Long, Lindsey Rally for Near-Podium Finish after Early Penalty
Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX – March 2, 2013
In just the second race of its existence, the three-car, Dallas-based Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3 stable of racecars and drivers has shown it could be a serious contender for a GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series title before all is said and done in 2013 after a solid performance in Saturday’s inaugural GRAND-AM of The Americas at the beautiful, new Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
Porsche factory driver Patrick Long and his teammate Patrick Lindsey overcame a hefty early race penalty for contact deemed avoidable by Rolex Series officials and rallied for a fourth-place finish in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3. Lindsey admittedly got just a bit too ambitious while trying to overtake the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R of John Edwards in the opening 30 minutes of the race and spun into Edwards’ car between turns 11 and 12. Shortly after turning the No. 73 Porsche over to Long under yellow at the 33-minute mark of today’s 2-hour, 45-minute race, Long was called back into the pits under green-flag conditions to serve a 60-second penalty for the contact. That sent the Park Place car from the lead all the way back to 14th place, and Long executed a tremendous drive to the checkered flag, including a run from 12th place to his final finishing position of fourth in the final 25 minutes.
Long said, “We were 12th on my last restart with about 25 minutes to go. I knew I had a racecar but I also knew that track position was going to be difficult because this track doesn’t make it easy to get around guys. A lot of cars got together and we were able to avoid all the melees and make a couple of passes. Ran pretty hard with (Anthony) Lazarro and we had some fun. Once I got past him and (Mike) Skeen, I was pulling the 44 and the 58 and just ran out of time. This was this team’s first top-five. We’re excited because this is our home race and to have two cars in the top-10 is exciting and the 71 car had a good run. Excited to build on this momentum. We have a lot more potential to crack open and that has me really passionate and excited because I think that’s what motorsports is all about is to grow with an organization like this. There’s a certain motivation when you go to the Porsche Platz in the morning and there are 350 people there cheering for you. It’s a great opportunity to fly the flag and get the word out about what Park Place Motorsports is all about and what they want to do to help people buy and tune their first road car all the way to racing in the Rolex Series, and driver education and the PCA (Porsche Club of America) and all that. So it’s very satisfying to put all those Porsches up there at the front here today.”
About Park Place Motorsports: Park Place Motorsports is an extension of Dallas-based Park Place Dealerships, which represents upscale manufacturers Porsche, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Lexus, Bentley, Maserati, Lotus, Rolls-Royce, Volvo and Smart. Park Place Motorsports augments the unparalleled attention its dealerships provide by offering customers a premium level of support in relation to their motorsports activities. Services include maintenance and repair, driver and racecar support, and parts engineering and distribution. These offerings are authentically promoted by Park Place Motorsports’ flagship GT team in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.
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Information courtesy Park Place Motorsports.