This weekend, March 5-6, Patrick Long returns to the Pirelli World Challenge seeking his second GT class driver’s championship in 2016. The 2011 World Challenge Champion has not raced in the series since taking the title five years ago. Long joins a strengthened commitment by Porsche to North America’s premier “sprint” format sports car racing series. The introduction of the current Porsche 911 GT3 R – based on the seventh-generation of the iconic rear-engined sports car – gives the United States’ only Porsche “works” driver the car to go head-to-head with Johnny O’Connell who, racing a Cadillac, has captured every championship since Long left the series.
Long, driving the No. 31 EFFORT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, will reunite with team engineer Stefan Pfeiffer. The pair first found success together with Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and with two American Le Mans Series GT2 titles. From there, they traveled to Flying Lizard Motorsports where they added two more championships to the tally. Long and Pfeiffer have also become an intricate part of Porsche Motorsport North America’s (PMNA) search for driver talent on the continent. Joined by other key personnel at IMSA, Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) and PMNA, the duo has helped select and guide up-and-coming talent at the annual Porsche Young Driver Academy. One such talent that benefited from the Young Driver Academy is Michael Lewis (Laguna Beach, California). Lewis, a 2014 “graduate” of the program, returns to EFFORT Racing in the No. 41 Porsche 911 GT3 R after a standout season in World Challenge in 2015.
Race 1 starts at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 5, with Race 2 scheduled for 2:15 p.m. CT on Sunday. Both races will be streamed live at https://world-challenge.com/streamvideo/
