Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, driving the #58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, won Round Four of the 2017 Pirelli WoChallenge SprintX championship, 3.241 seconds ahead of the #31 TR3 Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, piloted by Niccolò Schirò and Daniel Mancinelli.
Taking the final overall podium spot and third in the SprintX-GT Pro/Pro class was the #2 CRP Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 of Ryan Dalziel and Daniel Morad.
The race was a make-up for the fourth round of the championship which had been due to be run at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in May but which was postponed due to bad weather.
Taking the class lead in the final seconds of the race, and winning the SprintX-GT Pro/Am class, was the #14 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 driven by Mathieu Jaminet and James Sofronas, just .904 seconds ahead of Tim Pappas in the #54 Black Swan Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 he shares with Jeroen Bleekemolen.
In SprintX-GT Pro/Pro, Jörg Bergmeister, starting from second on the grid in the #58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, passed pole-sitter Jeroen Bleekemolan in the #54 Black Swan Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 on the opening lap to take the lead and then drove a conservative stint to hand the car over to Patrick Long..
After the driver changes, Long, in the #54 car, came under pressure from Daniel Mancinelli in the #31 TR3 Racing Ferrari F488 GT3 with the Italian driver closing to within a second of the leading Porsche. Long, however, was able to hold off the pressure and gradually increased his lead to around the three second mark, which he held to the chequered flag.
With the championship on the line, Bergmeister, who won the GT class at the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Patrick Long and Sascha Maassen, was keen not to take too many risks at start.
“I thought that I would just try to see what would happen at the start from the outside,” said Bergmeister. “Luckily I managed to get around on the outside and grab the lead. From there I just tried to conserve the tyres for Patrick. It worked out perfectly.”
“Driving the Patrick is good. I enjoy it,” continued the German driver. “Obviously his championship is on the line so I have quite a responsibility not to mess it up for him. So I’m happy to start the weekend off like this.”
Patrick Long was quick to praise Wright Motorsports for the win.
“These guys step up when it counts and, barring any dirty conduct out there, we’ve got the car for this championship,” said Long. “We run our own races. We’ll celebrate tonight and then get our heads down for the next two races.”
“John Wright (team owner) is a class act. He’s a racer, he’s a self-made man and all the guys around him love to work for him. He takes care of them. It’s a pleasure to be part of this team as a racing driver. I’ve found a home here where I feel like part of the team. They give me an equal voice – I give them equal voice and I just enjoy it.”
“Jörg and I first stood on the podium together at le Mans in 2004” said Long. “It’s been a great run and he’s been a class act. He turned the car over to me that was not only fresh but in balance. From there, I tried to set sail and have clean out laps. I didn’t have any traffic to worry about.”
Long’s win means that, unofficially, his lead in the overall GT standings has increased from five to eleven points over Michael Cooper who finished fourth.
Meanwhile, in SprintX-GT Pro/Am, James Sofronas, driving the #14 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 he shared with Mathieu Jaminet, passed Tim Pappas in the #54 Black Swan Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 on the last lap to win the SprintX GT Pro/Am category. Starting the race from the back of the class grid meant that the win was even sweeter for the Californian driver.
“We had a radio issue at the beginning of the race so we had to do some manual timing and I didn’t really know where we were in positioning,” said Sofronas. “But I saw the #54 car was in tenth place overall and he was ahead of me by ten seconds. I knew we had a good car – obviously Mathieu proved that winning fast lap of the race. So after getting in I just put my head down and watched the gap close lap by lap. We then get a good lap and I had a nice run up on him on Turn 11.”
“I forced Tim into a late brake moment. I had a run and I faked enough to make him miss his (braking) mark and he went sailing off. His car locked up and I just had to control my braking”
After a tough start to the weekend with an engine change, James Sofronas was delighted at the outcome of the race.
“We didn’t get any practice on Thursday,” said Sofronas. “Porsche Motorsports stepped up. They got us a motor in minutes and their support has been awesome. This guy (Mathieu Jaminet) is awesome! Did you see what he did from nineteenth almost to the front? “
“I had a very good start as we had to come from the back of the field,” said 22-year old Jaminet. “I passed a few cars on the first lap and then I was just pushing like an animal. That was the only chance to bring the car to the front and to the podium for James.”
In the other classes, Henrique Cisneros and Peter Ludwig in the #30 MOMO / NGT Motorsports Ferrari F458 GT3 won the SprintX-GT Am/Am category, ahead of James Dayson and Jason Bell in the #23 M1GT Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra. The SprintX-GT Cup class was won by Alessandro Bressan and Yuki Harata in the #55 Dream Racing Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo, the GTS Pro/Am class was won by #017 Case-It Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR driven by Adam Merzon and Trent Hindman.
The GTS Am/Am category was won by Aristotle Balogh and Greg Liefooghe in the #019 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M3 E46.
Qualifying for Round Fifteen of the Pirelli World Challenge GT4/GTS championship and Round Nine of the SprintX Championship gets underway at 09:30 local time on Saturday September 2. The lights go out for the first GTS race of the weekend at 13:15 local time and at 16:00 for the first SprintX race.
