CORE Autosport won their fifth straight Prototype Challenge title, finishing fourth in Saturday’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Drivers Jon Bennett and Colin Braun picked up not only the team championship, but also the drivers’ title.
A rain-soaked race brought out multiple yellow flags and even a red flag period before it was prematurely ended. Qualifying down in sixth, Bennett soon gained a position when the #8 Starworks Motorsport car was forced to move to the back. In order to win the championship, Bennett only had to meet his minimum drive time of two hours and five minutes, and so his strategy was purely to stay out of trouble. Having completed his stint, he handed the car over to Braun from fifth position, whose stint also contained many caution periods.
Anthony Lazzaro took over from Braun after one of the many full course cautions, but he unfortunately ended his debut drive for the team by spinning off track in the Esses, making contact with the wall. Although the championship had already been won, the team got to work on the car in an attempt to put it back out on track. As the chequered flag flew with slightly less than eight hours run, Bennett crossed the line fourth in class, which was the lowest of the PC finishers.
Although they didn’t end their 2015 season with a victory, CORE Autosport still managed to secure their fifth consecutive championship, having won both in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and three in the American Le Mans Series.
“We would have certainly loved to win the race today, but it was a really tough race,” commented Jon Bennett. “The weather conditions were simply impossible. At the end of the day, we did what we had to do – clinch the team and drivers championships.
“It was a great day for CORE autosport – both on the PC side and the Porsche side. I’m so happy for our partners at Porsche. The fact that our guys over there were able to put a Porsche 911 GTLM car P1 at Petit Le Mans is simply incredible.”
