MOMO NGT Motorsport Team dominates at COTA but must settle for second place

The No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport team of Henrique Cisneros and Sean Edwards stepped back on the podium at Saturday’s International Sports Car Weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Their dominating performance began with starting driver Henrique Cisneros grabbing the lead on the first lap from the second starting spot.

After a perfect stint for one hour, Cisneros handed the car over to co-driver Edwards on Lap 42 in the lead. Edwards quickly piloted the Porsche GTC back into the lead following the pit stop, which he held until just two laps from the end.

For the fourth race in a row the red-black-and-yellow liveried MOMO car was struck from behind by a GT car and suffered damage.

Henrique Cisneros, No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport GTC class and starting driver: “The race was going perfectly well. We were dominating the entire time and I was able to get into the lead on the first lap and was able to maintain it and control the pace of the race. The car was handling beautifully well. I handed the car over to Sean when we were in first place. From then on, it was the same thing for him. He was controlling the lead and managing the gap to the TRG car.

Towards the end of the race TRG started pushing. Then both of us were pushing. With only 20 minutes to go there was less than a two second gap between us and TRG. Unfortunately, bad luck keeps following us. For the fourth race in a row, with six minutes to go, the Garcia-driven Corvette hit us from behind, damaging our muffler and our rear left tire.

That cost us the lead with only two laps to go and it was very unfortunate. We still managed to maintain second even though we were damaged. We got needed points. Our main competitors did not have a good race so we got a good jump on the point in this race but we really needed those four points we would have gotten with a win. The points would have benefitted us greatly. Hopefully it will make a difference in the end but my hope is for better luck in the next two races.

“The team did a great job and everything went well. It's just disappointing to lose a race where no one can deny we deserved the win for the race we drove.”

Sean Edwards, No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsports GTC class and qualifying driver: “Henrique did an amazing job taking the lead straight from the start. He kept Ben (Keating) and the other GTC cars at bay. At one point we had a 30 second lead. I was trying to conserve my tires but Damian (Faulkner) kept closing and closing, so I had to push really hard at some points. We were trading lap for lap for pretty much most of the race and it was a really great race with him.

“It came down to the last 20 minutes when I had Damian right on me and I had to start defending. Then he got the worst of traffic and I got a little gap. The leading Corvette came up behind me in Turns 3 and 4 and hit us square in the rear. I turned completely sideways and went off into the marbles. I almost lost the car and almost took out the BMW coming back on track. Damian got immediately by me at that point and I was lucky to finish.

“It’s really disappointing because it’s the second time we’ve gotten hit by a GT this year and ruined our race. Overall, I'm happy to finish the race and to get points for Henrique, but that was truly our race. TRG had a really strong car and we had a strong car as well. I could have fended them off and if we had more time we could have won, but such is racing and that's life.”

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

“History repeats itself in the good and the bad. The good was we led every single lap until about two laps from the end. We started second and Henrique took the lead on the first lap. He drove exactly 60 minutes before our first pit stop, which was a very good stop. Then Sean jumped in the car and got it back into first. We had the speed and were pacing the entire race. We kept Sean informed with how the gaps were and when to speed up or slow down, just to conserve the tires for the end of the race because that’s when the race really happens. The second pit stop was very good. We just fueled and put new tires on and back out again. The entire two hours and about 40 minutes we really dominated and controlled the race. It’s that simple. We got hit and finished second, which was bad luck. But for once our main competitors also had bad luck so in the end it was okay for the points.”

Earlier in the day, in Round 14 of the Porsche IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama Series, Race #2 of the COTA weekend, Craig Duerson (No. 27 MOMO NGT Motorsport) finished first in Masters Class and fifth overall.

For MOMO driver Angel Benitez, Jr. (No. 25 MOMO NGT Motorsport), who took first place in Round 13 the day before, faced unfortunate circumstances, completing only 4 laps. Amadeo Quiros (No. 28 MOMO NGT Motorsport) finished 19th overall and tenth in the Masters Class.

Eduardo Cisneros (No. 29 MOMO NGT Motorsport) and Mark Llano (No. 24 MOMO NGT Motorsport) finished 18th and 25th respectively, on the lead lap.

The next race for the No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport Porsche GTC will be Round 9 of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron, the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway, October 3 – 5, 2013.

MOMO NGT Motorsport