BAR1 Motorsports comes home with mixed results after Long Beach

In what turned out to be a street fight, BAR1 Motorsports finished with the No. 7 EPIC (the movie) ORECA FLM09 in 4th place while the No. 8 Evident Capital ORECA FLM09 would finish 6th in the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, a two-hour race through the streets of Long Beach.

#8 Bar1 Motorsports ORECA FLM09: Kyle Marcelli, Chris Cumming

Photo by: Jeff Davidson

Brian Alder, owner of BAR1 Motorsports: "Although we had some bad luck in the race, overall, we made big improvements overall as a team.

"The No. 7 car had the fastest pit stops of all the Prototype Challenge cars and the nose / splitter change on the No. 8 car was very quick. So the pit stop practice the crew has been putting is really paying off.

"Kyle Marcelli did a fantastic job setting the fastest lap of the race and Chris Cumming was outstanding in the first part of the opening stint. We'll get 'em in Monterey!"

Tomy Drissi was fairly pleased with the No. 7 car result: "The Long Beach Grand Prix was a fantastic weekend. We caught up with a lot of old friends and had a great time entertaining everyone with our EPIC (the movie) race car.

Kids were lined up having their photographs taken… exactly what this event is all about. Great fun!

"We had a few tough breaks during the race and we struggled a bit with the setup. But our guys on the BAR1 team gave an all out effort.

"Rusty Mitchell did a great job during his time in the car. We both pushed really hard. We'd have like to have grabbed that third spot on the podium, but we'll settle for fourth. It was a good effort by everyone."

Kyle Marcelli remains optimistic. "It was a disappointing result for us in Long Beach, but it just goes to show that in racing, anything can happen.

"On a positive note, we set fastest race lap. Because Long Beach is the shortest race on the calendar, it counts for less championship points. We need to refocus for Monterey and keep the championship title in mind.

"I was very happy with the teams performance. The crew was really on top of it with preparation and speed. When things went wrong for us early in the race their preparation was crucial to the bigger picture. Hats off to them."

BAR1 Motorsports