Patrick Long and teammate Marc Lieb began the Pirelli World Challenge doubleheader weekend at Lime Rock Park in style Friday, setting pole, claiming a race win and setting fast race lap in the first of two SprintX races. In the compressed schedule, practice, qualifying and the opening race of the doubleheader were Friday, and the No. 58 Wright Motorsports crew rolled off the truck in fine shape.
“This is some redemption after last week at CTMP with the second-place finish,” said Long, the 2011 PWC GT champion. “It feels reminiscent of last year when Michael and I won at CTMP with double wins. The race was everything you expect from Lime Rock. We play the patient game today as we looked for the proper holes. The race was pretty straight forward from the start. Spencer (Pumpelly) kept me honest through the traffic. It’s always good racing with Spencer. He is a class act. It’s been a great working with Marc and trying to convince him to come out of retirement.
Saturday’s race (SprintX Round 6) was a slightly different story, as Lieb was shoved off track and out of the race on the opening lap. Both Lieb and championship contender Ryan Dalziel were contacted by a Ferrari, which subsequently was assessed a stop-and-go penalty. Making up somewhat for the No. 58’s DNF Saturday was the fact that the sister car for Wright Motorsports, the No. 16 driven by Michael Schein and Jan Heylen won both races in the GT Pro/Am class.
“It was unfortunate for the No. 58 car,” said Jan Heylen. “By the time I got to turn one, Marc was already going backwards and sliding off the track. I was just trying not to hit anyone and get through the mess in turn one. We kinda got away with it on that start. We had a good car today and that makes the job a lot easier for us. Everyone raced really clean today after the start. I started on the inside and Marc, unfortunately was already in the guardrail. I was able in inside and it was a fun race for us after that.”
The Pirelli World Challenge season continues next at Road America, June 23-25.
