Each driver of the No. 91 led laps in their opening stint after the team started from the pole.  However, the group had a power steering fluid line rupture in the overnight hours and rushed to the garage for repairs.  The SRT team returned to the track after a rapid, 15-minute repair in the garage and fought constantly for the rest of the race to regain positions and laps while also keeping an eye on the attrition of the GTLM competition.  The team was down a number of laps to the leader at one point before engineering the comeback for a podium finish.

“The performance was good, but the kind of racing this is now you have one little mishap and you have to fight your whole way to get back,” said Bill Riley, vice president and chief engineer of Riley Technologies, after the race.  “We had a power steering line fail.  We got 12 laps down and we ended up four laps down by just continuing to fight.  It’s a shame because we didn’t have any other issues besides that.  After that, the hood or the body never had to come off the car, so it was pretty much a flawless run besides that.  We fought all day, we didn’t give up and we’re on the podium.”

The podium finish was the sixth for SRT Motorsports team since returning sports car competition in the 2012 season.  The third-place showing also put Viper back on the podium at Daytona International Speedway after winning the 2000 Rolex 24 overall in the marque’s last appearance at the World Center of Racing.

The sister No. 93 SRT Viper GTS-R finished sixth after the team started the race in a similarly competitive situation as the No. 91.  After starting third in class and seeing each driver – Rob Bell, Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer – each lead at least one lap in their respective race-opening driving stints, the No. 93 quickly joined the No. 91 as the primary class pacesetters in the first third of the race.

Coincidentally, just minutes after the No. 91 returned to the race after the nighttime repair, a contact incident forced the No. 93 from the lead lap and into a lengthy run of pit-side repairs to fix the front end.  Like the No. 91, Bomarito, Bell and Wittmer fought back from several laps down and back into the top five top-five in class by mid-morning on Sunday.

By then, the No. 91 had worked its way up to fourth place, one spot ahead of their teammates, but any hope of the No. 93 moving even further up in the running order quickly came to an end when a second problem emerged.  The entry came to a stop on course with a driveshaft flange issue that put an end to any SRT dual podium aspirations as the No. 93 lost several laps back in the garage for additional repairs.

Despite the No. 93’s disappointing finish, SRT Motorsports should be well positioned in the early season point standings for the TUDOR GTLM Team Championship.

The IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship moves on to race at Florida’s Sebring International Raceway on Saturday, March 15, for the annual 12 Hours of Sebring.

Source: driveSRT.com

The post On the Podium at Daytona: #91 SRT Viper GTS-R appeared first on Modern Mopar Magazine.

It’s official. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) extended an invitation to SRT® Motorsports to field a pair of SRT Viper GTS-R race cars in the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans. “And we graciously accept,” said Beth Paretta, Director of Marketing and Operations, SRT Brand and Motorsports. Participation in the prestigious race is contingent upon the invitation from ACO, the official sanctioning body of the Le Mans race and one of the oldest sanctioning bodies in motorsports.

“We are very excited to receive an invitation to this important race,” said Paretta. “After a break of more than a decade, we’re thrilled to have been considered again.”

The announcement comes as the team is busy testing and preparing for a full-time return to the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 2013.

“This is another step in an amazingly challenging plan to return the SRT Viper to the world stage of endurance racing,” noted Paretta. “It began with our return to ALMS competition last August, and continued with the development of our cars during the following races. We received the invitation for Le Mans, and now we need to get to work. It’s a huge commitment for such a young race program, but we know we have the right team and amazing cars in place.”

The last time Viper competed at Le Mans was 2000. Viper took first and second in the very competitive GTS class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, won the GT world title, won the 2000 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona overall – yes, overall – and went on to win every race in the ALMS championship to take that title in its final racing season in the series.

“Viper has such a storied history at Le Mans,” noted Paretta. “This amazing supercar has set such an incredibly high standard with past success that we will be working plenty of overtime to prepare.”

The Viper GTS-R was victorious at Le Mans three straight years in the GTS class, from 1998-2000. In 1998, Viper took the top two spots on the podium while each of the four Vipers entered finished seventh or better. Real dominance had begun. Then, in 1999, Viper GTS-Rs swept the top six spots in GTS. In its final season of 24 Hours of Le Mans competition in 2000, Vipers finished 1-2 again in GTS. But the game has changed and the work ahead is momentus.

The core team of drivers from 2012 will return to the SRT Viper GTS-R team, including Jonathan Bomarito, Dominik Farnbacher, Marc Goossens, Tommy Kendall and Kuno Wittmer. A sixth driver will be named in the coming weeks. Fans can look forward to an all-new in-depth look at the SRT Viper GTS-R race program on driveSRT.com set to launch in March, in time for the ALMS 12 Hours of Sebring.

[Courtesy of driveSRT]

The post SRT® Viper GTS-R Team accepts invitation to race at 24 Hours of Le Mans. appeared first on Modern Mopar Magazine.