MOMO NGT Motorsport victorious at Long Beach sprint race

he No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport team of Henrique Cisneros and Sean Edwards celebrated their first victory of 2013 as a GTC class winner at the American Le Mans Series presented by Patron Tequila race at the Long Beach Grand Prix in Long Beach, California, April 20, 2013.

#30 NGT Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: Henrique Cisneros, Sean Edwards

Photo by: Oliver Petalver

Cisneros started the Long Beach race from second on the grid, where Edwards had qualified on Friday afternoon. He took the lead early on and pitted on Lap 23, handing the Porsche 911 GT3 over to his British teammate, who brought it home to the checkered flag after racing nearly 80 minutes on the same Yokohama tires and fuel.

Championship points were still be calculated from the race results but the points accumulated from the Long Beach victory will prove beneficial to the No. 30 MOMO team in the 2013 GTC points championship chase.

Henrique Cisneros, MOMO owner/starting driver No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsports Porsche GT3:

“We started in second behind the No. 22 Alex Job Porsche. When the green flag waved, I got around Cooper MacNeil (No. 22 driver) and two or three GT cars. Behind me was the No. 45 Flying Lizard. I led (in class) about three-quarters of the first lap. Then Nelson Canache (No. 45 driver) went against wall and made a pass on me so I went into second place for awhile. The yellow flag came out and we all packed up together. On the restart, we maintained warm tires and got the lead again, which I kept through the balance of my stint. It was a pretty easy stint once I got back up to first place.

“The Team did a fantastic stop. It was one of the lowest timed pit stops. Sean got in with an hour and 20 minutes to go on Lap 23. We usually have to pit around an hour and eight minutes but with yellows we knew we could make it to the end if we saved fuel. Sean was in a fuel save mode his whole stint and trying to keep the Flying Lizard behind. It was a real nail biter because we didn’t know if the fuel would last or if Flying Lizard would have really pushed.

“Every other team had been there (Long Beach circuit) before so we were blind going in. Out of the box the car was awesome. The circuit was great. It’s not a really challenging circuit, not technical, but it is fun to drive. If you have to make a pass, you have to be decisive and confident.”

Sean Edwards, driver No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsports GTC class and qualifying driver:

“I was in fuel-save mode the whole way. I had an afternoon of short-shifting and trying to manage the gap (back to Pumpelly), and keeping the gaps as even as possible. With some yellows we knew we could make it to the end saving fuel. It seemed everyone was on the same strategy and not pushing too much. I had to control the pace of the race. With seven or eight laps to go we knew we had enough to finish. I wish all races were as easy as this. We had a strong car today and the team did a great job with setup and the pit stop.”

Ramez Wahab, NGT Motorsports Owner/No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport Team Manager:

“Henrique did an excellent job. He had an awesome start. It was a gamble because we have never been to the Long Beach circuit. We came up with a set up at the shop and it was perfect. We made very few changes in practice because the setup was really good.

“Henrique started the race and had to drive for 40 minutes for the points championship. It was perfect because at the 40-minute mark there was double yellow. It was perfect timing to hand over the car to Sean. And he handed the car over in first place. The pit stop was perfect and Sean got in the car. We were gambling for a couple of cautions so we didn’t have to fuel any more. We told Sean to save fuel, although Pumpelly was behind him but he didn’t have to push. The weather was beautiful. Everything worked out perfect. We’ll go to Laguna Seca next, where we could possibly have a repeat.”

The next race for the No. 30 MOMO NGT Porsche GTC of Henrique Cisneros and Sean Edwards will be Round 3 for the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the American Le Mans Monterey race on May 9-11.

MOMO NGT Motorsport