result in a points race since a third-place finish in last season’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. With their podium finish the #29 Mercedes now moves into second place in the GT AM championship standings.
Taking the checkered flag in fourth place was the #83 Ferrari of Off in the Esses Racing and Stuart Leslie and Michael Garrone. For the Canadian team out of Toronto, Ontario, Saturday’s top-five was the first since the series’ visit to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in May of last year.
Series veterans David Sluiter and Carl Felver in the #94 Full Send Racing Mercedes followed just 0.6 seconds behind to take fifth place, making for a nice bounce back for the team after finishing twelfth in the season opener at Daytona in January.
Mayer Simspeed Performance showed some flex early with both their entries, the #34 and #33 Mercedes with Aaron Beaver, Ryan Steinhoff, Tamer Elbaga and Thomas Baker leading two and twelve laps, respectively. But in the end the two cars were unable to contend for the win and finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Another pair of team entries followed with Vulture Motorsports’ #017 and #016 Ferrari taking P8 and P9, respectively with drivers Erol Ureksoy, Justin DeLano, Jason Arinsberg and Shreyas Venkataraju.
DeLano in the #017 Ferrari led 16 laps during the middle part of the race, but ultimately had to settle for the last position on the GT AM lead lap.
Rounding out the GT AM class top ten in the race was the #93 Digital Chicane Ferrari of Ryan Koprowski and Ethan Swan, who finished five laps down.
Real Pixel Motorsport’s Wolfang Wildenauer and Ronald Gross and their #312 Lamborghini team continue to experience a very tough start to the 2024 season. After finishing 10th and 13th in the past two races at Daytona, the lone Lamborghini in the field failed to crack the top ten, taking 11th place, six laps down.
For Mark Stevenson and Robert DeLoach and the #296 Ferrari of Majors Garage Fusion Simsport, Long Beach was a tough one. After leading the first eleven laps of the race, the team ended up 12th, eight laps down in a disappointing result for the team out of Hemet, California.
The final GT AM entry to score championship points, the #119 Ferrari of Trading Paints Racing with Tyler Tucker and Patrick Lindsey finished 13th, 19 laps down.
Screeching Moose extends championship lead
By winning the second championship round in a row, Screeching Moose Motorsports’ #5 Mercedes continues to lead the way in the GT AM championship standings and extends the same to now 119 points.
Trailing in second is the #29 Firestorm Motorsport Mercedes and in third it is the #80 Ferrari of Digital Chicane.
Sprint Cup standings open with #5 Mercedes on top
Long Beach marked the season opener for the VSCA Sprint Cup. With their win in the race, Screeching Moose Motorsports open the in-series Sprint Cup championship atop the standings with a 30-point margin over the #80 Digital Chicane Ferrari and 38 points over the #29 Firestorm Motorsport Mercedes.
Sebring up next in March
The VSCA SportsCar Championship returns to Endurance Cup racing and its second-longest race of the season on March 23rd at Sebring, with the third annual 12 Hours of Sebring.
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