AUSTIN, Texas (Sept. 20, 2014) – Heartbreak for Porsche resulted in a banner day for the Dodge Viper SRT program Saturday in the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas.
After a late-race mechanical failure ended the day for the race-leading No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR of Nick Tandy, the No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R of Jonathan Bomarito capitalized by taking the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class lead and finishing off a one-two finish for SRT Motorsports.
With their second victory of the season, Bomarito and co-driver Kuno Wittmer unofficially took over the GTLM points lead, 300-293, over Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia heading into in the season-ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta on Oct. 4.
“When you come to Texas, you go big,” said Wittmer, who started the race from the pole. “Winning one-two is quite a gift.
“We started the season saying we’ve got to win this thing. Given the hard, fierce battles that we have on track with the world-class drivers and the state-of-the-art teams out there, [the championship] is still going to come down to Petit Le Mans. This thing is far from being won.”
Enjoying a sizeable lead, Tandy seemed poised to pick up his second victory of the season in the No. 911 Porsche, but lost drive with 18 minutes remaining. That put Bomarito into the lead and he went on to win by 1.267 seconds over teammate Marc Goossens. It was the first one-two race sweep for Dodge Viper since returning to major-league sports car racing in 2012.
All of the podium finishers used Michelin tires. Michelin clinched the inaugural TUDOR Championship Tire Manufacturers’ title on Saturday.
Goossens and co-driver Dominik Farnbacher matched their season-best finish of second in the No. 91 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R, finishing 20 seconds ahead of the third-place duo of Patrick Long and Michael Christensen in the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR.
Struggling for much of the day, the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R of Garcia and Jan Magnussen entered the race with the points lead, but finished ninth and now trails by seven points with one race remaining. Goossens and Farnbacher enter the 10-hour season finale 17 points out of the lead, 300-283.
“Every single driver in GTLM goes into the year, in their mind, thinking and knowing they can win the championship,” said Bomarito. “To be doing it against those quality names, teams, and manufacturers is special.”
The Lone Star Le Mans will be telecast Sunday on FOX network (check your local listings).
TEXAS NATIVE KEATING, BLEEKEMOLEN WIN GTD IN DODGE VIPER SRT GT3-R
Texas native Ben Keating joined co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen in scoring the GT Daytona (GTD) victory. It was the second win this season for the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R team and the third podium in the last four races.
With 31 minutes remaining in the two-hour, 45-minute race, Bleekemolen passed the No. 300 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 of Dane Cameron and cruised to a one-lap victory over the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America of Andy Lally and John Potter.
“Home is two hours away from here,” said Keating, who lives in nearby Tomball and owns nine dealerships in the Houston area. “It is definitely sweet to win on home turf with so many customers and friends supporting, in a Viper. I have to tip my hat to Jeroen, just an incredible drive. There were a few guys who spun and a few who had damage and we were able to keep it clean and work our way up there. It’s just really sweet.”
Coming into Saturday’s race at Circuit of The Americas, five drivers representing three teams and three different manufacturers were tied in the GTD championship race. A third-place finish for Cameron and co-driver Markus Palttala makes Cameron the GTD points leader entering the season-ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda.
Cameron unofficially holds a four-point lead, 275-271, over No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America co-drivers Cooper MacNeil and Leh Keen, who finished fifth in the race. The No. 555 REVO/Robert Graham Ferrari 458 Italia of Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell finished eighth. Bell and Sweedler enter Road Atlanta trailing by seven points, 275-268.
The season-ending race at Road Atlanta is also the final round of the four-race Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. The Patrón Endurance includes the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen and concludes with the Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda.
