No Walk In The Park. Porsche 911 RSR Sixth In IMSA Northeast GP

The No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR scored a sixth-place GTLM class finish at round seven of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Lime Rock Park on July 23. Reigning IMSA GT champion Patrick Pilet (France) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain) shared the cockpit of the 470 hp GT racer from Weissach at the Lakeville, Connecticut track. A problem with the fuel supply after 27 laps cost the winners of the Long Beach race the chance of securing a better result.

At the wheel of the sister 911 RSR, Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France) retired the No. 912 after an accident while fighting for second-place. In temperatures of over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the pair was ultimately classified as eighth after the two-hour, 40-minute race.

Steffen Höllwarth, Program Manager, IMSA SportsCar Championship.

“This is obviously a disappointing result. After the practice we had actually worked something out, because we knew we would be strong over the distance. And this was also underlined in the race, although we had problems with the fuel supply in the number 911 car. But the 912 was able to fight for second place up until the accident. I don’t blame Earl. He attempted to overtake and the BMW closed the door. We only have a fortnight until the next race in Elkhart Lake. Despite everything, we’ll take the progress that we made here with us to Road America. Then hopefully we’ll be rewarded there for all the hard work the team has put in.”

Patrick Pilet, Driver, No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR.

“Up until the problem with the fuel supply, the race was going well for us. But of course after having to pit twice we lost our chance to fight for a good result. It’s a shame, because after the steps we’d taken we had high hopes for Lime Rock.”

Nick Tandy, Driver, No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR.

“When I took over the 911 RSR from Patrick we were running eight laps down. There was nothing else to do than to try to get through the heavy traffic unscathed and bring home important championship points. We succeeded in doing this.”

Earl Bamber, Driver, No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR.

“Initially we were looking good in the race and were able to work our way up to third place. Our 911 RSR was perfectly setup for this demanding racetrack. The accident happened when I tried to overtake the BMW in front of me. I was already beside him on the inside when he also pulled to the inside and left me no room. We touched and I hit the tire wall quite hard.”

Frédéric Makowiecki, Driver, No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR

Such things happen on this short, tight circuit quicker than anywhere else. With 30 almost equally fast cars you normally can’t overtake. Those who try take a higher risk. Until the accident we were looking good for a top result, but unfortunately we couldn’t finish the race. It’s a pity because we were on the right track. Now we’ll focus on the next race at Elkhart Lake.”

Six Pack. Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport On Podium for Sixth-Straight Time.

Since coming into the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) GS class at the start of the season, the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport has been a contender. This weekend at Lime Rock Park, the mid-engine Porsche Motorsport offering captured its sixth-consecutive podium result in six races in the ten-race championship.

The No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Cayman GT4 Clubsport started second on the grid and fought for the lead throughout the 150-mile race. The grey-colored entry shared by Daniel Burkett (Canada)/Marc Miller (Holland, Michigan) led but was unable to hold the top spot falling to second-place at the checkered flag to the No 15 Ford Shelby GT350R-C. The No. 12 Bodymotion Racing machine out of New Jersey continued to add to its tally for the season. The Cameron Cassels (Canada) and Trent Hindman (Wayside, New Jersey)-driven machine has won three races thus far in 2016 and finished third at the Lime Rock, Connecticut track.

The No. 35 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Tyler McQuarrie (Danville, California) and Till Bechtolsheimer (New York, New York) was fourth on the day. The No. 64 Team TGM of Ted Giovanis (Highland, Maryland) and David Murry (Atlanta, Georgia) was sixth.

Daniel Burkett, Driver, No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.  

“My stint was good. I got jumped a little bit on the start as he went a bit earlier than I was expecting but that was no big deal. I just had to get my head down and focus forward. I made a good pass on Scott [Maxwell]. I really set it up coming out of Turn 7 and I had a good run on the straight and I was able to make that late braking move into Turn One. I knew we had an advantage over the Mustangs under braking and that is exactly where I was able to take advantage. Overall, I was happy with my stint, we led some laps and I kept the car clean.”

Marc Miller, Driver, No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.  

“We had a really good car today. Danny put in a great stint. We got a little hung up in the pits, I know our driver change wasn’t perfect but as I came around I saw Billy [Johnson] coming out of the pits and I was all over his bumper but I could just not get by him. The car picked up quite a bit of understeer, it was good by itself but I wasn’t able to really stay with Billy. I think we were just a hair quicker than his car but we really couldn’t get through the traffic. We made an adjustment on the final stop. That was the car we really needed in the middle of the race to fight for the win. If your closest rival wins a race, you had better finish second and we did that today. I’m pretty pleased about that and while we’re thirteen points behind we don’t feel that is insurmountable by any means. It’s theirs to lose at this moment and we just want to keep applying pressure and make them lose it.”

Tyler McQuarrie, Driver, No. 35 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.  

“For me, I just had to get my head down and keep the laps coming while staying out of trouble. I think I only passed one car for position all day. We went from Watkins Glen where we were swapping positions lap after lap to here where I was just waiting for someone to make a mistake and bring out a yellow. At the end of the day, the car was awesome and Till did a great job, you just can’t get on the podium at every race, so we’ll just have to move on to the next one.

Till Bechtolsheimer, Driver, No. 35 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.  

“I thought we had a third-place car at very least so I am a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get on the podium but otherwise I’m really happy with it. I had a lot of fun chasing down Paul Holton and passing him on track. It was very satisfying to be able to hand the car over to Tyler in P3. We maybe could have made third but the Bodymotion car was on a different strategy and it worked out for them and not for us. A yellow would have made the race more exciting as the top four would have been fighting until the end but it never came and it wasn’t quite as exciting at Watkins Glen.