Pirelli World Challenge had developed into very competitive series

LONG BEACH >> Want to see some of the best GT sports car racing action in the world without breaking your budget and spending countless hours in the air?

It’s a simple answer. Make plans to watch the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge Championship at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, from practice to qualfying and the 50-minute race on Sunday.

The Pirelli World Challenge has proven to be among the most competitive racing trail on the planet.

Here’s a clue if you want to search for a reason. In the always-tough GT division, the top seven drivers in the final point standings drove seven different auto makes and nine of the top 11 in points were with different manufacturers. Those nine car makes, many of the most prestigious sports cars in the world, included Ferrari, McLaren, Cadillac, Porsche, Nissan, Acura, Audi, Bentley and Mercedes-Benz.

And, if that wasn’t strong enough, Lamborghini also visited the GT wier’s circle last year.

The 2015 campaign was a dogfight to the finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Johy O’Coell (GT), Frank Montecalvo (GTA) and Michael Cooper (GTS) wwon championships, having survived a very competitive season.

“The 2015 Pirelli World Challenge proved to be the most competitive in the series’ 26-year history and we expect another incredible season in all seven of our classes especially the GT and GTS categories,” said Greg Gill, WC Vision president and CEO, which produces the PWC. “The driver, team and manufacturer lineup will see some of the best wheel-to-wheel action in North American racing and we believe the racing fans will love following the PWC series throughout the 2016 season.”

After O’Coell scored his fourth consecutive GT title in 2015, the personable Georgia driver admitted it was his most gratifying season of his long, prestigious career. The Cadillac ATS-VR driver has won the 24 Hours of LeMans four times, raced in the Indy 500, won numerous driver crowns in several series but many thought the 2015 PWC title to be his finest moment.

“We had a new Cadillac that needed to be developed for a highly-competitive class,” said O’Coell. “It was going to be tough for me and the Cadillac boys to win the GT championship again. Then we had a crash at Long Beach when we got taken out. Then we had huge fire at the Barber track. It was a big scramble for us.

‘We brought out the older car and we worked our rear-ends off to get back in the points hunt. Then it went right down to the final event in Monterey to clinch it.”

O’Coell, a race wier at the Circuit of the Americas this year, knows the battle is just as fierce this year with a solid field in the GT division.

“For 2016, I welcomed a new teammate Michael Cooper (GTS Champion) to Cadillac Racing,” O’Coell said. “Michael is a fast young talent who I am sure will push me at every track this season. And there are others like Patrick Long, Michael Lewis, James Davison, Alvaro Parente, Jon Fogarty, Andrew Palmer plus the Ferraris, Acuras, Audis and more. And the GT division has rolling starts in 2016 which should be exciting too.

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“The Pirelli World Challenge is the place to be in sedan racing right now.”

Long, one of the world’s top Porsche drivers, is back in PWC in 2016 with the Effort Porsche GT3 and teaming up with another young star in Lewis. Long is the last driver to win the GT division not named O’Coell when the Califoia native captured the 2011 title.

Hailing from Manhattan Beach, Long is a multi-time LeMans wier and a factory Porsche driver for a dozen year. He won the first Pirelli World Challenge race of the season in Austin, Tex., and is one of the true veterans battling O’Coell for the coveted GT crown.

“The biggest challenges will be the level of competition and integrating into a new team quickly,” said Long, a two-time 24 Hours of LeMans wier. “I’m excited to how the series has evolved since 2011. It’s tough to find GT racing like PWC throughout the world. World class drivers, teams and cars makes for a tremendous combination for the fans.”

O’Coell and Long lead an outstanding field of inteational racing veterans to the PWC GT category as well as Fogarty, Parente, Davison, Andrew Davis and Ryan Eversley. Fogarty, a former IMSA and Formula Atlantic champion, brings the prestigious Gainsco team to the PWC in 2016 with the ultra-fast McLaren 650S sports car in the GT class.

Parente, the Inteational GT champion, is a factory McLaren driver with Davison, a multi-time Indy 500 starter, leading the Nissan factory contingent. Davis and Eversley, former sports car champions, will also wheel potent Porsche and Acura machines.

But don’t discount the youngsters in the GT division either.

Lewis – whose father Steve fielded the famed Nine Racing midget in the USAC ranks with drivers like Stan Fox, Tony Stewart, Jason Leffler and Dave Darland – as vaulted to the limelight with an impressive double victory performance in the streets of St. Petersburg in March in the Effort Racing Porsche. The 25-year-old Lewis is a contender for the GT title.

“It is so exciting to race with Patrick Long as a teammate in the Pirelli World Challenge,” said Lewis, a former Formula 3 racer from Laguna Beach. “I couldn’t ask for a better teammate and team. It was a dream weekend at St. Petersburg with two pole positions and two wins. Now I want to continue that momentum throughout the upcoming races.”

Lewis isn’t the only young driver performing at a high level early in 2016.

Former GTS champion Michael Cooper of Syosset, N.Y., 26, is finishing up his second college degree (in nutrition) at Long Island University and racing full-time for Cadillac Racing as O’Coell’s teammate. He may have his nose in text book but has not preformed like a rookie in the GT division.

After four events this season, he has three podium finishes and was the series point leader after the first four events in 2016.

“It’s fun to have Johy as a teammate this year and he will show me so many things with the Cadillac,” said Cooper, a three-time sports car series titleholder. “But I also have to remember that I am fighting with Johy for finishes and points too. The GT class is just so competitive that I have to drive my Cadillac flat out against some incredible talent. It doesn’t matter who is next to me on the track. It’s always a dogfight out there.”