Patrick Long and Marc Lieb have claimed victory in Friday’s Pirelli World Challenge SprintX round at Lime Rock Park, in a dominant run for the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Lieb, in his Pirelli World Challenge debut, took the No. 58 Porsche to a 5.411-second win over the No. 4 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS of Dane Cameron in second.
Cameron, who took over the Audi from Spencer Pumpelly, was unable to mount a challenge to the defending FIA World Endurance Champion in the closing stages of the 60-minute race, which saw only a single full-course caution.
It marked the second win of the season for Long and the John Wright-led team, following the Porsche factory driver’s victory in the second Sprint race at St. Pete.
Ben Barnicoat made a charge to third, benefiting by a bobble from Ryan Dalziel in the No. 2 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, who dropped from third to fifth on the restart with 11 minutes to go.
It was Barnicoat and K-PAX Racing co-driver Alvaro Parente’s second SprintX podium of the season.
SprintX championship leaders Michael Cooper and Jordan Taylor were fourth, with Dalziel slipping to sixth at the checkered flag, thanks to a late move by Tom Dyer to give RealTime Racing and Acura its first top-five finish of the season.
The No. 93 RealTime Acura NSX GT3 of Mark Wilkins and Peter Kox were seventh, ahead of the No. 6 K-PAX McLaren 650S GT3 of Jonny Kane and Bryan Sellers, which served a drive-through penalty for not meeting the minimum pit stop time.
Contact between the No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche of Matt Hallyday and Ricky Taylor’s No. 3 Cadillac sent Taylor spinning into the barriers and out of a likely top-five finish.
The incident brought out the yellow with 18 minutes remaining.
GT Pro-Am class honors went to Jan Heylen and Michael Schein, a double victory for the Wright squad, with its No. 16 Porsche finishing 10th overall.
Henrique Cisneros and Tyler McQuarrie picked up the win in GT Am-Am in their No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT, while the Dream Racing Lamborghini duo of Alessandro Bressan and Yuki Harata won GT Cup.
The No. 017 Case-It Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR of Trent Hindman and Cameron Cassels, meanwhile, claimed GTS victory.
SprintX Race 2 is set for Saturday at 1:20 p.m. ET.
RESULTS: Race 1