Team Seattle-The Heart of Racing drivers Mario Farnbacher, Ian James and Alex Riberas finished the season finale TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Petit Le Mans classified in fifth place in GTD.
Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) had the controls of the No. 23 Team Seattle-Heart of Racing Porsche for the start from his third row grid position. The team had improved the handling of the 23 Porsche and Farnbacher took off looking for the GTD lead. The trio of Farnbacher, James (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Riberas (Barcelona, Spain) drove hard to get the car to the lead on lap 197. They swapped the lead with three other cars for nearly three hours when on lap 325, leading the race, Riberas came in with a flat left rear tire. The team made quick work of the repair and returned the car, with Farnbacher aboard, back to the track. Into the last hour the team was good on fuel. As the opposing teams made their final pit stops, Riberas was in chase mode after the, eventual winning, No.48 Miller Racing Audi R8. A late yellow closed the gap to the dueling pair. The green restarted the race with seven laps to go. On the final lap, Riberas pulled to the inside of the Audi in Turn Seven and it was a side-by-side drag race down to Turn Nine. As they took the slight right Turn Eight the Audi made full use of the road pushing Riberas to the outside forcing him to put two wheels on the grass. Once the Spaniard got to the brake zone with two wheels off there was contact sending him into the wall. The car was towed into the paddock and the team was classified in fifth place.
“The team had me in a great position after our last pit stop,” Riberas said. “I was 13 seconds back from the Audi and making up a second a lap and then the yellow came. I was driving as hard as I could. I pulled up even with him coming out of Turn Seven. He had a little more exit speed and we were side-by-side down the back straight. He pushed me over to the grass and we touched and then I went spinning into the wall. It was all over.”
“That is a tough finish,” Farnbacher said. “During the race we had the fastest car, again. We had some issues with an early pit stop. Halfway through the race we went to the front, P1. We then had the puncture and fell back to fifth place. We then went back to the front again. Alex went for it and had some contact with the Audi and got pushed into the wall. Our goal was to win the race, we were fighting for the win. It would have been awesome to be on the podium again. We will be back next year fighting for the championship.”
“Alex was trying his best,” James said. “Mario and Alex had great drives all day. Alex said he got turned by the 48 car and that was it. We had a puncture that we came back from. I was proud of my stints and we were in a position to win the race with a few laps to go. The team did a great job to keep us in the race all day. It would have been nice to get one more podium, but we showed we have the speed.”
Alex Job, team owner, had the 23 in a position to win.
“That is always the goal, be in a position to win an endurance race in the last hour,” Job said. “We had some adversity with a late race puncture. We just kept working, the guys never gave up. Alex was closing in on the 48 before the yellow. Without that late caution he would have caught him with a few laps to spare. As it turned out he went for the win with four turns to go. I am not sure what his plan was once he got to the bottom of the hill on the outside, but he was alongside the 48 and had some contact. It would have been nice to stand on the podium, but it is hard to fault a young driver going for a win on the last lap in the last race of the season.”
The team took the opportunity to announce that they will continue in the TUDOR Championship in 2015 with the same driver line-up with Alex Job Racing under the management of Don Kitch Jr. and support from Gabe Newell.
The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship series will return to the track for the traditional Roar Before the 24 practice at Daytona International Speedway January 9-11, 2015 in preparation for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 22-25.