Grand-Am Series, round 2 in Alton, USA
After their triumph at the Daytona 24 hour race to open the Grand-Am season, David Donohue (USA) and Darren Law (USA) also climbed the podium at round two of series. At the 250 mile race on the Virginia International Raceway, the pair with their Brumos Racing Porsche Riley secured third and, with this, now lead the championship.
‘Winning in Daytona and now third place – the new season couldn’t have started better,’ said Darren Law. ‘We’re now at the top of the points’ table and that’s where we want to stay for the rest of the season.’
After a strong performance in qualifying, Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) took up the race from the first row with the Porsche Riley fielded by Penske Racing. In lap seven, Timo Bernhard took over the lead which he held on to until the first pit stop. But one of the four cautions cost the Porsche works drivers their chance at victory: During a race restart, Romain Dumas had supposedly pulled alongside an opponent before passing the finish line, which earned him a drive-through penalty. Through this, he fell back from sixth to 23rd position. After a stunning chase through the field, the #12 Porsche Riley finally saw the flag in seventh.
‘We drove at our absolute limit over the entire race distance. What a shame that we couldn’t climb the podium,’ lamented Timo Bernhard. ‘The drive-through penalty under green flag simply cost us too much time and we weren’t able to make it up again.’ Romain Dumas believed: ‘Considering the circumstances we can be happy with the points we earned today. But we should have finished further up the field. In one week we’ll be in New Jersey and hopefully we’ll have more luck there.’
In the GT class, Dirk Werner (Germany) and Leh Keen (USA) narrowly missed out on a podium result with their Farnbacher Loles Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The pair occupied fourth place in front of their team mates Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Eric Lux (USA). Ted Ballou (USA) and Spencer Pumpelly (USA) crossed the finish line sixth in the 911 GT3 RSR of the TRG squad. In the GT championship, they rank third as the best Porsche pilots.
Round three of the Grand-Am Series takes place on 3 May in Millville in the US State of New Jersey.
Statistics: 2nd of 12 races of the Grand-Am Series in Alton, VI
Race result
1. Gurney/Fogarty (USA/USA), Pontiac Riley (DP), 81 laps
2. Valiante/Pew (USA/CAN), Ford Riley (DP), 81
3. Donohue/Law (USA/USA), Porsche Riley (DP), 81
4. Bouchut/Tucker (F/USA), BMW Riley (DP), 81
5. Gidley/Jaeger (USA/USA), Ford Dallara (DP), 81
6. Negri/Patterson (USA/USA), Ford Riley (DP), 81
7. Bernhard/Dumas (F/D), Porsche Riley (DP), 81
8. Barbosa/France (P/USA), Porsche Riley (DP), 81
Result GT class
1. Liddell/Davis (GB/USA), Pontiac GXP.R, 78 laps
2. Collins/Edwards (USA/USA), Pontiac GXP.R, 78
3. Tremblay/Ham (USA/USA), Mazda RX-8, 78
4. Werner/Keen (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 78
5. Henzler/Lux (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 78
6. Ballou/Pumpelly (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 78
Points’ standings
Driver DP class
1. David Donohue, Darren Law, Porsche, 60 points
2. Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty, Pontiac, 59
3. Joao Barbosa, JC France, Porsche, 53
4. Christophe Bouchut, Scott Tucker, BMW, 50
5. Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Lexus, 41
6. Memo Gidley, Brad Jaeger, Ford, 45
7. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Porsche, 39
Manufacturer
1. Porsche, 60 points
Ford, 60
3. Pontiac, 59
4. Lexus, 51
5. BMW, 50
GT class
Driver
1. Kelly Collins, Paul Edwards, Pontiac, 60 points
Robin Liddell, Andrew Davis, Pontiac, 60
3. Spencer Pumpelly, Ted Ballou, Porsche, 57
4. Eric Lux, Porsche, 52
5. Dirk Werner, Leh Keen, Porsche, 51
Andy Lally, Justin Marks, Porsche, 51
Manufacturer
1. Porsche, 63 points
Pontiac, 63
3. Mazda, 52
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