Grand-Am Series, round 10 in Montreal, Canada
Heading onto the finish straight of the season, the Grand-Am Series visits Canada to race on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal this coming Saturday. The clear points’ leaders Dirk Werner (Germany) and Leh Keen (USA) aim to secure their fifth win of the season with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Farnbacher Loles Racing and to pull away further from their rivals in their campaign for the GT class title.
The comfortable points’ lead they built up with wins in Millville, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio and Daytona allows them to take things relatively easy for the final three races. ‘We don’t have the pressure now to win and risk everything,’ says Dirk Werner. ‘First and foremost, the points are what counts and not wins. Still, we will of course keep doing our very best.’ Should they miss out on victory, as they did by a mere 0.774 seconds recently at the second Watkins Glen race, it is not a major setback. Leh Keen says: ‘We’ve won four out of nine races so far, and climbed the podium six times. We can be proud already at this stage.’
In the Grand-Am Daytona Prototype class, Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) take up the race on the 4.36 kilometre Grand Prix circuit on the Ile de Notre Dame with the #12 Porsche Riley. The pair yielded third at the races in Millville and the six hour race in Watkins Glen. And at the second Watkins Glen round a top three result was within reach. Timo Bernhard handed the Penske Racing-run prototype to Romain Dumas in the lead, who lost the almost certain podium result with a damaged tyre. In Montreal they are hoping for more luck. Timo Bernhard: ‘If we could just bring home another podium result – that would be a well deserved reward for the team’s untiring efforts.’
Brumos Racing, the successful customer team from Jacksonville/Florida, fields two Porsche Riley. Sharing the #58 vehicle are David Donohue (USA) and Darren Law (USA), who won the most prestigious race of the year at the season-opening 24 Hours at Daytona. Their teammates, Joao Barbosa (Portugal) and JC France (USA), third place-getters in Daytona, man the #59 Porsche Riley in Montreal.
Contesting the GT class alongside points’ leaders Dirk Werner and Leh Keen are Eric Lux (USA) and Bryan Sellers (USA) for Farnbacher Loles Racing. The teams TRG and Miller Barrett Racing have entered two more 911 GT3 Cup.
The race in Montreal starts on Saturday, 29 August, at 14.15 hours local time (20.15 CEST) and runs over 200 miles.
- Porsche
