The Heart of Racing drivers Ian James (Phoenix) and Mario Farnbacher (Germany) finished third in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GTD class in today’s Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway.
James got a great jump at the race start in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Porsche and was in the top five heading into Turn One. This was great news, as the team had struggled with the Porsche’s set-up early in the weekend. But, the Alex Job Racing crew made some significant changes heading into this morning’s warm-up and those improvements were showing dividends early on in the Oak Tree Grand Prix. By lap 17, James was in fourth place and the lap times were on pace with the GTD class leaders.
James led the race briefly before bringing the No. 23 Porsche to pit lane for fuel, tires and a driver change on lap 30. That’s when Farnbacher got in.
“I had a pretty good start,” James said. “I got by the Viper at the beginning and almost passed the Aston Martin. I just tried to maintain pace with the leader. I think Dion [von Moltke] was leading in the Audi. I kept it about eight seconds [behind von Moltke] for the first hour. But, it’s really hard to get by the GT3 cars. It was a struggle out there today.”
By the time all of the pit stops cycled through, Farnbacher was fourth and only 15 seconds behind the GTD leader. Farnbacher did not waste any time getting the car up to speed, as he turned the fastest GTD lap (1:48.774) of the race at that point (lap 33). From there, he continued to push towards the front. On lap 71, Farnbacher got a bit of good fortune when the then third-place car spun a few turns in front of him. This allowed the the young German to inherit third place and he never looked back.
“Ian did a great job,” Farnbacher said. “He had great pace during his stint. During my first stint, the car’s balance was off. The rear was totally loose everywhere. We made some small changes for my second stint. I tried my best and the car was a little bit better, but still needs work. It’s a tough challenge against the GT3 cars. They have a lot more downforce than we do. They can protect more of their tires. It was easier for them to cut through the faster corners than we could.
“This is great for us to be on the podium. This gets us back in the Championship fight. It’s just awesome to be on the podium again.”
We were the top Porsche,” James said. “We’re still in the Championship hunt and the Heart of Racing keeps beating. We’re back on the podium where we belong.”
“Ian did a great job in that first stint,” Team Owner Alex Job said. “He kept us where we needed to be. Then, Mario did an awesome job in the second half of the race. Mario said he felt like the car was down on power. But, we think it might have been the heat because it was so hot today.
“We got a little bit of a gift at the end when the Audi went off. That allowed us to get the final position on the podium. But, that’s racing. We’ve certainly had our share of going off and falling off the podium in the past. This time is was our turn to reap the benefits from it. But, Ian, Mario and the whole 23 car team did a great job. We needed that podium after the last two big disappointments. Overall, today’s finish is a boost for the whole team – for both cars. Now, we go to COTA and we need to step it up again on both programs.”
With today’s finish, James and Farnbacher now have four podium finishes this season. They won at Sebring and Detroit and finished third at Mazda Raceway and VIR.
The next stop on the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship schedule is Circuit of The Americas and the Lone Star Le Mans Sept. 17-19.