Unexpected eighth place in crash-filled race at Watkins Glen
As a response to the COVID-19 crisis that has crippled the world, the organizers of the IVRA ClubSport Series decided to organize a three-race special summer series to bring the sim racing community together before the official IVRA ClubSport Series returns come fall.
Kicking off the three-race summer series were the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen on Saturday. Fischer Motorsport, despite some logistical challenges, decided to join the summer series with a one-car entry - a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 with drivers Manuel Mayer and Pascal Theis.
For the German drivers duo it was the second six-hour race in seven days, after completing the iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series season finale the weekend before, where the team wound up sixth.
Difficult start for Theis
The IVRA ClubSport Summer Series event got off to a very busy start. A field of 52 cars in three classes worked its way through turn one. Starting from eighth place on the grid, Pascal Theis had decent track position heading into the first corner, only to see Team Heusinkveld take a hard charge through the outside and the No. 188 Porsche Cayman of CXR Project Black's Morgan Thompson rub fenders with Ruben Bonga in the Maniti Racing No. 178 Cayman. But somehow the cars made it through lap one safely.
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© 2020 Fischer Motorsport
Watkins Glen hosted the opening round of the IVRA ClubSport Summer Series on Saturday
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Theis struggled to get up to speed early and lost a position on lap two, when Blake Neck in the No. 142 Cayman passed him for seventh position. Only a handful of laps later, Theis lost another couple of positions to Bastian Salmen in the No. 127 AVA Vervatic machine and Alexander Klenk in the No. 137 Porsche Cayman, dropping Theis to tenth place.
The struggles continued for the team as the tires did not build up enough grip and heated up too much on the hot track temperatures and on lap 14 Theis dropped out of the top ten in class.
"It was a very difficult start for us. I couldn't keep the tires from overheating. We just had no grip. It was really frustrating. Luckily the cars in front of us kept holding each other up a bit, that put us in a spot where we were able to benefit some and stay close.", Theis said of the early stages of the race.
On lap 24 Theis locked up the brakes a little bit going into turn seven, consequently bumping into the No. 137 Porsche Cayman of Klenk. But the contact was without immediate consequences for either team.
The Frankfurt, Germany driver took a right hand turn on lap 27 to take the Fischer Motorsport machine to the pits for the first service top on the day. The team decided to start the race on a double stint, so Theis stayed in the car.
Race slowed by multiple full course cautions
The first full course caution period occured shortly after, when the No. 110 Porsche Cayman of Szybki Racing's Justin Crickenberger came to a halt before turn seven and track workers were unable to safely remove the car from the track.
The team decided to come back into the pits to repair some of the damage resulting from the contact on lap 24. Unfortunately due to not taking into account, that the class leader passed the pace car, the team fell back one lap.
"That was an error on our side. We missed that and didn't pay attention to the class leader as we should have. They were waved past the pace car when the yellow came out and they passed us while we were in the pits under yellow. That put us a lap down.", team manager Benjamin Fischer said.
The green flag came back out on lap 37 and racing resumed with the No. 185 Porsche Cayman of Theis now running in 14th position, looking for a way to get back onto the lead lap with a repaired race car that still had decent pace.
But the green flag racing wasn't for long as another full course caution followed quickly after, due to a crash in the esses between the No. 127 Porsche Cayman of Salmen and Spencer McCarthy in the No. 141 Alpinestars Geodesic Racing Cayman.
On lap 41 the field resumed to green. Theis now held 13th place in the SPORT class and was classified as the first car one lap down.
Any hopes by fans or the drivers to see the race return to racing, was quickly shattered as the largest crash of the race unfolded on the same lap, on the exit of the esses. A total of 18 cars were involved in the massive pileup, including Theis, who braked hard but was unable to avoid plowing into the rear of Feedo Koeman in the No. 217 Audi RS 3 LMS that was running in 17th place in the TCR class at the time.
"We dropped the ball there, not giving Pascal a warning of the wreck in the esses. When Pascal came through the esses, he was full throttle. Once they were waving the yellow flags he tried slowing, but it was too late.", Fischer commented on the incident.
"Yeah, that was awful. I came through the esses and suddenly all I could see was a totally blocked track. I tried my best to get to a halt, but I couldn't stop in time so we were in it.", Theis commented on the crash.
With significant front end damage hurting the car's performance now, the team's focus shifted to damage control.
Due to the amount of cars damaged in the pileup, Theis still moved up two positions in the class standings, but still, the race wasn't the same as before.
"The whole race was not really going well for us, but I think we fell a bit short on our attention to detail and focus after that, unfortunately. It was a very unfortunate situation.", team-mate Manuel Mayer said of the race.
Mayer gets the team back into the top ten
Mayer made his entrance into the race with less than four hours remaining in the race, when Theis brought the car into the pits for the next pit stop on lap 58, as another full course caution came out for an incident on the track.
The team decided to make further repairs on the car, subsequently dropping the No. 185 Porsche Cayman another lap down from the class leaders, but giving Mayer a car that was not as damaged anymore.
From the time the race went back to green on lap 66, Mayer held the 13th position in the SPORT class but steadily worked his way back And shortly before reaching the final two hours of the event, put the No. 185 Fischer Motorsport Porsche back in the top ten in class.
Running right behind the two-car battle for fourth place, between Carlos Vila in the No. 141 Alpinestars Geodesic Porsche Cayman and Alexander Klenk in the No. 137 Porsche Cayman, Mayer turned the German driver when he got loose in turn eight.
"He lost control a bit going into the corner and all I was thinking was, how can I stay away from him? Obviously I didn't want to interfere with their battle for fourth place, us being two laps down and everything."
"But when he spun, I couldn't quite avoid him. It was just one of those racing deals, where you're at the wrong place at the wrong time.", Mayer commented on the incident.
Meanwhile, the team's next pit stop was coming up just a lap later. Mayer, who had put the team back in a position to hope for a top ten result, handed over the car back to Theis.
Theis made the best of it and had a steady and solid stint. So when the 26-year old returned to the pits for the team's final stop of the race, the team held ninth place in class.
Late full course caution sets up dramatic finish
Now it was up to Mayer to take it from here and finish the race for the final 50 minutes of the six-hour event.
With just over 30 mintues remaining in the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, another huge accident occured, again on the exit of the esses.
Two cars, the No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Big Bone Racing's Graham Sanders and Aaron Thacker in the No. 237 Audi RS 3 LMS made contact and crashed into the barries, bringing out yet another yellow flag for the field.
The full course caution set up an exciting and dramatic sprint to the checkered flag. The team decided to bring Mayer back into the pits to top off on fuel. The decision cost the team one position and dropped the 31-year old back to tenth place for the moment, but both direct opponents, the No. 142 and No. 122 Porsche of Alpinestars Geodesic Racing and AOD Racing were on the same lap as Mayer.
"We felt we had nothing to lose, only to gain. And we wanted to make sure we don't have to worry about fuel, in case there is going to be an extra lap.", Fischer commented on the strategy call.
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© 2020 Fischer Motorsport
Shortly before the end of the race, Mayer lost control in the chicane, then was involved in a crash with Giovanni Romano's No. 137 Porsche Cayman
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With 15 minutes remaining in the race, the race restarted and Mayer was pushing hard, looking for his chance to make a move.
On the second lap after the restart, Mayer lost control over his car after hitting the inside curb in the chicane, making contact with the tire wall.
As team veteran driver tried to get going again, he did not see the incoming traffic. Giovvani Romano in the No. 137 Porsche Cayman could not avoid Mayers moving car, resulting in a crash heavily damaging both cars.
"That was all my fault. I did not see him, didn't pay proper attention. I apologize to Giovanni and his team for the crash and damaging their car. This should not happen again.", Mayer said after the race, visibly frustrated with himself.
The race stayed green and miracously Mayer was able to limp back to the pits. After another round of repairs and also serving a penalty for exceeding infraction points in the race, Mayer benefited from late-race retirements of the No. 100 Cayman of Team Vikings and No. 183 Porsche Cayman of CXR Project Black.
The race was won by the No. 46 Porsche of Team Bergen in the CUP class, while Team Heusinkveld took home first place honors in the SPORT class. Full Send Racing's No. 285 Audi RS 3 LMS team took the top step on the podium in the TCR class.
Round two of the IVRA ClubSport Summer Series takes place on July 4th at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.