Porsche North America Watkins Glen Post-Race Report

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., June 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR scored an impressive GT Le Mans (GTLM) class yesterday in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race at Watkins Glen International Raceway. Team Porsche North America finished second with their No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Factory Drivers Jörg Bergmeister and Earl Bamber. Bamber is fresh from his overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans two weeks ago. This win is the first GTLM win of the season for Porsche, and the first since Team Falken Tire won at the 2014 season ending Petit Le Mans in Atlanta, GA. 

The track and weather conditions changed often, alternating between dry, wet and soaking wet and back again as multiple rain storms moved through the historic Finger Lakes area during the intense six hour race. The inclement weather favored the iconic rear-engined sports car, which was able to use its superior traction in the treacherous conditions and win its first GT race of 2015.Porsche GT Le Mans Starting from the seventh position on the grid, Porsche Factory Driver Wolf Henzler and co-driver Bryan Sellers utilized their customer 911 RSR, which is based on the seventh-generation Porsche 911 road car, to move through the field. The factory team of Porsche North America had led early, when Patrick Pilet jumped from the fifth starting position in his No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR to the lead by the third corner of the race. He would soon put a lap on the GTLM field and led for two hours, only to see the advantage negated as ill-timed caution periods and pit stops brought the class together. The second place finishing No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR worked with an alternating strategy, as they came back from a one lap deficit due to an extra pit stop to change the front splitter, damaged when a competitor spun directly in front of Bamber. Porsche 911 GT America Magnus Racing, the Salt Lake City, Utah based 911 GT Daytona team finished in second place in the GTD class with their 911 GT America racecar. Co-drivers John Potter, Andy Lally and Marco Seefried scored their first podium of the season after driving mistake-free race in the precarious race conditions. Quotes Jens Walther, President and CEO of Porsche Motorsport North America:The way the Porsche teams managed the big weather fluctuations and constantly changing track conditions, the performance of the Porsche 911 in the wet and our drivers was all remarkable. The results today continue to build on the momentum coming off our 17th overall victory at Le Mans two weeks ago. The GTLM win is a great success for everyone at Team Falken Tire, and I congratulate Magnus Racing on their solid second place finish. Owen Hayes, Director of Operations, Porsche Motorsport North America:This is a fantastic result. It was a crazy race and our Porsche teams persevered through much adversity.We are, of course, thrilled for Falken Tire Motorsports, and I was impressed with the way the No. 912 team was able to work through their own trouble with a splitter change and drive through penalty. They came from a lap back and never gave up in typical Porsche fashion. If not for the late race pit stop for the No. 911, we could have seen a one-two-three result. Magnus Racing's second place finish in the highly competitive GTD class was also impressive. Wolf Henzler, Porsche Factory driver and co-driver of the Team Falken Tire 911 RSR: So many people came to us and said "It's raining, it should be a Falken win". But we had to change the set up for yesterday because we were off the pace in practice. Today we were there with the pace, so it's like it used to be for us in the wet. Also in dry conditions today, when Bryan was driving, we were fast on the slick tires. The fuel was definitely a gamble, I tried to save as much as possible, but at the end, it really was tight. I am confident we would have made it though, even if the race stayed green until the end.Bryan Sellers, co-driver of the Team Falken Tire 911 RSR:This win will definitely rank on my list as one of my favorites for many reasons, one of which is the joy that comes from being able to show your crew, engineers and everybody back at the team that doesn't get the limelight just how good of a job they've done, and how important they are. It also means a lot to me because Wolf and I have been together now for almost 7 years and he's become one of my best friends, so to be able to say that we got a win in possibly our last season driving together is really special. Emotionally, it is a huge win for us. Jörg Bergmeister, Factory co-driver of the No. 912 Team Porsche North America 911 RSR:We faced really mixed conditions. At some point the track was completely dry, then wet, then so wet that you couldn't drive anymore. We had some hiccups and some problems during some of the pit stops. It was by far not a clean race for us, but we luckily made the right call on the last pit stop to come in and that saved us P2. It is a little strange to be on the podium, we didn't expect that, so it's for sure some good points for the team.Earl Bamber, Factory co-driver of the No. 912 Team Porsche North America 911 RSR:It was an eventful day, but a great team effort by Porsche North America. We went a lap down early, due to my mistake under yellow and the fact that we had to replace the splitter. But then we fought back, got back on the lead lap which was great. The 911 was really good in the dry and really came to us even more in the wet. With a really good strategy call by the team, we managed to carve our way through the pack, but I got spun around in Turn 1 with an hour left, so I didn't expect to be on the podium. But it's a Porsche and it's built strong, so there wasn't any damage on it. If I had just had a few more minutes… But huge congratulations to the Falken Tire guys, they really deserve it. And it's a great Porsche 1-2.John Potter, Team Owner and co-driver of Magnus Racing:Overall I think we're satisfied with finally seeing the podium in 2015, and we're happy to bring yet another podium to Porsche this year. I know there was a lot of optimism that a win could have been on the cards, but I'm still happy with what we've achieved, everyone on the team should be proud because it's been a tough season so far.