iRacing European Endurance Series

No. 85 Porsche from turmoil to sixth place at Le Mans

by Fischer Motorsport PR

May 31, 2020 02:55 AM CET 695 Views

After a turmoil start to Saturday's 6 Hours of Le Mans, the iRacing Endurance Series season finale, the No. 85 Porsche 911 RSR GTE team with drivers Benjamin Fischer, Aaron DePoy and Kyle Birnie bounced back to finish in sixth place in split 6.

The team's sister car, the No. 84 Porsche 911 RSR GTE with German drivers duo Manuel Mayer and Pascal Theis competed in split 3, but failed to see the checkered flag after Mayer crashed in the first Mulsanne chicane with about two hours remaining in the race.

Both entries showed a solid performance during Qualifying, with Mayer qualifying the No. 84 Porsche eleventh in split three, while Fischer placed the No. 85 Porsche on a fifth spot on the starting grid of split six.

Pascal Theis showed a strong opening stint performance in the No. 84 Porsche

Theis took starting duties in the No. 84 Porsche and was able to move into the top five quickly, showing tremendous pace throughout the opening hour.

Fischer did not have a good start and fell from fifth all the way to 16th, after having to take a time penalty for cutting the chicane to avoid mayhem ahead and after almost losing control on the exit of the Dunlop chicane, when a wrecked LMP2 prototype stood on the track ahead.

"The start sucked for us. I guess the best thing about that whole ordeal was, that we got away with no damage. But yeah, I was excited to start near the front and then before you know it, we are 16th.", Fischer commented on the early dismay.

Starting the race on a double stint, Theis did not take tires on the first pit stop, a decision that proved costly. The 26-year old struggled with two spins in the second hour of the race, but was able to continue on.

Fischer meanwhile also ran a double stint and did not change tires, but fared much better, working his way to the top-five and stretching fuel in the second stint for an extra lap, putting the No. 85 Porsche into the lead, even if only temporarily.

Lap 33: Aaron DePoy gets involved in a crash with the No. 21 LMP1 Prototype of Dark Coast Racing's Benjamin Engels

Hot Springs, Arkansas driver Aaron DePoy then took over from Fischer to begin the third and fourth hour of the race. DePoy quickly was faced with adversity as the No. 21 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Dark Costa Racing turned DePoy in an over-aggressive move into the Mulsanne hairpin, resulting in right front damage of the car.

"I thought I gave him plenty of room, but he just rammed me and spun us out. I have no idea what the 21 was thinking, but that was just a dumb move.", a visibly frustrated DePoy said of the incident later.

As it happened, more trouble was to be ahead for the 21-year old. On lap 36, while battling the No. 77 Porsche of OSMOZ WARE E-SPORT's Nicolas Vinter for second place in the GTE class, Dennis Wieke in the No. 524 Ford GT of Speed Monkey eSports lost control entering Virage d'arnage and was facing opposite to oncoming traffic.

Only thanks to tremendous reflexes, DePoy was able to miss the car and navigate through an ensuing three-wide situation. But it was another scare for DePoy, in a very hectic and at times outright bizarre stint in the third hour of the race.

"I've got to be honest with you, I can't believe what was going on during that stint. It was like everybody was on steroids or something. Ben was doing fine in the first two stints and then all hell broke loose when I got in the car.", DePoy said.

Only two laps later, DePoy was battling with the No. 24 Porsche of Team Simpact going into the first Mulsanne chicane. Outbraking Curtis Newkirk to take the position, the Fischer Motorsport driver was then cut off by Newkirk, sending the latter into a spin off the track while DePoy was able to continue.

Things took a turn for the worse for the No. 84 Porsche team at the end of Manuel Mayer's first stint in the race, when the Teisendorf, Germany driver ran out of fuel twenty meters from his pit stall, costing the team a lot of valuable time.

"That was the most helpless I've ever felt in a race car. I knew we were tight on fuel coming in, but then the engine just stalled on pit road. It was super frustrating for us. The guys had to tow it in and we lost a bunch of time.", Mayer commented on the scene.

After another single stint by team-mate Theis, Mayer's struggles continued when braking problems plagued the No. 84 Porsche. With just over two hours remaining in the race, Mayer had another major lockup going into the first Mulsanne chicane. The 31-year old decided to avoid a spin or loss of control by going through the gravel, but lost control after hitting the curb upon returning to the racing surface, sending the car into a hard impact into the track barrier.

Lap 73: The No. 84 Porsche team was forced to retire after a crash caused by brake problems

The crash forced the No. 84 Porsche team to retire from the race, putting an early end to an initially promising but finally very disappointing race.

"We just had too many errors today. Driver errors, strategy mistakes. The brake problems at the end were just the last straw. It wasn't our best race. But we'll bounce back. We're going to take this as a learning experience and make sure we're ready when we come back for the 24 Hours in June.", Pascal Theis said.

The No. 85 Porsche team meanwhile kept fighting after falling further back due to the damage sustained in the lap 33 crash and a slight contact with the barriers at the Porsche curves. With two hours remaining in the race, Fischer completed another single stint to hand the car over to Kyle Birnie.

With the driver change and four fresh tires going on the car, the team decided to use the opportunity to sacrafice a few extra second on damage repair. The Californian made the most of it by immediately posting the team's fastest lap of the entire race, at 3:50.756 and holding a solid margin to stay in sixth place.

Upon entering pit road for the final pit stop of the day, Birnie cut the chicane in the pit entry road and was handed a time penalty by race control as a consequence. The incident dropped the team to seventh place, twenty seconds behind sixth place holders, the No. 24 Porsche of Team Simpact.

During the final hour of the race, Birnie pushed hard to make up the lost ground. The 30-year old picked up two seconds per lap and with seven laps to go, managed to get back all the way into the slip stream of the No. 24 Posche.

Only few laps before the end of the race, Birnie managed to use the slip stream on the long Mulsanne straight, move alongside the No. 24 Porsche of Team Simpact's Ethan Dean, outbraked him and took over the sixth spot. The Fischer Motorsport driver never looked back and crossed the finish line shortly after, bringing home the sixth place finish for the team.

"I wasn't entirely happy with the setup today, but I'm really proud how we came through in the end. I was able to put pressure on the 24 and pick up the position. At least we made up for that error on the final pit stop. I'd have been pretty upset if that would have cost us sixth place.", Birnie said of his race.

THe 6 Hours of Le Mans served as a dress rehearsal for Fischer Motorsport, as the team will return to Le Mans in three weeks, for the annual iRacing 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the true crown jewels and marquee endurance racing events on the calendar.

The final 2020 iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series GTE championship standings were nothing to write home about for either Fischer Motorsport team. The No. 84 Porsche team competed in three of six races to wind up 196th in points with one top five and one top ten. The No. 85 Porsche team was recorded 244th in GTE class points with two starts, one top-five and two top-ten finishes.