Just prior to the drop of the green flag for Saturday’s Rolex 24, things took a turn for the worse when the No. 58 Porsche 911 GT3 R made contact with the barriers between turns four and five. This left the car with significant damage to the left front corner, but with 24-hours on the clock the John Wright-led team wasn’t prepared to back down. Following a two-hour and eight-minute repair, with all hands on deck, the Porsche entered the race 81-laps down.
From there, it was all about the big picture – championship points. With that at stake, the Ohio-based team didn’t miss a beat. The crew completed flawless pit stops, each of the four drivers saw some of the quickest GT Daytona laps and the Porsche performed at a level that would’ve been deemed as highly competitive.
Through attrition and a mistake-free remainder of the race, the Wright Motorsports team ultimately saw the checkered flag from the nineteenth position. This allowed them to not only earn valuable championship points, but to grow closer as a unit and develop important skills by enduring with a variety of conditions throughout a less pressure-filled race.
With that, Wright Motorsports has every intention of returning stronger than ever March 14-17 for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Patrick said, “I’m proud of the effort this team put forward after an unexpected and turbulent start. Endurance racing always has a way of dealing you a card you have never seen and today was no exception. After the incident our focus was to race as hard as possible and hold hope of maximum points toward the end of the season championship. Our car and crew didn’t miss a beat. Thank you our partners Porsche Consulting and Porsche Digital for standing behind us, literally. We will shake this off and focus toward Sebring.”
