2014 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic

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.

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.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[1] The race was held at the fourteen-turn 2.350 mi (3.782 km) Belle Isle Park on May 31, 2014.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[2] Chevrolet and Ferrari were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Action Express Racing and AIM Autosport each led their own Teams' Championships.^[2]

Thirty-two cars were entered for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, with most of the entries in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) category.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[7] James Davison's No. 007 TRG Aston Martin led GTD from Pumpelly's No. 45 Flying Lizard Audi and Davis' No. 27 Dempsey Porsche.^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[9] 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.^[10] The session ended prematurely when Sebastian Asch crashed at the No. 18 Mühlner Motorsports America entry in the closing minutes.^[9]

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.^[6]

Westbrook for Spirit of Daytona took the first pole position of his career,^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13] WTR's Jordan Taylor was fifth, and Negri's No. 60 MSR car was sixth.^[13] van Overbeek's No. 2 ESM car, Rojas' No. 01 CGR vehicle, and Said's No. 31 Marsh car were seventh to ninth.^[13]

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.^[13]

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

With a total of 160 points, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor's victory allowed them to take the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship.^[2] 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.^[2] Chevrolet and Ferrari continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR took the lead of the Prototype Teams' Championship.^[2] AIM Autorsport kept their advantage in the GTD Teams' Championship with eight races left in the season.^[2]

Class winners are indicated in bold and ‡. P stands for Prototype, and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).