Category Archives: News

Leh Keen and Farnbacher Racing Back at Nürburgring for VLN

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1071CHARLESTON, SC (April 11, 2013) – Leh Keen returns to the famed Nürburgring for round two of the 2013 VLN Endurance Racing Championship at the famed “Ring.” Round one was to take place Saturday, March 23rd, but a snow storm forced the race to be canceled. The series will run the second round as scheduled this weekend, Saturday, April 13, weather permitting.

1072In between time Keen ran round three of the GRAND-AM GT Championship in the Brumos Porsche where and he and co-driver Andrew Davis placed in the top ten at a tricky Barber Motorsports Park circuit in Birmingham, Alabama. The 2009 and 2011 GRAND-AM GT Champion is also making select appearances in the Team West Alex Job Racing Ferrari in the American Le Mans Series. This will be his second-time racing at the 12.9-mile, 73-turn Nürburgring circuit.

“Last month I got zero laps, it was just snowed out,” Keen said. “I didn’t even go to the track. I ended up making it a bit of holiday and headed south to Italy. Farnbacher Racing is really eager to get the car out on the track. But the snow has been keeping them and everyone off the surface. Even another test day just last week was snowed out.”

So far the weather report for this weekend in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany looks promising.

Car front “I arrived today, and so far it is sunny and about 60 degrees. It’s a perfect day to be at the Nürburgring,” Keen continued. “The track looks pretty green as there are some cars driving on it and it also appears to be slippery.”

“This is really just a practice to get everyone situated with the car. I haven’t driven the track in a while, so it will be refreshing for me. The car looks amazing and if it drives anything like it looks, we will be in great shape.”

Joining Keen will be Christina Nielsen and Tomas Pivoda. Nielsen is a young talented female Danish race car driver who has competed with Farnbacher Racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup. Pivoda is from the Czech Republic and is an accomplished open wheel competitor who will be running in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland series this season.

Brumos Racing Finds Positives despite Tough Run at Barber’s Porsche 250

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2013_rolex_practice_barber_12_0Monday, April 08, 2013

The 2013 Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park will be a race long remembered by Brumos Racing – not for their results on the track, but for the opportunity to work with the Racing for Children’s group. Brumos drivers and crew were able to spend time during the week with many of the pediatric hospital’s patients and their families, and Brumos raced in a special livery with handprints of children covering the Brumos #59 Porsche 911 GT3. Although the track at Barber is a challenging one for Porsches, the drivers and crew were determined to give it their all in hopes of repeating last year’s podium finish.

Unfortunately, a repeat podium was not in the cards, as the team suffered a series of setbacks. Limited track time in a weekend shared with the IndyCar Series, combined with cold and rainy pre-race weather, offered little chance to find a workable setup for the warm and sunny race day. Braking problems during qualifying caused a lock up for Andrew Davis that spun him off course, damaging a tire. Unable to make a change, the Brumos #59 was forced to end the session in 12th place. Davis fought his way back in his opening stint and was able to gain ground, but braking issues persisted. Leh Keen ran into problems in the closing stint as the brakes locked up again. The resulting tire damage brought him back in to pit for new tires. Given the shortened 2 hour race format, time ran out before Keen could regain position, but he hung on to end the day with a top ten finish.

Andrew Davis described the day as a tough one for Brumos and for Porsches in general, saying, “We just weren’t as competitive as we wanted, with braking issues and a lack of grip, so we struggled to keep pace. I am really proud of the Brumos crew, as always, because they kept fighting. But more importantly, it was a chance for us to help Racing for Children’s. We may have struggled on track, but these kids have struggles far beyond racing and to see that they are still so positive, happy and full of life – they are real fighters. To bring a little joy to the children and their families at this event was really our goal, so despite our problems on track, we felt like we had a successful weekend because we were able to help promote Racing for Children’s.”

For Leh Keen, it was an uphill battle throughout his stint. “In general, we struggled,” he said. “With the rain the past few days and no race morning warm-up because of Indy cars on track, we never got to truly test the car on a dry track. We just didn’t find the right setup and that kind of caught us out there in the end. Barber has always been a tough track for Porsches and that was the case again today, unfortunately. But all in all, we had an amazing weekend. Raising awareness for Children’s of Alabama, having all the kids in our car, driving them around the track, seeing the hospital and spending time with them was really special. Although we didn’t make it to the podium, we do hope we were able to make people aware of the wonderful things they are doing there to save lives.”

Their 10th place finish for the Porsche 250 puts Brumos in 5th place in the Rolex Series GT team standings. The next race on the schedule will be at Road Atlanta on Saturday, April 20th. Brumos Racing will retain the special Racing for Children’s livery for that race.

Brumos is ‘Racing for Children’s’ in Porsche 250 at Barber

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barber-2012Jacksonville, FL: Every racetrack has its own history and significance, but few of them are as
special to Brumos as Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. Last season Brumos followed
up their Rolex 24 podium with another podium celebration at Barber. This year they again bring
strong momentum from their previous race and hope to duplicate that success. Barber is close to
home for both Andrew Davis and Leh Keen, who will have many family members and friends in
attendance. The track is also home of the Porsche Sports Driving School, making it a frequent
destination for instructor Andrew Davis and Chief Driving Instructor Hurley Haywood.

While all of those factors definitely make it a race to anticipate, Brumos has even more incentive
than usual to do well at Barber this year. The familiar Brumos #59 Porsche 911 GT3 will take on a
slightly different look for this race as the team joins forces with Racing for Children’s, the official
charity of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Children’s of Alabama hospital provides
specialized care and promotes increased awareness for pediatric cancer research and childhood
blood disorders. The group’s fundraising events during the weekend include a dinner, silent and
live auctions, and sponsorship of the colorful handprints that cover the Brumos racecar.

For Andrew Davis, the track is not only familiar, the family ties with Barber are strong. In fact,
Barber was the site of his young son’s very first race event. “I am extremely excited to be
representing Racing for Children’s this year,” he said. “It is an honor, particularly as a parent
myself, to be involved in such an important cause. Our entire team is focused on providing a
memorable weekend for all the children and families that come out to participate. I’ve enjoyed
quite a bit of success at Barber in my career. Last season we fought hard to capture a podium finish
for Brumos, so we are determined to deliver another strong performance this year.”

Leh Keen enjoys returning to the southeast, saying, “It’s great to be back at Barber. Birmingham is
right in our backyard so we always bring our families out and have a great time – it’s such a
beautiful facility. Although Barber isn’t known as the best track for Porsches, we still finished on
the podium last year. This year they have resurfaced the track, so we should see much higher grip
and that will add some excitement to the race. It feels good to be coming off our podium at Austin
to a track where we had success last year. This year we are really looking forward to working with
Racing for Children’s. It is a great cause and an awesome group of kids, so we will do our best to
win this race and help Children’s of Alabama win the race against cancer.”

The Porsche 250 is part of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama weekend at Barber Motorsports
Park in Birmingham, AL. The 2.0 hour race will begin on Saturday, April 6th at 12:35 PM CT/
1:35 PM ET. SPEED TV will broadcast the race via tape delay on Sunday, April 7th at 5:30 PM
ET. For further information about Racing for Children’s, please visit their website at
www.racingforchildrens.org.

Leh Keen Joins Farnbacher Racing for VLN at Nürburgring

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1056CHARLESTON, SC (March 20, 2013) – Leh Keen continues on his stretch of endurance races in 2013 by adding the VLN Endurance Racing Championship at Nürburgring to his schedule. The four hour race at the famed “Ring” will run this weekend, Saturday, March 23.

Leh Keen Keen has a busy 2013 of racing. The 2009 and 2011 GRAND-AM GT Champion is also running in the Brumos Porsche in GRAND-AM as well as making select appearances in the Team West Alex Job Racing Ferrari in the American Le Mans Series. This will be his second-time racing at the Nürburgring.

“This is actually my second time doing the Ring,” Keen said. “I ran with Farnbacher Racing in 2010 and we finished second overall in a Ferrari 430 GT car. It was the ultimate experience. I was just as much of a highlight as finishing second in the GT class at Le Mans that year. As for the track, it’s absolutely like nothing else in the world. This race is for me to get up to date with the car and the track”

Keen is a student of the 12.9-mile track.

“It was very difficult to learn the track back in 2010, but I went back there in 2012 and drove tourist laps in my rental car. I still remembered the track pretty well. The Ring is kind of like riding a bike. You don’t forget.”

Farnbacher Racing is well tuned to the famous German track.

“In 2010 we finished second and then in 2011 the team qualified on the pole with their new Ferrari 458. Farnbacher Racing is one of the best teams in Europe as Horst (Farnbacher) is an amazing engineer and team owner. He always has fast cars and knows that a quick comfortable car around the Ring is the best car you can have. He used to be a factory race car driver so he understands what’s going on in the car very well.”

For team Horst Farnbacher, Keen is a welcome addition to the car.

“I am very happy to be back this year at the Nürburgring with a brand new 2013 Porsche GT3R,” Farnbacher said. “With Leh we have one of the best Porsche sports car drivers on board our team and we should have a successful program ahead of us. He has already successfully competed with us in 2010 where we finished second overall. Our main focus now is to get Leh in the new car and get him used to the new Porsche and its characteristics. Leh will be a great help, in order to develop the car in the two, four-hour VLN races before we attack the 24 hours.”

Joining Keen will be Christina Nielsen. The young talented female Danish race car driver has competed with Farnbacher Racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup, and has also driven two races in VLN.

Team West Alex Job Racing’s Sebring Ends Early

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1052SEBRING, Fla. (Mar. 16, 2013) – The Team West/Alex Job Racing/Boardwalk Ferrari had an early end to its day at the seven hour mark at the 61st running of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) presented by Tequila Patron Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

After a positive start to the race, the Team West AJR crew was running a steady pace in the midst of the GT field. Bill Sweedler (Westport, Conn.), Townsend Bell (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) and Leh Keen (Charleston, SC) were happy with the way their just delivered last Thursday 458 Italia was handling on the Yokohama tires. On lap 229 Sweedler was heading into Turn 10 when the No. 4 Corvette got into the back of the red and white Ferrari. The result of the contact was a slow leak that caught up with the driver four laps later going through the fast Bishop Bend turn when it finally lost air sending him to the wall hard and causing substantial damage to the front of the No. 23 Ferrari.

“I was going into Turn 10 when Richard Westbrook got into me in the Corvette,” Sweedler said. “He tried a very low probability pass and hit my wheel and damaged the valve stem. I gathered it back up and continued. A couple of laps later I was going flat through Bishops Bend, like usual, and the back end just came around. The tire came off the rim and just let go. It is too bad. We had a good first run going in the Team West AJR Ferrari. We will get it fixed and be ready for Long Beach next month.”

Bell is pleased Sweedler is ok and with the way the team ran today.

“First of all the most important thing is that Bill is ok,” Bell said. “He got hit by the Corvette and that hurt the tire. He was going through that section that is normally easy flat out and it just came around on him with the flat tire. Unfortunately it is one of the fastest sections on the track. He took a really big hit. We will get it fixed. As a team we are a lot further ahead than we were this time last year. Just not the way we wanted to start the season with this new car.”

Keen is also happy with the way the new car handled and that Sweedler is alright.

“We had an awesome week going,” Keen said. “If we could just have a Saturday like the week went with testing it would be great. Bill had some contact with the Corvette and that affected the tire and eventually put him into the wall. I am glad he is alright, that was a major hit. The car was great on the Yokohama tires and it was really getting better all race. We have a great car and there is a lot more speed to find this season. The guys will get it ready for Long Beach next month.”

Alex Job has some work to do to get the car back for Long Beach.

“That was tough,” Job said. “We were having a really good first outing with the car. Bill took a hit from the Corvette and that damaged the tire, which went down at absolutely the worst part on the track. I am glad that Bill was able to walk away. He will probably be a little sore tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do to get the car ready for Long Beach, but I am confident we can make it.”

The series will travel to California for the Long Beach Grand Prix April 19-20.

Alex Job Racing is one of the most successful teams in sports car racing with 68 wins (since 1995); including two Rolex 24 GT Class wins in 1999 and 2013. This record is supported by 48 pole positions and 106 podium finishes. The team has won four championships (GTC 2012, GT in 2004, 2003 and 2002) complimented by their two GT class wins at Le Mans. The team also boasts eight Sebring 12-hour wins.

The ALMS GT Class is comprised of production-based, moderately-modified, two-wheel drive race cars including the BMW Z4, Corvette C6.R, Ferrari F458 GT, Viper SRT and Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The GT cars share many similarities to their showroom brands. With top speeds of up to 180 mph, these elite GTs produce between 450-500 horsepower and have a minimum weight of 1,145 kilograms (2,480 pounds). All GT race cars have green Leader Light System race position lights and green car numbers.