OK, here is “The Plan”

As they roll their cars to the starting grid for today’s ALMS Long Beach race (LIVE on ESPN2) the ALMS teams claim they have a plan. Wait, they may already have a new plan.

The basics are that the two-hour race will start at 4:30 pm (PDT). Drivers cannot exceed 80 minutes, so look for driver changes on any pit stops after 40 minutes. Teams have no meaningful data on tire wear so expect some changes at the first stop.

From a fuel standpoint, the GT cars are capable of doing the race on a single pit stop and any laps under the caution flag will extend their range.

Track position is always a key to success on street circuits as passing can be very tight with 33 cars in the field. Yellow caution flags may have major impact on the outcome as the number, length, and timing of any incidents can shuffle running orders and race strategies.

They say that no plan of attack survives contact with the enemy. The ALMS team pit stands will be aggressively monitoring all of the driver, timing scoring, video, and data inputs in the hope of making the right calls to claim victory at America’s premier street circuit.