LAKEVILLE, CT. (July 21, 2018) – Wright Motorsports kicked off the day on top after Patrick Long drove No. 58 Porsche Consulting/Porsche Digital Porsche 911 GT3 R the GTD-class pole position ahead of this afternoon’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. The Porsche works driver set a new track record, securing a 0.137 second gap over the next competitor.
After Long and Nielsen controlled the field in both yesterday’s Practice 3 and this morning’s warm up, the John Wright-led team knew they would have a car to contend with in qualifying. The 15-minute session saw Long clock in two flying laps, earning the top slot on lap five with a blistering 51.491.
Today’s pole position marks Wright Motorsport’s first in GTD competition and Long’s fourth at Lime Rock Park. With a steep 10-car GTD field- covered by just a half of a second- the Northeast Grand Prix is poised to be a show.
“The first part of the season has been very trying and for that reason, this pole feels extra special,” said Long
“I told the boys to enjoy the next couple of hours because it’s going to be tough this afternoon. Lime Rock is a special place for Porsche. The 911 works really well around here because of all the direction change, tire usage and agility. This afternoon will be about tire management and strategy which means that speed in one lap is almost irrelevant. With that, we’ll change our focus and push ahead.”
Long will lead the field to green this afternoon at 3:05PM EDT. The race can be viewed live on FS1 starting at 3:00PM EDT. International audiences can stream live at imsa.tv.