Mario Farnbacher (Germany), Alex Riberas (Spain) and Ian James (Phoenix, Az.) will start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen from the front row for tomorrow’s 10:10 a.m. ET start.
The Heart of Racing Porsche team worked over the past two days to get the No. 23 handling around the newly repaved 3.4-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen International raceway. Farnbacher had the wheel of the blue and chrome 911 GT3 R for qualifying. He was battling with the Audi duo of Robin Liddell (pole sitter) and Lawson Aschenbach. On his seventh lap the young German posted a time of 1:45.449 good for a second place starting position.
“It was a good qualifying session,” Farnbacher said. “The Heart of Racing team made progress with the car every practice. In today’s practice we were up toward the top of the time sheet. In qualifying the car felt good. On my fast lap I had a good one going then I made a slight mistake in the last corner, but I gave it 110% for the team.”
“We can be quite happy with the work the drivers and the team have done so far this weekend,” Riberas said. “During practice we focused on having a good car for the race. I was able to post some good lap times during my time in the car. The Lamborghini and the Audi have an edge on speed this weekend. I think if we can get up on the podium that will be a good result.”
“We have had good pace all day in the car,” James said. “The Heart of Racing team has worked hard on the set-up since Friday and we now have a race car that is handling and we can race with tomorrow. Mario did a great job to fight for the pole position and we are starting upfront here at Watkins Glen which is always good.”
“Mario, Alex and Ian have done a great job to get The Heart of Racing Porsche handling around this newly resurfaced track,” Alex Job, team owner, said. “We are the fastest Porsche in qualifying, but the Audi and the Lamborghini’s are very strong. We are starting upfront so that is a bonus that has the team motivated.”
Source. Kyle Chura/Alex Job Racing