After qualifying was rained out on Friday at the American Le Mans Series race on the streets of Long Beach, CA, the field’s starting order was determined by points. Patrick started the race in 10th position, and Long quickly navigated the chaos and carnage of the first lap to climb to 4th place in GT.
He said, “The start was picture perfect: there was a war zone all around me: spinning cars, flying hoods, and flowers everywhere, but I was able to slip through the holes and get up to fourth. I was just settling into a groove when my tire pressure alarm started going off. I realized that I had a cut tire from the carbon pieces from one of the incidents. We hadn’t had any contact, just the bad luck to pick up the debris.”
Long turned his #45 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR over to teammate Jörg Bergmeister just past halfway in the race, and the team was able to regain position on the lead lap due to a well-timed yellow flag and the subsequent wave-by from the pace car, but was too far back in the pack to challenge for a podium. The duo went on to finish 7th in GT on the weekend, and races next at Laguna Seca on May 10-12.