The yellow-flag-plagued Pirelli World Challenge race at Long Beach was over at the start for Bret Curtis, and it was over two laps later for his Turner Motorsport teammate Bill Ziegler.
Curtis’ #32 Z4 GT3 stalled at the start, reportedly with a clutch problem. A full-course yellow was brought out to remove the car. Two laps later, the track went back to green, but it quickly returned to yellow when Bryan Heitkotter in a Nissan GT-R took out the Bentley driven by Butch Leitzinger. On the same lap Ziegler in the #95 Z4 made contact with the Acura TLX driven by Peter Cunningham. The #95 Z4 was retired as a result of the incident.
Most of the balance of the fifty-minute race was run under yellow as one collision followed another. Even Olivier Beretta, who won his third PWC race of the year in a Ferrari 458 GT Italia, was involved in an incident. He is one of 25 drivers whose driving in the race is under review. Results are provisional until the investigations are completed.
Michael Lewis in a Porsche 911 GT3R took his fourth win of the season in GTA, the class in which the Turner Z4s compete.
Teams put their cars on transporters immediately after Sunday’s race to travel to Alabama for next weekend’s event at Barber Motorsports Park. Many teams will have substantial prep work to do in the wake of the carnage at Long Beach.—Brian S. Morgan
