Patrick Long and his IMSA Performance MATMUT team endured a trying race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, finishing 5th in the highly competitive GT2 class. Porsche did win the GT2 class, and recorded a 3rd place finish as well, so all was not lost for the German manufacturer. Long and his French teammates Patrick Pilet and Raymond Narac started the race from 5th position and ran solidly in the top five, keeping pace with the eventual winners until an unexpected clutch failure in the early morning hours.
GT2, as predicted, was a dogfight in 2010, with multiple highly competitive factory efforts from Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette and BMW. Attrition was among the themes of the race: the two-time defending Ferrari of Risi Competitzione retired with a mechanical issue near the halfway mark of the race, both Corvettes were out of the running with crash damage and the popular BMW ‘Art Car’ retired very early in the race as well.
Patrick said, “While we were gunning for the win, I’m satisfied with our 5th place finish. If not for our clutch issue, we would have been close to the leaders at the end of the race, given the pace we were running. I enjoyed driving with my French friends at IMSA Performance MATMUT for the fourth consecutive year – they’re a great group of guys and have a terrific ‘never-say-die’ spirit. All in all, it was a pretty great race for the Porsche family, with the Felbyrmayr Proton boys winning in GT2, BMS Scuderia Italia finishing 3rd, and of course, my friends Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller winning overall in the Audi R15 Plus. Le Mans is always a huge challenge, but it’s without question one of the highlights of the year. I love racing there, and I’m excited to go back in 2011!”
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Patrick’s Fan Page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=59855999746&ref=ts
Patrick on the web: https://www.patricklong.com
Patrick wishes to thank all his 2010 partners and sponsors for their support.
Porsche – https://www.porsche.com
Oakley – https://www.oakley.com
Club Corp – https://www.clubcorp.com
Troy Lee Designs – https://www.troyleedesigns.com
Speedware Motorsports – https://www.speedwaremotorsports.com
FRS Healthy Energy – https://www.frs.com
Photos courtesy © Rick Dole 2010