Preview: iRacing Petit Le Mans
Saturday marks the fourth time Fischer Motorsport will compete in the iRacing Petit Le Mans. In the last three years, the team never made it into the top ten in the endurance classic in Braselton, Georgia. The best result was an eleventh-place finish in 2018.
“We feel like we’re due a good finish here. I tell you the boss wants us to do well here. He’s not been happy with how things have gone for us the last three years. And neither are we.”, Porsche GT driver Pascal Theis said on Friday.
Of course, Theis was right there last year, when the team was running competitively but was forced to retire following a driver error and crash after 334 laps, once the race had entered the night hours.
“It doesn’t really matter anymore what happened last year. We’re focused on this weekend and to do the best job we can.”, Manuel Mayer said.
Mayer, who sat out most of the 2021 racing season, feels ready and rejuvenated, with a lot of fire to burn in Saturday’s ten-hour event.
Mayer has already been selected as qualifying and starting driver for the No. 84 Porsche 911 RSR GTE. Pascal Theis and Benjamin Fischer round out an all-German driver trio for the team’s sole GT entry in the event.
For the first time ever in the iRacing Petit Le Mans, Fischer Motorsport will be represented in the LMP2 class as Kyle Birnie, his brother Jason and David Koopmans will pilot the team’s No. 14 Dallara P217 LMP2 Prototype in the event.
This weekend’s race marks only the third LMP2 race in the history of Fischer Motorsport, after the 6 Hours of the Glen (DNF) and 24 Hours of Le Mans (5th place) earlier this year.
“We knew that this year would be an extraordinary challenge for us as a team, to establish a solid LMP2 program. We have learned a ton and gathered a lot of experience in the races we have run so far. But Road Atlanta this weekend will definitely put us to the test. I think we’ll be able really see how far we have come this year.”, Kyle Birnie said.
The iRacing Petit Le Mans is scheduled to start and see the green flag wave Saturday at 14:40 CEST / 8:40 am EDT and feature three classes: LMP2 Prototypes, GTE and GT3.