DECEMBER 2, 2004

Long still fighting

Patrick Long, the young American driver supported in recent years by grandprix.com scored a sensational class victory in the inaugural Bahrain FIA-GT Festival in Bahrain at the wheel of his Team Infineon Porsche 996 GTR3. Long was in dominant form and quickly dealt with the opposition in the class to win by 25secs, beating the JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena of former Formula 3000 racer Jean-Philippe Belloc.

The 23-year-old from California was the first American for 20 years to win an international karting victory back in 1998 and in 2000 raced in Formula Ford in Britain and impressed sufficiently to be given a works Van Diemen drive in 2001 and finished second in the series. He moved to Formula Renault the following year and won a race but then ran out of money and has since competed in sports cars although he remains keen to restart his open-wheeler career at a time when America seems to be waking up to the international scene.

"It was really fun to drive endurance Porsches in a sprint format," Long said after his win in Bahrain. "It's fun to go flat out. It reminded me of formula racing."