BATAVIA OH (August 1, 2018) - From the shortest track on the IMSA WeatherTech Championship schedule, to the longest, the momentum is higher than ever for Wright Motorsports as Patrick Long and Christina Nielsen prepare to take on Road America in the No. 58 Porsche Consulting/Porsche Digital Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Contrary to the anticipated plan, the event will see a single entry from the Wright Motorsports team with the absence of the No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 R. This falls as an extension of the unforeseen scheduling conflict that prevented Schein from competing in Round 7 at Lime Rock Park.
After controlling the field throughout the greater half of the race at Lime Rock Park, an unfortunate finish outside of their control has lit a massive spark of determination for the No. 58 squad. Still hunting down their first podium of 2018, Nielsen and Long have proved they’re ones to contend with and look to finish out the season on a high note— beginning with Road America.
Both Long and Nielsen have seen their share of success at the 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course. Long has four Road America victories to his name— two of which were in Wright Motorsports prepared Porsche 911 GT3 Rs. In her four years of racing at the classic course, Nielsen has earned two podiums – one in GTD competition [2016] and one driving a Porsche in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge [2015]. Together, they look to combine their good mojo into a solid result at this weekend's event.
The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase will be broadcast on Sunday, August 2, LIVE on FOX Sports 1 beginning at 1:30PM CT (2:30PM EDT). It also will be carried live by IMSA Radio on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.comand SiriusXM Radio.
Driver Comments:
Patrick Long | Driver, No. 58 Porsche Consulting/Porsche Digital Porsche 911 GT3 R - "Road America is one of those classic and epic traditional road courses. There really isn’t a section of the track not to love. At Lime Rock we took off from pole position for the first time this season with our 911 GT3 R. Although this great grid position didn't translate into a top result in the race, it makes us very confident for Road America. We look to carry that momentum into this weekend."
Christina Nielsen | Driver, No. 58 Porsche Consulting/Porsche Digital Porsche 911 GT3 R - "I always consider Road America to be a highlight on the schedule. It’s a really old-school track, which I think is why it’s a favorite for a lot of drivers. It’s also just a really cool area to visit and the fan turnout is always great. It’s a track that allows us to all be there and race each other, but also race our own races. I’ve had some pretty mixed results in the past with one podium back in 2016, but the team’s built up a lot of momentum since Lime Rock so I’m excited to see what we can do on Sunday."
About Wright Motorsports
Wright Motorsports is the premier Porsche race engineering facility in Ohio and a multi-series, international racing team known for superb car preparation, expert race strategy and driver development. Located in Batavia, Ohio near Cincinnati, it is owned and directed by John Wright, a certified Porsche factory-trained technician. As a crew chief John Wright has played a key role in winning eight driver and seven team championships in World Challenge, IMSA (ALMS) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Wright Motorsports won the team championship in Porsche GT3 Cup USA in 2012, 2013 and 2015. After a most successful 2017 season, the team holds the Pirelli World Challenge Overall, Sprint, Team and Manufacturer's titles. For more information see wrightmotorsports.com and follow the team on Twitter and Facebook.
About Porsche Consulting
The Porsche Consulting management consultancy was founded in 1994 in response to the successful restructuring of the Porsche sports car maker. Porsche had gained so much experience and knowledge from mastering a major crisis that it decided to make this expertise available to other companies. Four of its employees formed Porsche Consulting’s initial team. Their small office in Zuffenhausen became a worldwide consultancy—with sites in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Munich, Milan, São Paulo, Atlanta, and Shanghai. Now with 430 employees, many of whom are engineers and economists, Porsche Consulting continues to apply proven solutions from the automotive industry to other sectors. It helps its clients put strategies into practice. Along with its original emphasis on lean transformation, it focuses increasingly on digitalization.
About Porsche Digital
Porsche Digital is the Porsche AG competence center for digitalization. The company defines and implements new value creation strategies and innovative digital product ranges in close cooperation with all Porsche AG departments. Porsche Digital identifies and evaluates trends and invests in start-ups, thus securing access to relevant technologies. It sees itself as an interface between Porsche and innovators all over the world. The company has sites in Ludwigsburg, Berlin, and Santa Clara and further locations such as Asia are planned.