RACING: Viper GTS-Rs finished sixth and seventh Laguna Seca
This weekend, two Viper GTS-R’s raced in the Monterey Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the fourth round of the 2014 IMSA TUDOR United Sports Car Championship.
Driven by Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goossens in the No.91 car and Kuno Wittmer and Jonathon Bomarito in the No.93 car finishing in sixth and seventh place respectively. The team was feeling upbeat after their pre-race practices, but issues early in the race set the team back.
The the No.91 Viper rubbed a prototype causing issues with aerodynamics and Goossens was not able to get a pace to bring him up very far after he took the reins in the second half of the race. The No.93 car had more issues however. Wittmer was able to get to fourth, but the team started to experience engine trouble, mainly an air-hose regulator which forced them into the pits for a long period of time. Once the necessary repairs for the car were made the No.93 car rejoined the race a lap behind. Bomarito was able to gain three spots before crossing the finish line in the seventh.
It wasn’t all bad for the SRT team however, Goossens and Farnbacher also finished third in the opener of the Rolex 24 hour at Daytona with Bomarito and Wittmer finishing second in the Twelve Hours of Sebring.
The teams had some ground to cover in round 5. This race was SRT's third long distance race of year and fifth for the GT Le Mans class in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Taking place in June, Sahlens Six hours of The Glen at the Glen Watkins International Raceway in New York. SRT has been in the top three for all of their long distance races this year and hope to continue that.
By Joshua Kashinsky