Porsche North America took advantage of the high-speed layout of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to capture a podium finish in the Brickyard Grand Prix today. The No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR finished in third-place in the highly competitive GT Le Mans class of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The team used all of its assets, including several early caution periods and expert pit work, to earn the its highest finish since winning the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March. Porsche’s full race report and results can be found after the image gallery below.
Porsche’s Race Report and Results
The long, high-speed straightaways which have become so ingrained in the consciousness of the public through the Indianapolis 500, proved an equally good match to the Porsche 911 RSR. With an aerodynamic setup developed for the faster tracks of the World Endurance Championship, which leaves the cars at a disadvantage on racecourses requiring high downforce – such as the most recent rounds of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen International and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park – The Brickyard’s mixture of oval and infield road course provided the Porsche a respite under its current aero setup. All three of the Porsche 911 RSRs entered in the race took full advantage of this, challenging for top-five positions during the race.
Owen Hayes, Director of Operations, Porsche Motorsport North America: “We are very happy to be back on the podium. We would like to be higher but we will keep on fighting. It is very bittersweet. We had a high-speed, low downforce track and, on those types of track, we tend to find our legs. We had a lot of luck today. The misfortune of others was our luck. There was a lot of damage to other cars and who would have thought that we could have gone from sixth to second on the second restart? That’s incredible. The Indy gods were smiling on us a little there.”
The No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR shared by American Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, California) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) maximized the potential of the car finishing third behind the race-winning No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT. The team played its pit strategy to precision using early race caution periods to move the production car-based racer into striking distance of second-place late in the event.
Patrick Long, No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR: “The last few races have been ones to forget and this is the best way to do that. I’ve had wins that didn’t feel this good. It is a short celebration and then heads down for Road America. The team showed tremendous persistence and they had great pit stops. We executed today. We made no mistakes and that is reminiscent of Sebring which was the last time we were up on the podium. I hope we build off of this.”
The Race Was The Most Bittersweet For The No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR
The entry driven by Richard Lietz (Austria) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain) suffered an engine failure when in the lead of the GTLM class. Tandy had two strong restarts to move from sixth to second, and then into the lead early in the second hour of the race. However, telemetry recognized an engine issue and the team retired the car with 55 minutes remaining in the two-hour, 45-minute race.
Richard Lietz, No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR: “This track suits our car perfectly. So, it was known early we would have a good car here. We do not have enough downforce, which means we do not have a lot of drag so we are quick on the straight. Because we do not have big downforce we are not so good on quick corners. This track only has slow corners apart from the last corner which is easy flat. So, this track is very good for our car. We showed in the race that we had the pace to be on the podium here. It is a little frustrating for us but at least one Porsche is on the podium.”
The No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR of Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Bryan Sellers (Braselton, Georgia) ran well before an extended stop to make repairs. After running in the top-five, the only customer team in North America to race Porsche’s most advanced 911 finished ninth.
Porsche 911 GT Americas In GTD
The two Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America racecars, the No. 22 entry driven by Leh Keen (Atlanta) and Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Illinois) and the No. 23 Porsche of Mario Farnbacher (Germany) and Ian James (Phoenix) were fifth and sixth respectively. The No. 22 WeatherTech machine was the highest finishing Porsche in the field. Patrick Dempsey (Malibu, California) and Andrew Davis (Athens, Georgia) finished ninth in GTD in their Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 GT America. Dempsey drove the first stint, and brought the car into the pits in a top five position, one of his best stints of the year.
Leh Keen, No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America: “It was a wild race, and we had a good race car today. We ended up being the highest finishing Porsche in GTD, but the brakes were totally gone there at the end. I was pushing the pedal all the way down to the floor. I feel like we accomplished a lot today because it was a struggle to bring the car home. The crew did an awesome job in the pits. The strategy was right on point to get us to the front. We had a pretty good day considering what we had at the end. Cooper had a really good opening stint and we got another top five today.”
GT Le Mans Results
1. No. 93 Jonathan Bomarito (USA)/Kuno Wittmer (Canada), Dodge SRT Viper – 105 laps
2. No. 62 Pierre Kaffer (Germany)/Guid Fisichella (Italy), Ferrari 458 Italia – 105 laps
3. No. 912 Patrick Long (USA)/Michael Christensen (Denmark), Porsche 911 RSR – 105 laps
4. No. 3 Jan Magnussen (Denmark)/Antonio Garcia (Spain), Corvette C-7R – 105 laps
5. No. 4 Oliver Gavin (UK)/Tommy Milner (USA), Corvette C-7R – 105 laps
6. No. 55 Bill Auberlen (USA)/Andy Priaulx (United Kingdom), BMW Z4 GTE – 105 laps
9. No. 17 Wolf Henzler (Germany)/Bryan Sellers (USA), Porsche 911 RSR – 101 laps
10. No. 911 Nick Tandy (Great Britain)/Richard Lietz (Austria), Porsche 911 RSR – 65 laps
GT Daytona Results
1. No. 63 Allesandro Balzan (Italy)/Jeff Westphal (San Francisco, Calif.), Ferrari F458 Italia – 102 laps
2. No. 48 Christopher Haase (Germany)/Bryce Miller (USA) Audi R8 L M – 101 laps
3. No. 33 Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands)/Ben Keating (USA), SRT Viper GT3-R – 101 laps
4. No. 555 Townsend Bell (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)/Bill Sweedler (Westport, Conn.), Ferrari 458 Italia – 101 laps
5. No. 22 Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.)/Leh Keen (USA), Porsche 911 GT America – 101 laps
6. No. 23 Ian James (USA), Mario Farnbacher (Germany), Porsche 911 GT America – 101 laps
9. No. 27 Patrick Dempsey (Malibu, Calif.)/Andrew Davis (Athens, Ga.), Joe Foster (Suwanee, Geo.) Porsche 911 GT America – 101 laps
10.No. 73 Patrick Lindsey (USA)/ Mike Skeen (USA), Porsche 911 GT America – 101 laps
11. No. 58 Jan Heylen (Tampa, Fla.)/Madison Snow (Lehi, Utah), Porsche 911 GT America -101 laps
12. No. 44 John Potter (Salt Lake City, Utah)/Andy Lally (Dacula, Ga.), Porsche 911 GT America – 101 laps
16. No. 81 Damien Faulkner (Ireland)/Matt Bell (USA), Porsche 911 GT America – 85 laps
17. No. 19 Mark Kvamme (USA)/Randy Pobst (USA), Porsche 911 GT America – 19 laps
From one iconic American racecourse to another, the Porsche factory and customer teams now travel to Road America for round eight of the 12-race championship. The Road Race Showcase in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin will take place on August 10.
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