Road America: Farnbacher Loles Racing race report

A day of Ups and Downs for Farnbacher Loles at Road America

8.16.09 Elkhart Lake, WI - After a promising qualifying effort for the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing/Marquis Jet/IPC Systems Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, drivers Bryce Miller and Wolf Henzler had to settle for a tenth place finish when a broken toe link on lap 56 put an end to their day. Despite turning several fast laps including the second fastest lap of the day in the ALMS GT2 class, the mechanical failure, and a series of unfortunately timed safety car sessions kept the team from repeating their 2008 victory at the scenic Elkhart Lake, WI race course.

Fortunately, Farnbacher Loles Racing had a much more uplifting day in Round 8 of the Patron GT3 Challenge.

Yesterday, after waiting three years to get back on the podium, Darrell Carlisle scored a second place finish. Today, after only waiting one day to get back on the podium, Carlisle stood on the top step in first place. This was the McLean, VA native's first victory in the Patron GT3 Challenge by Yokohama.

On the second lap, Carlisle driving the #40 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 Cup, passed Bill Sweedler of Westport, Conn., for second place and set his sites on the leader Mitch Pagerey in the #23 Porsche. After Pagerey and Amadeo Quiros, in the #58, made contact on the track, Carlisle took the lead and went on to capture his first overall and Platinum Class victory in the series.

Carlisle identified his pass on Sweedler for second as a key moment towards his first victory.

"I had a good run on Bill going down into turn five. It was the best run I had all weekend," Carlisle said. "We were side by side going down there into the turn, but I had the inside corner. I have to say I really had the best car out there. I was able to brake later and get on the gas sooner. Alex and the rest of the Farnbacher Loles crew did an amazing job this weekend. And now I know what it takes to get on the top of the podium."

Ben McCrackin, driving the #81 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 Cup in the Gold Class repeated his podium performance from Saturday with another solid second place finish. Road America marked Ben's first race weekend since the opening round in Sebring, where he also was on the podium, but he clearly showed no signs of rust. McCrackin finished 7th overall, a one spot improvement over his 8th place overall finish during Round 7 on Saturday.

Farnbacher Loles Team Principle, Gregory Loles is happy to see his Patron GT3 Challenge Team back in victory lane. "After seeing both Darrell and Ben on the podium yesterday, I had a feeling that a victory was possible today," Loles said. "I'm very proud of all the guys who work so hard for us, they deserved this win and the pair of podiums. This was truly a great result by everyone."

"We had a tough day in the ALMS race," Loles continued. "But we can take solace in the fact that our RSR ran well, it's capable of fast laps, and I'm sure that we will be ready for the upcoming event at Mosport."

-credit: flr