Robichon and Moorespeed Score Another Pole-to-Podium P1 Result in No. 19 CAG/Moorespeed Porsche GT3 Cup Thursday at Road Atlanta Season Finale
BRASELTON, Georgia (October 11, 2018) – Moorespeed and Zach Robichon are halfway home in meeting their goal of closing out the 2018 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama season in dominating style after a hard-earned victory Thursday in the No. 19 CAG/Moorespeed Porsche GT3 Cup.
After winning the pole in qualifying earlier on Thursday, Robichon overcame a challenging race start in that afternoon’s 45-minute sprint for the victory. The win gives Moorespeed and Robichon a solid half-dozen victories since pairing up for the final four doubleheader race weekends of the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup season just over two months ago.
“Today has been a good day,” said Moorespeed President David Moore. “We accomplished two goals. The first one was to put it on the pole, and the second goal was to win this race. It was really good, I am really proud of the guys.”
The win wasn’t without drama as polesitter Robichon was surprised by the green flag as he was leading the field to the race start.
“It was definitely an odd start,” Robichon said. “Starting from the pole, generally speaking, the green flag is given after the polesitter goes. I guess the green flag went early and the others around me saw it. I’ll admit, I wasn’t looking for the green flag. As the leader, you are the one expecting to call the shots, and that didn’t happen.”
Robichon dropped to third as the field filed into Turn 1 on the opening lap but didn’t let the race-start issues get the better of him.
“I am a little confused by the start,” Moore said. “I am going to go back and review the video on that, but we still won. Zach put his head down and made some brilliant passes and never really looked back after that. He’s not a quitter, I am really proud of his performance, and the team did a really good job with the car.”
Robichon quickly gained second place back but had to be a little more careful and calculating in catching the race leader.
“I just had to gather up, get calm and push to the front,” Robichon said. “Because we were following guys for a little bit we got a little bit of a push from the front end. When you are right up on somebody’s bumper it is going to get worse because you have aero taken off the front. It took me a little bit longer to get that lead back.”
Robichon retook the lead for good with a pass in Turn 10 with just over 28 minutes remaining. He successfully defended the top spot through a pair of late restarts and crossed the finish line with a 2.837-second margin of victory.
“Once we were up front I think the race was ours,” Robichon said. “I was very confident after the restarts that we would be able to go. I am pretty happy, it was kind of weird racing at dusk, the track was a little dusty, and it made for some brake issues. Just an inconsistent brake pedal, which is never a good feeling, but for the most part I am very happy. We will learn from today, make a few changes to the car and come back strong tomorrow.”
The IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup USA season-ending 45-minute sprint race is scheduled to go green at 10:10 a.m. EDT tomorrow, Friday, October 12, and can be seen live on www.IMSA.tv.