Patrick Lindsey just missed out on taking his third TOTAL Pole Award of the season, qualifying second in the No. 73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT America. His co-driver, Spencer Pumpelly, had the momentum from scoring his third Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge victory of the season on Saturday – the first victory at VIR for the native of Mason Neck, Virginia.

But the team ran in to problems before the green flag even waved.

 

“We discovered we had a gear box temperature issue,” Lindsey explained. “Two hours before going to the grid to do our recon lap we had to pull the gearbox to check a few shifting abnormalities we were having. I think in the haste there was a coolant line that wasn’t put on correctly, and things weren’t triple checked like we normally do. It was a small enough issue that we had to go behind the wall.”

 

Starting third, Lindsey tucked in behind pole sitter Dion von Moltke’s Audi and the eventual winning Ferrari of Bill Sweedler, and ran in third for the opening half hour. Then he pitted on lap 18 and went behind the wall, where the team worked on the car for 90 minutes.

“It was a small enough issue to cause us to go behind the wall,” Lindsey said. “We had a high temperature in the gearbox; we didn’t want to risk anything, so better to go back [to the paddock] and pull it off.

 

“Instead of having a really, really bad day, we just had a regular bad day.”

 

The team worked for 52 laps before returning Lindsey to the race. While the No. 73 Porsche was unable to regain any positions, both drivers met the driving time needed to score points for a 10th-place finish.

 

“There was nothing wrong with the car; because of some temperatures inside the gearbox, the driveline and differential work differently when it gets too hot,” Lindsey said.  “Rather than chance anything, we fixed it.”

 

While Lindsey and Pumpelly slipped to eighth in the GTD standings with 203 points, they are only 12 points behind fourth-place Mario Farnbacher and Ian James, drivers of Alex Job Racing’s No. 23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT America.

Bamber Wasn’t Concerned Over Closing Laps: Some of the best racing in the Oak Tree Grand Prix was for second in the lead GTLM class, a position contested throughout the entire race between the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR of Earl Bamber and Joerg Bergmeister and the No. 62 Scuderia Ferrari F458 Italia of Pierre Kaffer and Giancarlo Fisichella. 

 

The position changed hands three times on the opening lap, with Kaffer taking the advantage, setting up a race-long battle. While the Porsche began to stretch its lead later in the race, Kaffer erased a 30-second deficit over the final hour to challenge Bamber for second on the final lap. 

 

Countering the threat with a strong run out of the final turn, Bamber held on to win the battle for the runner-up position, finishing 0.575 seconds ahead of the Ferrari at the stripe.

 

“We had good pace, so I just managed the tire throughout the stint so we pull the gap,” Bamber said. “But then we had a few laps with bad traffic, so he caught right back up. Then the fuel light came on during the last lap. But it was all good; we were pretty comfortable that we could keep him behind. I knew when I followed him early in the race that it’s really hard to follow close with the aero. I knew we could do the job. 

 

“It was a great job by the entire Porsche North America team,” Bamber added. “Another 1-2, we’re on a real roll. Now, we’ve got to roll on to Austin. There are two more races, and a lot of work yet to be done this season.”

 

Nielsen Adds to Points Lead with Fourth Consecutive Podium: Christina Nielsen was smiling on the new stage at VIR after finishing second in GTD class. It was the fourth runner-up finish of the season for the 23-year-old driver from Aahus, Denmark, enabling her to extend her lead in the class from two to six points with only two races remaining in the season.

 

But throughout the ceremony, she glanced to her left to the top step occupied by race winners Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell, wondering when the No. 007 TRG-AMR Royal Purple/Orion Energy/LaSalle Solutions/PassTime USA/Mellow Mushroom Aston Martin Vantage she co-drives with Kuno Wittmer would break through with its first victory of the season.

“Consistency, right? That’s what gave us an extension in the points,” Nielsen said. “But we really want that win. We’ve been finishing second quite a few times. But I’ll take a championship over a win any time.”

 

Bell and Sweedler took over second with their victory in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Robert Graham/Royal Purple Ferrari 458 Italia, and trail Nielsen 232-226. Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke entered the event with the points lead but finished fifth in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Castrol EDGE Audi R8 LMS. They slipped to third in the standings, and are now eight points back with 224.

 

“The car was really difficult to handle when it was warm,” Nielsen said. “As soon it got a little cooler it was better to handle, and we still had the pace. I believe in us – the whole team has been great.”

 

The GTD winner of the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, Wittmer sat out the next three races before joining TRG-AMR for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Coming off three consecutive podium finishes, the 2014 TUDOR Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) titlist is looking to help his teammate to the GTD crown.

 

“The team performed at the top level – again – and I’m very proud of Christina,” Wittmer said. “We expected high from he

r, and she delivered more than we asked for. If we just keep going like this, three podiums in a row, we carrying a lot of momentum. A victory would be good, but it’s not vital. Right now we just need to keep ahead of our key opponents to secure the championship. And if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s to win a championship with a team.”

 

Frustrating Weekend Pays Off with Podium for Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche: Ian James and Mario Farnbacher fought an uphill battle to reach the GTD podium for the fourth time this season in Alex Job Racing’s No. 23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT America.

 

“It was a tough weekend; we struggled the whole practice sessions to find a good setup,” Farnbacher said. “Each session, we tried something totally different on the car, and we always went the wrong way. Finally, in the warm-up, we found something on the car, and we went in the right direction.”

 

Even though the team finally was happy with the setup, Farnbacher brushed the tires near the end of the 20-minute session on Sun

day morning. Fortunately, the car was not damaged.

 

“In the race, the heat was a factor, and the car changed again,” said Farnbacher after the third-place finish. “But it was a good result for us, and it keeps us in the championship fight. We’re happy to be on the podium.”