Back on the podium: At the Indianapolis 8 Hour, the second round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, Mario Farnbacher celebrated a podium result. Together with Matt McMurry and young driver Ashton Harrison, he finished the race in the Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo in sixth place and won the Silver Cup.

“That was a positive end to my season. We struggled with the car, but our work paid off in the end,” the Ansbacher said.

Farnbacher fought his way to class victory despite a training deficit. During practice he suffered a clutch defect which caused the 29-year-old to only drive his first dry laps in qualifying. In the race, however, the trio was not held back and converted hard work into a strong result with sixth overall and the podium in the Silver Cup.

“The race was not easy because of the initial difficulties. In the sessions we couldn’t really work on the set-up,” said the Acura driver. “It was great to see that the GT3 Academy of HPD is doing a really good job. The young drivers left their mark – they were quick and made few mistakes. This shows that the work of the Academy is bearing fruit.”

With the Silver Cup win, Farnbacher ended an at times difficult 2021 season on the podium. The past has already shown the driver to be fast in the Intercontinental GT Challenge. In 2020 he was also on the podium at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a third place.

It’s finally time for Mario Farnbacher to compete again in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, almost one year since his last appearance in the series. On 17 October, Farnbacher will be making his first appearance in the series in 2021 at the Indianapolis 8 Hour event.

“I’m really looking forward to the race,” said Farnbacher. “I raced in this series a few times in 2019 and 2020 and have good memories of it. I am confident for Indy and think we have a good chance to finish well.”

The 29-year-old can count on the assistance of two rapid teammates for the endurance race at the historic circuit. HPD Academy driver Aston Harrison as well as Matt McMurry will be sharing driving duties alongside Farnbacher behind the wheel of the Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo. Farnbacher won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GTD class together with McMurry in 2020.

“I am really keen to put my current run of bad luck behind me at Indianapolis,” said Farnbacher. “The VIR weekend was a real disappointment – a defective brake disk caused an accident and my race was over. Fortunately, Acura cars are incredibly robust so I walked away from the incident.”

The race takes place around the Grand Prix circuit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which has hosted Formula 1 and MotoGP races in the past. The eight-hour endurance race will begin at 10:00 am on Sunday 17 October (16:00 German time). Fans can follow all the action on the series’ official website.

Anticipation was high, but so was the disappointment after the race weekend. For the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round in Long Beach, Mario Farnbacher once again took the start with Matt McMurry at his side. The duo, who secured the GTD class title in 2020, finished eleventh after a difficult race.

“I was really looking forward to this race weekend. Long Beach is something very special and of course I have great memories with Matt from last year. But it definitely didn’t go the way we had hoped. We were struggling with set up and pace the whole time.”

In the Acura NSX GT3 Evo, the duo took the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach from 13th on the grid. After a rather unremarkable race, Farnbacher narrowly missed out on the top 10. An eleventh place at the end formed the maximum for him and his American teammate.

“It was just a difficult race for us. Let’s keep looking to the future and work towards getting better! Sometimes there are just phases when things don’t want to go right.”

The next IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race weekend will be held at VIRginia International Raceway from 8 until 10 October. The special feature of this round is that only GT cars will be on the grid. It is also the season finale of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.