Eric Curran's quest to win the SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT series, a second place finish at Long Beach this past weekend in the 29-lap race on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., which follows his second place in the season-opener last month at Sebring, Fla., means Eric now leads the Driver Championship points chase.
 
He now has 222 points, 10 ahead of Porsche driver James Sofronas, who won the Long Beach race.

Eric qualified the Whelen Engineering # 30 Chevrolet Corvette seventh quickest in the 24-car field which raced on a 1.968-mile circuit that had been used earlier in the weekend by many other racing series, including the American Le Mans Series and the Indy Racing League cars.
 
"The track was really slick," Eric said, "first, because of the 97-degree heat, and second because of all the rubber that had built up on the streets from the Indy Car race that immediately preceded our race, and all the other support events that had gone on before us. I know I was sliding around a lot, and I assume everybody else was, too, so we were all in the same boat."
 
Eric led the field with an 81.999mph lap in Friday's first practice session, and then improved to 82.024mph by the time qualifying rolled around. That time was seventh quickest in the field.
 
Carefully picking his passing places, he moved past Andy Pilgrim on the second lap, and on lap three, passed both defending series champion Randy Pobst and Sebring race winner Tony Rivera.
 
He settled into fourth place until lap nine when he picked off the Mustang of Mike Davis. "Last Fall, I was asked to help Mike and his son, Brandon, drive their Mustang in a 25-hour race. We had a great time, so I almost felt bad for passing them today. Well, not really" he laughed. "Mike was legitimately defending his position, but I think he may have been trying to keep me away from Brandon, too. The Davis's are very close friends of mine and great people to race with.

"It took a while to catch up to Brandon after the time it took to get by Mike. When I finally caught up to Brandon I didn't really have anything left to get by him unless he made a bobble. He finally did that on lap 27, after a little pressure. I took advantage of it and got by him, assuring second place.
 
"I doubt if I could have done anything with Jim Sofronas and his Porsche, even if I'd have caught him. Plus, my high oil and water temperature alarms were going off, so I was having to get some relatively cooler air into the engine by not following Brandon right on his bumper. The Porsches continue to be so strong each season. I think the fact that they weigh 220 lbs less has allot to do with it"
 
Sonny Whelen, the owner of the Whelen Motorsports team, qualified his Corvette 18th quickest, but his engine overheated from stray paper blocking the airflow, and he retired to avoid damaging an expensive engine.
 
"Being in the points lead in a tough, multi-manufacturer series like World Challenge feels great," Eric enthused. "I'd like to hold onto the feeling a while longer but you can't get excited too early. I've lead the championship before and didn't win it."