iRacing Endurance Series

Theis, Allen suffer heartbreak in 12 Hours of COTA

by Fischer Motorsport PR

October 18, 2020 03:58 AM CET 705 Views

Rarely has a race win looked as likely for Fischer Motorsport as in Saturday’s iRacing Endurance Series 12 Hours of COTA. The team dominated qualifying and earned the pole position, led for the first seven hours of the event, but ultimately drivers Pascal Theis and Jason Allen were struck with heartbreak.

Theis opened up the race in dominant fashion, converting the pole position on the grid into a very impressive 54 second lead after the first two hours.

“I was in a groove today. Porsche builds fantastic cars and we’ve had a killer setup today. It was just awesome to race out there and lead laps.”, explained Theis.

Team-mate to Theis, it was Jason Allen from Las Vegas, Nevada making his debut with Fischer Motorsport in the event.

Allen quickly proved to be a cornerstone in the team’s performance on the day, by posting quick lap times as well and solidifying the team’s lead in the iRacing Endurance Series season finale.

With just over four hours to go, Allen approached turn 13, one of the slowest sections of the race track, when two GT3 cars crashed, sending one Ferrari 488 GT3 into a spin.

Allen was side by side passing another GT3 class car at the time, in an effort to clear the scene of the accident, when the spun car accelerated into oncoming traffic, adding heavy damage to the Fischer Motorsport machine.

“That was completely uncalled for and we’ll protest this with iRacing, for sure. We have absolutely no idea what they were doing. They were off the racing line and just accelerated right into our car. The other GT3 car even got flipped over by them. This stuff is ridiculous and drivers like that should have no place on a racetrack.”, a very angry Pascal Theis said of the incident.

The No. 21 Ferrari 488 GT3 of Quiste Team was involved in several other incidents after that, before eventually retiring from the race.

The Fischer Motorsport pit box crew was busy repairing the damage on the No. 84 Porsche 991 RSR GTE and after just twelve minutes, was able to send Allen back out on the track. But the team’s chances of winning the event were gone, now being scored three laps down and in P14.

Lap 201: With just over four hours to go in Saturday's 12 Hours of COTA, the No. 84 Porsche was involved in a big crash at turn 13

Despite some lack of speed on the long straights, Theis put on another stunningly quick double stint late in the race, that brought the team back into contention for a top ten position. With just under two hours to go, the Frankfurt, Germany driver handed the car back over to Allen, who was now tasked with finishing the race as the event entered the night hours.

Allen, who joined the No. 84 Porsche team at COTA on a one-race deal, continued to move the team forward and picked up position after position, moving into seventh position with the final hour of the race approaching.

Having to deal with his first race at night time conditions, the 47-year old Las Vegas native kept a cool head and showed the needed consistency, but also pushed hard trying to pick up a couple more positions, as the team was triple stinting tires in the final stages of the race.

Salvaging the best possible outcome under the circumstances following the big crash with just over four hours remaining, Allen in the No. 84 Porsche 991 RSR GTE finally took the checkered flag at the Circuit of the Americas to bring home a eighth place finish.

“I’m just heartbroken for the team. I truly appreciate the opportunity. I wanted to do well for the team so bad. I apologized to the guys, but everybody agreed there was nothing we could have done.”

“That Ferrari was just ramming us coming off the racing line, when there was absolutely no reason to do so. I tried my best to steer clear of the trouble, but there was just nowhere to go.”, an exhausted and somewhat dejected Allen said on pit road after the race, as fireworks went into the air for the winners.

“We had such a fast car. Pascal was incredible. At one point we had everybody lapped including P4. I felt like I could keep up with the pace of the race very well. We had the car to beat, there is no question in my mind. But I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”, Allen added.

Asked about his immediate future and whether he plans to do more races with Fischer Motorsport, the former oval track champion said:

“We’ll see. We said this would be a one-race deal for now. Everything else is unclear at this time. I’ll start talking with the team management in the next few days and we’ll see what’s going to happen. I’m happy we were able to finish the race, despite everything.”

As the 2020 season of the iRacing Endurance Series concludes, the No. 84 Porsche can look back on a season of several highs and lows, including a disqualification and crash at Suzuka, back-to-back top-five finishes at Silverstone and Barcelona and a could-have-been win at COTA.

Official Results of the iRacing Endurance Series 12 Hours of COTA