Porsche Leads Rolex Grand-Am After Two Races

Comfortable in my prediction that Porsche would Podium at VIR somehow, someway, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed that the results weren’t a little bit better. I don’t want to take anything away from David Donohue and Darren Law and their Brumos Racing Riley; they ran a great race. More importantly, Wolf Henzler, Dirk Werner and the rest of the FarnbacherLoles racing team made it through the entire race without serious mechanical issues earning valuable points for 4th and 5th place finishes. However, given the sheer volume of Porsche competing in today’s race, I would have like to see better results in the GT class.

Porsche is now the leading manufacturer in both the DP and GT Class and holds the overall lead with Donohue and Law in the DP series.

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.

Grand-Am Race Results from VIR

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

Grand-Am 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

Grand-Am Manufacturer Point Standing DP Class

1. Porsche, 60 points
2. Ford, 60
3. Pontiac, 59
4. Lexus, 51
5. BMW, 50

Grand-Am Point Standing Driver GT Class

1. Kelly Collins, Paul Edwards, Pontiac, 60 points
2. 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
6. Andy Lally, Justin Marks, Porsche, 51

Grand-Am Manufacturer Point Standing DP Class

1. Porsche, 63 points
2. Pontiac, 63
3. Mazda, 52

Related Posts
Porsche’s Recipe for Success in Grand-Am
Daytona Diary: Behind the Scenes at the Rolex 24
Porsche Wins Daytona in Prototype and GT classes

[Source: PCNA]