A big Texas win for Viper
A big Texas win for Viper
The SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper team wasn’t necessarily looking for a win at the Circuit of The Americas this weekend as they were mainly focused on the Championship battle, but they came out more than victorious in Texas.
The Dodge Viper SRT team swept the top two spots in the GTLM class and took over the Championship standings.
The pole-sitting #93 car of Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer crossed the finish line first ahead of teammates Marc Goossens and Dominik Farnbacher in the #91.
“When you come to Texas, you go big. Winning 1-2 is quite a gift. The opening stint was quite difficult. A lot of tricks were being playing around on the track. There was a lot of debris and a lot of traffic,” said Wittmer.
“As a starting driver, we start on the qualifying tires so there is a little less grip versus the sticker tire. It was about keeping the nose clean and being patient and not putting the car in any position that we could get hurt. Races are won when you have the least amount of time on pit lane.”
The #93 car didn’t lead from start to finish though as the #911 Porsche 911 RSR lead for the most part. With about 20 minutes to go, it looked more like the SRT Motorsports team would have to settle for second and third in the GTLM class as they trailed the Porsche by 36 seconds.
However, with about 17 minutes to go, the #911 Porsche pulled into the pits with a problem, handing the GTLM lead to Bomarito.
“Kuno had an amazing first stint. That first stint is a hard one, dealing with the GT cars and PC cars. It’s a hard time to get through. Hat’s off to Kuno, we got the car back in one piece,” added Bomarito.
“The rest of the race was maintaining the gap, but pushing hard still. Traffic is tough here and for SRT Motorsports to finish 1-2 today and the GTD car to win. It’s just a great day for Riley Motorsports and Dodge Motorsports.”
The race winning pair of Bomarito and Wittmer came into the Lone Star Le Mans six points back in the GTLM Driver Championship standings and with their win today, they now have a seven point lead over Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia, who finished ninth in class with co-driver Jan Magnussen.
“We started the season saying we’ve got to win this thing,” continued Wittmer. “I don’t think it was up until Indianapolis, when we got our first win that was ever so sweet, that we said we’re in a good position now.
“Given the hard fierce battles that we have on track with the world-class drivers and the state of the art teams out there, it’s still going to come down to Petit. This thing is far from being won. I told Jonathan this race would be the turning point, in either somebody’s favor or against them. No, I didn’t think we’d be looking at each other like this. So it feels pretty good.”
All wasn’t lost though for the Porsche North America team as the #912 Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Long and Michael Christensen finished on the last step of the podium.
The Risi Competizione team of Giancarlo Fischella and Pierre Kaffer placed fourth with the #910 Porsche 911 RSR of Fred Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet coming in fifth after start last.
In the GTD class, the #33 Dodge Viper SRT of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating came away with the win ahead of the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America of Andy Lally and John Potter. The #300 Turner Motorsport BMZ Z4 of Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala completed the GTD podium.
The final round of the 2014 TUDOR United Championship season, the Petit Le Mans, takes place Oct 4 at Road Atlanta in a two weeks time.
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