No picnic at Lime Rock
Porsche bags a podium spot despite bad luck at this weekend’s IMSA race
After a tricky race, Porsche ended round seven of the IMSA SportsCar Championship at Lime Rock Park with a podium spot.
In the Number 912 Porsche 911 RSR, Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber took third place in the GTLM class of Saturday's race in Connecticut, USA. Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy, the winners of this year’s Sebring 12-hour race, came home fifth in the sister car, #911.
Mid-Ohio winners Vanthoor and Bamber had been running in second place over a long stretch of the two hour and 40 minute race and had been closing the gap to the leader before a driving error and a mistake in the pits lost the duo precious time.
“We had a fantastic car all day, a real winner,” said Bamber. “Unfortunately I made a mistake during my stint which cost us five seconds. On top of this came the unfortunate pit stop. We simply can’t make any more mistakes at the next race – then we’ll be at the front.”
Earl Bamber
Meanwhile, the bad luck that hampered Pilet and Tandy during the morning's practice continued into the afternoon race. Shortly before the qualifying session, Pilet slid from the track during the warm-up and slightly damaged the 510 hp race car. The team managed to swap out the damaged parts, however there was not enough time to check the setup of #911 before the race began.
After starting the race eighth on the grid, Pilet struggled to make progress on the famously narrow track, lined with thousands of spectators. Thanks to a dramatic overtaking move just two minutes before the end of the race, teammate Tandy worked his way up to finish fifth.
Patrick Pilet explained: “The car was extremely fast over the whole weekend, but my mistake in the warm-up threw a spanner in the works. On this racetrack, where overtaking is particularly tricky, it’s difficult to compensate for a grid spot at the back of the field. Although I was faster at the beginning of the race I couldn’t make up any positions. When Nick got a clear run he managed to shorten the gap, but at the end of the day it was simply too big. The team’s tactics and strategy were definitely spot-on. It’s important that we managed to collect valuable points towards the manufacturer’s classification with third place for the sister car.”
In the GTD class, Wright Motorsports’ 911 GT3 R finished in eighth place, with Patrick Long and Christina Nielsen unable to see through the promising lead they’d held at times.
Porsche enters round eight of the IMSA SportsCar Championship – which takes place on August 5 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin – ranked third in the manufacturer’s category.
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