Mario Farnbacher ends the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship with an overall fourth place. All the way to the final on the Road Atlanta in Georgia, the 23-year-old had fought for the American sports car championship title. However, brake problems during the “Petit Le Mans” dashed his hopes of a win.
Participants in the last race of this highly competitive championship were confronted with a very difficult task. Heavy rain turned the “Petit Le Mans”, which is one of North America’s most popular endurance races, into a real challenge for man and machine. “Weather conditions were extremely difficult and we had to battle hard. To make matters worse, we had to deal with brake issues, which recurred throughout the weekend”, Farnbacher recalls.
Together with team mates Ian James and Alex Riberas, Farnbacher tackled the difficulties, but without success. Rain worsened and the race was ended prematurely after eight hours. At this particular point, the trio was in seventh place. “Right up to the red flag, we still had hopes for the title, but now we’ve got to look ahead and concentrate on next year”, said Farnbacher.
Despite the disappointing final, Mario Farnbacher can look back on a successful season. The 23-year-old Franconian was one of the few drivers to take two victories in the very tough championship – the 12 hour race in Sebring and the guest performance in the Detroit street canyons.
Mario Farnbacher has secured a cockpit in the U.S. for the coming year. The young racing driver from Lichtenau will again be at the start for Alex Job Racing. And this year also sees him scheduled to drive the Lexus RC-F-GT3 in two VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft races.
