Mario Farnbacher put up a fierce fight for the lead in an exciting race. For over six hours, the German and his two teammates Alex Riberas and Ian James dueled with their fellow contestants. But in the end, the 24-year-old’s fantastic performance wasn’t quite enough to recover the lead and the Team of Alex Job Racing finished third.
After a familiarization phase on the renewed Watkins Glen circuit, Mario Farnbacher quickly picked up steam and was able to improve his speed in each training session. The Porsche 911 GT3 R was even faster during qualifying and secured pole position in the GTD class.
In the initial phase of the race, the German continued his upswing and kept the lead in front of his contestants. The car was holding the road well and for a long time, it looked as though Mario Farnbacher would stand his ground in first position. Unfortunately a safety car phase muddled the field up and forced the man from Lichtenau to slow down. After a pit stop he lost several positions and needed to fight back. “The pit stop threw me back, but I was able to quickly fight forwards again. I did my best to catch up and handed the car over to Ian in 2nd position”, Mario Farnbacher recalled.
In the second half of the race, teammate Alex Riberas took the wheel and left his contestants no time to catch their breath and attack. However, tire damage shortly before the end of his stint meant losing newly won time and forced the team to change its strategy. After taking the wheel from his Spanish colleague, Mario Farnbacher quickly closed the gap and despite tough competition, was able to come in third.
The team’s impressive performance in the six-hour battle was rewarded with a podium finish. Thanks to the third place, Mario Farnbacher and his team are still in position to catch the title. The young German returns with a clearly defined goal to the starting line on July 10th:”We must keep driving steadily in the next races, in order to gain as many points as possible. Even if the Ferrari is a strong car, there are only a few points between us and the others and we’ll do our utmost to win the title.”
