LEEDS, Alabama (April 20, 2021) – TPC Racing driver Pedro Torres earned his first two professional racing podiums last weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama competition at Barber Motorsports Park, and Rob Lorndale took another step closer to his first with a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s 40-minute race.
Competing in just their second professional race weekends each, Torres earned a third-place finish during Saturday’s 40-minute sprint and a runner-up finish on Sunday in the No. 16 Stoneleaf/TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Lorndale finished just spots behind in the No. 6 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, earning a sixth-place finish on Saturday and just missing the podium with a fourth-place finish on Sunday. Both competed in the Gold Cup class for 991.1-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars.
Torres, who qualified fourth for Saturday’s race and third for Sunday’s race and moved forward in each, had a chance to earn the win during Sunday’s race. Pushing hard coming out of the museum corner with two laps to go, Torres spun, but recovered quickly enough and had a large enough gap to third place to hold on to the runner-up position.
Lorndale was at a disadvantage in both races after mechanical gremlins cost him Friday afternoon’s qualifying sessions. That meant he started last in both races, but continued improvement and steady lap times rewarded him with a sixth-place finish on Saturday and a fourth-place finish on Sunday.
The Barber Motorsports Park event featured rounds three and four of the 14-race 2021 Championship. TPC Racing returns to Sprint Challenge North America action at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in less than two weeks with a doubleheader April 30 – May 2. Torres and Lorndale will be joined on that weekend by a host of TPC Racing entries across multiple series, including Vernon McClure in Porsche Carrera Cup North America competition.
Harris Levitas, Director of Race Operations: “This was just an excellent weekend for TPC Racing. Both Pedro and Rob continue to get better every weekend we’re at the race track, and the guys continue to work really hard to get our Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars up to speed. I’m really proud of the way Pedro and Rob have worked to get better both at the track and in between races and have really taken the coaching they’ve gotten from Spencer Pumpelly to heart. It shows, and we expect the results to keep coming for both of these guys as the year goes along.”
Rob Lorndale, Driver, No. 6 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “My fuel pump failed as we were lining up for qualifying. I did not set qualifying times and so started the races in the back. In race one, I got off to a slow start. After that, I got into a rhythm, made quite a few passes and finished decently. After the race, Spencer Pumpelly and I watched the entire video of the race. Spencer pointed out my mistakes at the start of the race and also in handling traffic. This video session was enormously helpful; it provided a sound approach for race two. Race two went much better. I was able to finish P4 and plan to take what I learned to COTA. The entire team had a great weekend. Pedro had two podiums and is driving and racing extremely well. He works very hard on data analysis. His hard work certainly is paying off! The preparation of our cars from setup to maintenance is second to none. All the guys work really hard.”
Pedro Torres, Driver, No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “This weekend was great! The guys did a fantastic job getting the car put back together for this race. Unfortunately, we lost practice one due to an abs sensor. One more session would have definitely helped in qualifying but this happens. The guys got the car back in shape really quick and after a couple of small changes ran much better in qualifying two. I think we had the pace for second in the first race and first the second race. But those guys have a lot more experience than me and it showed while driving through traffic or defending in the race. I got better at attacking on the second race, but Kurt Fazekas made no mistakes and was better coming off the key turns. In the end it was really exciting, and I still have lots to learn. I will definitely be drilling down into the data to see where I can improve. I know between Spencer and the TPC crew we will have the car and support, now it’s up to me and Rob to make it happen.”
