CORE’s GT squad received plenty of attention at COTA. Not only did the team spend the week between Baltimore and Austin rebuilding the No. 06 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, but it was announced before today’s race that Porsche had selected CORE autosport as its competition partner for a two-car Porsche 911 RSR effort in the 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Colin Braun started the No. 06 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR from fourth and charged to second in the opening corner, but faded to eighth in the super competitive GT field. Braun handed the car over to Patrick Long in the team’s first pit stop, who rejoined the race in seventh.
As Long was reeling in the GT competition, the car lost drive unexpectedly on the front straight. With 45 minutes remaining in the race, Long came to a stop near the end of pit out. The team worked quickly to return the car to the paddock and assess the situation in hopes of returning to the race, but a failed Xtrac component in the gearbox forced the team to call it a day for the No. 06.
Patrick said, “We were focused on reeling in the 62 car. On the exit of the final corner I lost drive. It was an unfortunate way to end a race that I think was coming to us. Without yellows it was going to be tough to get onto the podium, so the goal was to push at a qualifying pace all the way to the end. It just wasn’t our day. It was a tremendous effort for the guys to build the car as quick as they did and unload on Tuesday and run in the top three right off the bat. We didn’t change one thing all day. It’s a testament to this group that works as a team like they’ve been together their whole lives and it’s an honor to be a part of this organization.
The way Colin was mixing it up in the beginning of the race with the GT veterans, you’d have thought he’d been racing with us all along. I expected that he would be strong because he’s so versatile and he didn’t disappoint. He brought the car home clean and that’s all I could have asked of him.”