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RACE FACTS - Equipped with a sequential gearbox the #90 White Lightning/Petersen Porsche is the best qualified GT car on the grid, starting from 29th position. Except during one lap after Sacha Maassen's first pit stop, the car will maintain the lead in GT during more than 10 hours of racing, with the #87 Orbit Porsche as runner-up during the two first hours, the #85 Freisinger Yukos Porsche of Stéphane Ortelli during the eight following hours. After five hours of racing Maassen realised the fastest GT class race lap in 4'08"769. After four hours the car enters already the top-15, being 12th after secen hours. With the cooler night temperatures the race director decides to make double stints, both for drivers as (Michelin) tires. A tasty "Rice Krispie Treat" for the whole team, offered by Michael Petersen and girlfriend Jodi Shamaley, fails to increase the popularity of the team. Its bragging press releases, where the car is named the "Westward Ho Casino/ MMPIE/ PAWS/ mail2web.com/ Hella/ Justice Brothers/ BBS/ Michelin/ Premier SportsCar Services/ AVID Design, Inc./ Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR", are laughing-away-business for the serious autosport press.
Drama after ten hours of racing with Jörg Bergmeister at the wheel. He reports that the transmission has locked into 4th gear without warning at 02.20h and entered into the Petersen garage at 02.24h. The stellar operation, led by crew chief Stefan Pfeiffer and lead technician Kent Moore, diagnoses the broken shifter linkage and immediately begins to affect the needed repairs. Only 15 minutes later the #90 Porsche returns to the track with Patrick Long at the wheel, having lost only three laps to the new leader (the #85 Freisinger Yukos Porsche). The team drops to second in class (19th overall) for the first time since the first hour. A stellar effort for the Las Vegas-based race team keeps the car within striking distance with more than half of the race remaining. Long immediately shows speed, turning laps at the same speed he had in his first session behind the wheel today. At mid-race the difference with the Freisinger Porsche is always six laps. During the following hours the #90 has a serious battle with the #87 Orbit Racing Porsche where Rockenfeller succeeded several 4'07" and even 4'06" laps. At the end of the 16th hour the car is even passed by the Orbit Racing Porsche, but can take its second place in GT back when the Orbit Racing Porsche has to retire on gearbox problems. Between 06.00h and 07.00h in the morning Sacha Maassen is driving the car like a devil, realising a lap in 4'06"306, a new track record for GT cars, and even faster than during the qualifications. Difference with the leading Freisinger Porsche is stable on three laps, despite the change of the throttle cable. After 18 hours of racing the car is 14th, with the Freisinger Yukos Porsche one place higher and three laps further.
When shortly after noon the Freisinger Yukos Porsche is victim of oil feed bothers, the American Porsche can take the GT class lead, to finish as tenth overall, its best rank in 24 hours. Eventually not the Freisinger Porsche, but the #77 Choroq Porsche finishes as runner-up, five laps down to the #90. |
