With Penske Racing’s Porsche Riley, Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) secured their first podium result at round three of the Grand-Am season. At New Jersey Motorsports Park, they finished third in torrential rain. In the production-based GT class Porsche celebrated a phenomenal quadruple success with Dirk Werner (Germany) and Leh Keen (USA) taking victory with their 911 GT3 Cup.
For the first time this season, Romain Dumas took off into the race from pole position with the Porsche Riley. After 33 laps on the circuit close to Millville he handed the 510 hp Daytona Prototype to Timo Bernhard who then took over the lead after a safety car phase. With a slow puncture in the left rear tyre he had to come in to the pits which threw him back down the field. Bernhard then put in a spirited chase through the pack. The time he had gained through his determined charge, however, was lost when he spun on the drenched circuit. Four minutes before the flag he moved into third place after courageously overtaking David Donohue (USA) in a Brumos Racing Porsche Riley.
“When Romain handed me the car I was first behind the safety car. That was the perfect position to take off,” said Timo Bernhard. “As leader I drove as quickly as the difficult conditions allowed. But I couldn’t see much. Sometimes there was so much water on the track that I thought it would be better if they stopped the race. The fight with David shortly before the finish was fun. It was a great fight.” Romain Dumas aptly summed up the 2:45 hour battle in the rain when he said: “Atrocious weather, fantastic race!”
Finishing in fourth behind the Porsche works pilots were the Daytona winners David Donohue (USA) and Darren Law (USA) with the Porsche Riley run by Brumos Racing. With this success, the pair extended their lead in the championship. “Considering we took up the race from eleventh on the grid, it’s a great result,” said Darren Law. “We totally screwed up our set-up and had work through the night before the race to rebuild everything. It’s thanks to the Brumos crew that everything ran so well and we could finish so far up the field.”
On the wet track the 911 GT3 Cup cars profited from the traction advantage of their rear engine configuration and achieved a fourfold success in the production-based GT category. Dirk Werner (Germany) and Leh Keen (USA) clinched their first win of the season at the wheel of a Farnbacher Loles Racing 911 GT3 Cup. Position two went to Ted Ballou (USA) and Spencer Pumpelly (USA) in a TRG Porsche, which was enough for the pair to secure the points’ lead in the GT championship. In the sister car of Farnbacher Loles Racing, Bryan Sellers (USA) and Eric Lux (USA) occupied third place, ahead of Andy Lally (USA) and Justin Marks (USA) in another TRG 911 GT3 Cup.
Round four of the Grand-Am Series takes place on 17 May in Laguna Seca in the US state of California.
Statistics: 3rd of 12 races in the Grand-Am Series in Millville, NJ
Race result
1. Zonta/Jonsson (BRA/USA), Ford Lola (DP), 87 laps
2. Angelelli/Frisselle (MC/USA), Ford Dallara (DP), 87
3. Bernhard/Dumas (F/D), Porsche Riley (DP), 87
4. Donohue/Law (USA/USA), Porsche Riley (DP), 87
5. Wilkins/Frisselle (USA/USA), Ford Riley (DP), 87
6. Gurney/Fogarty (USA/USA), Pontiac Riley (DP), 87
7. Gidley/Jaeger (USA/USA), Ford Dallara (DP), 86
8. Werner/Keen (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GT), 86
Result GT class
1. Werner/Keen (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GT), 86 laps
2. Ballou/Pumpelly (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 85
3. Sellers/Lux (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 85
4. Lally/Marks (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 85
5. Liddell/Davis (GB/USA), Pontiac GXP.R, 84
6. von Moltke/Groenewald (USA/RSA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 84
Points’ standings
Driver DP class
1. David Donohue, Darren Law, Porsche, 88 points
2. Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty, Pontiac, 84
3. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Porsche, 79
4. Brian Frisselle, Max Angelelli, Ford, 78
5. Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Lexus, 73
6. Joao Barbosa, JC France, Porsche, 70
Manufacturer
1. Ford, 95
2. Porsche, 90
3. Pontiac, 84
GT class
Driver
1. Spencer Pumpelly, Ted Ballou, Porsche, 89 points
2. Dirk Werner, Leh Keen, Porsche, 86
Robin Liddell, Andrew Davis, Pontiac, 86
3. Eric Lux, Porsche, 82
Manufacturer
1. Porsche, 98 points
2. Pontiac, 89
3. Mazda, 76
Source : Porsche