The ALMS season and series came to a close this past weekend with an exciting finish in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Team Falken Tire used a 2010 Porsche RSR chassis to out distance faster and new factory entries from Ferrari, Corvette, SRT Viper and BMW to score an exciting seven-tenths of a second win. See Porsche’s full race report and final standings after our gallery below. Remember, just click the “x” in the top left corner to return to the post after viewing the pictures.
Wolf Henzler (Germany), Nick Tandy (GB) and Bryan Sellers (Braselton, Ga.) overcame a serious accident just seven weeks ago that destroyed their chassis in Baltimore to score an upset GT victory at the final American Le Mans Series running of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The Porsche customer team combined current components with a 2010 Porsche RSR chassis they pulled from the race shop so they could finish the season, give Porsche its first GT win of the ALMS season.
Although Porsche is no stranger to the top step of the podium in the 16 years of Petit Le Mans, 13 class wins in the 16-year history of the event including all three GT classes in the inaugural event in 1998 and three wins in LMP2 with the RS Spyder prototype, this was a very special victory.
The Team Falken Tire Porsche got better tire wear and fuel economy which resulted in fewer pit stops (12 versus 14 for the second-place BMW). In the end, with Tandy at the wheel, the BMW could close up to a couple of car-lengths, but the Porsche would bolt ahead as he carved his way through traffic and stretched his lead out.
“After our accident in Baltimore, our car was totaled. There was no way to get it ready for Austin, so we took the 2010 show car and decided to bring it back to race prep. So since Austin, we’ve been racing that car, and it still works pretty good!” said Henzler.
“We knew it would be tough, it’s always tough,” continued Tandy. (About Sean Edwards, who died earlier this week in Australia in a coaching accident) “Before the race he was in many of our thoughts. And there were many people who would want to win the race and dedicate the achievement to a friend – and that was something I thought about during the last caution. It turns out, I should have been concentrating more on the driving at hand. It was something we all wanted to do as Porsche drivers, and something for me, as one of Sean’s ‘rivals’ in the last few years to get a win for him.” said Tandy.
Other Porsche 911 GT3 RSR finishers included the CORE autosport entry of Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, Calif.), Colin Braun (Ovalo, Tex.) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) in eighth place; and the Paul Miller Racing Porsche of Bryce Miller (Summit, N.J.), Marco Holzer (Germany) and Emmanuel Collard (France) in 11th place.
Long was disappointed in the day the CORE autosport team had, but gratified that their first season in GT went as well as it did.
“If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that we were going take two podiums in this day and age of GT competition coming in mid-season, I would have taken those results any day. We have to be proud of what we accomplished. There were some hard days at the office, this being one of them, but we progressed quicker than I could have imagined and it was great to be a part of it,” he said.
“The mixed bag of wet and dry track was really challenging today. I had some close calls in the night stint. At one point, a prototype came flying back on the track after going off and I got pickup on my tires avoiding it. Then I was right in the middle of the GT battle and I ended up getting into the No. 3 Corvette. I cringe knowing they were going for a championship. It wasn’t intentional. We tried a lot of different tire compounds and combinations, but in the end it wasn’t our day,” said Long.
In the showdown for the ALMS GTC championship, the top two teams both came away victorious
The #45 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 Cup team of Nelson Canache, Jr. (Venezuela), Spencer Pumpelly (Atlanta) and Madison Snow (Lehi, Utah) scored a 5.8-second win over the #27 Dempsey Racing Porsche with Patrick Demspey (Malibu, Calif.), Joe Foster (Suwanee, Ga.) and Andy Lally (Dacula, Ga.). The win gave the Lizards the team championship over Alex Job Racing, which finished fourth.
“It’s a little bittersweet. We had high expectations coming into the season, wanting to win the team and driver championship plus a lot of races. We won a lot of races and won the team championship, but missed the driver championship. But I am just so happy to be a part of this effort. Both of these guys [Madison Snow and Nelson Canache, Jr.] passed pro guys to take the lead and led their stints. That’s how well these guys did and that’s how good the car was today. Flying Lizard has been a class act all season. The guys are just phenomenal. It’s great to finish it up with a win on a high note and a team championship for the guys that work so hard,” said Pumpelly.
For Dempsey, it was his third podium in a Porsche (second place finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and third at Circuit of the Americas in Austin).
“It was a little interesting first thing this morning but the guys brought the car back up. We went out on the rain tires and caught us out and we went a lap down right away which was challenging but drove fine after that. We just battled all day long. We didn’t know where we were going to end-up but Andy drove his heart out the last part of that race and really made it possible,” said Dempsey, who also had a fine fourth-place finish in GTE-Am class at Le Mans in June.
But, the Alex Job Racing duo of Jeroen Bleekemolen (Monaco) and Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.), with the help of Sebastiaan Bleekemolen at this event, clinched the GTC drivers title. For MacNeil, it was his second straight ALMS GTC championship, which Jeroen Bleekemolen and Leh Keen helped him win in 2012.
“Two years in a row,” MacNeil said. “It is too bad we couldn’t finish and clinch the championship with a win, but taking the big trophy was the goal. The car was great all day in the changing conditions. Two championships in a row. That was the goal from the beginning of the season. We had some ups and downs this year, but we never forgot the goal of taking the championship. Jeroen did a great job all year and the Alex Job guys gave us a great car.”
Alex Job, team owner, adds another championship to the team total of five (GTC 2013, 2012 and GT in 2004, 2003 and 2002).
“It was a tough day,” Job said. “The race was indicative of the competition in the GTC class all year. We would lead, fall back down and then work our way back-up. The team is a little disappointed that we could not win the final ALMS Petit Le Mans, but we will take the last championship win in the GTC class of the ALMS era.”
GT Class Results
1. #17 Wolf Henzler (Nürtingen, Germany); Bryan Sellers (Braselton, Ga.); Nick Tandy (GB); Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR – 375 laps
2. #56 Dirk Müller (Tägerwilen, CH); Jonathan Edwards (Louisville, Ky.); Bill Auberlen (Redondo Beach, Calif.); BMW Z4 GTE – 375 laps
3. #62 Matteo Malucelli (Italy); Olivier Beretta (Monaco); Robin Liddell (GB); Ferrari F458 Italia – 375 laps
4. #55 Joerg Mueller (Germany; Maxime Martin, Brussels, Belgium; Uwe Alzen (Germany), BMW Z4 GTE – 374 laps
5. #93 Jonathan Bomarito (Monterey, Calif.); Kuno Wittmer (Montreal, QC); Tommy Kendell (New Smyrna Beach, Fla.); SRT Motorsports Viper GTS-R – 373 laps
6. #3 Jan Magnussen (Roskilde, Denmark); Antonio Garcia (Barcelona, Spain); Jordan Taylor (Apopka, Fla.); Corvette C6 ZR1 – 373 laps
7. #91 Mark Goossens (Geel, Belgium); Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany); Ryan Dalziel (Orlando, Fla.); SRT Motorsports Viper GTS-R – 372 laps
8. #06 Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, Calif.); Colin Braun (Ovalo, Tex.); Michael Christensen (Denmark); CORE autosport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR – 372 laps
9. #23 Leh Keen (Charleston, SC) Bill Sweedler (Westport, Conn.); Johnny Mowlem (GB); Ferrari F458 Italia – 369 laps
10. #4 Oliver Gavin (Northhamptonshire, England); Tommy Milner (Leesburg, Va.); Richard Westbrook (GB); Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 – 369 laps
11. #48 Bryce Miller (Summit, NJ); Marco Holzer (Bobingen, Germany); Emmanuel Collard (France); Paul Miller Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR – 76 laps
GTC Class Results
1. #45 Nelson Canache Jr. (Venezuela); Spencer Pumpelly (Atlanta, Ga); Madison Snow, (Lehi, Utah); Flying Lizard Motorsports – 357 laps
2. #27 Patrick Dempsey (Malibu, Calif.); Andy Lally (Atlanta, Ga.); Joe Foster (Suwanee, Ga.); Dempsey Racing – 357 laps
3. #11 Jan Heylen (Tampa, Fla.), Mike Hedlund (Woodside, Calif.), Jon Fogarty /Bend, Ore.); JDX Racing – 357 laps
4. #22 Jeroen Bleekemolen (Monte Carlo, Monaco); Cooper MacNeil (Hindsdale, Illi.); Sebastiaan Bleekemolen (The Netherlands); Alex Job Racing – 356 laps
5. #44 Seth Neiman (San Francisco, Calif.); Dion von Moltke (Coral Gables, FL); Brett Sandberg (Allendale, NJ); Flying Lizard Motorsports – 344 laps
6. #66 Damien Faulkner (Mouille, Ireland), Ben Keating (Port Lavaca, Tex); Craig Stanton (Long Beach, Calif.); TRG – 339 laps
7. #31 Nicolas Armindo (France); Angel Andres Benitez (Venezuela); Christina Nielsen (Denmark); NGT Motorsports – 339 laps
8. #10 Charles Putnum (Mills, Wyo.); Darren Law (Phoenix, Ariz.); Charles Espenlaub (Lutz, Fla.); Dempsey Racing – 277 laps
Other Porsche Blog Posts You Will Enjoy
Check Out Team Falken Tire’s New Livery And Driver For Petit Le Mans
Porsche’s Results And Pictures In The ALMS At VIR
Porsche’s Pictures and Results From The Circuit Of The Americas’ Weekend