Third time’s the charm for No. 84 Porsche Team at Bathurst

Facing an incredibly harsh balance of performance by iRacing, that has put all Porsche teams at a significant disadvantage, thanks to a 22kg weight penalty, the No. 84 Porsche 911 GT3 R with Benjamin Fischer behind the wheel started into the race from P40.

„We decided, since we’re way back and down on pace, we’ll just totally focus on survival in this race and worry about the outcome when we get to the finish.“, Pascal Theis said.

„Starting from the pits did cost us some time, but we felt it was the safest thing to do, given how in previous years there really always was a huge pileup in the opening laps, leaving you nowhere to go.“, Benjamin Fischer added.

So it was Fischer that started from the race from the pits as the 37-year old took starting driver duties for the first time in quite a while.

The opening hour went by quickly and - as the team had hoped – incident free. The race started in total darkness but the sun had started to rise by the end of Fischer’s first stint. At the same time, the leaders were lapping the Fischer Motorsport machine.

„We just had no chance at all on pace. We were down on pace by about two to three seconds per lap. It was ridiculous. On the straights the BMWs and Ferraris especially would simply pull away and drive away from us. And in Frog Hollow and Sulman Park they could go flat out while we had to lift, carrying all that extra weight.“, Fischer criticized the balance of performance decision by iRacing.

However, the team took pride in having zero incidents throughout the first eight hours of the race. After Fischer’s double stint, it was Pedersen taking over and piloting the Porsche all the way into the top-15.

„I don’t think we passed anybody for position once all race long. We simply gained positions from attrition to the other teams. A lot of them were obviously not prepared for a 12-hour race or took way too much risk and crashed. It’s the same every year, really.“, Theis shaked his head.

All the more reason for the No. 84 Porsche team to take advantage of the situation and by the time Theis reached the end of his second double stint, it looked like a top-ten may be within reach.

However, a lapped Ferrari pushed hard on fresher tires towards the end of the ninth hour of the race, leading to contact with Theis going into „The Cutting“.

The incident left the No. 84 Porsche with a slight dent in the left rear bumper, but it remained the only incident with damage in the race for the team.

For the final two hours of the event, Pedersen was back in the car, taking the team into the dusk hours of the event.

As the sun was starting to set on a day full of racing, Pedersen kept a cool head and eventually put the team in position to benefit from three more late crashes involving other teams.

And so it was a satisfying 11th place finish in the end, for the team, that celebrated the result like a victory, after having failed again and again in the past, to finish this crueling race of attrition.

„To come here, fail these last years and suffer heartbreak, come back and finally finish this race, it feels really good. I know we were not competitive on pace today. We had no crashes, no repair time and still finished five laps down from the leaders. That ought to tell you everything you need to know about this so-called balance of performance. What a joke this was. But I’m proud. I’m proud of this team for hanging in and running a nearly perfect race.“, Benjamin Fischer said of the race.

The team now travels back to Germany and will prepare for the 2022 iRacing Nürburgring Endurance Championship, that is expected to be announced by iRacing in the coming weeks. The team has yet to announce its plans for the series this year, but is expected to field at least one full-time entry in the series this year.