Krohn Racing/TRG Finishes Third at Watkins Glen
Krohn Racing/TRG drivers Jörg Bergmeister and Christian Fittipaldi raced their number 66 Krohn Racing/TRG/Pontiac Riley to third place in the (August 12 running of the) Grand American Rolex Series COMPUSA 200 at The Glen. The companion prototype driven by Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson had engine problems, which ended their day early.

Following a full day and night’s work on the number 66 car, as a result of Bergmeister’s qualifying crash, the team was not able to partake in the last practice session. Extensive damage to the car meant that he had to line-up on the front row of the grid without so much as a hardship lap.

Nevertheless, starting from the outside front row, Jörg Bergmeister was able to storm into the lead on lap 15. A two stop pit strategy by the team had the German come in on lap 20, surrendering the lead of the race. Co-driver Christian Fittipaldi took over the car in 16th position as result of the early stop. Fittipaldi drove through the field, battling cars with fresher tires the last third of the race.

Tracy Krohn started the number 67 Krohn Racing/TRG/Pontiac Riley in tenth and ran into engine issues early. On lap five Krohn radioed that the car was down on power. He pitted on lap 20 for repairs, handing over to Jönsson – who had to retire the car three laps later.

Jörg Bergmeister, #66 Krohn Racing/TRG/Pontiac Riley: “I was able to take the lead early on in the race. The team’s strategy had me pitting early, so I only drove 20 laps. They did a great job to put the car back together after my accident in qualifying. It was nearly perfect. Christian had a great drive against the field on old tires, so a podium for us today is a good result.”

Christian Fittipaldi, #66 Krohn Racing/TRG/Pontiac Riley: “When I got into the car early in the race it was really good. The crew’s hard worked really paid off. At the end of the race the tires were really going away. We got the late race yellow and that helped me to cool them down a little. I had to be pretty defensive at the end. The strategy today was safe; I think if we could have tuned the car a little more in the practice that we missed, maybe we could have done even better.”

Tracy Krohn, #67 Krohn Racing/TRG/Pontiac Riley: “At the start the car was really good. On lap five it just seemed to lay down on the power. We tried to fix it; the guys were working hard to get us back out there, but no luck.”

Nic Jönsson, #67 Krohn Racing TRG/Pontiac Riley: “There was no warning of the engine issue in practice yesterday. It is just one of those things that happens in racing. I was in the top three all of the practice sessions and Tracy was really on the pace. We were hopeful for a good day, but it wasn’t to be.”

Watkins Glen Top Daytona Prototype Finishers:
1. Taylor/Angelelli Pontiac Riley
2. Stallings/Gurney Pontiac Riley
3. Bergmeister/Fittipaldi Pontiac Riley
4. Diaz/Pruett Lexus Riley
5. Forbes-Robinson/Leitzinger Pontiac Crawford
6. Dunno/Lammers Pontiac Crawford
7. Wagner/Johansson Lexus Riley
8. Donohue/Law Porsche Fabcar
9. Borkowski/Mears Pontiac Riley
10. Gollin/Bobbi Ford Doran
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23. Krohn/Jönsson Pontiac Riley

TRG Pontiac GTO.R Wins Watkins Glen
TRG drivers Paul Edwards and Jan Magnussen drove their GT class number 64 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R to victory in round nine of the Grand American Rolex Series COMPUSA 200 at The Glen (August 12). Teammates Marc Bunting and Andy Lally had also had a podium run going, until a pit stop penalty relegated them to the back of the field; they eventually came back to finish in fourth.

Paul Edwards started the car from their third row qualifying position and had some drama with the number 66 team Daytona Prototype on lap eight. The young Californian was going into turn one, allowing room for the faster DP cars, when the Bergmeister racer drifted up into him and causing a flat on the right-rear. Edwards did a nice job to nurse the car around for nearly a full lap for a fresh set of Hoosiers.

Jan Magnussen took over the car from Edwards on lap 21 with an early driver change strategy. Magnussen ran a clean race and assumed the lead under yellow on lap 47 and never looked back, bringing the GTO.R home for Pontiac’s first ever victory in the GT class.

What looked like a TRG GTO.R one-two early on in the race ended on lap 48 when the number 65 TRG/Pontiac was summoned to pit lane for a stop-and-go-penalty, under green, as a result of a pit lane violation. Andy Lally was able to come back in the waning moments of the race to finish a strong fourth.

Jan Magnussen, #64 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R: “It was tight racing with the yellows, but everyone seemed to respect each other. Paul did a good job to recover from the flat tire and keep the car up toward the front. It was good racing at the end with the BMW. We won the race on consistency and strategy, maybe next time we can win on speed.”

Paul Edwards, #64 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R: “I was going into turn one and gave him plenty of room and he just drifted into me and knocked the valve stem off the car. We were able to recover with good pit work and sound strategy. Jan did a good job in all of that traffic at the end to bring it home. It is a great day for all involved. The car ran strong all weekend.”

Marc Bunting, #65 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R: “We had a brake bias issue early in the race and I flat spotted my front tires. Then the next lap around I came into turn one, got off line a little and hit a damp spot and spun. I lost a couple of places, but it wasn’t too bad. We had a strong car, the unfortunate incident in the pits really cost us as we had to stop under green.”

Andy Lally, #65 TRG/Pontiac GTO.R: “We had a strong car today. Marc did a good job and had the car running as high as third place. The pit penalty really hurt. My stint was pretty eventful – except that the same car that put me into the wall at Daytona once again made an ill-advised pass and almost hit me again. Fourth is pretty good considering our green flag penalty.”

Kevin Buckler, TRG team owner: “The team did a great job in the pits and on the track with the number 64 car. The recovery from the flat tire was made under calm circumstances and they were able to charge back for the win. Marc and Andy had the opposite situation, we let them down a little in the pits or we would have had both of them on the podium.”

Top GT Watkins Glen Finishers:
1. Edwards/Magnussen Pontiac GTO.R
2. Marks/Hand BMW
3. Pumpelly/Littlechild Porsche
4. Bunting/Lally Pontiac GTO.R
5. Gleason/James BMW
6. Murry/Stanton Porsche
7. Freidman/Keen Pontiac
8. Collins/Valentine BMW
9. Sigal/Alhadeff Porsche
10. Long/Flanagan Porsche