Wright Motorsports' Long and Schein Sweep PWC Doubleheader At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada, May 23 — Less than 10 days after Wright Motorsports announced it would field a Porsche 911 GT3 R for Patrick Long to drive in the GT class of the Pirelli World Challenge series, he led every lap of both doubleheaders from the pole and set the fastest lap of each race last weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
His Wright Motorsports teammate, rookie Michael Schein, did exactly the same thing in the GTA class with his Porsche 911 GT3 R for his first two series victories ever.
Long, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., blasted off at the start of Saturday's 50-minute race and had a 1.769-second lead at the checkered. He set the fastest lap of the race on lap seven with a 1:16.787, which was a new track record for the 2.459-mile road course.
Schein, of Glen Cove, N.Y., started first in class and 14th overall on Saturday. His margin of victory was 10.157 seconds. His fastest lap of the non-stop race came near the end on lap 33 with a 1:17.993, which was also the fastest lap for his class. The fastest race lap of Race 1 sets the grid for Race 2, putting both Wright Motorsports Porsches on the pole of their respective classes again on Sunday.
Rain complicated the second half of the doubleheader. Since there was water on part of the course the first few laps were run under yellow. A crash on lap three caused another yellow through lap eight.
Long took it all in stride and again led every lap for a margin of victory of 2.743 seconds. He bettered his own track record of the day before with a new mark of 1:16.733 on lap 23 of the 30-lap race.
Schein started 12th overall on Sunday, but led every lap of his class again to post a whopping 14.978-second victory. He set the fastest lap of the race for his class on Sunday too, this time with a 1:17.773 on lap 24.
The races will be shown on the CBS Sports Network on Sunday, May 29 at noon Eastern time. Archived video streams will be available at Motor Trend on Demand. More information is available on the series' Web site at world-challenge.com.
The next PWC event is this coming Friday and Saturday at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn.
For more information on Wright Motorsports, see WrightMotorsports.com and follow it on Facebook and Twitter.
Post-event quotes follow:
Patrick Long: "It was an iconic weekend from Wright Motorsports. They hit the ground running. We were able to put together a strong car for qualifying, and we continued to dial the car in all weekend.
"The car was even better on Sunday than it was on Saturday. We continued to work hard all weekend; we knew our competition was doing the same.
"They were two very different races. The first one was a hot and long race where we had to manage traffic.
"On Sunday half of the track was wet, and it was a cut-throat sprint. The top three cars traded qualifying laps during the course of the race. We had the car to beat, and it was a storybook debut for us. John Wright and Bob Viglione [engineer] put their heads down and turned out two terrific cars for Michael and I.
"The starts were important. I've been studying how the starts have been going this year and studying my competitors' starts, and I just continue to work on it to push harder.
"It was an amazing weekend. We tried to make every single lap pay off.
"I want to be sure to thank Porsche Consulting for their help. Porsche Consulting is a 100 percent subsidiary of Porsche AG. It's a management consultancy that helps other companies excel. It advises companies in the automotive industry as well as many other areas, including aerospace and industrial goods."
Michael Schein: "It's a picture perfect weekend for us. I'm thrilled. It was really sketchy in the beginning of Sunday's race. Unfortunately two cars wrecked. It was really wet from Turn 3 to Turn 5. The rain came back near the end, but by that time I had a gap.
"I knew I had the pace to keep it up front on Saturday, but I knew I needed a clean start. I got up to a pro car, and it was tough to pass. Martin [Fuentes] started to catch me, and then the race started to get a little interesting in my head. Luckily I was able to pass that pro car and open up the gap a little bit.
"It was a great run for the team. I've worked with Patrick in the past, but his presence this weekend helped me right away. I was all for him joining our team. Having someone with his talent and experience to talk to is very helpful."
John Wright (team owner): "The situation I found myself in last week with Patrick Long's program and the last-minute decision to add it to our current program shows me the depth and strength in the personnel of Wright Motorsports to execute in the manner they did, both on and off track.
"I want to thank Porsche Consulting for partnering with us on Pat's program this past weekend. I did not know of this group existing within the Porsche family until this program came together, and how their resources can be used to help companies streamline manufacturing techniques, etc. This division helped Porsche become the profitable company it is today.
"I am very proud of Mike Schein's performance as well. He has worked very hard, and now it is paying off!"
For more information on Porsche Consulting, see http://www.porsche-consulting.com/us-en/home/.