Late-race contact battling for the lead keeps Viper Exchange from Motorsport Park repeat
Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and the No. 33 ViperExchange.com/ Gas Monkey Garage Dodge Viper GT3-R Team finish at Mosport despite delay for radiator change
Photo by: Action Sports Photography
Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada – A competitive run that had Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen in line to score a second-consecutive victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park was cut short by a late-race contact incident while battling for the lead in Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, resulting in an 11th place finish for the No. 33 ViperExchange.com/ Gas Monkey Garage Dodge Viper GT3-R.
Keating, Bleekemolen, ViperExchange.com and Riley Motorsports scored the first race win for the Dodge Viper GT3-R in IMSA GT Daytona (GTD) competition at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2014 and were in a position for another victory at the track formerly known as “Mosport” again today.
He touched me, very lightly, I got loose and then I ran into the back of the No. 27 Lamborghini...
Jeroen Bleekemolen
After a one-year absence, the GTD division returned to Mosport this weekend and – after a great race-opening driving shift by Keating and outstanding pit stops and strategy calls by Riley Motorsports – Bleekemolen was in second and battling for the lead and the repeat victory just 30 minutes from the finish.
“We had a really good race for a car that was a little off the pace,” Bleekemolen said. “We were hoping to get ahead on strategy and pit stops and the guys did a really good job on that again.”
The leading No. 27 Lamborghini was barely keeping Bleekemolen and the eventual race-winning BMW behind him while also fighting with the lapped No. 9 Audi.
“At the end we were running third and then second, but the leader had to pit, so we were looking really good” Bleekemolen said. “I found a way to keep the BMW behind until we ran into traffic. He touched me, very lightly, I got loose and then I ran into the back of the No. 27 Lamborghini who was braking incredibly early as well.”
The damage from the hit on the rapidly slowing Lamborghini punctured the Viper’s radiator. Bleekemolen wheeled the stricken No. 33 back to the pits where the Riley Motorsports team incredibly swapped out radiators in little over 10 minutes.
Bleekemolen returned to the race and drove out the final minutes for the 11th place result.
Viper Exchange
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