Grand-Am – Laguna Seca – GT Race Report
TRG 1-2 Just as Ryan Briscoe did at Utah the same day, Andy Lally brought his Porsche home on the last of its fuel, to win this GT only race at Laguna Seca – and exactly as in the DP race the following day, it finished under caution. That was the fourth FCC of the day, and came about because Andrew Davies spun the #72 Tafel Porsche at T11. Moments before, Lally had nipped past Kelly Collins’ Pontiac (T11, lap 90), so the result was set as soon as the yellows came out.
Lally’s win, with RJ Valentine, owed a lot to some clever strategy, the man who also drives prototypes running a 66 lap stint to the end. He moved up and up, while any late stoppers slumped back down. RJ Valentine had started as low as 16th on the grid. "It is a huge deal," said Andy Lally, who only led the last few (caution) laps. "The really cool thing is, this is my first win here. I've had two second-place finishes in Rolex and I had a third-place finish here in Barber Dodge a long, long time ago. I just mentioned to Kevin (Buckler), we've got two seconds and a third, and we really need a win here. It was wonderful to come through. It's one of those things where it clicked just right, and our guys just did an awesome job. I've got to thank RJ, my engineer and Kevin for the three of them getting together and helping me build a real good car this weekend. I've got to say the handling was just unbelievable. I've also got to thank the guys who raced me clean, because the last three guys that we picked off were all very much gentlemen, and nobody was trying to cut my nose off." Valentine only drove the first 15 laps, so it was mainly a Lally affair, with significant inputs from the team of course. Second was another TRG Porsche, driven by Daniel DiLeo and Ross Smith, and this one benefited from one of the “second chance” wave bys, otherwise it would have been a lap down. Such is racing in Grand-Am. Third were VIR winners Dirk Werner / Bryce Miller, ahead of the Collins / Edwards Pontiac. Collins’ team misjudged things and he had to pit for a splash of gas after being passed by Lally. “Finishing 1-2, to me, that's dominance,” said Kevin Buckler. “We did it several times with the Pontiacs and we also had a really special 1-2 at Watkins Glen in our Daytona Prototypes when we came out our first year, but this was a hard-fought one. This might be the best of all, because we've really worked hard on bringing these Porsches up to speed and getting all the tricks back in our toolbox. We've got them. The team did a great job, too. The pit stops and the strategy were just flawless. We didn't make any mistakes and that's what you have to do with this competitive of a field, so we're happy." The Farnbacher-Loles Porsches were quick, but Craig Stanton, sharing with Leh Keen, pitted for fuel too late (lap 77), Keen taking over in tenth. He got back up to sixth. Dirk Werner (who set the fastest lap) was ahead of Collins’ Pontiac when the German had to stop for fuel. Werner rejoined in fifth, and took the last podium spot by passing the Pontiacs of Collins (in the pits) and Drew Staveley, sharing the #30 Racers Edge GXP.R with James Gue.
“We are here to win the championship, so that's our aim,” said Dirk Werner. “I think this race here was really the hardest one we've had. We got 75 pounds extra and an air restrictor, and this was one point we really struggled with. The other thing is, this race had the most incidents up to now. I had contact with the Mazdas, the (No.) 70 car as well as the (No.) 69 car. The car had a little problem with the toe because of the contact in the first lap, so it was really difficult to drive it. I think the key to our success here was the great work of the pit crew. They did very good work. In the end, I'm very confident with the race."
Sylvain Tremblay and Nick Ham in the #70 Mazda were well in contention, with Ham leading early on, Tremblay later chasing Stanton. To conclude a long battle with Werner’s Porsche, the two touched on lap 53 in Turn 2 and Tremblay never challenged again, dropping to seventh. Tafel Racing had a bad day, Lux the first retirement in #74, while Davies and Swartzbaugh finished 17th. Tremblay / Ham (152) lead Werner by eight points, with distant Lime Rock next. Result
1 66 GT TRG Andy Lally / RJ Valentine Porsche GT3 Cup 92 laps 2:29:56.387 1.29.476
2 65 GT TRG Ross Smith / TBA Porsche GT3 Cup –0.231 1.29.785
3 87 GT Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Bryce Miller / Dirk Werner Porsche GT3 Cup –1.273 1.29.534
4 07 GT Banner Racing Pontiac Paul Edwards / Kelly Collins GXP.R –2.148 1.29.414
5 30 GT Racers Edge Motorsports TBA Pontiac GXP.R –4.411 1.29.593
6 85 GT Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Leh Keen / Craig Stanton Porsche GT3 Cup –6.778 1.29.198
7 70 GT SpeedSource Sylvain Tremblay / Nick Ham Mazda RX-8 –7.891 1.29.648
8 22 GT Alegra Motorsports Carlos de Quesada / Jean-Francois Dumoulin Porsche GT3 Cup –8.608 1.29.910
9 69 GT SpeedSource Emil Assentato / Nick Longhi Mazda RX-8 –21.477 1.29.702
10 06 GT Banner Racing Leighton Reese / Tim Lewis Jr. Pontiac GXP.R –39.319 1.29.423
11 43 GT Team Sahlen Wayne Nonnamaker / Joe Nonnamaker Corvette –78.955 1.30.119
12 67 GT TRG Spencer Pumpelly / Bob Heniff Porsche GT3 Cup 91 laps 1.30.141
13 21 GT Matt Connolly Motorsports Matt Connolly / TBA Pontiac GTO.R 1.29.845
14 64 GT TRG Jim Lowe / Jim Pace Porsche GT3 Cup 90 laps 1.30.828
15 27 GT O'Connell Racing Kevin O'Connell / Mike Speakman Porsche GT3 RS 1.31.708
16 17 GT Doncaster Racing Dave Lacey / Greg Wilkins Porsche GT3 Cup 1.30.957
17 72 GT Tafel Racing Andrew Davis / Nathan Swartzbaugh Porsche GT3 Cup 88 laps 1.30.244
18 81 GT Synergy Racing Patrick Huisman / Steve Johnson Porsche GT3 Cup 68 laps 1.30.806
19 35 GT Playboy Racing / Unitech David Murry / Mike Borkowski Nissan 350Z 37 laps 1.32.472
20 42 GT Team Sahlen Joe Sahlen / Will Nonnamaker Corvette 32 laps 1.31.656
21 15 GT Blackforest Motorsports Tom Nastasi / David Empringham Mustang Cobra GT 19 laps 1.30.996
22 74 GT Tafel Racing Eric Lux / Ian James Porsche GT3 Cup 14 laps 1.29.657 |
