MOMO NGT Motorsport collects another podium finish at Road America

The No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport team of Henrique Cisneros and Sean Edwards were back on the podium at the America Le Mans Series (ALMS) Orion Energy Systems 245 race at Road America on Sunday, August 11. The third place finish in the GTC class produced some needed points in the GTC championship but also awarded points to their top challengers.

Cisneros started second on the grid in the GTC class under rainy condition at the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 4.048-mile circuit and immediately drove the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to first place. The team made a set-up change, along with tires and fuel, once the rain dissipated. Cisneros turned the car over to Edwards in third position one hour and 15 minutes into the two hour and 45 minute race.

After bringing the MOMO NGT Porsche back into the lead, a pit stop dropped Edwards back to sixth. Although he managed to climb to third, a late race caution less than 10 minutes from the finish allowed other teams that would have needed to pit to continue, while the No. 30 MOMO team could no longer challenge for a victory.

Henrique Cisneros, No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport GTC class and starting driver:

“It was a fun race, a fantastic race. I had a great stint in the rain and also with the dry tires. I handed the car over to Sean in third place. We lost a little bit of time in the pits and came out in fourth. We had a different strategy than everyone else. Everyone pitted under yellow and we pitted under green. It seemed like with the right conditions, or at least with a little bit of luck, if the race would have finished under green everyone else would have had to pit for fuel and we would have inherited the lead. At least that’s what we were hoping. A couple of yellows in between forced us to stay in third place. We’re a little bit disappointed with the finish because we really needed the win for the championship points. I think as it stands now we’re 16 points behind the leader. There are still four races left and we’re looking forward to the rest of the season. We’re looking forward to Baltimore. A lot of things happen in the Baltimore race. All in all the team did a great job. We’re proud of third, even though we wanted first place.”

Sean Edwards, No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsports GTC class and qualifying driver:
“It was a tough race. I think our strategy didn’t quite work on the pit stop initially. I was leading and had to pit under the next safety car. Of course everyone jumped us and I dropped to sixth. So I had to then overtake the whole field and couldn’t quite catch the guys in the end. The car was pretty good but it’s really tough to overtake here in GTC. Everyone is so close. Third is the best we could do today and hopefully we’ll finish higher next time.”

Ramez Wahab, NGT Motorsport Owner/No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport Team Manager:
“The race ended up pretty good but could have been better. It started a bit crazy with the rain. I think we were one of the few cars who did a quick race set-up in the last moment on the car, mainly changing sway bars. Henrique was fast right away. He passed even our main contender, car No. 45, Nelson Canache. He did an awesome job, not even a wiggle. The first double yellow hurt us a little bit. The second double yellow came in perfect. Henrique got out of the car and Sean in the car with about an hour and 30 minutes to go. Sean was very quick right away. I think we were the only one who changed the set-up for rain because it took us a little bit longer in the pits. Once it got dry, we changed it to dry set-up, which is why it took us 12 second longer, and probably why others didn’t do it. The tire change and fuel was flawless.

“We had a pretty good strategy actually. We were convinced that after our last fueling, which was with just 60 minutes to go, that we would be the only team that could finish the race without pitting since we can run about 63 to 65 minutes with a load of fuel. The race only had 60 minutes to go so we felt we were safe and the others were not. We were using the same strategy as last year. We played smart and were running in third with a maximum of four second behind the leader. Unfortunately, with less than 10 minutes to go we got a double yellow. Obviously with a double yellow you push less and have less fuel consumption so the others didn’t have to pit and we finished third instead of the victory we had hoped.”

The next race for the No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport Porsche GTC will be Round 7 of the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at the Grand Prix of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, August 30-31, 2013.

MOMO NGT Motorsport