By alley - Mar 5, 2016, 8:49 PM ET

PWC: Patrick Long talks himself into winning

When sixth qualifier Bryan Heitkotter swept his Replay XD/Nissan GT Academy Nissan GTR around the outside and into the lead as the Pirelli World Challenge GT field charged into Circuit of the America's Turn 1, it caught polesitter Patrick Long by surprise.

"I was sort of shell-shocked on lap one when I saw the pace of Heitkotter and the Nissan," he said. "I thought, 'Hmmm... this is going to be bleak and I'm not going to have much for him.' Then I sort of had a conversation with myself and said, 'You've got to suck this up, try to get away from [Heitkotter's Nissan teammate JD] Davison and [Cadillac's Michael] Cooper and try to get him to wear his tires out.'

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Long stalked Heitkotter until about 10 minutes left in the 50-minute race, when he saw his opportunity.

"I saw that we were catching lapped traffic so I mounted my charge. I knew I only had about two laps of tire to go all out, and I was able to put him under pressure starting at Turn 11, and the pass wasn't really completed until the exit of 13, so probably about half a mile we were crossing over and under each other. He ran clean and hard, and I think I did too, and I really appreciate racing with people like that," he said.

Long's victory in his return to World Challenge, where he was the 2011 GT champion, was the first worldwide for the new 991-based 911 GT3 R, which Long helped develop. It's an impressive feat considering Effort Racing only took delivery of its cars about a week prior.

"I think this is what Porsche does really well," Long noted. "They deliver a turnkey masterpiece of a racecar. It's fast, it's refined, it's reliable. But to go up against the United Nations of GT3 racing and to get the first victory for the car, it's a proud moment. I'm only a fraction of the whole equation. These guys never, ever drop their head; they've been working hard over at Effort, and it's a proud moment to carry the cake across the line, but it's a real team effort that gets us here."

Long will have to find a way around Heitkotter again if he wants to repeat a win on Sunday, as the Nissan driver nipped him for the fastest lap to claim pole for Round 2 at COTA.