At the penultimate round of the United SportsCar Championship on the “Circuit of the Americas” Mario Farnbacher crossed the finish line on fourth position in the GTD class, collecting some important points in the fiercely fought American sportscars series. At the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT America of the team Alex Job Racing Farnbacher impressed with a great fighting spirit. Together with his team mate Ian James he only just missed the podium on the five kilometres long race track in the U.S. State of Texas. “We have pushed hard, but that was all we could do”, explained Mario Farnbacher.
Initial difficulties with the set-up of the car could be eliminated by the German and his team around Alex Job still ahead of the race. “We had a difficult start into the weekend”, says Farnbacher. “The track temperatures as well as the air temperatures were extremely high. We have not much experience with such conditions and so we were searching for the right set-up, what took some time. However, in the warm-up session everything was fine then.” In the timed session the Porsche driver-duo managed to qualify for eighth position in the GTD class.
Ian James had a good start into the 2 hours and 40 minutes race in Austin and shone with a quick first stint. At his pit stop, the Briton handed over the Porsche 911 GT America with the starting number 23 to Mario Farnbacher on fifth position. “My first stint was okay”, Farnbacher drew a balance. “I could keep the pace and tried to spare the tyres.” The 23-year-old improved positions, took over the lead and with a brilliant drive gained an advantage of 15 seconds on his pursuers.”
In the further course of the race the safety-car was deployed and with that all hopes for a podium finish were destroyed. “That put a spoke in our wheel”, reported a disappointed Mario Farnbacher and explained: “After the last pit-stop we had the GT3-field right behind us and unlike us they can go a high speed and spare tyres at the same time, while we have to push really hard.” With degrading tyres Mario Farnbacher finally had to cave in and crossed the finish line on fourth position. “Of course I am happy with this result as well. We were able to fetch some important points and we will attack another time at the Petit Le Mans”, Mario Farnbacher looks out confidently to the season finale.
The last round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship takes place from October 1st to 3rd. The classic ‘Petit Le Mans’ will go over a distance of 10 hours. At the final round of the season Mario Farnbacher and Ian James will be supported by the Spaniard Alex Riberas. “We have not given up yet”, Mario Farnbacher is full of fighting spirit. “Everything is still possible and we will try everything to snatch the title.”
