Darren Law Takes 3rd Consecutive Podium in Brumos Porsche at Watkins
It was yet another podium finish for Darren Law and teammate David Donohue in the #58 Brumos Porsche as they took the checkered flag in 3rd place at this past Friday’s Crown Royal 200 at the short course format of Watkins Glen International Raceway.
Law and Donohue’s finish marks the duo’s 5th podium in the last six races of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No 16 season. Law and Donohue sit 3rd in the in driver’s championship points standings with a gap of 20 points to the current 2nd place #99 Gainsco Bob Stallings team. There are three races remaining in the 2008 Grand-Am season. Law also finished 7th at Road America in a Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche in the American Le Mans Series race the following day.
Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car SeriesThe Crown Royal 200 was held in conjunction with the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series. The busy weekend necessitated a condensed schedule, with one day for practice and qualifying on Thursday that led to the Daytona Prototype only race on Friday.
Coming off a heartbreaking podium finish the previous event in Montreal, where Law ran out of fuel while leading the race and within sight of the checkered flag, the team was eager to take to the track again. Law and Donohue were happy with the performance of the #58 Brumos Porsche Riley as it rolled off the trailer and were 6th quick in the first practice session and 3rd quick in the second session. Donohue then placed the #58 2nd on the grid for qualifying, with the other half of the front row occupied by the previous race winning #61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley of Brian Frisselle and Mark Willkins.
The 20-car DP field took the start of the two hour time limited Crown Royal 200 at 6:30 pm Friday evening amidst clear conditions but a damp circuit, with Donohue at the wheel of the #58 Brumos. Donohue has a spirited battle with the #99 Gainsco car of Jon Fogarty for several laps with the two exchanging the second place position several times. Eventually, the #99 assumed the position with Donohue closely in tow. David pitted on lap 31 at 41 minutes into the race and gave the #58 to Law. Several other teams pitted at the same time despite the green flag conditions in order to satisfy the Grand-Am mandated pit stop in the first 45 minutes of competition.
Law exited the pits in third and set out to track down the #99 which had maintained second place after the stop. Law was able to slowly close the gap to Fogarty’s car and eventually pulled up the gearbox of the Gainsco car in the closing stages of the race. Law was under pressure as well though, as two late race yellows allowed the #23 of Joey hand to get within striking distance of the #58. Law successfully fending off the #23 Ruby Tuesday backed Porsche Riley though, and was able to keep 3rd place until the checkered flag, for his second third place finish in two weeks.
American Le Mans SeriesLaw took a plane to Wisconsin the following morning for the Saturday Generac 500 at Road America presented by Time Warner Cable American Le Mans Series event. Practice and qualifying for the Road America race had started while Law was at Watkins Glen, but Darren was at least able to get aboard the #44 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche GT3RSR for the morning warm up before the 4 pm EST race.
Teammate Set Neiman had qualified the #44 the day before and placed the car 11th in the LMGT2 class field with an average speed of. Neiman started the scheduled four-hour race and eventually handed he #44 over to Law. Darren was able to turn competitive laps in the team’s Porsche GT3 RSR and ultimately helped to bring the #44 up to 7th position at the checkered flag.
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Darren Law"The Brumos Porsche was really good this weekend. David had another terrific qualifier and he drove a great stint as well. I was really happy about being able to close on the #99 towards the end of the race, I just didn’t quite have enough to be able to get by. We are definitely in the hunt though, and although the short course at the Glen might not favor our set up, the next couple tracks we go to have traditionally been good for us. We are pushing hard every weekend and really hope to get a win this season.
I had a decent race with the Flying Lizard guys as well. Seth (Neiman) did a good job, and when I got in, I just tried to keep moving us forward. I’ll have to wait to get back into the Lizard car until the Petite Le Mans race in Atlanta, as I have conflicting events for the next two rounds."
Up NextDarren heads to Sonoma California next the weekend of August 21-23 for the Grand-Am Armed Forces 250 at Infineon Raceway. Law and Donohue narrowly missed winning the race last year, and are hoping to take the top step of the podium this year.
