Viper Doubles Up in COTA GT TUSC Race

The Dodge Viper has taken a double victory in the second-to-last race of the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season, with the SRT GTS-R and SRT GT3-R both emerging victorious at the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas.

SRT Motorsports has captured a 1-2 finish in GT Le Mans, seizing their opportunity with the pair of Dodge Viper SRT GTS-Rs when the erstwhile dominant No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR headed to pit lane inside the final 20 minutes.

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Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer claimed their second win of the year in the No. 93 entry ahead of teammates Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goossens. The result is the team’s first ever 1-2 finish since the Viper GTS-R program premiered in 2012, and second win for the team this season (No. 93 also won at Indianapolis).

Unofficially, Bomarito and Wittmer should move into the GT Le Mans points lead ahead of Antonio Garcia, who struggled to a ninth place finish co-driving with Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R.

Nick Tandy and Jorg Bergmeister dominated the race, but Tandy brought the No. 911 in on Lap 67 with just 17 minutes remaining. An apparent driveshaft issue halted their charge after leading a majority of the 10th round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season.

Porsche salvaged at least one podium with Patrick Long and Michael Christensen in third, in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR.

Meanwhile Risi Competizione finished fourth in the No. 62 Ferrari F458 Italia, driven by Pierre Kaffer and Giancarlo Fisichella, coming from 10th on the grid.

The third factory Porsche, the No. 910 Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet and Fred Makowiecki, rebounded from 11th to fifth following an impressive first stint from Makowiecki, that took him into the top 15 overall from 50th on the grid.

BMW Team RLL and Corvette Racing fought through challenging afternoons, ending sixth and seventh (BMW) and ninth and 10th (Corvette), respectively.

GT Daytona saw Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating secure their second win of the season in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R.

Keating ran cleanly in his stint, before handing over to Bleekemolen. Once the Dutchman took over, he was able to reel in the previously dominant car on the day.

Bleekemolen made a late pass on Dane Cameron, in the No. 300 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3, heading into Turn 12 to take the lead and bring the car home to the win.

Cameron fought to hold back Andy Lally in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America, before Lally also made the move for second at Turn 12 in the waning stages. Lally and John Potter recorded Magnus’ fourth podium of the season, and first since Watkins Glen in June.

The Turner BMW of Cameron and Markus Palttala, who led the majority of the opening stint in class, ended third, and broke the three-way tie for the GTD points lead.

Fourth after a solid drive was the Snow Racing/Dempsey Racing No. 58 Porsche 911 GT America of Madison Snow and Jan Heylen.

Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil made the most of a difficult grid position, as the drivers of the No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America started from the back of the GTD field (19th) and recovered to fifth. They had originally qualified 16th, then were sent to the back to change tires. MacNeil drove into the fringes of the top-10 in his stint with Keen doing the rest.

AIM Autosport was only able to recover from 15th up to eighth with the No. 555 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler.

The Turner BMW will hold a several point lead on the AJR Porsche heading to Road Atlanta, with the AIM Ferrari a further few points behind.

RESULTS: Lone Star Le Mans