Orbit Racing - Petit Le Mans race final

top-10 twice

Orbit Racing scored a double top-10 finish in the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans at 
Road Atlanta.  At mid-race, the No. 43 YES Network Porsche 911 GT3 RS was 
fifth in the GT class and the No. 42 was eighth.  Mike Rockenfeller started his 
second double stint at 4h45 and moved up to fourth.  Leo Hindery followed and 
dropped back a position in heavy traffic.  Peter Baron started his third stint 
at 7h15 and had just re-taken fourth place at 8h30 when the gearbox failed.  
The car was retired and the trio finished 10th after a close run for the podium.

Joe Policastro started his second stint just past 6h, followed by Jay 
Policastro at 7h20.  Both held ninth place.  Randy Pobst took the wheel at 8h30 for 
the final hour.  He spun in oil left by another GT car on the last lap and 
encountered an oil warning, but managed to get to the finish line.  The car 
finished ninth, capping a solid top-10 season.

Peter Baron

"That result pretty much sums up our whole season.  It was so close!  
Everybody did a great job - the crew, Leo did his personal best here, Mike was 
tremendous his first time.  We just got into fourth and ... I'm speechless.  Thank 
God this bad-luck season is over."

Leo Hindery

"Most people will say we lost today; I thought we won.  We were fourth when 
we broke and we got into the ninth hour.  Mike Rockenfeller was as special as 
we thought he was.   Peter, Mike and I all had great, great [lap] times, the 
crew was spectacular.  We could have been on the podium, but I still think we 
won."

Mike Rockenfeller

"It's really disappointing.  It was, until this moment, quite a successful 
race.  We were in position four and I think it was maybe possible to end up in 
P3.  I think we can all be happy about the qualifying and the race until then.  
It was a great chance that Orbit gave me and an important step in my career.  
I'm looking forward to the next races in America!"

Randy Pobst

"That was a crazy finish!  On the last lap, the BMW blew its engine and I was 
the first guy into the oil, in the turn 10  brake zone which is 165 miles an 
hour.  I slid off but I was going to make the finish line!  Then I got an 
oil-pressure warning, so I shut it off.  The temperature was okay so I turned it 
on for a few seconds, let it coast and I limped it in that way."

Jay Policastro

"The Orbit guys really did a great job keeping everything consistent.  At the 
end, we were really just battling the track, typical of these long races - 
there's a lot of rubber, oil and debris everywhere.  But everybody did an 
outstanding job.  Special thanks to Porsche for advising us to make a late engine 
change - it really saved us today."

Joe Policastro

"That was a great race.  It was a hard-run race, the competition was 
absolutely superb.  it was the best of the best out there.  The car held together, 
Randy did a hell of a job bringing us home, and the crew - who can say more about 
those guys?  We were top-10 most of the season and finished all the races.  
Doing it with my son, it's extra-special."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945