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From Chrysler Media:
SRT Motorsports Post-Qualifying Release – Road Race Showcase at Road America
August 9, 2014 , Elkhart Lake, Wisc. – The SRT (Street and Racing Technology) Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-Rs qualified second and third for tomorrow’s Road Race Showcase at Wisconsin’s Road America after battling for the pole throughout the 15-minute GTLM-class qualifying session on Saturday.
Both Jonathan Bomarito, driving the No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R, and Marc Goossens, in the No. 91 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R, held the provisional pole at various points in the competitive qualifying session. However, the SRT Motorsports teammates ultimately came up just short of the final pole-winning time, with Bomarito qualifying second and Goossens clocking in a close third.
Bomarito, who co-drives the No. 93 with Kuno Wittmer, turned a top lap time of 2:03.813 (117.700 mph). Goossens drove to a session-best lap of 2:03.930 (117.589 mph) in the No. 91 that he shares with Dominik Farnbacher.
Qualifying at the front-end of grid should help SRT Motorsports in its bid to earn consecutive victories at both Road America and in the 2014 IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in tomorrow’s race. Goossens and Farnbacher gave the Viper its first win since returning to major league sports car competition at Road America in last year’s event. Likewise, Bomarito and Wittmer took the victory one race ago in the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the team’s first win since last year’s Road America triumph.
The Road Race Showcase at Road America, the eighth event for the GTLM class in the 2014 IMSA schedule, is scheduled to start at 1:15 p.m. CDT tomorrow, Sunday, August 10. The race will be broadcast in same-day coverage at 5:30 p.m. CDT on FOX Sports 1.
Jonathan Bomarito, driver, No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R
How was your qualifying run?
“Qualifying was great. The team did an awesome job and put a great Viper under us. The track has been changing all day long, so we’re just trying to stay one step ahead of it. It’s tough. We have a good idea of where it’s going tomorrow, but you never really know until the race and nobody does. We’re just trying to put all our heads together and put the best setup on the car for tomorrow. We start second and third and our biggest competitor in the championship didn’t have the greatest qualifying run. We have even more forward momentum and we’re thinking positively about tomorrow’s race.”Why do you think the track is changing so much?
“Road America does change through the weekend, but it seems like every year I come here it changes more and more. I think that’s just asphalt, patches and stuff like that – the sealers coming out of the track and then they try to patch certain areas and then you have bigger discrepancies between the two. It’s just kind of a common trend around here. The heat, rubber and the different tire compounds – all of those things are contributing factors.”Kuno Wittmer, driver, No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R
How was your qualifying performance?
“I think it’s a season-high right now qualifying second and third. You don’t always have to have a pole position to showcase how strong your team is. I think it’s a really good starting position for tomorrow and it looks like we’ll have the same type of weather. It’s going to be a little bit earlier in the day for the race and we’re very confident in the entire SRT Motorsports team. I think the Viper will pull through again. Can we win? Possibly. I think we have the car for it, but more importantly for the No. 93 car we need to remain consistent and keep a clean race going for this race and for the three races coming up.”Is tire wear a concern for tomorrow?
“It seems that the tires could be a pretty big concern, but I think we’ve got everything figured out.”Marc Goossens, driver, No. 91 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R
How was your qualifying run?
“We obviously were short a couple of tenths to be on pole. We’re very happy with where we are. The top three cars were very close and I think there’s a bit of a gap after that. The car ran well. Like I’ve mentioned so many times, life is so much easier if you roll off the hauler with a strong car.”How much will tire wear play into the race?
“You always push a little bit harder in qualifying and you demand from the tires and the car. I still believe we are there. We’re competitive and it’s all about tire management now. We just had a big discussion between the drivers and engineers about what kind of compound we go with, how do we want to play the strategy and I think that’s going to be the gamble for everybody. I still believe we’re in pretty good shape for what we need to be doing tomorrow.”What is your strategy for tomorrow?
“We’ve got another warm-up session and we’re going to get Dominik some more laps because he has been limited on laps today. But having said that, I don’t think he missed much because after the SportsCar Challenge race the track was not up to it anymore. We’ll see – we’ve been surviving pretty well with no damage, but we did have a couple of issues yesterday in the first practice. After that everything got cleared and I think everybody did a good job keeping the car on track. The car was prepared well by the team. We just have to keep the Vipers up front like we always do and there’s no reason we shouldn’t get another double podium.”Dominik Farnbacher, driver, No. 91 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R
How were your teammates in qualifying?
“We did pretty good. Second and third place is a great starting point for tomorrow’s race. Of course the pole position would have been better, but we’re very happy with second and third. That’s a good team effort and it shows how strong the Viper is here. I hope we can maintain those positions during the race and we keep it like that. It will be a tough race tomorrow and it will be very tough on tires, but I think our Viper will be good. We tried out a lot of different setups in the practice sessions and Marc and I found something that was really good and helped us, so I think tomorrow will be very positive.”What is your plan for tomorrow?
“I will run the morning warm-up session because Marc did most the driving in the practices, so I will get more comfortable in the warm-up session and then I will start the race and Marc will finish it.”Matt Bejnarowicz, lead engineer, No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R
What did you think of the qualifying session?
“I think JB (Jonathan Bomarito) did a great job. I think everybody stacked pretty close in the front, so we’re probably set up for a pretty exciting race. We’ve been working on our car to be consistent on the long run and I think that’s going to be a key to the race tomorrow is protecting the car and especially the tires to keep that consistency on the long run.”How will you approach tomorrow?
“We’ve got a couple of things we want to try in the warm-up. We’re going to make some small changes to the car and we’ll use the warm-up as a confirmation and then for the race it’s just the same strategy as all the short races like this. The number one priority is to stay out of trouble and keep the car clean and then cycle through.”Bill Riley, lead engineer, No. 91 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R
How was your qualifying run?
“It’s a great day for the Viper team to get the 93 car second and the 91 third. Obviously, we want to be on pole, but it wasn’t to be right now. I think we’re going to have some good race cars for tomorrow and of course we have the 33 up front also. I think it will be a good day for Viper nation tomorrow.”How do you expect to show in tomorrow’s race?
“Right now by the way qualifying went, we’re looking pretty strong for tomorrow. We’ll see how the cars react in race trim under a long run. We’ve been doing long runs on tires to make sure we’re okay. We’ve been making sure we pull all the fuel up because we don’t want to be as nervous as last year. I think we’re looking pretty good.”SRT Motorsports Team Lineup for Road America
No. 91 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R
Driver: Dominik Farnbacher (Germany)
Driver: Marc Goossens (Belgium)
Lead Engineer: Bill RileyNo. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R
Driver: Jonathan Bomarito (United States)
Driver: Kuno Wittmer (Canada)
Lead Engineer: Matt BejnarowiczRace Information
Name: Road Race Showcase (race eight of 11 for TUDOR Championship GTLM)
Date: Aug. 10, 2014
Time: 1:15 p.m. CDT for 2 hours and 45 minutes
Track: Road America, 4.048-miles
Broadcast Information: FOX Sports 1 at 5:30 p.m. CDT
About SRT Motorsports
SRT Motorsports has partnered with Riley Technologies, based in Mooresville, N.C., on the design and build of the Dodge Viper GTS-R race cars. Two identical Viper GTS-Rs compete in the production-based GT Le Mans (GTLM) class in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, where the various GTLM class entrants share many styling similarities to their showroom brands. -
Thanks Randall, Really appreciate the effort on the race schedule.
daytonprowler said:
Vipers at Road America Today! Sorry for not getting this out sooner!Broadcast Info
Television Broadcast:
Race
Aug 10
6:30 PM EDT
FoxSports 1
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Another podium finish! I think they could have placed even higher if we had less caution at the end of the race.
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That’s the 2nd time this season that time ran out with Vipers just 1/2 car length back!
Exciting race at a great track…..Good results too. Ben K came in 4th in his class….
. VIR NEXT !
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Congrats to the Guys…………….now only 13 points back from the Vettes. Considering they were not given credit for a win at Sebring when the wrong Porsche was penalized and the winner ( who caused the infraction) got a free ride, it could be close to a tie at present. The Snakes have a definite chance to strike at VIR!!
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Great Job Vipers!
Yes, the Ferrari really lucked out with the yellows and the factory BMW, running the motor you cannot buy OEM, was lucky that there was not another lap or two.
Can you imagine what would happen if the GTLM cars were permitted to run OEM power unrestricted? I believe the Vipers are running 450hp crank in the races. There would surely be many Porsche, BMW and Ferrari tears shed! Porsches seem to do well when the power of everyone else is greatly restricted vs. the most “winning race mark ever”. Great cars so do not get me wrong, but they just get inflated win percentages due to restrictions (restrictor plates, different motors, weight, etc.).
Again, steller SRT effort and results!
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Vipers at Road America Today! Sorry for not getting this out sooner!
Broadcast Info
Television Broadcast:
Race
Aug 10
6:30 PM EDT
FoxSports 1
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