The US street circuits seem to be good turf for Porsche: At round three of the American Le Mans Series in Long Beach/California, Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) celebrated their second win of the season. Driving a Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR they won the GT2 class – repeating their success in St. Petersburg/Florida a fortnight ago – and further increased their points’ lead in the championship.
At the 100-minute race, the shortest of the season, in the harbor of Long Beach, Patrick Long took over the lead position just before taking his single pit stop. He profited from the bad luck of his Porsche colleague Wolf Henzler (Germany), who had led with FarnbacherLoles Racing’s 911 GT3 RSR, before falling back with suspension problems after about an hour. “I couldn’t overtake Wolf on this narrow track,” said Patrick Long. “So that’s why I tried to put him under as much pressure as possible and I waited for my chance.”
His team mate, Joerg Bergmeister, quickly regained the lead they had lost through the pit stop and kept his rivals safely at bay. At the finish line he held an almost 30 second advantage. “We had to work harder for this victory than we did in St. Petersburg where we had a two lap lead at the end,” said Joerg Bergmeister. “But there was so much action on the track here that I simply couldn’t get away, particularly as this race was very short. With this victory, we’ve only now just managed to grab a little breathing space in the fight for the title.”
FarnbacherLoles wrestles with bad luck but still salvages a point
The German duo Wolf Henzler and Dirk Werner experienced a race weekend full of ups and downs with their 911 GT3 RSR fielded by FarnbacherLoles Racing. After an accident in practice on Thursday, the mechanics had to put in an unintended nightshift – and the overtime hours paid off: In qualifying on Friday, Wolf Henzler snatched his second GT2 pole position this season after Sebring with the sports car from Weissach. But in the race bad luck again plagued the Porsche works driver: After leading the field for quite some time, he was relegated to the back of the pack due to suspension problems. Putting in a spirited chase, his team mate Dirk Werner ploughed his way to rank tenth and with this managed to salvage one championship point.
“Above all I’m sorry for the boys who worked 36 hours straight to put a perfect car on the track for qualifying,” said Wolf Henzler. “So far this season we somehow seem to be attracting bad luck. But we mustn’t let this get us down. Even here in Long Beach we saw that we are good for a win at any time. We just have to reach the finish without problems.”
Rounding off the strong performance of Porsche, Richard Westbrook (Great Britain) and Johannes Stuck (Austria) secured fourth in the 911 GT3 RSR run by T-Mobile VICI Racing, with Darren Law (USA) and Seth Neiman (USA) claiming fifth in the second Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3 RSR.
Statistics: 3rd of 10 races in the American Le Mans Series in Long Beach, CA
Result GT2 class
1. Bergmeister/Long (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 71 laps
2. Melo/Kaffer (BRA/D), Ferrari F430 GT, 71
3. Müller/Millner (D/USA), BMW E92 M3, 70
4. Westbrook/Stuck (GB/A), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 70
5. Law/Neiman (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 70
6. Farnbacher/James (D/USA), Panoz Esperante, 69
10. Henzler/Werner (D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 67
Points’ standings American LeMans Series GT2 class
Driver
1. Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, Porsche, 60
2. Jamie Melo, Pierre Kaffer, Ferrari, 46
3. Dominik Farnbacher, Ian James, Panoz, 42
4. Darren Law, Seth Neiman, Porsche, 34
8. Wolf Henzler, Dirk Werner, Johannes van Overbeek, Porsche, 18
Manufacturer
1. Porsche 60
2. Ferrari 46
3. Panoz 42
Team
1. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche, 60
2. Risi Competizione, Ferrari, 46
3. Panoz Team PTG, Panoz, 42
6. Farnbacher Loles Racing, Porsche, 18
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[Source: PCNA]