Stuttgart. (Mid-Ohio) – With the third win of the season on the time-honoured circuit of Mid-Ohio, Porsche further extended its lead in the GT class championship of the Grand-Am Series in the USA. After a thrilling charge through the field from the last starting place on the grid, Dirk Werner (Germany) and Leh Keen (USA) snatched victory with their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup run by Farnbacher Loles Racing. In the prototype class, Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) narrowly missed out on a podium result with Penske Racing’s Porsche Riley to claim fourth.

From start to finish, the Porsche works pilots raced with the front-runners on the demanding circuit located in America’s Mid-West. With the #12 Porsche Riley, Romain Dumas had taken up the race from sixth position and used an early yellow flag phase to move up into third. After the driver change, Timo Bernhard experienced one anxious moment: fighting for second place in the 50th lap he left the track and rejoined the race in twelfth position. After 67 laps he was back in second, a promising 1.7 seconds behind the leader. However, in the final phase of this gripping race with many changes in the lead, he was again handicapped by the reduction of engine revs of the Porsche Riley as per the regulations. With fourth place, he yielded precious points towards the championship, in which the front-runners lie extremely close together after the first half of the season.

“This is a very good result for Porsche and Penske, even if it is rather discouraging to see how they pull away from us on the straights,” said Timo Bernhard. “Because of the regulations we are simply lacking enough power and we can’t do a thing. We gave the spectators a great show today which is very important but not our first priority. We want to win races.” Romain Dumas commented: “We had found a great setup and our strategy worked well. But it doesn’t help – our Porsche engine can not show its full potential due to the handicap of the rev limitations and we can not overtake on the straights. It’s a shame that it wasn’t quite enough for a podium result today.”

The second Porsche Riley fielded by Brumos Racing also performed well. Darren Law (USA), who again shares driving duties with David Donohue (USA), even managed to take over the lead position in the early part of the race. But towards the end the winner of the Daytona 24 hour race had to be satisfied with tenth place. Their teammates Joao Barbosa (Portugal) and JC France (USA) put in an even stronger drive to bring home fifth place in the second Brumos Porsche (number 59).

“That was like a sprint race with something happening in every lap. Everyone fought as well as they could,” said Joao Barbosa. Darren Law praised his car and his team: “With the regulation handicap we don’t have as much power as the others, but the handling of our car improves from race to race and our strategy put us in the lead. In the final phase of the race, David kept getting stuck in traffic otherwise we would certainly have finished further up the front.”

In the GT class, Dirk Werner and Leh Keen continue Porsche’s success story in Mid-Ohio. With their Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, they secured their third win of the season – thanks to a spectacular charge through the field from the last position on the grid. After setting pole position in qualifying, they were handed a penalty from the Sports Commission due to an alleged breach of the rules. But after 24 laps Keen was back in third place and after 38 laps he was leading, with Dirk Werner bringing victory home. Another win after Millville and Watkins Glen further extends the lead in the championship. Until shortly before the finish it even looked as if they would secure a double victory for Porsche. But in the penultimate lap the second 911 GT3 Cup of Farnbacher Loles Racing, manned by Dominik Farnbacher (Germany) and Eric Lux (USA), fell back in the field and saw the chequered flag in seventh place.

“To come from the very back of the field and win is totally cool,” said Leh Keen. “That was of course our plan, but to be honest before the race we would have been happy with a podium result just to defend our points’ lead. What a great result. Although I wanted to make up places as quickly as possible, I also needed to conserve my tyres and keep out of trouble. That worked very well.” His teammate Dirk Müller was full of praise for his chase through the field: “The way Leh ploughed through today was spectacular. I only had to bring the car over the finish line safely. I don’t really know how we can thank the boys at Farnbacher Loles enough – maybe with another victory at the next round.”

Round 7 of the Grand-Am Series takes place on 4th July
in Daytona in the US State of Florida.

Statistics: 6 of 12 races of the Grand-Am Series
in Mid-Ohio, OH

Race result

1. Pruett/Rojas (USA/MEX), Lexus Riley (DP), 111 laps
2. Jonsson/Zonta (USA/BRA), Ford Lola (DP), 111
3. Gurney/Fogarty (USA/USA), Pontiac Riley (DP), 111
4. Bernhard/Dumas (D/F), Porsche Riley (DP), 111
5. Barbosa/France (P/USA), Porsche Riley (DP), 111
6. Pew/Valiante (USA/CAN), Ford Riley (DP), 111
7. Friselle/Wilkins (USA/CAN), Ford Riley (DP), 111
8. Angelelli/Frisselle (MC/USA), Ford Dallara (DP), 111
9. Bouchut/Tucker (F/USA), BMW Riley (DP), 111
10. Donohue/Law (USA/USA), Porsche Riley (DP), 111

Result GT class

1. Werner/Keen (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 106 laps
2. Liddell/Davis (GB/USA), Pontiac GXP-R, 106
3. Collins/Edwards (USA/USA), Pontiac GXP-R, 106
4. Cameron/Sutherland (USA/USA), Mazda RX-8, 106
5. Assentato/Segal (USA/USA), Mazda RX-8, 106
6. Foster/Dempsey (USA/USA), Mazda RX 8, 106

Points’ standings

Drivers DP class

1. Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Lexus, 175 points
2. Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty, Pontiac, 164
3. Brian Friselle, Max Angelelli, Ford, 163
4. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Porsche, 162
5. David Donohue, Darren Law, Porsche, 148

Manufacturers DP class

1. Ford, 189 points
2. Lexus, 175
3. Porsche, 173

Drivers GT class

1. Dirk Werner, Leh Keen, Porsche, 186 points
2. Paul Edwards, Kelly Collins, Pontiac, 170
3. Robin Liddell, Andrew Davis, Pontiac, 166
4. Spencer Pumpelly, Porsche, 160
5. Eric Lux, Porsche, 159

Manufacturers GT class

1. Porsche, 198 points
2. Pontiac, 185
3. Mazda, 167

Facts and Figures

This is the Grand-Am Series

In the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series twelve races are contested in the USA and Canada. A traditional highlight of the season is the 24 Hours of Daytona. Most races run over a distance of 250 miles. The grid is made up of two different vehicle categories: Daytona Prototypes and GT vehicles. With one exception, both categories race together but are separately classified.

Daytona Prototypes (DP): Special manufacturers, like Riley, supply the vehicle chassis. To ensure equal chances for all, large manufacturers are not permitted to enter their own team, but may supply engines. Two Porsche teams, Penske Racing and Brumos Racing, compete with the Porsche 3.99-litre six-cylinder fitted in a Riley chassis. In the Daytona Prototype specification, the engine delivers ca. 510 hp. Minimum weight of the vehicle is 1,021 kilograms.

Grand Touring (GT): The GT class is similar to the FIA GT3 class, where the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup is one of the most successful contenders. Equality of chances is attained through tyre size, rev limitations and weight. Minimum weight is between 1,043 and 1,270 kilograms.

A balanced starter field ensures thrilling racing with tough fights for positions and many overtaking manoeuvres. Porsche has won the GT championship seven times in nine years, most recently in 2007 with Dirk Werner at the wheel of a Farnbacher Loles Racing 911 GT3 Cup, and with this is one of the most successful manufacturers in the Grand-Am Series. Porsche works driver Joerg Bergmeister claimed the Prototype class title in 2006.

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