Race report
ALMS
Challenging day at Long Beach for Scott Tucker, Level 5
Pole winning Level 5 Motorsports Honda Performance Development ARX-03b ended their day on the streets of Long Beach in the No. 551 still holding the P2 class points lead.
Edited: Apr 22, 2013, 4:52 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Long Beach, CA. - While clearly showing the speed needed to win, Level 5 Motorsports overcame a series of unlucky and unfortunate incidents to record a hard-earned podium finish, and valuable championship points, in Saturday’s two-hour Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.
#551 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX/03b: Scott Tucker, Ryan Briscoe
Photo by: Jeff Davidson
The pole-sitting No. 551 Siemens/Alpina Watches/Ohiya Casino Resort-sponsored Honda Performance Development ARX-03b led early in the hands of nine-time driving champion Scott Tucker, who drove a masterful opening stint before handing over to open-wheel star Ryan Briscoe during the second full-course caution with just over 40 minutes completed.
While Briscoe managed to rejoin in the P2 class lead, the IZOD IndyCar Series race winner was forced to serve a stop and go penalty due to a pit lane infraction, and shortly after that, suffered a subsequent tire puncture, resulting in a second unscheduled stop. The day would turn even worse for the No. 551 car, as the Australian was tagged from behind by another car with less than 30 minutes to go, which saw an additional trip to the pits for repairs.
Rejoining the battle for the closing laps, Briscoe managed to bring the No. 551 HPD to a third place finish in class, while setting the quickest P2 lap of the race. Level 5’s No. 552 car, which was started by Marino Franchitti, finished fourth after showing promise early in the hands of the Scot. However, it also dropped back in the final hour after a spin and slight brush with the wall that resulted in repairs being made to the left-front suspension.
Despite the challenges presented to the David Stone-led crew in one of its toughest-ever races, both cars took the checkered flag, which came nearly as a victory in itself. Briscoe and Tucker, who was nominated to score points in the Sebring-winning No. 551 car, retain their championship lead heading into the third round of the season at Laguna Seca next month.
“It was a tough race for us today but I’m proud of the team for getting both cars to the finish,” Tucker said. “Traffic was a big challenge, as we were hit by other cars multiple times. That didn’t make life any easier. While I'm disappointed with the result, I know we had the speed in both cars to win. It was just one of those races. Ryan and Marino did a great job but we were just unlucky in the end. We'll move on and come back even stronger for Laguna Seca."
Next up for Tucker and Level 5 will be the American Le Mans Monterey, the third round of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón.
Level 5 Motorsports
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article MOMO NGT Motorsport victorious at Long Beach sprint race
Next article Dempsey and Foster finish 6th in GTC class at Long Beach
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Marino Franchitti
Di Grassi, Franchitti to race for Mazda at Petit Le Mans
IMSA
IMSA
Road Atlanta
Di Grassi, Franchitti to race for Mazda at Petit Le Mans
Marino Franchitti seeking new U.S. opportunities
IMSA
IMSA
Marino Franchitti seeking new U.S. opportunities
Franchitti gets Mazda prototype seat for Sebring 12h
IMSA
IMSA
Sebring
Franchitti gets Mazda prototype seat for Sebring 12h
Latest news
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
2 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
4 h
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe