Park Place Motorsports finished fourth at Lime Rock Park in the Northeast Grand Prix after fighting through unprecedented heat as IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors kept battles tight on the track.
Hot and humid barely describes the conditions drivers faced throughout the two hour and 40-minute sprint race. Track temperatures measured as high as 132 degrees Fahrenheit with the humidity index hovering around 60 percent. Driver Marco Seefried drove a majority of the race, reaching as high as second thanks to strategy and speed. Porsche Works Driver Patrick Long hunt down the leaders after a GT Le Mans car pushed Seefried wide dropping him in position before handing off the No. 73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 R to Long. The Porsche Works Driver was ultimately halted with a checkered flag.
Park Place Motorsports’ fourth place at Lime Rock begins a string of near podium finishes after the team took home fourth at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the previous round. The team now sits tied for first in the WeatherTech Sprint Cup after pairing three fourth-place finishes with a second-place finish at Belle Isle Street Course. Long is tied with Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher with 116 points in the drivers sprint points championship.
Calendar
Park Place Motorsports heads to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the next round of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship racing. The series makes the switch from the shortest course of the season to the longest with Road America measuring four miles in distance. The weekend begins with practice Friday, Aug. 2 followed by qualifying Saturday, Aug. 3. Race day is Sunday, Aug. 4 with the green flag dropping at 2:35 p.m. EDT. The race is broadcast at 6 p.m. on NBCSN, watch live with the NBC Sports app or on IMSA.tv.
Driver Quotes
Marco Seefried, Driver No. 73 Park Place Porsche
“I think the team made good strategy calls from the start,” Seefried said. “In my first stint the tire pressures weren’t quite where I wanted them. The team did a great job adjusting them for my next stint which allowed me to defend better. It was a bit crazy in my last stint with it being so hot and having so much traffic. I got pushed into the marbles by a GTLM car at the end which really slowed me down. I still think this was a great weekend and I want to thank Patrick Lindsey and Park Place Motorsports for having me.”
Patrick Long, Porsche Works Driver
“I was happy with our race pace,” Long said. “Our strategy was good; I really appreciate how Mike Johnson commits to an idea without asking ‘what if’. He plays his cards and holds to them. At Lime Rock track position is so important that with fourth realistically was what was in the cards for us. I was close to Auberlen at the end but just didn’t have the extra bit I needed. I’ve had a lot of interesting battles with him over the years so that was fun. The team did great, now onto the next one.”
Mike Johnson, Strategist and Director of Race Operations
“You know all in all this was another very good day for the Park Place team,” Johnson said. “We made some progress over the weekend. We’re leading the Sprint Championship and are sitting solidly in third in the full season championship so today was good for points. Unfortunately, we just can’t get out of fourth place in these races and with four races to go we really want to make some headway so we have got to start getting on the podium. Overall I’m pleased with how the team and drivers ran this weekend so we’re just going to need a bit of luck moving forward.”
