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It may have been Farnbacher Racing USA's first time racing at Daytona, but they made it seem easy by being the only GT team to finish in the top ten, taking the GT victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona by three laps.
Wolf Henzler, Dominik Farnbacher, Shawn Price and Pierre Ehret drove the No. 71 Farnbacher Racing USA Porsche GT3 Cup, starting on the pole and leading much of the 24 hours.
The No. 37 TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup of Mike Fitzgerald, Manuel Matos, Emil Assentato and Nick Longhi finished second, while third went to the No. 61 TRG East Porsche GT3 Cup of Robert Nearn, Dave Lacey, David Shep, Greg Wilkins and Mark Wilkins. Henzler started the race, and while Randy Pobst led the first lap in the No. 36 TPC Racing Porsche, Henzler was soon in the lead. He had plenty of open track ahead of him since race officials decided to start the GT class about ten seconds behind the Daytona Prototypes.
Shortly after two hours, the No. 71 Farnbacher Porsche ducked into the pits when a caution period began. Flying Lizard Motorsports took over the lead in the No. 75 Porsche GT3 Cup. The Lizards continued to lead until the start of hour four, when they got a flat left rear tire. That was just the beginning of their bad luck, since just a few minutes later they were involved in a three-car crash during the third caution period.
The No. 81 Team Seattle/Synergy Racing Porsche came up too quickly on the No. 93 TPC Racing Porsche, and the ensuing crash caught up the No. 75 Porsche. The car lost its right-side door and the right front suspension was severely damaged, sending Flying Lizard Motorsports to the pits. The No. 36 Porsche took the lead again and was ahead of the No. 71 after four hours. The No. 00 Aussie Assault Porsche GT3 Cup was not far behind the top two spots.
TPC Racing held onto the lead through the sixth hour, when they made a routine pit stop and Farnbacher Racing USA moved to the front. The top GT cars stayed close, and the running order changed every time the leaders came into the pits. Aussie Assault took the lead in the eighth hour.
While the leaders seemed to be running without any hitches, the race ended early for Prototype Technology Group. Problems with both their No. 21 and 22 BMW M3's put both of the cars in the garages before the halfway point. It was a disappointing end for the team that was nearly unstoppable in 2004. During hour nine, the Farnbacher Porsche went to the front of the class again and they began to build up a comfortable gap over the No. 36 TPC Racing Porsche. After 12 hours of racing, the No. 71 led by two laps.
TPC Racing was also pulling away from the field and boasted a three-lap lead over the No. 51 Red Bull Ebimotors Porsche GT3 Cup. In the nighttime hours after the halfway point, Farnbacher Racing USA extended their lead. The No. 51 Red Bull entry gave up third to the No. 61 Porsche GT3 Cup of TRG East. The No. 36 TPC Porsche was still holding down a solid second.
TPC Racing's No. 37 Porsche GT3 Cup was doing well, moving up to third. Things were about to take a turn for the worse for their No. 36 Porsche, however. At the start of hour 19, the No. 36 team suffered heartbreak when the No. 2 Daytona Prototype got into a tangle with them. The car's race was over, although the No. 37 Porsche moved into second, keeping TPC Racing's podium hopes alive. Third place then fell to the No. 73 Baldwin-Tafel Racing Porsche GT3 Cup.
As the race entered the final few hours, the No. 73 fell back and third went to the No. 61 TRG East Porsche. When the checkered flag flew, Farnbacher Racing USA was tenth overall after steadily moving up the field as Daytona Prototypes suffered crashes and mechanical problems during the night. The No. 37 TPC Racing entry was 11th overall, and the No. 61 TRG East Porsche was two laps behind in third, taking 12th overall.
"We did so well because we're racing with such an incredible team," said Ehret. "Having these two excellent drivers on the team, Wolf and Dominik, set us away from the other drivers and helped us keep the pace that got us the win."
"We expected Flying Lizard to be some competition but they had an accident at the beginning," commented Henzler. "Also the 36 car was so close to us, but at the end they had an accident."
Das Ergebnis:
1. Angelelli/Taylor/Collard (Pontiac-Riley) 710 Rd.
2. Leitzinger/Forbes-Robinson/Johnson (Pontiac-Crawford) 11 Rd. zur.
3. Wallace/Lammers/Stewart (Pontiac-Crawford) 11 Rd. zur.
4. Johansson/McMurray/Wagner (Lexus-Riley) 12 Rd. zur.
5. Gollin/Bobbi/Theys (Lexus-Doran) 13 Rd. zur.
6. Dixon/Manning/Mears (Lexus-Riley) 16 Rd. zur.
7. Pruett/Diaz/Briscoe (Lexus-Riley) 22 Rd. zur.
8. Donohue/Law/Luhr/Maassen (Porsche-Fabcar) 30 Rd. zur.
9. Magnussen/Labonte/Herta (Pontiac-Doran) 35 Rd. zur.
10. Henzler/Farnbacher/Price/Ehret (Porsche) 46 Rd. zur. (1. GT-Klasse) |