GT Aces Chase the Win At
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GT aces michelinalley.com chase the win at VIR News From the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship - Virginia International Raceway 2014 International Raceway Virginia TUDOR United SportsCar Championship - the News From Dempsey’s racing dream RACING IS NOT AN ACT FOR PATRICK DEMPSEY 2 RACING IS NOT AN ACT For Patrick Dempsey 3 atrick Dempsey is a race car driver. And a racing team The team has made strong runs for GTE-Am class honors co-owner. And a three-time veteran of the 24 Hours at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in each of the past two seasons, of Le Mans. finishing fourth in 2013 and fifth this past June, while While celebrities periodically appear like comets leading the class at various stages in both years. on the international motorsport stage, the daunting More recently, Dempsey decided to swim with the racing Prealities of competition, combined with the time, financial sharks, entering the mega-competitive Porsche SuperCup at and travel commitments, and inherent risks of the sport soon Germany’s Hockenheimring alongside the German Formula 1 dissuade most. Grand Prix. The races are flat-out sprints. There are no pit stops. It is here where Dempsey takes the path rarely trod, not There are no co-drivers. dissuaded, but rather, fully committed. “Patrick wanted to know, ‘where am I at?’” said Foster. “Well, “When I grow up I want to be a race car driver,” said that’ll tell you. Good, bad or indifferent. It may be a tough hit on Dempsey. the ego, but he’s at the point where he just wants to get better It is tough for some tender Hollywood egos to accept that in and the only way to do that is to be with the best in the world. racing, talent is objectively measured. Once the helmet goes “For a Porsche driver, the Porsche SuperCup is certainly a on, stars become anonymous drivers whose performances are crucible venue to learn from the best.” measured by data feeds and timing and scoring screens. Here in North America, Dempsey Racing competes in the “Patrick is a fantastic student because he takes direction for a GT Daytona (GTD) class, the largest of the four classes in the living. He’ll always do what you ask,” said Joe Foster, his racing TUDOR Championship with a Porsche 911 GT America. coach and co-owner of Dempsey Racing. Sportsmen drivers like Dempsey, who is teamed with “He’s incredibly intent on winning, so he’s actually a much Georgia’s Andrew Davis, are paired with pros aboard specially better driver, much more competitive than many years ago prepared Porsche 911, Audi R8, Ferrari 458, BMW Z4, Aston when we started this process.” Martin V12 Vantage and Dodge Viper entries. As Foster sees it, the challenge now is the level of competition With top teams like Alex Job Racing, Riley Motorsports, has grown as well, at the same time it’s much more difficult to Flying Lizard, Magnus Racing, Fall-Line Motorsports, Turner be competitive. Motorsports, TRG-Aston Martin Racing, AIM Autosports and ‘The closer you get to the Scuderia Corse, Snow Racing, Paul Miller Racing, GB Autosport top, the harder you have to and Park Place, the entry list reflects the quality, depth and try. It’s like an asymptote in experience in the field. math, the closer you get to On the driver side, there are familiar top shoes like Marino the line, the further up the Franchitti, Townsend Bell, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Damien other line goes. Patrick’s Faulkner, Andy Lally, Leh Keen and Spencer Pumpelly. RACING IS NOT AN ACT got to push, push, push The races often see the gentlemen drivers who in many cases that much harder to get the provided key funding, start, then give way to the pros after the last few tenths of a second,” starters have met their minimum drive time. said Foster. Since the cars and the pro drivers are all fairly equal, pit stops, And the last few tenths are what separate the winners from race strategy and the performance of the sportsmen relative to the also-rans in TUDOR Championship competition. their direct competitors frequently determine the outcome of As Foster now sees it, Dempsey has progressed to a point the race. where it is now simply a question of time and more sponsorship And as he gains experience and whittles away on his lap tines, money to get him that last little bit of lap time. the competition and fans can clearly see that Patrick Dempsey “He’s quite close,” said Foster, who began working with is growing up as a race car driver. Dempsey in 2007. 4 here are few things that race drivers like more than A number of the current GTLM drivers, including Corvette’s winning their class, so the top drivers in the featured Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, BMW’s Bill Auberlen GTLM class of the TUDOR Championship are and Porsche’s Patrick Long have all scored overall wins in virtually licking their chops at the rare opportunity prototypes in either the former GRAND-AM Rolex Series or to race for the overall win here at VIR. American Le Mans Series. TOne of the most competitive classes on the international The two series were merged to create the new TUDOR motorsports scene, the GT Le Mans class features ultra-high Championship for 2014, making this the first opportunity for a performance production based cars in the GT or Grand Touring GT overall race win. tradition. Drivers are all proven winners and champions. Here at Virginia International Raceway, Corvette Racing took The top factory teams; BMW Team RLL, Corvette GT honors in the first American Le Mans Series race in 2012 as Racing, Dodge Viper SRT, Porsche North America and top Brit Oliver Gavin and his American teammate Tommy Milner independents, including Falken Porsche and the Road America claimed the win and clinched their 2012 ALMS Manufacturer, winning Risi Competizione Ferrari are ready to take full team and drivers titles. advantage of the unique race format at VIR. In 2013, it was the Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia “No prototypes! It’s going to be a fun race,” said Dodge driven by Olivier Beretta and Matteo Malucelli claiming the GT Viper’s Jonathan Bomarito, who has teamed with co-driver class honors. Kuno Wittmer to claim podiums in the last four consecutive “I’m really looking forward to just having the GT classes. events, including a win at Indianapolis. That’ll really be a tight battle between us without anything else “Now we can just focus on going ahead,” said Bomarito. potentially affecting the race,” said Road America GTLM pole “We are not going to be checking our mirrors (for prototypes winner John Edwards of BMW Team RLL. and PC cars) on the exit of every corner. “VIR is a fun track, but I’m curious to go there with the new “We can just really put our heads down and focus on the task changes that they’ve made. We’ve been quick there in the past at hand. It’d be nice to get an overall win.” so it should be good,” said Bomarito. Corvette Racing and Dodge Viper both have overall victories And it seems clear that every GTLM driver agrees. They just at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in earlier days. all foresee themselves as the likely winners. MAN vs MAN 5 hen the cars in the Prototype Challenge class. Professional drivers who can deliver race performance (PC) class take to the grid for a pair and help the co-driver are especially prized. of prototype events here at Virginia Top pros like former IndyCar drivers Bruno Junqueira and International Raceway, the only things Alex Tagliani, sports car veteran Gunnar Jeannette, Dutch star distinguishing the cars will be their Renger van der Zande, former American Le Mans Series stars Wgraphics and personnel. Luis Diaz and Tom Kimber-Smith all bring speed and vast PC is the only class in the TUDOR United SportsCar experience. Championship that does not rely on performance balancing The level of competition in PC is quite high and the battles to assure close competition. With identical cars, engines, inevitably carry to the final lap. gearboxes and tires, there is nothing left on the technical side Selected appearances by a number of American and for the rule makers to balance. European stars like Jack Hawksworth, Conor Daly, Rob Huff That means it is clearly the people on each team who make and Sam Bird adds spice to the mix. the difference. Driving for the Fort Lauderdale based Starworks Motorsports With a professional and an amateur co-driver in each entry, team; van der Zende has claimed victories in Monterey and the performance of the drivers, pit crews and race strategists Road America and stands second in the driver championship are all essential to success. with just three races remaining. One team that has found the winning combination is the Junqueira and the Lansing, Michigan based RSR team Rock Hill, SC based CORE autosport team that has taken the claimed the victory at Indianapolis. PC class championship in each of the past three seasons. Team With all of the cars operating on equal terms, team engineers owner Jon Bennett and star co-driver Colin Braun have already and designers work diligently to extract every ounce of claimed four class victories in 2014 and currently lead the class performance as the slightest advantage can pay big dividends. championship. Even the slightest gains on pit stops or through creative race The appeal of racing identical cars in tight competition on strategies can also lead to victory.