Extreme Speed Motorsports scored its first podium result of the season as Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek made a barnstorming charge from ninth on the grid to score a third place finish at the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series race on the streets of Long Beach.
After minimal practice and a cancelled qualifying session on Friday, the Extreme Speed Motorsports team reviewed data and prepared a pair of Tequila Patrón Ferrari Italia 458s for the 11-turn temporary street circuit known as the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
This marks the third career podium for the Extreme Speed Motorsports team and first of the 2012 season. In addition, the No. 01 Tequila Patrón Ferrari received the Michelin Green X Challenge Award for being the most fuel efficient race car in the GT class.
With qualifying canceled on Friday, the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) officials ruled that the teams would grid based on points. As the first driver in the 01 Ferrari, van Overbeek charged to the front of the field and was the race leader less than 40 minutes into the two-hour race.
At the halfway mark of the event, van Overbeek pitted with the GT field and the ESM crew went to work on a full pit stop including driver change. Sharp climbed aboard the Tequila Patrón-sponsored machine to complete the race. As a result of track position and racing behind a few slower cars on track, the No. 01 fell to fourth. Sharp worked his way into the third position after passing a Corvette in the closing five minutes of the race.
On the other side of the ESM pit, the No. 02 Tequila Patrón started the race with Ed Brown as the first driver. While on the first lap of the race, Brown spun in turn five and lost some valuable track position. Working to regain position and get into a rhythm, Brown was hit by a prototype race car, which caused the 02 machine to lose a little more track position.
At the midway point of the race for the 02 Ferrari, Guy Cosmo climbed aboard and worked his way to a 10th place finish in the GT class.
Next on the schedule for the Extreme Speed Motorsports is the American Le Mans Monterey Presented by Patrón at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 10-12, 2012.
Source : Extreme Speed