While the weather this weekend at NJMP was mixed at best, Porsche’s were in their element as they raced into six podium positions between the KONI Challenge GS series on Saturday and today’s Verizon Wireless 250 Rolex Grand-Am (including a sweep of the GT glass).
TRG’s Ende and Pumpelly Win Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge Race
The sky’s threatened rain continuously yesterday, but fortunately, mother nature never made good on her threat and the track was dry for the entire 2 1/2 hour KONI Challenge Race. TRG’s Spencer Pumpelly (Mason Neck, VA) and Duncan Ende (Los Angeles, CA) co-drove the #39 TRG Porsche 911 (type 997) to victory, using quick pit stops to win by 2.5 seconds.
Third onto the podium was the #18 Motorsports Technology Group’s Porsche 911 of Bill Johnson (San Clemente, CA) and Peter Ludwig (New Paltz, NY) Making this podium finish even more dramatic were some behind the scenes funding issues that had the team uncertain of an appearance as late as Tuesday of last week.
“We weren’t going to be here because of sponsorship and funding problems,” Ludwig said. “Tuesday I made a call to a company I do business with and explained what we were doing. They were already a track sponsor, so they agreed to sponsor our team. We missed Thursday’s practice because we just couldn’t get here.”
Porsches Sweep Podium and take Positions One Through Four in the GT Series
Whether they were tears of joy or extra large rain drops dripping down their cheeks, nearly every Porsche driver was smiling after the Verizon Wireless 250 Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car series ended with a sweep of the Podium in the GT series and a third place finish in the Daytona Prototypes.
Farnbacher Loles’ Dirk Werner and Leh Keen took first place in the GT class as teammates Eric Lux and Bryan Sellers finished third behind TRG’s #86 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Pumpelly and Ted Ballou.
The FlatSixes.com team had the great good fortune to meet both Dirk Werner (thanks Roger!) and Darren Law (thanks Rob!) this weekend. I’m happy to say that both Dirk and Darren agreed to an interview for FlatSixes.com’s Great Driver Series and will join the likes of Joerg Bergmesiter, Wolf Henzler and Patrick Long in our interview archives. Wolf’s interview is scheduled to publish mid-May, so be sure not to miss it.
Penske on Podium for Porsche in the Daytona Prototypes
A spirited battle for third place overall in the final minutes grabbed all the attention from a good-sized, but soaking wet, crowd. Passing his Porsche counterpart just four minutes from the finish, Tim Bernhard (Germany) gave Penske Racing its first Grand-Am DP podium finish after a sixth at Daytona and seventh at Virginia International Raceway.
The Brumo’s Porsche team of David Donohue (Malvern, PA) and Darren Law (Phoeniz, AZ) missed the podium but extended their DP Championship Driver’s points by finishing ahead of their top competitors.
“Considering where we started this week, this is a very satisfying finish,” Law said. “We were so lost on the setup that Saturday night we had a yard sale and changed everything. To come out and run this well is wonderful and a tribute to the Brumos crew. “The best thing is that we finished ahead of the 01 and 99 cars, so that helps us in the points.”
Unofficial Rolex Grand-Am Points After New Jersey
Grand-Am series DP Drivers
- 88 Darren Law – Porsche Riley
- 88 David Donohue – Porsche Riley
- 84 Alex Gurney – Pontiac Riley
- 84 Jon Fogarty – Pontiac Riley
- 79 Romain Dumas – Porsche Riley
- 79 Timo Bernhard – Porsche Riley
- 73 Memo Rojas – Lexus Riley
- 73 Scott Pruett – Lexus Riley
- 70 JC France – Porsche Riley
- 70 Joao Barbosa – Porsche Riley
Grand-Am Series DP Engine
- 95 Ford
- 90 Porsche
- 84 Pontiac
- 73 Lexus
- 51 BWM
DP Chassis
- 95 Riley
- 86 Dallara
GT Engine
- 98 Porsche
- 89 Pontiac
- 76 Mazda
- 57 Chevrolet
GT Drivers
- 89 Spencer Pumpelly – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
- 89 Ted Ballou – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
- 86 Dirk Werner – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
- 86 Leh Keen – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
- 86 Andrew Davis – Pontiac GXP – R
- 86 Robin Liddell – Pontiac GXP – R
- 82 Eric Lux _ Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
- 79 Andy Lally – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
- 79 Justin Marks – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
Related Posts
Porsche Leads Rolex Grand-Am after Two Races
Porsche’s Recipe for Success in Grand-Am
Daytona Diary: Behind the Scenes at the Rolex 24
[Source: 993C4S and PCNA]