ELKART LAKE, WI (September 22, 2019) – A trio of podiums highlighted Wright Motorsports’’ weekend at Road America. The double-header Blancpain GT World Challenge America event saw a second and sixth place overall finish for Patrick Long and Scott Hargrove’s No. 58 Porsche Consulting Porsche 911 GT3 R and a second and third place Pro/Am class finish for the No. 91 Henry Rifles Porsche of Matt Campbell and Anthony Imperato.
The weekend started off on mixed terms after Saturday morning’s qualifying sessions. In the first of two sessions Long lock in the second place starting slot in the No. 58 and Imperato take the No. 91 to seventh and third in the Pro/Am category. The second session- which dictates the starting grid for Race 2- saw Campbell drive to fourth both overall and in class, while Hargrove qualified ninth overall.
Race 1:
A clean start to Race 1 saw Imperato dive around Bechtolshiemer for sixth overall and second in class, while Long maintained the second place slot. From there, both Wright Motorsports Porsches remained right in the thick of things as Imperato put pressure on Hedlund and Long fended off the pair of K-Pax Bentleys. At the 45-minute mark, the No. 58 was handed off to Hargrove and the No. 91 over to Campbell who shuffled right back into their positions.
With just 10-minutes remaining, the yellow flag was drawn to remove a car from Turn 11. A speedy cleanup by the safety crew allowed the race to resume with five-minutes on the clock – which is where the fun began. The final three-laps saw a battle of mixed classes as Campbell diced back and forth with Marcelli for sixth overall before ultimately getting around both him and Max Soulet for the fourth place slot. Meanwhile, the Cameron had climbed through the field and gotten around Hargrove for second. By the time the checkered flag flew, the No. 58 locked in a third-place result, followed by the No. 91 in fourth. This meant a second-place podium for both of the cars in their respective classes.
Race 2:
What was expected to be a wet Race 2, turned out to be much the opposite as teams took the green flag under dry conditions. A clean start allowed Campbell to leap around Parente for third overall, while Hargrove defended his ninth place starting position. The two maintained their positions until Long took over the No. 58 and Imperato climbed aboard the No. 91.
From there, Imperato managed to hold onto third overall for the greater duration of the race, while Long advanced to seventh, gaining ground on the rest of the pack. With nine laps remaining, No. 91 dropped back to sixth, right in front of the No. 58 and an abbreviated caution was called bunching up the field. There was one lap remaining when Long made his way around both Imperato and Marcelli solidifying a fifth-place result for himself and Hargrove and a seventh for Campbell and Imperato, who claimed third in the Pro/Am category.
The Wright Motorsports team will retake the Blancpain GT World Challenge America stage one final time for Rounds 13 and 14 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, October 18-20.
Driver Quotes:
Patrick Long | Driver, No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R – “Overall it was a strong weekend for the No. 58 car and nice to be back on the podium with a second in Race 1. Race 2 didn’t quite go our way. We gambled on a rain setup, but the rain never came so we made the best of a late abbreviated caution to fight our way to fifth in a last lap battle. We’ll keep our heads down and strive for a couple of podiums in Las Vegas.”
Scott Hargrove | Driver, No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R – “This weekend was tough right from the beginning. We had to work on the setup in practice, but got very close in qualifying. Pat did a great job qualifying second and finishing second yesterday. We obviously started a little further back than we wanted in Race 2. We expected a rain race and couldn’t get the tires to come up to temperature on the drying surface. We pushed as hard as we could, Pat made up a lot of time and we finished right on the tail of a podium spot. Now we move onto Vegas. I think the track will be very interesting and everyone will enjoy the fun around the finale.”
Anthony Imperato | Driver, No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R – “It was another weekend where we made the best of it. The BOP is clearly not in our favor as we are 10kph down on the straightaways. The team gave us a great car to race and executed our pit stops perfectly. At the end of the day it was not enough for us to be able to be as competitive as we would have liked. We are still looking for our first win and we will be pushing for it in Vegas.”
Matt Campbell | Driver, No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R – “It was a weekend of ups and downs, but I think we did the absolute best job we could with what we had available to us. We did well considering the pace of the other cars around us, which was rewarding. In the end we weren’t really able to capitalize and get the result that we wanted due to circumstances out of our control. The track wasn’t in our favor, compared to the other cars, but I’m looking forward to Vegas. It was a challenging, technical circuit that favors the Porsche so hopefully we can finish the year on a high.”
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, 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 the 2019 season, the group is campaigning two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs in SRO America – a PRO entry for Patrick Long and Scott Hargrove and a PRO/AM entry for Anthony Imperato, Dennis Olsen and Matt Campbell
About Henry Repeating Arms
Henry Repeating Arms is the leading lever action manufacturer and one of the top-five long gun manufacturers in the USA. Their goal is to manufacture a line of classic, well-crafted firearms that every enthusiast can afford. The passion, expertise, and dedication of our employees embody the company’s motto, which is “Made in America Or Not Made At All”. Rest assured, when you read the roll-mark on the barrel of a Henry it’s going to say “Made in the USA.” Learn more about them at www.henryusa.com.
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, Shanghai Berlin and Belmont (Silicon Valley). Find out more at www.porsche-consulting.com