NGT Motorsport has announced MOMO as primary sponsor for the team’s No. 26 GT class entry in the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona to be run Jan. 28-29 at Daytona International Speedway. The MOMO brand is closely associated with the great history of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, having achieved an overall win in the event back in 1998.
The No. 26 MOMO Porsche GT3 entry will be driven by Porsche Carrera Cup standouts Nick Tandy and Sean Edwards, 2011 IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Champion Henrique Cisneros and multiple IMSA GT3 Cup race winner and pole award winner Carlos Kauffmann.
The car bears bears a striking resemblance to that of the MOMO Ferrari teams from past Rolex 24 events, including the 1998 race-winning Ferrari 333SP. Gianpiero Moretti, who had made it a personal goal to win the Rolex 24, finally won the event that year in his 15th attempt in a Kevin Doran-prepped machine. He was joined by drivers Mauro Baldi, Arie Luendyk, and Didier Theys.
After the accolade as best team of the season in Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland a few weeks ago, ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ secures the vice-championship in Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in front of its home crowd in Abu Dhabi.
‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ pilot Sean Edwards finishes the season on the 4th place of the driver standings with the same amount of points than the third ranked driver, but unfortunately with less race wins. Team mate Jeroen Bleekemolen secures 6th place equally tied to the 5th ranked driver. And local hero Khaled Al Qubaisi finished the season on 17th position with 15 points overall.
For Brit Sean Edwards, the weekend in Abu Dhabi didn’t run according to plan. After having started both races from 7th place, he was only able to make up one position in race one and finished the 2nd round on position 4. Jeroen Bleekemolen also lacked the ideal starting position, although the speed was good in both races. Having started from 6th and 5th place, he scored positions 7 and 5 respectively in the races. Khaled Al Qubaisi experienced some bad luck. The Emirati star finished the first race on position 17 and was not able to finish the second round due to a breaking failure.
1, 2, 3 – that‘s the season result for ‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’ in Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland 2011. The team achieved first place in the team standings with a gap of 36 points. The ‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’ drivers Sean Edwards and Jeroen Bleekemolen furthermore secured 2nd and 3rd place in the driver championship.
In 2011 ‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’ was the team to beat and again showed its dominance with Sean Edwards leading the season finale in Hockenheim right from the beginning. After having started from 2nd place, he took over the lead in the first curve, leaving his competitors behind for the remaining 17 laps. The driver title, however, was out of reach for him due to two races where tough luck and a damaged tyre left him behind Nick Tandy in the team standings. With this last victory of the season, however, he secured the vice-championship.
‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’ successfully maintained the lead in the team standings of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland at the second to last race of the season in Oschersleben. Having started from position 4, Sean Edwards experienced a short run off track and once again showed an impressive catch-up race to eventually finish 5th. Robert Renauer, who replaced Jeroen Bleekemolen at this round, achieved a solid 8th place.
Qualifying in Oschersleben didn’t turn out as expected. In the first part of the session, Sean Edwards was fastest, however, after the change of tyres for the second part, he finally scored 4th behind his direct competitor Nick Tandy. Robert Renauer didn’t have a perfect qualifying, too. In his last flying lap he braked too late into the last corner and eventually had to start from 8th instead of 4th.
After a solid performance in yesterday’s qualifying of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup round in Italian Monza and starting positions 4, 5 and 23 respectively, ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ experienced a jet black day come race day. Title contender Sean Edwards was involved in an unlucky incident in the first part of the race and wasn’t able to finish the competition. Team mate Jeroen Bleekemolen span, fell back to the back of the field and caught up to position 13. Khaled Al Qubaisi spun from the track and didn’t see the chequered flag, too, however, was finally weighted 21st.
Due to not scoring points, Sean Edwards fell back to position 4 in the driver standings, however, still has all chances to win the title in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, where two races will be carried out. Jeroen Bleekemolen ranks 6th in the championship.
