Grand-Am Series, round 7 in Daytona, USA
Excellent race from the Farnbacher boys to hold of the Mazda RX-8 and win the Brumos Porsche 250. We are super stoked to see Andy Lally and Justin Marks in the #67 TRG Construct Corps 911 GT3 Cup pull up in third! They were damn near taken out by the Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R but luck prevailed and made the podium.
Porsche’s success streak in the American Grand-Am Series continued on the Daytona International Speedway. At the wheel of a Farnbacher Loles Racing 911 GT3 Cup, Dirk Werner (Germany) and Leh Keen (USA) celebrated their fourth win of the season in the fiercely-contested GT class in front of 250,000 fans. With this victory, the two further extended their clear lead in the championship. In the manufacturers’ classification, Porsche was able to pull away from its pursuers.
On America’s Independence Day, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racers put in a strong showing. Driving for the TRG squad, Andy Lally (USA) and Justin Marks (USA) occupied third place with Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Eric Lux (USA) bringing their 911 GT3 Cup fielded by Farnbacher Loles Racing over the finish line in fifth. For Wolf Henzler, a better placing was undoubtedly possible. At one stage, the Porsche works driver was running in the lead, only to receive a time penalty due to coming into the pits too early which cost him the chance of a podium result. This mishap, however, didn’t dampen Porsche’s strong performance in the Mecca of American sports car racing: No less than seven Porsche 911 GT3 Cup vehicles finished in the top ten of the GT class.
‘Towards the end things became really tight again when Sylvain picked up his pace and put huge pressure on me from behind. But our car was running so smoothly that I could hold off his attacks and bring home victory,’ said Dirk Werner, who with Leh Keen has notched up wins in Millville, Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio this season. ‘The key to success today was most certainly that Leh held the lead the whole way. So, when I took over the wheel I didn’t have to make up any places but just concentrated on conserving the tyres. This win is a huge step towards claiming the title.’
At the 24 Hours at Daytona, David Donohue (USA) and Darren Law (USA) took off into the season with an overall victory. However, their return with the Porsche Riley to the legendary Speedway on the East Coast of Florida was marred with problems. Already in the fifth lap a short-circuit knocked out the electrics of the Daytona Prototype. ‘None of the switches in the cockpit worked, I couldn’t do a thing,’ said a disappointed David Donohue, who had to be towed into the pits for lengthy repairs. With 17th at the flag he managed to earn some crucial championship points, nevertheless this gave little consolation. ‘We came here with high expectations. What a shame we couldn’t bring home a better result.’
His Brumos Racing teammates had more luck: Joao Barbosa (Portugal) and JC France (USA) pocketed eighth place at the home race of the Jacksonville-based customer team, ahead of Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France). At the wheel of the Penske Racing Porsche Riley, the Porsche works pilots were at times on track for a podium result. At the flag they had to give in with eleventh. ‘In the narrow infield of the track we were running well, but on the fast passages we obviously didn’t have the right set-up,’ said Timo Bernhard. Romain Dumas was not only exhausted after the extremely hot race, but was obviously irritated. ‘I can’t say what went wrong today, but we will be looking into it. We gave our best but it didn’t help. Seldom have I been so upset in a race. When this happens I begin to talk really fast. So I think my crew couldn’t understand a lot of what I was saying today.’
Round 8 of the Grand-Am Series takes place on 19 July in Birmingham in the US State of Alabama.
Statistics: 7th of 12 races of the Grand-Am Series in Daytona, FL
Race result
1. Angelelli/Frisselle (MC/USA), Ford Dallara (DP), 70 laps
2. Gurney/Fogarty (USA/USA), Pontiac Riley (DP), 70
3. Dalziel/Lester (USA/USA), BMW Riley (DP), 70
4. Pew/Valiante (USA/CAN), Ford Riley (DP), 70
5. Friselle/Wilkins (USA/CAN), Ford Riley (DP), 70
6. Negri/Patterson (USA/USA), Ford Riley (DP), 70
7. Pruett/Rojas (USA/MEX), Lexus Riley (DP), 70
8. Barbosa/France (P/USA), Porsche Riley (DP), 70
9. Krohn/van der Poele (USA/B) Ford Lola (DP), 70
10. Speed/Busch (USA/USA), Lexus Riley (DP), 70
Result GT class
1. Werner/Keen (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 66 laps
2. Ham/Tremblay (USA/USA), Mazda RX-8, 66
3. Lally/Marks (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 66
4. Assentato/Segal (USA/USA), Mazda RX-8, 66
5. Henzler/Lux (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 65
6. Pumpelly/Ballou (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 65
Points’ standings
Driver DP class
1. Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Lexus, 199 points
2. Brian Friselle, Max Angelelli, Ford, 198
3. Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty, Pontiac, 196
4. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Porsche, 182
5. Michael Valiante, Ford, 172
6. David Donohue, Darren Law, Porsche, 162
Joao Barbosa, JC France, Porsche, 162
Manufacturers DP class
1. Ford, 224 points
2. Pontiac, 202
3. Lexus, 199
4. Porsche, 196
Driver GT class
1. Dirk Werner, Leh Keen, Porsche, 221 points
2. Paul Edwards, Kelly Collins, Pontiac, 192
3. Spencer Pumpelly, Porsche, 185
Eric Lux, Porsche, 185
4. Sylvain Tremblay, Nick Ham, Mazda, 179
5. Robin Liddell, Andrew Davis, Pontiac, 178
Manufacturers GT class
1. Porsche, 233 points
2. Pontiac, 204
3. Mazda, 199
- Grand-Am
Looking for more? Have a look below.
- Grand-Am: Porsche GT victory after spectacular charge through field at Mid-Ohio
- Grand-Am: Porsche pilots want to reclaim points’ lead
- Grand-Am: Porsche pilots extend overall lead at New Jersey Motorsports Park
- Grand-Am: Porsche keen to defend championship lead
- Grand-Am: Daytona 24hr winners with Porsche on podium
