993C4S: Porsche Cars, Products and LifeStyle » Grand American

How a Porsche Riley Powered by a Cayenne Motor Came to Win the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona

993C4S — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:24:12 +0000

When Brumos made the decision to campaign only one car this season (the #59) – and retire last year’s winner #58, a window of opportunity opened for Daytona businessman and long-time Brumos affiliate Bob Johnson. Using a Riley chassis he already owned, Johnson and Brumos developed a win-win situation for everyone involved. “There were several Brumos key team members available to lead the team, along with two of the top drivers in the series. I was able to make arrangements to share raceshop space with the Brumos team and keep the group intact.” said Johnson.

Johnson married his Riley chassis with a Porsche powered engine first approved by Grand-Am in 2007 (during the 2007 season Grand-Am approved this new Porsche engine – the other being a 3.99 liter flat-six). This new 5.0L V8 unit, while not actually constructed by Porsche, is based on the V8 engine used in the Porsche Cayenne and modified by Lozano Bros. Porting in Texas. This coupling of a proven Riley chassis, prolific Porsche power and a stacked driver line-up proved to be the winning combination this year at Daytona for Johnson’s new Action Express Racing (see the video below).

Using a veteran driver line-up including Ryan Dalziel, Mike Rockenfeller, Joao Barbosa, and Terry Borcheller, and support from a veteran team, Brumos Racing, the Action Express Racing Porsche-powered Riley upset the pre-race favorites to win the 48th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. ‘While the pre-race favorites BMW Riley, Ford Riley, Ford Dallara, and last year’s winner, the Brumos Porsche Riley, all led the race at various times during the day and night, mechanical gremlins and miscues on the track derailed those efforts, and the Action Express team came away with the win.

Porsche’s Success in the GT Class

n the Rolex GT class, it looked like a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup victory was in the works once the leading Camaro broke overnight, but the leading TRG Porsches lost their advantage in the last four hours of the event.

First, the #71 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, with NASCAR star Bobby Labonte at the controls, ran out of fuel on the course and had to be towed into the infield, where the TRG crew met the car, gave it a dump-can of fuel, and got it back on the track. However, Labonte had to circle the track again, and then come in for a full fuel stop and driver change under green, and lost the three-lap lead the team had built in the GT class. Only seven minutes later, the new leaders #67 TRG Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Seth Neiman/Johannes van Overbeek/Joerg Bergmeister/Patrick Long came into the pits with a broken front shock. The team replaced the shock, but it put them five laps back, and opened the door for the #70 Speedsource Mazda to take the lead – a lead they never relinquished. The #71 car, with Labonte, Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard, Spencer Pumpelly and Tim Geroge, Jr., later broke an axle and ended up ninth in class. The #67 car finished second, and third place went to the #66 TRG Porsche Ted Ballou, Kelly Collins, Wolf Henzler, Andy Lally, and Patrick Flanagan.

2010 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona Race Results

Race result
1. Barbosa/Borcheller/Dalziel/Rockenfeller (P/USA/USA/CH),
Porsche Riley (DP), 755 laps
2. Pruett/Papis/Rojas/Wilson (USA/I/MEX/USA),
BMW Riley (DP), 755
3. Hunter-Reay/Bouchut/Tucker/Luhr/Westbrook (USA/F/USA/D/GB),
BMW Riley (DP), 751
4. Krohn/Braun/Jonsson/Zonta (USA/USA/USA/BRA),
Ford Lola (DP), 735
5. Friselle/Negri/Pew/Wilkins (USA/USA/USA/USA),
Ford Riley (DP), 726
6. Angelelli/Lamy/R. Taylor/W. Taylor (MC/P/USA/USA),
Ford Dallara (DP), 711
7. Allmendinger/Friselle/Patterson/Valiante (USA/USA/USA/CAN),
Ford Riley (DP), 707
8. Bomarito/Ham/Haskell/Tremblay (USA/USA/USA/USA),
Mazda RX-8 (GT), 707
9. Bergmeister/Long/van Overbeek/Neiman (D/USA/USA/USA),
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GT), 703
10. Henzler/Flanagan/Ballou/Collins/Lally (D/USA/USA/USA/USA),
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GT), 691

[Source: Porsche Motorsports, Grand-Am, Motorsport.com]

Porsche Legacy at the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona

993C4S — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:45:54 +0000

The 48th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona marks the 42nd anniversary of Vic Elford’s victory in the Porsche 907, Porsche’s first 24 hour endurance win. To celebrate the occasion, David Donohue pilots a 2010 Porsche GT3 around the Daytona road course while Vic Elford, the Grand Marshal for this year’s race, tells the story of his victory for Porsche.

[Source: PCNA]

Well Into the Fifth Hour, Porsche Has Overall Lead in DP at Daytona

993C4S — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:06:31 +0000

As live TV coverage gets ready to wrap up for the night, Raphael Matos has moved into first place overall at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with the #59 Brumos Porsche Riley. At the same time, TRG holds 1-2-3 in the GT class with Porsche factory drivers in each car. Before you get too excited, please realize that by the time I finish typing this post the leads could very well change again. In fact, with just a little over 5 hours of the race completed there have already been 11 lead changes in the Daytona Prototype class alone.

PorschePurist.com Riding Loud and Proud on the Wing of the TRG #18 Porsche at Daytona

TRG, with five Porsches in this race, is the team to watch in GT class, including the #18 Guardian Angel Motorsports’ Porsche. In their sophomore showing, Guardian Angel is not only still in the race, they are within the top 35 cars overall!!

There’s lots and lots of time left, but things are looking good for Porsche overall. If everyone can make it through the night, we should see some pretty exciting racing tomorrow with cool and dry conditions.

Porsches Have Best Times and Speed in Friday Morning Practice Session

993C4S — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:44:12 +0000

Two (2) Porsche Daytona Prototypes and a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car hold the fastest speeds and lap times in Both the DP and GT classes. Most interesting is that four (4) of the top five (5) fastest cars in the GT class are Porsches, including the No. 23 Foametix Porsche GT3 besting the No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8. Full details below.

Top 5 Daytona Prototype Practice Times (Speeds):

Darren Law, No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley – 1:41.586 (126.159 mph)

Joao Barbosa, No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Riley – 1:41.870 (125.807 mph)

Jimmie Johnson, No. 99 GAINSCO Chevy Riley – 1:42.462 (125.080 mph)

Memo Gidley, No. 77 McDonald’s Racing Ford Dallara – 1:42.716 (124.771 mph)

Dane Cameron, No. 2 Beyer Racing Chevy Crawford – 1:44.672 (122.439 mph)

Top 5 GT Practice Times (Speeds):

Martin Ragginger, No. 23 Foametix Porsche GT3 – 1:50.460 (116.023 mph)

Sylvain Tremblay, No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 – 1:50.642 (115.833 mph)

Richard Lietz, No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 – 1:50.714 (115.757 mph)

Wolf Henzler, No. 66 AXA Porsche GT3 – 1:51.222 (115.229 mph)

Timo Bernhard, No. 71 TRG Porsche GT3 – 1:51.223 (115.227 mph)

BLACK FLAG ALL - The No. 66 AXA Porsche GT3 (Patrick Flanagan) goes off course and impacts the tire wall at Turn 7. The machine will require a tow.

The final practice session for Rolex Series competitors prior to the Rolex 24 At Daytona begins at noon ET.

Fortunately, in Friday’s night practice, there were no major incidents.

[Grand-Am]

Qualifying for Rolex 24 Closest in History for Both DP and GT- Porsche in the Top 10 All Around

993C4S — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:30:04 +0000

In most Grand-Am events and other motorsport races, qualifying and pole position plays a significant factor. In races such as the GT2 class in ALMS, where racers and cars are so evenly matched, pole position is even more important. In a race like the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, while qualifying plays a role, it’s not as important as endurance and proper set-up.

Patrick Long tell us, “The grid position doesn’t play such an important role at a 24 hour event. Above all, it’s about finding the optimal race set up during practice and then quickly getting into the rhythm in the race,” he continues by saying, “It’s extremely close amongst the front-runners and this makes for exciting fights. We have a promising starting position.”

And indeed they do. The #67 TRG/Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Joeg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, Johannes van Overbeek and Seth Neiman is set to start seventh as one of the three (3) Porsche’s set to start in the top 10 of the GT Class. In the grid with the #67 TRG/Flying Lizard Porsche is the top Porsche qualifier of Kelly Collins. Collins put the #66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup within three-tenths of a second of the pole, but could not penetrate the one-two-three Mazda qualifying results for a fifth place start. Collins will share driving duties with Andy Lally, Ted Ballou, Wolf Henzler and Patrick Flannigan.

“With Porsches’ 63 class wins and 37 class and overall wins for the Porsche 911 at the Rolex 24, we know that our teams have set up their cars for the long haul, and both our race cars and street cars and their components have a solid reputation for endurance,” said Paul Ritchie, president of Porsche Motorsport.

Wedged squarely between the two TRG Porsches in sixth is the #88 Orbit Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Johnny Mowlem, Guy Cosmo, Tom Papadopoulos, John Baker and Lance Willsey.

Overall, the qualifying event for the 24 Hour race was the closest in Daytona history in both the GT and DP classes. Darren Law, from Phoenix, Ariz., put the #59 Brumos Porsche Riley in the seventh spot on the grid, less than a second from pole-sitting V-8 Ford Dallara. Law, who, along with David Donohue, Antonio Garcia, and Buddy Rice won the race overall last year, feels that the car is well set up for the race, and has confidence that this year’s Brumos drivers know how to win a 24-hour event.

“Butch Leitzinger, a three time winner, Raphael Matos, my regular co-driver David Donohue, and Hurley Haywood, the American endurance legend, all know what is needed to win. We have the crew and the car to win, and we hope the drivers can bring home a victory,” said Law.

Times and Coverage

The Rolex 24 at Daytona will take the green flag on Saturday, January 30 at 3:30 p.m. EST, with coverage live on SPEED TV starting at 2:00 PM EST. Live SPEED coverage will continue until 10:00 p.m., and then resume at 7:00 am EST on Sunday morning, January 31 through the end of the race at 3:30 pm EST. SPEED will then stay on the air until 4:00 p.m. to cover the post-race activities.

[Source: PCNA]

Racing Porsches Toward Cures for Kids

993C4S — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:20:33 +0000

We first introduced you to Guardian Angel Motorsports last year after a chance online meeting with the founders, Linda and Bruce Ledoux. As it turned out, John and I only live a few towns apart from Linda and Bruce and share a number of mutual friends along with a passion for Porsche and membership in the PCA. We finally had the chance to meet in person at Daytona, in 2009, where Guardian Angel Motorsports raised over $75,000 for Children’s Hospital of Boston.

This year, on January 30, 2010 Guardian Angel Motorsports has again entered a Porsche 997 Grand-AM Spec GT3 Cup race car in the famous Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona sports car endurance race. Their mission is to complete as many laps as possible, raising money for three charities along the way:

LOVE146, working toward nothing less than the abolition of child sex slavery and child exploitation,
FAAN, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, raising public awareness, providing advocacy and education, and advancing research on behalf of millions affected by food allergies.
Matthew L. Greer Children’s Foundation, the Organization currently plans to educate children, empower them to develop life skills and to help them reach their full potential through supporting organizations that serve children at risk of not reaching that potential, especially in low income areas.

PorschePurist made a donation again this year and we would encourage you to do the same. Listen to Bruce describe his reasons for racing in the videos below.

Kicking off the 2010 Porsche Motorsport Season

Stay tuned all week this week as we prepare for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. We have interviews with former Farnbacher Loles Grand-Am champ Dirk Werner and last year’s Daytona winner David Donohue. In addition, we’ll be covering the race first hand with updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Strong Porsche Contingent in Florida at Rolex 24

993C4S — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:10:57 +0000

As title defender and the most successful manufacturer in the history of the Daytona 24 hour race, Porsche returns to the long distance classic in Florida on the last weekend in January with yet another strong line-up. Spearheading the con-tingent is the Porsche Riley of Brumos Racing, who last year pocketed the 21st over-all victory for Porsche. At the time-honoured season-opener of the American Grand-Am Series, a total of six Porsche works drivers compete for various customer teams.

Traditionally, Porsche is well represented with the 911 GT3 Cup in the fiercely-contested GT class. Last year’s winners Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) have good chances to again grab victory. The Porsche factory pilots share driving duties with Seth Neiman (USA) and Johannes van Overbeek (USA) for the TRG/Flying Lizard Motorsports team. “This race is a fantastic start to the new season,” says Joerg Bergmeister. “In Daytona, drivers gather from a wide range of race series and that makes it particularly exciting.”

TRG brings two 911 GT3 Cup racers for Porsche factory pilot Wolf Henzler (Germany, #66), and his works driver colleagues Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France, both starting number 71) to tackle the long distance classic that was run for the first time in 1962. Their factory driver colleague Richard Lietz (Austria) competes for Magnus Racing, teaming up with the winner of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup, Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands). Porsche claimed its first vic-tory at Daytona back in 1968 with Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch, Rolf Stommelen, Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann at the wheel of the Porsche 907.

Porsche Daytona Prototype Racing

In the Daytona Prototype class, Brumos Racing is again regarded as one of the fa-vourites for overall victory. At the wheel of the Porsche Riley run by the successful customer team based in Jacksonville/Florida sit David Donohue (USA) and Darren Law (USA) with Hurley Haywood (USA), Butch Leitzinger (USA) and Raphael Matos (USA). Joao Barbosa (Portugal), who last year clinched third at Daytona with Brumos Racing, now drives the Porsche Riley of Action Express Racing – with Audi works driver Mike Rockenfeller as one of his team mates. The Spirit of Daytona Racing squad fields the third Porsche-powered prototype. With former Indy500 champion Buddy Rice (USA) and Antonio Garcia (Spain), one of last year’s winning drivers in the Brumos quartet, this team also has a top class driver line-up.

One driver, however, travels to the 48th running of the long distance classic in Amer-ica’s sunshine state with a touch of melancholy: For Hurley Haywood, one of the most successful sports car pilots in the world, this is the last time he contests his favorite race. “At some point you have to step aside and make room for younger and faster drivers,” says the five-time Daytona victor and multiple winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours and the 12 Hours of Sebring for Porsche. On 4th May he celebrates his 62nd birthday. For his Daytona farewell he has one wish: “It would be wonderful to close this chapter of my life with a victory.”

The 24 Hours of Daytona takes off on Saturday, 30th January, at 15.30 hours local time (21.30 hours CET). Stay Tuned to Porsche Purist all week for more Daytona coverage including interviews with last year’s winner David Donohue and live race coverage.

GT Class “Hat Trick” for Porsche

993C4S — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:42:50 +0000

In this weekend’s Grand Prix of Miami Porsche scored the Acxiom GT Team Championship and the Rolex Grand-Am GT Manufacturer’s title while Leh Keen (Charleston, SC) and Dirk Werner (Germany) drove the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to clinch the Acxiom GT Drivers Championship and complete the “Hat Trick”. Meanwhile, Hurley Haywood stepped out of his psuedo retirement and onto the podium helping Brumos to “bookend” the season with wins at the first race of the season (Daytona) and the last race (today at Miami). Full story below.

The Brumos Porsche Riley scored a stunning bookend victory in the Grand Prix of Miami and Leh Keen (Charleston, SC) and Dirk Werner (Germany) led the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup team to a clean sweep of the three Acxiom GT class championships in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday.

Joao Barbosa (Portugal) made a strong pass on the backstretch banking with less than 28 minutes remaining in the 2 hour, 30 minute race, drafting his #59 Brumos Porsche Riley into the lead over Scott Pruett’s Lexus Riley. And even though the race ended under caution, Barbosa was never seriously threatened for the lead and claimed his first Daytona Prototype victory.

His teammate was the legendary Hurley Haywood (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL), a last-minute addition to the driver lineup. Haywood qualified and started the race, pitting after 40 minutes and turning over the Brumos Porsche to Barbosa in 11th place.

“I am so excited,” Barbosa said. “I did not think in the beginning we had a car to win. The crew made the car better on every pit stop and suddenly I am in position to pass for the lead. When I went by him (Scott Pruett), I was so happy I could cry. To be competitive, to be in position to win a race is a great feeling. And to win it, is the happiest a driver can be.”

“This is a testament to the Brumos legacy,” Haywood said. “To go through the emotions this team has gone through this week, and to put an old guy in the car with hardly any practice time, to have Joao bring the car home in the dramatic fashion he did, well, that is Brumos. This victory means so much to this team. To open with a victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, then to struggle most of the year, and to win – and I don’t think anybody thought we could win today – well, it’s just overwhelming.”

The victory helped Porsche improve one position to runner-up to Ford in the Grand-Am Rolex Daytona Prototype Manufacturer championship standings.

Keen and Werner entered the final race with a solid 30-point lead in the Acxiom GT driver’s championships, and each driver needed only to complete the mandatory 30-minute stint to clinch the title. It is Keen’s first and Werner’s second GT championship in the last three years.

The #87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche 911 GT3 Cup also won the Acxiom GT Team Championship and helped Porsche clinch the Rolex Grand-Am GT Manufacturer’s title. Keen and Werner were the top finishing Porsche GT teams in nine of the 12 GT races this year. TRG fielded the top finishing GT Porsche in three events.

“To be honest, I was pretty nervous before I got in the car because you never know what’s going to happen,” said Werner, who finished third in GT. “There was aggressive racing out there, some contact with DPs even. It was not easy just to drive 30 minutes. You had to be 100 percent concentrated. Once I had my 30 minutes in, I raced a little harder. I wanted to win to bring the championship home in style.

“Leh has been a great teammate. He has matured as a driver and has become a really good friend. This was only possible with the team we had. The result makes everybody happy. Me too!” “My stint was uneventful,” Keen said. “The front running guys got a gap on me and I didn’t want to try and chase them as I did not want anything to happen to the car and take away the championship. I just wanted to drive 30 minutes and give Dirk the car at 100 percent. I want to thank my crew for giving me a great car for every race. This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my career. We won races. We earned this championship, and that makes all of us very proud.”

Brumos opened the 2009 season with a victory by the #58 sister car driven by Darren Law (Phoenix, AZ) and David Donohue (Malvern, PA) in the prestigious Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“We got the bookends!,” Law said. “Brumos wins the first and last races of the season. Throw out all the stuff in the middle like an Oreo cookie. We got the bookends and that will carry us through the off-season and we come back to Daytona as defending champions. I am really happy for Joao. He has worked so hard all year and today he proved what a great driver he is. I am really happy for him and Hurley and the entire Brumos team.”

Donohue was running third late in the race when he went off at turn 8, falling to a fifth place. That was just after a restart, a critical moment in the race that proved to be the undoing of the #12 Verizon Wireless Penske Porsche Riley of Timo Bernard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France). Bernhard was penalized for jumping the restart, and had to pit for a stop-and-go penalty.

“I was penalized for moving to the left to avoid another car,” Bernhard said. ““Well, that does it. A fitting end to a season hopefully we will quickly forget. What disappointment! We had a good car today and once again Romain leads and then get another penalty. We never had a chance to win this year. They changed the rules on us so many times, it took a long time for the Penske crew to learn the car, and for the drivers to learn what the car could do that it kept us from the podium. We are unhappy at not winning. We race to win, and we have won everywhere we’ve raced.”

Dumas qualified third and ran strong early, even leading six laps before turning the car over to Bernhard in fourth place. Bernhard got as high as sixth before the fateful penalty that dropped him to 11th.

Bernhard and Dumas finished fourth in the Daytona Prototype drivers standings but despite their glorious history – two American Le Mans Series LMP2 championships and 23 international sports car victories together – they were classified as rookies in Grand-Am competition and were declared Rookies of the Year.

Spencer Pumpelly (Suwanee, GA) was classified as fourth and 12th in GT competition. He started the race in the #66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 and turned it over to Andy Lally (Dacula, GA). Unfortunately, Lally was driving when the car got hit and heavily damaged in pit lane. John Potter (Salt Lake City, UT) started the #65 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and Pumpelly relieved him and brought home #65 in fourth place, just missing the podium.

The newest Porsche Motorsports customer team, the #48 Marquis Jet Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, was having a great race when it suddenly ended when Bryce Miller (Summit, NJ) got caught in somebody else’s wreck and retired with heavy damage. Kevin Roush (Upland, CA) started and was running as high as second.

“The team did a great job with the pitstops – there were positions gained and that was a nice luxury,” Miller said. “The pit strategy was very good and I think we found the right pressures on the tires for the very last set that we took on. We were one of only two cars that had new tires from the last pitstop. It’s just unfortunate to come so close to a top finish – absolutely, my feeling is that we would have had a podium. We had the tires to fight for the position at the end and the car was very good. So it’s upsetting not to get the results, but the team deserves a huge pat on the back. It was a big, big step forward and we made lots of progress. I think there’s a lot to be proud of to take into next season.”

Unofficial Final Grand-Am Points

DP Drivers
1st 337 Jon Fogarty & Alex Gurney
2nd 331 Scott Pruett & Memo Rojas
3rd 322 Brian Frisselle & Max Angelelli
4th 296 Timo Bernhard & Romain Dumas

DP Manufacturers
1st 386 Ford
2nd 344 Porsche
3rd 343 Pontiac

DP Team
1st 337 #99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Pontiac Riley
2nd 331 #01 TELMEX/Chip Ganassi Lexus Riley
3rd 322 #10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley
4th 296 #12 Verizon Wireless Penske Porsche Riley
5th 276 #6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley
6th 283 #59 Brumos Porsche Riley
7th 282 #58 Brumos Porsche Riley
8th 282 #61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley

GT Drivers
1st 359 Leh Keen & Dirk Werner
2nd 334 Kelly Collins
3rd 317 Andrew Davis
4th 308 Paul Edwards
5th 301 Sylvan Tremblay, Nick Ham
6th 295 Andy Lally

GT Team
1st 359 #87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
2nd 332 #57 Stevenson Pontiac GXP.R
3rd 334 #07 Drinkin’ Mate Pontiac GXP.R
4th 316 #66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup

GT Manufacturer
1st 390 Porsche
2nd 367 Pontiac
3rd 357 Mazda

Here’s the 2010 Grand-Am weekend schedule, which was announced yesterday. Note that actual race day in some instances have not been finalized, depending on TV and other races on those weekends:

Jan. 9-10 Testing at Daytona
Jan. 30-31 Rolex 24 at Daytona
March 6-7 Homestead-Miami
April 9-10 Barber Motorsports Park (Saturday race, IndyCar Sunday)
April 24-25 Virginia International Raceway
May 28-31 Lime Rock (KONI on Saturday, Grand-Am load in paddock Sunday, Grand-Am practice, qualifying and race on Monday)
June 5-6 Watkins Glen
June 19-20 Mid-Ohio
July 2-3 Daytona (Friday practice, Saturday race)
July 17-18 New Jersey Motorsports Park
Aug 6-7 Watkins Glen (Saturday race, with NASCAR)
Aug 28-29 Montreal
Sept 11-12 Miller Motorsports Park

[Source: PCNA]

Avoidable Contact and Faulty Equipment Costs Porsche Podium and an Early Title in the Rolex Grand-Am

993C4S — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:17:49 +0000

A sticky helmet radio cable might have cost Porsche factory drivers Timo Bernard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) a podium finish – and perhaps their first victory of the season – at the Utah 250 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car series race at Miller Motorsports Park Saturday.

A rare mistake by Dirk Werner (Germany) prevented him and Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup teammate Leh Keen (Charleston, SC) from clinching the Acxiom GT championship.

In both classes, it was a day of “what if” for the two leading Porsche teams competing in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, but a day of celebration for Andy Lally (Suwanee, GA) and Scott Schroeder (Piedmont, CA), who finished second in GT in the #66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

“We were competitive and we leading for a long time,” said Bernhard. “Team Penske showed a great performance. I had a problem disconnecting the radio cable to my helmet in the driver change, and we lost a few seconds there that we needed. A little thing that doesn’t happen, and it happened to us. We never were able to get those seconds back.

Bernhard/Dumas finished only 3.6 seconds out of first place, and 2.1 seconds away from a podium finish.

“I led a lot of laps and we need to keep that momentum going to Miami. We have been so close (to winning) the last two races that is frustrating. We are used to winning, not almost winning,” said a frustrated Bernhard.

Bernhard qualified the #12 Verizon Wireless Penske Porsche Riley second, and ran a torrid pace with pole winner and ultimate race winner Jon Fogarty (Bend, OR) in the #99 Pontiac Riley for the first 11 laps around the 4.486-mile, 24-turn road course. They were never more than half a second apart but 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the field when Bernhard pitted early, a strategy move determined after Roger Penske and Porsche Motorsports President Tim Cidric arrived 40 minutes prior to the start of the race after a 12-hour flight from Japan.

Bernhard fell to sixth, 37 seconds behind and began a rapid run to the front, sliding into fourth, where Dumas finished. Fogarty and Alex Gurney (Irvine, CA) padded their Rolex points lead to eight point over second-place Max Angelelli (Monaco) and Brian Frisselle (Aspen, CO) in the #10 Ford Dallara, Third place Memo Rojas (Mexico) and Scott Pruett (Auburn, CA) fell to 10 points behind Gurney and Fogarty. Dumas and Bernhard go to Miami with a mathematical title hopes, but they are 33 points behind in fourth place.

“We have the speed, so it was only track position that made the difference today. We had a very good run. They fly in from Japan and when they (Roger Penske and Tim Cidric) make the strategy call that would put Timo in the lead, but then we did not need the late caution,” said Dumas.

“We had the speed to compete, but the mistake in the pits cost us time we needed at the end. That is how competitive Grand-Am racing is. A little mistake and it was enough to cost us a podium.

“We have a great car now, now that we have all the power back, we know we can win. We just need everything to be perfect. We will try again at Miami.”

Surprising, Keen and Werner did not clinch the Acxiom GT championship. They entered the race with a 35-point lead and needed only to finish ahead of the #07 Pontiac GXP.R to claim the title with only the season finale at Homestead Miami Oct. 10 remaining.

Oddly, Werner tried to pass the #57 Pontiac GXP.R for the lead in the final two minutes of the race when all he needed to do was cruise home in second to clinch the title. Werner suffered a flat left front tire and hobbled home in sixth place, allowing the #07 Pontiac to finish ahead of him.

“My car was really good at the end,” Werner said. “I saw Robin (Liddell in the #57 car) sliding around, and he braked early in one turn, and we went into the turn side by side. I was already up on the curb and I think I do not have enough room to avoid contact. It was a little tap, but I got a flat front left tire and it was a long way back to the finish line that slowly. It took me a long, long time.

“It would be nicer to come to Miami with everything already done. It was in my hands to win the race or clinch the championship, and I did not do it. I got into a situation that I realized too late I did not need to be there (side by side) and it was a mistake.”

Keen and the rest of the Farnbacher Loles crew were already celebrating, but their joy was cut off by Werner’s slow last lap.

“It was pretty obvious what did happen and what could have happened. We could have won the race, or at least clinched the championship, and both opportunities slipped away. With two minutes left, we were already celebrating, so we’ll have to think of this of practice for our celebration for Miami. We’re disappointed we didn’t clinch the championship here because it was in our grasp and it looked so likely, and then that happened,” said Keen.

“It’s obviously still exciting to be in this position and we’ve got a lot to look forward to. We’re still in really good shape. We’ll just do what we have to do at Miami. We’ll have to think a little better, for sure.”

Keen and Werner lost only five points, so they will take a 30-point lead over #07 Pontiac driver Kelly Collins (Newport Beach, CA). All other GT title contenders were eliminated Saturday, including TRG driver Lally, who climbed to fourth in the driver standings with his runner-up effort Saturday.

“Our Porsche held up really well,” Lally said. “Really what I have to give is credit to the team for making the right strategy calls. Kevin (TRG owner Kevin Buckler) noticed something that normally doesn’t go on in the DP that gave us track position on pit stops and under caution. That put us in the lead under yellow, and that let us defend from the front. It’s pretty amazing – and fun!” “This is very special for me,” Schroeder said. This is my career best finish in my first year of Rolex racing, and to have an opportunity to race with Andy (Lally) and have a team like TRG behind me is wonderful. Hats off to the guys for giving me such a great car.”

The two Brumos Porsche Daytona Prototype entries finished in the top 10, as all 11 DP cars finished on the lead lap. JC France (Ormond Beach, FL) and Joao Barbosa (Portugal) finished sixth in the #59 Brumos Porsche Riley while Darren Law (Phoenix, AZ) and David Donohue (Malvern, VA) were ninth in the #58 Brumos Porsche Riley.

Craig Stanton (Long Beach, CA) and John Potter (Salt Lake City, UT) finished fifth in GT in the #65 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, just ahead of Keen and Werner, and the newest Porsche Motorsports customer team of Bryce Miller (Summit, NJ) and Kevin Roush (Upland, CA) were eighth in GT in the #48 Miller Barrett Racing Marquis Jet Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

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Porsche in the Grand-Am

[Source: PCNA]

Porsche’s Results in Round 9 of the Grand-Am Series in the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen

993C4S — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:40:34 +0000

Len Keen (Charleston, SC) and Dirk Werner (Germany) drove the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to a runner-up finish in the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen (NY) International Raceway Friday, but Porsche factory drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) were literally deflated five minutes from the finish and dropped from a DP podium to a misleading 13th place.

With just three races remaining in the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season, Keen and Werner now have a 31-point lead in the Acxiom GT driver’s championship standings. That is almost a full race’s worth of points (35 points are awarded to the winners).

“”It was a crazy race, but it was a lot of fun for the fans,”” Keen said. “”There was a lot of action out there and bad things could have happened to us at any time. Dirk (Werner) was just awesome at the end. We finished second and we inreased our points lead, so it was a great day.”
”
Keen started from the pole, led the first 22 laps and drove for an hour and 15 minutes of the two-hour race on the fast 2.25-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen short course before turning the Porsche over to Werner. Following the pit stop, Werner was fourth, but began a furious charge. Werner turned in his fastest lap of the race five minutes from the finish and wound up finishing just 0.794 seconds behind the winning Mazda.

“”I’’m disappointed,”” Werner said. “”The (lapped) cars between me and the #69 car Mazda had nothing to do with the race, but they kept blocking me every time I was ready to make a move. I had to overtake them before I could try to overtake 69. I never got close enough to make a move on him.”

“”Our car was fast all day – it was just awesome. Our goal was to protect our points lead and we wound up almost winning and adding to the points lead. That is a very good result,”” he said.

The Penske Porsche factory drivers were a lot more disappointed than Werner. Dumas was running a strong third with less than five minutes remaining when he suffered a flat right front tire that slowed him down and forced him to the pits and dropped him to 13th in the final standings.

“”A little unfortunate again,”” Dumas said. “”We have had a couple of races where we were close to a good result and in the end it didn’t work out. It is a pity for the crew, us the drivers and everybody. At the other end, we are trying very hard and it is frustrating to have these things happen. It would have been a heartfelt finish for us, and would have been a really good show for all of us. But it is P 13 for us again and we lose points in the championship. It is not anything we could have done anything about. If a tire goes, a tire goes.””

It was the second time this season a solid finish has been spoiled by a flat tire for the Penske team. This one, though, really deflated the team’s spirits. Through great strategy in working the yellow flags, Bernhard led for five laps early in the race and the duo ran in the top five all day long.

Dumas had a spirited battle with Scott Pruett (Auburn, CA) for 11 laps late in the race before Pruett pushed his faster Lexus Riley past Dumas en route to a second-place finish that helped him and teammate Memo Rojas (Mexico) take over sole possession of the Daytona Prototype points lead.

“”The tire exploded,”” Dumas said, ““I think I hit a part (debris) laying on the track. It just happened. It exploded.”

“”We drove without a clutch the whole race as well, so we had problems. We could have ended with a podium finish and we didn’t,”” he said.

Both Brumos Porsche Rileys finished in the top eight overall. David Donohue (Malvern, PA) and Darren Law (Phoenix, AZ) were sixth in the #58 entry and JC France (Ormond Beach, FL) and Joao Barbosa (Portugal) finished eighth in the #59 Brumos car despite starting from pit lane after the crew repaired a leaking overflow valve on the gearbox cooler.

““That was a rough race for us but we got a pretty good finish anyway, so we’ll take it and be happy,”” Law said. “”For a while it looked like we finish much lower, but circumstances went our way at the end and we moved up. It was a positive finish, and we can take confidence from it.”
”’
The newest Porsche team was also disappointed. Driving the #48 Miller Barrett Racing Porsche 911 GT3 car, Kevin Roush (Upland, CA) even led three laps before his 2006 Porsche was tagged by a Daytona prototype and slammed into the guardrail. Roush and Bryce Miller (Summit, NJ) would up 15th in the GT standings.

Justin Marks/Andy Lally were the top-finishing drivers in the three-team TRG Porsche effort, finishing sixth.