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Preparing for Sebring 2019

In 2018, Juan Lopez-Santini and Rob Blake teamed up for a single car effort running the #74 Porsche 997 GT3-R with International GT. In 2019, things get a little more interesting as the team adds the #24 Porsche 991 GT3-R to make this season a two car team – and ultimately competing against each other!

Sebring Test / January 25, 2019. Pictured: Ricky Capone & Mike Colucci (Orbit Racing), Juan Lopez-Santini, Brady Refenning & Chris Prince (901 Shop Racing).

The 991 GT3-R was acquired in December 2018 from Pfaff Motorsports; the home of 2018 PWC Sprint Champ Scott Hargrove. We are very thankful to have a machine with such a Pedigree, driven by not only Scott Hargrove, but Wolf Henzler as well.

Juan will be piloting the 997 and Rob will take on the 991. As both a teammate and Rob’s coach in 2018, Juan will now become a moving target for Rob’s development.

Pictured: Anthony Guida (Orbit Racing)

With only one test day to get comfortable with the 991R before the IGT Season opener, the team took both cars to Sebring on January 25th and gained valuable information on Rob’s new car, while also dialing in the 997 for Juan….who is expected to excel at his home track on March 2nd / 3rd. The combined efforts of Orbit Racing and 901 Shop made for a successful outing and we look forward to racing in just a few weeks.

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    Data Crunch

    March 1st has crept up quickly…the first practice day of the International GT Round 1 Races at Sebring International Raceway is underway. After making some subtle setup adjustments to the GT3-R, both Juan and Rob agree the car feels more responsive and some, but not all, of the under steer they encountered back in February is gone. Rob prefers to drive a car with a little push, while Juan’s driving style is more suited to a car with a little over steer…so the crew was trying to find the right balance for both. Not an easy task.

    Very little of the test day was spent actually driving when you compare it to the time going over data. Numbers don’t lie, and MOTEC doesn’t either. Interestingly, Juan was quicker on the front half of the track, and Rob was quicker on the back half of the track. What began as a joke of fusing Rob and Juan together became the ultimate goal in terms of lap times because if they could;  the lap ET would be very really close to what the reported capability of the car was at Sebring….and far quicker than the GT3 Cup cars lap time both were used to. Qualifying is tomorrow, and the competition is stiff with some excellent drivers in the field.