Last lap Ferrari glory at VIR
Last lap Ferrari glory at VIR
Ex-Formula 1 ace Giancarlo Fisichella pulled off a stunning last lap pass to clinch victory for Ferrari and Risi Competizione at Virginia International Raceway today.
Teamed with Pierre Kaffer, Fisichella pitted with 26 minute remaining for a splash of fuel and then began a chase of Wolf Henzler’s Porsche who was trying to stretch his fuel after pitting with 70 minutes remaining.
A late race yellow flag to retrieve the stricken Porsche of Michael Christensen allowed Fisichella to close up for the restart. Henzler was able to hold the Ferrari off for two laps before Fisichella was able to make a move down the inside on the back straight with only a couple of corners to go.
Henzler (teamed with Bryan Sellers) held on for second ahead of John Edwards and Dirk Mueller’s BMW. The victory was a great fightback for the Ferrari squad after Kaffer started from pole but slipped off track early in the race after contact with one of the Dodge Vipers.
GTLM Championship leader Antonio Garcia finished 7th – two spots behind points rival Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer. This cut the Spaniard’s lead back to six points. His regular teammate Jan Magnussen was forced to miss the race today after suffering concussion-like symptoms from yesterday’s practice crash.
Porsche driver Richard Lietz also missed the race after suffering a fractured arm in the impact. Remarkably, both the GTLM and GTD winners went back-to-back, winning consecutive races. Kaffer and Fisichella also won at Road America.
In the GTD ranks, Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala won again for BMW – putting Cameron into a five-way tie for the points lead. Patrick Dempsey and his co-driver Andrew David took their first TUDOR United SportsCar Championship podium with third place.
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