After his success on the Belle Isle circuit, Mario Farnbacher was unable to continue his winning run in Watkins Glen. The fifth race of the United SportsCar Championship (USCC) in New York State ended for the 23-year-old and his team colleague Ian James, with a class seventh after an unfortunate mishap.
Weather conditions were bad, but Mario Farnbacher and Ian James from the Alex Job Racing team latched on to their strong performance from the past successful season. “I had a good start and was coping well with the unsettled weather. We also had the fastest car”, summed up the young man from Lichtenau.” After my first stint, I was running second, when I handed the wheel over to my team colleague. Ian came in again from the pit lane at first position. Things were going really well.” After a further pit stop and fresh tires, the British driver in a Porsche 911 GT America really got going and was heading for a podium position. “Ian was doing a great job with the new tires and despite dropping back a bit, he worked his way forward again”, said Farnbacher.
Till the last minutes of the race, the driver duo from Alex Job Racing maintained their position with the frontrunners and were a promising second. “My third stint was also ideal. I was the fastest GTD car on the track and fought my way back from fourth to second position”, reported Mario Farnbacher and sounded disappointed when he continued: “And then I went off the track. The front right wheel locked in the corner. I managed to keep control of the Porsche, but slid off to the left into the damp grass and then unfortunately made contact with the tire wall. Incredibly annoying! We would have made it onto the podium.” At the end of the six hour race, the Porsche driver saw the finish in seventh position in the GTD class.
Tension continues for Mario Farnbacher in view of his forthcoming tasks. This coming weekend (4th July) sees the likeable young Franconian starting with Farnbacher Racing in the fourth race of the VLN Endurance Championship on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. His father’s team will be celebrating the racing debut of the brand new Lexus RC-F GT3. The USCC picks up pace again from 24th – 25th July. In “Lime Rock Park” in Connecticut, the sixth round of the popular SportsCar Championship takes place.
