BATAVIA, OH (June 11, 2019) – The longer the wait, the sweeter the triumph. Wright Motorsports proved just that after Patrick Long and Scott Hargrove drove the No. 58 Porsche Consulting Porsche 911 GT3 R to a breakthrough win at Sonoma Raceway.
The weekend started on a high for the SRO America squad after Saturday morning’s qualifying rounds. The first of two sessions saw both Imperato and Hargrove qualify second in each of their respective classes. Race 2 qualifying saw Campbell put the No. 91 on the overall pole by blistering 6-tenths, while Long claimed third for the No. 58.
At the Start of Race 1, both Hargrove and Imperato dipped back to third, but didn’t miss a beat as the Porsche Selected found himself in a two-way Bentley battle and Imperato filled Sofronas’s mirrors for second in Pro/Am. Unfortunately what had been a promising run went south for Hargrove after a hard-luck pitstop dropped Long back to fifth overall, where he ultimately finished the race. Campbell, who had taken over the controls of the No. 91, put on a stellar show, holding off Werner to take a second place podium for Imperato and himself in Pro/Am.
Race 2 started off strong with Campbell on the overall pole and Long in the third place slot. Before competitors could complete the first lap, Race Control issued a full-course yellow to retrieve a disabled car. At the restart both Wright Motorsports Porsche maintained their positions, with Campbell stretching his lead by a second every two laps.
The moment the pit window opened the Long dove into the box, handing the Porsche Consulting machine off to Hargrove, who beat the second place Ferrari out of the pits. By the time Campbell passed the No. 91 off to Imperato, the Porsche had an 8-second advantage over the No. 58. It was only a few laps later when Hargrove overtook Imperato, putting the No. 58 Porsche into the overall lead.
There was no shortage of caution periods during the second half of the race as both Hargrove and Imperato maintained their composure through the restarts. Despite a front splitter issue that handicapped the No. 91 Porsche, Imperato was able to put his head down and cross the line in a third place podium position. Meanwhile, Hargrove continued to control the field, stretching his margin to 1.8-seconds, before taking the checkered flag and earning the overall victory for Wright Motorsports, Patrick Long and Porsche.
Patrick said, “Victory at last! After a tricky Race 1 where we knew we had a car that could’ve battled for first, this was the best way to seek redemption. This was such an amazing effort by the entire Wright Motorsports organization. It was also great to do in the back yard of Porsche Consulting. We’ll push on to a little bit of a break before Watkins Glen.”
