A great fuel and tire strategy, along with mistake-free driving from Colin Braun (Ovalo, Tex.) and Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, Calif.) propelled the GT-class CORE autosport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to a second-place finish in the American Le Mans Series’ Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway today. Coming from near the back of the field after a disappointing grid position, Braun started the CORE car and moved up as others in the class either made mistakes or lost time in the pits.
“We had planned a particular pace, and I kept on that pace without a mistake,” said Braun. “Our alternate fuel and tire strategy put us in position to avoid a tire change when we came in for the last yellow, moving Patrick into first place with 35 minutes to go.”
While hoping for his first ALMS victory of 2013, Long was pleased with the results.
“It was the best place to be in terms of track position. The crew got the job done in the pits and set us up for a great run. The balance being defensive, but not over defensive. I was trying to not overdrive my tires while still holding the Ferrari off. Once he got by me down the back straight it was about putting my head down and doing qualifying laps until the end trying to hold off the Corvette. Colin did an excellent job in his opening stint. He ran extra long which set us up to take on less fuel and no tires in the last stop. We took the risk and went off sequence. It wasn’t our day pace-wise, but there’s more to a race than lap times. I was looking for the GTC traffic. Normally when you have a lead, you’re dreading traffic, but at that point it was the only bullet I had left in the chamber. Luckily we got to those guys just in time, otherwise it would have been tough to hang on to a podium.
It’s been a tough couple of rounds and this is giving us good momentum heading into Petit Le Mans. The team did a great job of staying focused and getting the job done all weekend long.”