The GTC category is often dizzy with lead changes and it was more of the same at Mid-Ohio. Spencer Pumpelly and Duncan Ende were one of the few duos to avoid penalties or spinning in the rain, thus enabling them to score their second GTC win in a row and third straight for TRG.
“It was a good win,” Pumpelly said. “I gotta give credit to the guys in the faster cars because I know I had a hard time. Some of those guys that pitted earlier really deserve a hats off; it was hard to keep car at speed. There was really not a lot of drama for us except wondering if we`re going to go green or not. I thought the win was already ours when Duncan handed it over. He did a good job hanging on to the lead…Thanks to Wolf. I was just following him most of the time (in the rain). I was just lifting on the straight-aways because there was so much water.”
“The TRG guys gave us a great car,” Ende added. “We rolled off the truck and had a bit of a tire situation on the test day. During the race we had a bit of a mix up with a back GT car. About 45 min into the stint I begin to feel it like we had the hardware to make it stand.”
Defending race winner Black Swan Racing came ready to defend its title, but a delaminated tire near the one-hour, 30-minute mark sent Jeroen Bleekemolen back in the No. 54 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup he shares with Tim Pappas. The rain was nothing but good news for Bleekemolen, who splashed through the chaos for a runner-up finish.
Back for its first race since Long Beach, Magnus Racing scored its second GTC podium finish with drivers Craig Stanton and John Potter.
ESPN2 will air the Mid-Ohio race at 10 p.m. ET on Sunday.
- ALMS
