Porsche customer teams were able to capture fourth, sixth and ninth-place in today’s GRAND-AM Detroit 200 at Belle Isle. Magnus Racing, which leaves the two-hour race tied for second-place in the GT class point standings, narrowly missed a podium finish in a first to sixth-place nose-to-tail fight to the checkered flag on Detroit’s Belle Isle circuit to earn fourth. Finishing sixth was Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry while the No. 18 Muelhner Motorsports America 911 GT3 Cup took ninth in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT class.
The race began in a rather inauspicious way with several of the Daytona Prototype (DP) entries making contact and bringing out a full course caution on the first lap. After 20-minutes to clean the 2.36-mile, 13-turn temporary street circuit, the green flag waved over the field releasing the GT cars for what would be a closely fought battle in GRAND-AM’s fifth race of 2013. The long caution period, coupled with a second, 20-minute yellow at mid-race, allowed the field’s frontrunners to make a single stop for fuel, tires and required driver change. The combination of a narrow track and pit strategy kept the GT field closely bunched. Magnus Racing made the most of pit work to leap from seventh to fourth in their only stop, which made the difference in track position and the final result.
A final caution period further tightened the top-six cars until nine-minutes to go when the field went back green.
Ultimately, the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro would capture the win with a pair of Ferraris securing the podium. Andy Lally (Newport, N.Y.) crossed the finish line a mere 10th of a second off the podium in fourth-place driving the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car he shares with John Potter (Salt Lake City, Utah).
“Fourth is actually a good result for us here,” commented Lally. “The guys did an excellent job in the pits and we were able to maintain from there. It was a wild race with the long yellow, which only made track position all the more important. The guys really made this one happen today.”
Closing the lead group was Patrick Long (Belleair, Fla.) with the No. 73 Park Place car in sixth. Porsche factory driver Long, who took over driving duties from teammate Patrick Lindsey (Santa Barbara, Calif.), now travels to Le Mans, France where he will join racer/actor Patrick Dempsey (Los Angeles) and Joe Foster (Atlanta) in the LM GTE-Am class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 22nd-23rd. The No. 18 Muehlner entry finished ninth on the day with drivers Tomy Drissi (Los Angeles) and Dion von Moltke (Coral Gables, Fla.) following on-track contact with a DP car and a subsequent penalty.
GX Class
Dr. Jim Norman and Spencer Pumpelly raced to a third place finish in their BGB motorsport Porsche Cayman. This makes 5 straight podiums for the team consisting of 3 wins and 2 third place finished. Dr. Jim Norman, BGB Motorsports and Porsche hold first place in the Driver, Team and Manufacturer points standing, respectively, in the GX Class.
The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series travels to Lexington, Ohio’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for round six of the championship on June 15th.
GRAND-AM Race Results in the GT Class
1. No. 57 John Edwards/Cincinnati, Ohio; Robin Liddell/England, Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro – 59 laps
2. No. 63 Alessandro Balzan/Italy; Jeff Westphal/San Carlos, Calif., Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 – 59 laps
3. No. 61 Max Papis/Mooresville, NC; Jeff Segal/Miami, R.Ferri/Aim Motorsport Ferrari 458 – 59 laps
4. No. 44 Andy Lally/Newport, NY; John Potter/Salt Lake City, Utah, Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 59 laps
5. No. 31 Eric Curran/Holyoke, Mass.; Boris Said/Escondido, Calif., Marsh Racing Chevrolet Corvette – 59 laps
6. No. 73 Patrick Lindsey/Santa Barbara, Calif.; Patrick Long/Belleair, Fla., Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 59 laps
7. No. 69 Emil Assentato/Locust Valley, NY; Anthony Lazzaro/Acworth, Ga., AIM Autosport Ferrari 458 – 59 laps
8. No. 93 Billy Johnson/Mooresville, NC; Michael Marsal/New York; Gunter Schaldach/Aspen, Colo., Turner Motorsports BMW M3 – 58 laps
9. No. 18 Tomy Drissi/Los Angeles; Dion von Moltke/Coral Gables, Fla., Muehlner Motorsports America Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 57 laps
10. No. 94 Bill Auberlen/Redondo Beach, Calif.; Paul Dalla Lana/Toronto, Turner Motorsports BMW M3 – 32 laps
Team Point Standings – GT Class
1. No. 63 Scuderia Corsa – 142 points
2. No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports – 137
No. 44 Magnus Racing – 137
3. No. 69 AIM Autosport – 125
4. No. 73 Park Place Motorsports – 124
5. No. 94 Turner Motorsports – 122
6. No. 61 R.Ferri/Aim Motorsports – 120
7. No. 31 Marsh Racing – 110
8. No. 18 Muehlner Motorsports America – 106
9. No. 93 Turner Motorsports – 100
10. No. 59 Brumos Racing – 97
Manufacturer Point Standings – GT Class
1. 150 Ferrari
2. 143 Porsche
3. 131 Chevrolet
4. 121 BMW
6. 14 Mazda
Other Porsche Blog Posts You Will Enjoy
Celebrating the Recent Chapters of Brumos Racing History
Watch as Dr. Jim Norman Rolls his GX Class Porsche Cayman in Atlanta
Porsche’s Results and Pictures from the Grand-Am’s Porsche 250