Manning, Allen turn the tide, claim podium at Mid-Ohio

En route to the No. 385 Porsche team’s first top-five since the season-opener in October, Nathan Manning opened things up with a solid opening stint, moving from an eighth starting position to the top-five.

On lap 68, one hour and 40 minutes into the event, the driver from Merriville, Indiana had to overcome a big scare in turn five as a LMP2 prototype rejoined directly into oncoming traffic, causing a situation where just barely all cars avoided a big crash.

Manning had to go wide and through the grass and dropped back by over 12 seconds, but was able to keep the car out of the tire barriers.

“That was a close call. Man, was I frustrated in that moment. That really hurt us. We were on a good run, but this was so completely unnecessary. They almost destroyed our race. I was barely able to react in time and keep it in shape.”, Manning offered his side of the events.

Jason Allen got his opportunity and climbed into the cockpit of the Porsche 911 RSR GTE at the halfway mark. With two hours to go, it was now on the series newcomer to bring it home.

As Allen exited pit road, the No. 385 Porsche was scored in ninth position but just ten laps later the Las Vegas native claimed P6 in GT AM class, looking at a way to crack the top-five.

That’s when drama struck again and again it it was turn five, that saw the fate of the team change course.

As Allen entered the corner, the No. 15 LMP2 prototype of RLR Abruzzi eSports missed their braking point, sending the Fischer Motorsport machine into a spin that cost Allen three positions.

“I know they probably meant nothing by it, but it was one of those deals where you really feel upset, because things were going well and if it wasn’t for that spin, we were going to have a chance to catch the top-five possibly.”, Allen said of the incident.

Making no excuses, the team moved on and started to chase down the competitors in front once more. Through a display of grit and determination Allen worked his way into fifth position before coming down pit road with just under one hour remaining in the race.

That’s when the 47-year-old made a mistake. Crossing the white line too early, that separates slow and fast lane on pit road, race control issued a drive-through penalty for violating the “three-second-rule” that requires teams to spend no more than 3 seconds between fast lane and pit stall.

“I thought that was a bad call, but after looking at the replay, I guess they were right to call me out on that. It’s unfortunate. But I’ll learn from it and keep getting better.”, Allen commented on it later.

After serving the penalty, the final caution period came out on lap 138 and neutralized competition, setting up an exciting finale.

“We knew, this was our chance. If we played our cards right, we could position ourselves to make a run for a strong finish there, because we had already made our final pit stop.”, Manning commented on the team’s strategy.

Following that line of thinking, the team stayed out during the full course yellow and when the race resumed on the restart, 28 minutes before end, Allen now found himself in fourth position, battling with the GT AM class leaders right ahead.

“The car had a tad bit too much understeer mid-corner, but still, we were faster, so I was able to make some moves and do something with it.”, explained Allen.

Giving fans a great show, Allen battled hard with Walker Greene in the No. 322 AOD Racing BMW for third place and on lap 147 the two cars made slight contact – again in turn five, that had troubled the team a number of times prior in the race. But this time Allen was able to push through and go ahead.

Now running in third place, Allen’s focus shifted towards chasing down the No. 305 Porsche of Vector Sim Racing. As the stakes got higher and higher for the GT AM front runners, so did the pressure on the drivers. On lap 152, only twenty minutes before the end, Allen moved into second place after Declan Eady in the the Vector Sim Racing machine lost control in turn one following a driver error.

But Allen had no time to catch his breath. One lap later, he had to avoid disaster coming through the final turn to find an accident directly ahead involving a GT PRO class car and two LMP2 prototypes.

Keeping his cool, Allen passed the scene with minimal time loss and held on to second place, only seven seconds behind the GT AM class leader.

“It was just crazy out there. The race was really fun, but man, you could not blink. If you did, you’d probably miss a car trying to pass you or vice versa.”, Allen said.

Five minutes before the end, Allen managed to get within six seconds of the lead when two LMP2 prototypes passed him into turn two, forcing him to leave the door open. The Vector Simracing machine in third place directly behind missed their braking point and spun the No. 385 Fischer Motorsport Porsche off the track.

“That just killed us. Unbelievable. I have no words for that.”, a bitterly disappointed Allen said about the incident that dropped the team from second to fifth place.

On the final lap, Allen completed a spectacular pass to retake fourth place and by that brought home the No. 385 Porsche team’s first top-five result since the 12 Hours of Spa, Round 1 of the IVRA Endurance Series 2020-21 season in October.

“Jason did a great job today. I’m so proud of how we overcome adversity today. We didn’t have the perfect race, but we didn’t give up. It was fantastic to see how we were able to pass cars, even though that is basically unheard of at this track.”, Nathan Manning showed his excitement after the race.

The next round of the IVRA Endurance Series will take the team to Virginia on February 20th.

© 2021 Fischer Motorsport Unofficial Race Results - GT PRO Class