Wide open michelinalley.com battle in Indy News From the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship - Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship - Indianapolis Motor Speedway the News From Portrait of a Porsche Pro FROM PORSCHE JUNIOR TO PORSCHE VETERAN 2 3 atrick Long joined the Porsche Junior program is not as extreme now. The Juniors graduate through a well- in 2003 as a freckle faced youngster, so it seems designed program. Michael has already been to Sebring and impossible that Long, now 32, has been with Porsche Daytona, so the learning curve now is more about learning to for a dozen years and is the senior Porsche factory work with a bigger team and all the resources.” American driver in the TUDOR United SportsCar The debut in 2014 of an official Porsche North America PChampionship. factory team in the TUDOR Championship is evidence of Beginning his racing career in karts at age eight, Long became the fierce competition in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, a big winner in karting and embarked on a plan that took him where Porsche takes on the factory squads from Corvette to Europe in 1999 at the age of 18. He progressed through the Racing, BMW Team RLL, SRT Dodge Viper and the lead Risi single-seater ranks from the British Formula Ford Zetec series Competizione Ferrari team. and was one of six finalists in the Red Bull F1 driver search. “Ten years ago, Porsche was less aggressive,” said Long. “The That caught the attention of Porsche and he officially joined the Porsche GT program was mostly customer teams. Now it is full factory Junior program in 2003. on factory racing.” Since joining Porsche, Long has grown from youngster to And Porsche wasted no time in making its mark as the distinguished champion. Along the way, his path has included Porsche 911 RSR factory team debuted with victories at both the GT victories in the four major endurance events worldwide; the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona for Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz and 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Twelve Hours the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, where Long and co-driver of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Michael Christensen took the victory. He also has three American Le Mans Series GT driver Long is not surprised by the early success of the new Porsche championships (all co-driving with Joerg Bergmeister), a pair North America factory team. of wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and two wins at the Twelve “The cars had a full season of development in the FIA World Hours of Sebring, the most recent coming this spring. Endurance Championship (WEC) and finished 1-2 at Le Mans Now, just as he learned the Porsche way by watching and in 2013, so we knew the cars were good. The bigger challenge listening to factory stars like Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr, Timo was in how quickly the Porsche group and the CORE autosport Bernhard and Joerg Bergmeister, Long helps school young team came together,” said Long, who drove with the Rock Hill, Michael Christensen, 23, of Denmark, in all things Porsche. SC based CORE team in 2013. Being a Porsche factory driver requires far more than just Racing sports cars in endurance competition means a new jumping into the seat of a race car and being quick. Speed is a mind set for Christensen after driving single-seater cars in given. Technical feedback, the ability to work with co-drivers, shorter races. engineers and crews, and facing the ever changing demands “It is a completely new environment,” said Christensen, of competition in races that range from two to 24 hours is 23, who is visiting most tracks for the first time. “For me, demanding. So are the appearances for media, sponsors everything is new. New team. New races. New tracks and a new and team activities as drivers become ambassadors for their championship. The biggest adjustment is learning how to work respective marques. here, working with the team and the engineers.” “My first year I was under Joerg and Sascha and then the “The feeling is very relaxed compared to Europe,” said second year I was full time with Joerg,”said Long. “The jump Christensen ‘but the races are intense.” And so is Patrick. eading to the Indianapolis Pruett and Memo Rojas (with Marino where Richard Westbrook and Michael Motor Speedway for the Franchitti) delivered the first win for Valiante came through to victory for the 4 Brickyard Grand Prix , the Ford and then immediately backed that Spirit of Daytona team. Having taken the only thing certain is that it up with a win at Long Beach. pole and led much of the race at WGI, is anyone’s race. But, just when it seemed that the DP the Oak Racing Nissan P2 was not be HIn the first seven races of the based cars from the former GRAND-AM denied in Canada, winning from the pole inaugural TUDOR United SportsCar Series had everyone covered, Johannes as Gustavo Yacaman and Olivier Pla took Championship season there have van Overbeek and Ed Brown proved a first win for Nissan at Canadian Tire been six different teams and four the P2 cars from the former American Motorsport Park. manufacturers claiming overall race Le Mans Series were not going down In just seven races, six different teams victories. without a fight, taking the pole and and four manufacturers have been atop The 2014 season opening Rolex 24 at victory for Extreme Speed Motorsports the podium. A victory here would be Daytona saw the Action Express Corvette and Honda at Monterey. the perfect reward for 2013 winner Ryan DP with Christian Fittipaldi and Joao The next stop, Detroit’s Belle Isle Dalziel, now with Scott Sharp at ESM- Barbosa as the combination to beat with Park saw Wayne Taylor Racing’s Jordan Honda, Michael Shank’s Ford EcoBoost Sebastian Bourdais. and Ricky Taylor deliver the hometown team or the new Mazda Prototype, all Chip Ganassi Racing and Ford victory for Chevrolet at Detroit. of whom would be only too happy to EcoBoost power struck back at the That was soon followed by another celebrate their first wins of the season Twelve Hours of Sebring as Scott Chevrolet win, this time at Watkins Glen with a kiss of the bricks. 5 he recent string of four consecutive wins by Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia has taken the team to a high water mark. TSince Long Beach 2012, Corvette Racing has taken literally half of the North eanwhile in took over, reeling off four American GT class wins with 13 scores in the fiercely consecutive victories at Long the past 26 races. contested Beach, Monterey, Watkins Glen In 2012, Oliver Gavin and Tommy GT Le Mans and Canadian Tire Motorsport Milner rolled to four wins (GTLM) Park with the new Corvette and a sweep of the ALMS GT Mclass, it has been a surprisingly C7.R. championships while their different story. BMW Team RLL took teammates were winless, The big factory teams podiums early in the season ending Magnussen’s from Corvette Racing, BMW and looks to leverage the personal win streak at 11 Team RLL, Porsche North Bobby Rahal led team’s consecutive years with at America and SRT Dodge Viper experience at Indianapolis least one win. and top independents Risi to good advantage for Bill “We finished second Competizione Ferrari and Auberlen with Andy Priaulx five times in 2012,” said Falken Porsche have all been and Dirk Mueller with John Garcia. extremely well matched, but Edwards. As development of the just Porsche and Corvette have The Dodge Vipers from SRT new seventh generation led the champagne spraying. have been very quick, finishing Corvette C7.R was The new Porsche North second and third at both underway during the America factory team prevailed Watkins Glen and Canadian season, the Corvette Racing in the opening acts at the Rolex Tire Motorsport Park. team remained surprisingly 24 at Daytona with Nick Tandy Marc “the Goose” Goossens competitive with its old and Richard Lietz (with Patrick and Dominik Farnbacher C6.Rs through 2013. Pilet) taking the honors while delivered the first win for Viper Milner and Gavin won teammates Patrick Long and at Road America last August. at Sebring, but Magnussen and Garcia Michael Christensen (with Teammates Kuno Wittmer finally broke through in Monterey and Joerg Bergmeister) prevailed at and Jonathan Bomarito scored an additional pair of wins to claim Sebring. combined to win the GTLM the title in 2013 as the two cars combined At that point, the 2013 pole and and set fastest lap in to win five races and the championship. ALMS GT champions Corvette Canada. With the debut of the new, seventh Racing and Antonio Garcia Ferrari claimed the GT generation Corvette C7.R in 2014 it has and “the world’s second fastest victory at Le Mans and been all Magnussen and Garcia while Magnussen,” Jan (father of Giancarlo Fisichella is a Gavin and Milner look to break their now McLaren F1 rookie Kevin) veteran of the IMS F1 battles. year-long winless streak. 6 FAST FACTS Watch us now on Fox All the action of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship races from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can be seen flag to flag on the Fox Sports 1 network. International fans will also be able to see the race live on IMSA.com. July 25 CORE’s 46 entries! Indianapolis Motor Speedway CORE autosport know how to win. Three PC team championships led to being selected as the competition 7:00 – 10:00 pm (EDT) on FOXSports1 (Same Day Delayed) partner for Porsche North America.