Feller: End of season with US podium
SECOND AT IMSA FINALE The most successful of the three Swiss at the "Petit Le Mans" in the USA was Ricardo Feller in second place in GT3. Simon Trummer drove to a good fifth place overall in the Cadillac DPi, Marcel Fässler was seventh in Corvette. The highlights show 10 hours of racing in 19 minutes. At the end also the close finish in the [...]
The highlights show 10 hours of racing in 19 minutes. At the end also the close finish in the GT3 class.
Victory for Cadillac, title to Acura
The 22nd edition of the "Petit Le Mans," an endurance race over 1,000 miles or 10 hours on the Road Atlanta circuit in the U.S. state of Georgia, was the final round of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Cadillac celebrated a double victory with two of its customer teams.
However, the title goes to Acura as the manufacturer and Acura Team Penske with former BMW Sauber driver Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron in the other standings. Their fourth place - an eighth would have been necessary - was enough to win the title.
The Cadillac DPi with Simon Trummer and the North Americans Simpson and Miller ran in under darkness just five seconds behind the new champions. This gave them one of the best results in the eleven championship rounds. In fourth place, they had missed the first podium in the IMSA premier class by just 163 thousandths on June 1 in Detroit.
Unrewarded lap record by Feller
Instead, Ricardo Feller was allowed to mount it for the first time after a race in the USA late on Saturday evening. Together with factory driver Christopher Mies and Canadian Daniel Morad, the 19-year-old from Aargau clinched second place with the Audi R8 LMS from Montaplast by Land Motorsport.
At his own insistence, Feller was allowed to show his speed even before the race by taking part in qualifying for the first time. The Swiss thanked the team for their trust by setting a new lap record for GT3 cars. Because the team had committed a sporting breach of the rules (pushing backwards in the pit lane), the car was moved from the best to the last starting position in the GTD (GT3) category.
Great ambiance
The youngster from Switzerland put on the pressure from the start and worked his way into the top 5 by the first driver change. His team partners followed up their strong performance and came close to the top.
Because Mies got caught in a duel with a Ferrari, the team later received a drive-through penalty that knocked it out of the top 3 again. A renewed race to catch up and a final phase in which Mies took second place close behind the winning BMW M6 with a spectacular overtaking maneuver on the last lap brought the longed-for success after all.
Ricardo Feller: "After we had to retrospectively give up second place at the first race of the season, the 24 Hours of Daytona, I'm now happy with the first podium in America, even though we could have won. Above all, I'm pleased that I was able to put an exclamation mark on qualifying. The ambiance and the tracks in the USA are great, I'd like to keep experiencing that."
Farewell to the Corvette C7.R
The IMSA finale at Road Atlanta, where he has also been on the podium, went less well for Marcel Fässler. In Corvette Racing's farewell performance with the C7.R (17 worldwide GT victories in six seasons), only a fourth and seventh place (for the car with the Swiss driver) were achieved.
Both teams complained about a lack of grip and handling problems. Corvette debuts the C8.R at Daytona in three months. As in the world championship, the drivers' and manufacturers' titles in the GTLM category went to the 911 RSR from the Porsche GT Team.
Classification Petit Le Mans 2019
sportscarchampionship.imsa.com
