Oct. 5, 2020By Mark RobinsonIMSA Wire Service Porsche GT Team Stoked for Return to WeatherTech Championship ActionThere may be no one more eager to take the track this weekend in the MOUTL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix than the Porsche GT Team.The two-car entry in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GLTM) class was forced to sit out the race two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as a precaution when several members of the Porsche team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans tested positive for the coronavirus. Erring on the side of safety cost Porsche any chance of repeating as driver, team and manufacturer class champions, but won respect throughout the IMSA paddock. Now, however, the drivers are itching to get back behind the wheel of their Porsche 911 RSR-19s on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, beginning with opening practice tonight. “We were hugely disappointed that we couldn’t go as a team to Mid-Ohio,” said Nick Tandy, co-driver of the No. 911 Porsche with Fred Makowiecki. “It’s the first race that the Porsche North America team has missed since Daytona 2014, I think. We understand the situation surrounding the decision, but of course as competitors, you live to compete and go racing.” Tandy, Makowiecki and No. 912 Porsche drivers Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor all sit 55 points out of the drivers’ standings lead with four races remaining, an insurmountable deficit realistically. In some ways, it simplifies strategy the rest of 2020 since the Porsches won’t need to be concerned with points racing. “We’re looking forward to going back and getting to see the (crew) guys again,” said Bamber. “They were all really disappointed that we had to miss a race. That sort of dashed our championship hopes, so now we’re just trying to get podiums and hopefully a win for the team.” A race victory would be a first for either Porsche this season. Bamber and Vanthoor have a pair of runner-up results; Makowiecki and Tandy a trio of third-place finishes. The Charlotte ROVAL that is a late addition to the revised 2020 calendar could be just the place for Porsche to fashion a change of luck. “We haven’t won a race yet this year,” Tandy said, “so we’re hoping that Charlotte (could be the setting for a victory). It’s a new event, a new circuit, a 100-minute race. Things are very different to what we normally set up for your standard two-hour, 40-minute race, so we’re looking forward to it.” De Quesada Filling in at Charlotte ROVAL for Wedding-bound MontecalvoRacing is taking a backseat to nuptials for AIM Vasser Sullivan driver Frankie Montecalvo. The 29-year-old from New Jersey will miss the MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix to get married, a date that was set before the global pandemic altered the WeatherTech Championship schedule. Michael De Quesada will replace Montecalvo in the team’s No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3, teaming with Townsend Bell. De Quesada has been serving as an endurance-race driver in the team’s other Lexus and will return to that role with No. 14 co-drivers Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz for the remaining two endurance events – the Motul Petit Le Mans on Oct. 17 and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts on Nov. 14. “I am very excited for the opportunity to race with AVS at the Charlotte ROVAL,” De Quesada said. “It’s unfortunate that Frankie can’t make it, but I think him getting married is a pretty legitimate reason. I’m looking forward to driving the Lexus RC F GT3 again and working with Townsend and all the guys.” |
