Pole, Podium, and Points Mark Record-Setting Weekend At Long Beach for Riley SRT Viper

Pole, Podium, and Points Mark Record-Setting Weekend At Long Beach for Riley SRT Viper

Media Contact: 
Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management

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Mooresville, NC (26 April 2013) – Less than one year after joining one of the most competitive categories in motorsport, the SRT Viper program demonstrated the remarkable progress that the Riley Technologies-led effort has made in American Le Mans Series competition as the team set two new significant benchmarks this weekend at the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach with a pole position and a maiden appearance on the ALMS podium.

It was also another banner day for the firm in GRAND-AM competition as Riley scored victories in both the Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge races at Road Atlanta.

Round four of the 2013 Rolex championship saw Riley’s customer cars score the second 1-2-3 Riley Technologies result of the season in the Visual Studios Ultimate Grand Prix of Atlanta as Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas controlled the race from the green to checkered flag in their BMW-powered Riley. The win marked the 92nd Daytona Prototype GRAND-AM victory for Riley Technologies.

Stevenson Motorsports scored the team’s second consecutive podium finish and moved closer to the championship lead after John Edwards and Matt Bell took a convincing victory with the Riley Technologies-designed No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.

On Friday at Long Beach, the No. 91 Fast & Furious 6 SRT Viper GTS-R of pilot Dominik Farnbacher paced the pack to score the first-ever pole position for the SRT Viper with a fast lap time of 1:18.845-seconds on the challenging street circuit. The race weekend marked just the sixth start for the SRT Viper.

The lap time broke the GT Class track record. Showing the depth of the talent behind the effort, the sister No. 93 Fast & Furious 6 SRT Viper GTS-R driven by Jonathan Bomarito was less than a tenth behind with his best time of 1:18.984-seconds locking the car in to third on the grid.

“One year ago, the car didn’t exist; it was still on paper and in the minds of the CEOs,” said Dominik Farnbacher. “Last year, we tried to get the baseline setup so that everything is reliable. At Sebring, for the first time, we drove really hard. The car showed to be really strong there. Now, at Long Beach, the second race, we are on top of the grid. If you look at the field, the top-five lap times are within a tenth-of-a-second. That shows the world-class of ALMS."

On Saturday, Farnbacher and his co-driver Marc Goossens led the race before coming home with a strong third place result. The sister No. 93 of Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer fell victim from a pair of hits late in the race, but recovered to take a top-10 finish with their run to eighth place.

“We’re still learning but we couldn’t be happier with our result, a podium and third- place,” said Farnbacher. “All in all, it was a great race for us and I think we can all be proud of it.”

The acceleration of the program has been clear: the Bill Riley-led group scored the same number of points in the opening round race at Sebring as the group did in its first four American Le Mans Series events in 2012.

“I just want to congratulate all the team members from SRT Motorsports,” said Gary Johnson, SRT Motorsports Racing Manager. “Over the winter we did a lot of work on the SRT Viper GTS-Rs. I couldn’t be more proud of the team. This pole was huge for the team and especially the SRT Motorsports group back in Detroit.”

The SRT Viper will look to continue it’s ascendancy with new accomplishments in round four of the 2013 championship when the ALMS visits Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca May 9-11.

“We put in a huge amount of work in the off-season, so it is gratifying to have this kind of weekend,” offered Bill Riley. “A big thanks to everyone at SRT for their support and to all the guys putting in the effort that they have to get us to this point. The qualifying results showed how incredibly close it is in the ALMS, and we know we have to keep pushing.”

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