Farnbacher Porsche wins in GT Action at VIR

Dated: April 28, 2007

ImageDirk Werner and Bryce Miller drove their Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Shoes for Crews/Recaro Porsche GT3 Cup car to victory in the Rolex Series GT class event at Virginia International Raceway. For each of the young drivers, it was their first Rolex Series triumph, coming in their fourth series race. The victory was also the first for the Farnbacher team since capturing a class win in the Rolex24 two years ago. "It is special to win for the first time," Werner said. "In winning we give back to the team for all of their hard work. For me and Bryce (Miller), it is great to win in just our fourth race." Added Miller, "For me the victory has yet to settle in. I am in a little bit of shock."

The winners completed 76 laps around the 17-turn road course and they finished 5.5 seconds ahead of the SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 expertly chauffeured by Sylvain Tremblay and Nick Ham. "Our car was very reliable," Ham said. "I enjoyed following Wolf Henzler at the beginning of the race. When he made a mistake, I got by him. We did have slight contact and I think he went off the course." (Henzler did slide off the course and had to pit for extensive repairs to the rear of his car. The German driver thought Ham made a driving mistake.) Tremblay stated, "We didn't have the speed to catch the winners, although I did take advantage of them when they were on cold tires. I think we did as best as could with our car. We are pleased with second place and the championship is what we are after."

Tremblay and Ham lead the GT point standings by 18 markers over today's winning drivers. Third place went to the Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R driven by comeback drivers Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards. Collins got off the course in the early going but was able to battle back for the podium finish. A new rule mandating a pit stop in the first 45 minutes of the race was regarded favorably by most of the teams. "Our third place feels like a win to us," Collins said. "I was able to pit after getting off the course and the new pit-stop rule played out in our favor." Collins fell to 21st in the standings after the slide into the dirt.

The top-three teams completed 76 laps and the next seven were one lap off the pace. Nathan Swartzbaugh and Andrew Davis placed their Tafel Racing Porsche fourth and the Doncaster Racing Porsche of Greg Wilkins and Dave Lacey took fifth place. Sixth through tenth were the Alegra Motorsports/Fiorano Racing Porsche of Carlos de Quesada and Jean-Francois Dumoulin, the Stevenson Motorsports Corvette of Tommy Riggins and Vic Rice, the Synergy Racing Porsche of Steve Johnson and Patrick Huisman, the second Stevenson Motorsports Corvette of Marc Bunting and Dominic Cicero II, and the TRG Porsche of Andy Lally and R. J. Valentine.