MARCH 21, 2005

Long shows his class

Grandprix.com Young Driver award winner Patrick Long has added class victory at the Sebring 12 hour race to his 2004 Le Mans 24 Hour class success victory. The Californian Porsche factory driver shared the driving with Timo Bernhard and Jorg Bergmeister for the same Peteresen/White Lightning team that brought the class win at Le Mans.

It was not all clear sailing as the team survived a broken front damper and contact with an Audi prototype.

Long praised his team in a post-race statement: "Just a stellar job by the team. It's great to put this feather in my cap after Le Mans, the first victory with Petersen/ White Lightning, last year. This team has an obvious proven record and I am just happy to be a part of it for the remainder of the season. At the end it was pretty strategic, which was unlike any race I had ever done, so that was pretty memorable."

Long's detour into sports car racing was made when no competitive single seater drives materialized but the plan seems to be paying off nicely for the moment.