Yesterday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America was the first event for the new Adjustment of Performance (AoP) package for the Porsche 911 RSR. With no previous on-track testing time with the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship rules package, the works program used the weekend to learn and, in the process, earned a fifth-place finish in class. The race proved a strong testing environment for the team with significant balancing of the field being seen against most of the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class competition. All three Porsche 911 RSRs entered at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin raced in the top five during the two-hour, 45-minute event. Ultimately, the best finishing position was the No. 912 Porsche North America factory entry in fifth. Its sister car finished tenth.
The No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR, driven by Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, California) and Michael Christensen (Denmark), challenged late for a podium position but would eventually finish fifth. The team’s attempt at returning to victory lane was made all the more impressive after the car spun on the second lap of the race. Long and Christensen fought back to run as high as third with 20-minutes remaining. Despite a valiant effort, they were passed twice in the closing stages but held on for the top-five result.
Patrick said, “The car was really good at the start on cold tires. Early in the race we were pressuring Auberlen [No. 55 BMW] for third and it was side-by-side and I got put up over the curb. It was either going to be damage for two cars or a spin for one and we got the short end of that deal. The team kept us right in it with strategy and the speed of the car was good. We were able to battle back. We didn’t have the straight line speed today and we had to yield to the Viper in the end.”
The Tudor United Sportscar Championship races next at Virginia International Raceway on August 23-24, 2014.