Porsche’s IMSA GTLM Team Suffers BOP Blues At VIR
Porsche GT teams can do no better than 7th and 8th, last among the finishers.
With only two rounds remaining in the IMSA Weathertech, Porsche has some serious work ahead of them to regain the momentum they've lost this weekend at Virginia International Raceway. Porsche's team of champion-grade drivers could not get their mid-engine 911s to compete with anything else on the grid. Heading into the weekend they were fairly confident, but after a dismal qualifying effort, a dark cloud fell over their projected results for the weekend. The team didn't put a foot wrong or make any kinds of major mistakes throughout the race, but there was nothing they could do to claw back any kind of advantage. Reading the team's quotes on the race you get a sense that they're saying 'On to the next one, fellas, we're done here.'
Marco Ujhasi, Director GT Factory Motorsports: “After the qualifying it was obvious that the race would be difficult for us. Because we have a significantly lower top speed than our opponents, we had to come up with a special strategy on this track with its long full-throttle passages. However, for our strategy to work, we needed safety car phases, and there weren’t any today. We tried everything, but all in all it was a very difficult weekend for us. I hope that the IMSA authorities will take a very close look at this race and draw the appropriate conclusions. Then I’m confident that we’ll be back up amongst the frontrunners at the next race in Laguna Seca.”
Laurens Vanthoor (911 RSR #912): “That’s obviously not the result we wanted to fly home with. Our 911 RSR ran well and I had a good feeling in the car. Everyone could see that we didn’t have the pace, especially on the straights. The effect was particularly noticeable on this racetrack.”
Gianmaria Bruni (911 RSR #912): “Aside from the lack of top speed, the race for us ran without any problems. The team worked well over the entire weekend. What came out in the end, however, is frustrating, but it’s no reason to hang our heads. As a team, we have to pull together again and do better at Laguna Seca.”
Patrick Pilet (911 RSR #911): “That was a difficult weekend. Especially for me because I made mistake in Corner 5 and I ended up in the grass. But even without this setback, we were still simply not fast enough.”
Dirk Werner (911 RSR #911): “As expected, the race was difficult. As always, we were well prepared. But our pace was not good enough, especially on this racetrack, where our lack of engine power was particularly noticeable. For the time being we have to accept this, but I hope the situation looks better again for the last two races.”
