BRASELTON, GA (October 14, 2018) - Placing the cap on a season of tremendous growth, Wright Motorsports closed out the Motul Petit Le Mans with a fourth place finish for the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche Consulting/Porsche Digital Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Long, Christina Nielsen and Robert Renauer.
After locking in an untraditional 12th place qualifying slot for the 10-hour race, Nielsen knew she would have her work cut out for her in her first stint. A brilliant start allowed the Dane to overtake four competitors, moving up to eighth before handing the Porsche off to Renauer.
From there, Long and Renauer alternated in and out of the Porsche 911 GT3 R and it wasn’t long before they found themselves leading the GTD class — even with an unplanned pit stop to repair a blown rear tire.
With less than an hour and a half on the race clock, Renauer was leading GTD pack when he was handed a questionable drive-through penalty — marking the team's first punishment of the entire season — for what appeared to be a racing incident.
From there, Renauer put his head down and brought the the No. 58 Porsche up five positions, to where it ultimately took the checkered flag in fourth place. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, Wright Motorsports rolls out of the 2018 Motul Petit Le Mans knowing exactly what they were capable of.
Driver Comments:
Patrick Long | Driver, No. 58 Porsche Consulting/Porsche Digital Porsche 911 GT3 R -"It was a tremendous day for the whole organization. We battled back from adversity with the puncture and had the car in a position for victory. It's disheartening that the race was dictated by one call from race control, but in the end you have to accept these outcomes and take it in stride. We'll hold our heads high knowing we had a car to beat and that the victory was outside of our own control."
Christina Nielsen | Driver, No. 58 Porsche Consulting/Porsche Digital Porsche 911 GT3 R –“Today we had a really strong performance by the entire team. I’m proud of everyone. It really showed what we’re made of. I’m just so sad and feel so, so sorry for everyone on the team because we didn’t get a result that reflected that. My co-drivers performed really well, the pit stops were flawless, the strategy was great and everything was well done. And we had a really nice racecar — one we could win with. We showed that especially towards the last couple of hours of the race when we kept plucking away because we had to start farther back due to the engine change the day before.“To then have a race turn out like that because we got an unfair penalty — something that should never have been penalized, in our opinion — you can't help but wonder why some of the more serious accidents weren’t penalized. It feels like there's some inconsistency there. I really respect the people working in IMSA race control because I think they have a tough job, but today I did not understand at all where that penalty came from. “Finally, a big thank you to the team for fighting to make everything great this season. We were all fighting to finish strong even though it wasn't the easiest task to begin with, but everyone kept pushing and I’m really glad about how the season turned out.”
Robert Renauer | Driver, No. 58 Porsche Consulting/Porsche Digital Porsche 911 GT3 R –“It's a shame for the team. Considering the punctures and drive-through, fourth wasn't bad, but we had a rocket to win the race. It was bad luck in the end, but the whole team did an incredible job this weekend. It's been great to be a part of this this team, so thanks to all."