Pippa Mann Returns to Nurburgring in 2024 with Girls Only Team

For the fourth consecutive year, Pippa Mann will compete with the Girls Only WS Racing program in the Giti Tire BMW M4 GT4. She’ll return to Germany for the 52nd running of the ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring from June 1-2, 2024.

Originally opened in 1927, and nicknamed “The Green Hell,” the 150-turn Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit winds its way through the forests and hills in the Eifel region of Germany.   The first 24-hour race was held at “The Ring” in 1970, and it has since become known as one of the most challenging 24-hour races of the season.

Following a podium finish there in 2022, Mann and her teammates set the fast time in their SP8-T class early on in 2023. However, misfortune in the overnight hours led to the team losing a several-lap lead and being taken out of contention for the win. After hours of work, the car did return to finish the race, with the British racer setting a new fastest lap for the team and the class during the final stint to the checkered flag.

Leading up to the main event for the 2024 season, on April 6, Mann will compete at one of three NLS races that comprise the full-season Championship for Girls Only and the WS Racing teams. Mann will again compete alongside Beitske Visser, though their other teammates for NL2, and the 24 hour race have yet to be announced.

Mann is a seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor, and a race winning coach and co-driver with clients in various sports car series across the US. When competing in Germany, Mann’s signature pink helmet will once again feature the blue “S” representing Shift Up Now, an organization Mann took over in 2020. As the CEO, she and her team are focused on the mission of providing more opportunity and funding for talented female racers.

The Girls Only team, founded and led by Nicole Willems within WS Racing, is also on a mission to prove that, with equal opportunity, men and women can perform and compete as equals at the highest levels of motorsport.

“I’m thrilled to be returning to the Girls Only team by WS Racing for my fourth 24 Hour race at the Ring this June,” said Mann. “This event has quickly become the highlight of my racing season each year, and I can’t thank Nicole Willems, the WS team, Giti Tire, and all their sponsors enough for inviting me back to be part of the program for another year.

“Last year, we had an amazing race car. Our Giti Tires BMW M4 GT4 was on rails, but lady luck was not on our side. This year, our goal is to show up just as fast, and see if we can bring home the win."

Practice and qualifying for the 24-hour race begin on Thursday, June 29, 2024.

 

 

 

 

Shift Up Now Foundation and Lucas Oil Launch “40 for 40 Campaign”

Indianapolis, IN - July 31, 2023 - The Shift Up Now Foundation is excited to announce the launch of its “40 for 40 Campaign,” aimed at raising $40,000 over 40 days, in celebration of Pippa Mann’s 40th birthday on August 11, 2023.

Mann is a trailblazer for gender equality in motorsports. In addition to seven starts at the Indianapolis 500 and winning an Indy Lights race, she was the first female to score points in the World Series by Renault and the first female to run a 230+ mph lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She has competed three times at the 24 Hour Nurburgring, with a win in class.

The British racer took over as CEO of Shift Up Now in 2020, when founder Lynn Kehoe was ready to give the wheel to a new generation of racers. With a goal of taking the organization to the next level, the 501c3 foundation was added in 2023 to live alongside the not-for-profit business.

As Shift Up Now continues to strive for gender equality for female athletes in motorsport, the foundation furthers the mission by accepting tax-deductible gifts, donations and grants. Funds raised from donations are used to award opportunities to racers believed to have the talent and aptitude to succeed in motorsports. This allows these racers access to more competitive equipment, seat time for testing and practice, and resources to help grow their careers.

To join the campaign, race fans and Shift Up Now supporters are invited to make a donation - in $40 increments - from August 1st through September 9th.

When leaders at Lucas Oil heard about the campaign, they got behind the cause as well. The company has been a long-time supporter of talented female athletes in motorsport, including Shift Up Now Athletes Shea Holbrook and Michele Abbate.

Lucas Oil has offered to match the first $5,000 in donations to advance the campaign to its first $10,000.

“I’m thrilled to use my birthday as the kick-off for our first Shift Up Now Foundation fundraising campaign,” said Mann. “I spent years at the Indy 500 competing on small budgets, and the more women I connect with in the motorsports industry, the more I realized that it was time to step up and work to help drive change. I’m passionate about our mission to fund talented female athletes in motorsport, and I’m thrilled that our first fundraising campaign should allow us to write our first sponsorship grants this fall.

“To have Lucas Oil matching the first $5,000 - and becoming the first corporate donor - as we kick off this first campaign is amazing. I want to personally thank Katie Lucas, and Lucas Oil, and I can’t wait to get this campaign started tomorrow on August 1st.”

“We are delighted to be able to support talented female athletes in motorsport like Pippa Mann and the new generation of racers backed by the Shift Up Now Foundation,” said Katie Lucas, Chief Administrative Officer at Lucas Oil. “The campaign aligns with Lucas Oil's deep- rooted commitment to supporting motorsports, which has been such an integral part of our company's history, and Pippa's remarkable journey in advancing gender equality in motorsports is truly inspiring. We feel privileged to contribute to such a meaningful cause and believe in the organization’s mission to provide opportunities and make a lasting impact in the lives of aspiring female racers. We can't wait to kick off this campaign!”

Donations can be made to the Shift Up Now Foundation Inc via the “make a gift” page of the website, www.shiftupnow.com. To pay via check, please contact us at info@shiftupnow.com.

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About Shift Up Now

Founded in 2016 by Lynn Kehoe, Shift Up Now is a collective of female racers working together to provide more opportunity for the industry’s trailblazers. After relaunching in 2020, Shift Up Now operates through a membership format to unite racers and race fans in their support of the mission. Members have access to fan forums, webinars, driver meet-and-greets, garage tours and premiere access to limited-edition merchandise. The organization is currently managed by Pippa Mann, Erin Vogel and Shea Holbrook.

About Lucas Oil

Founded in 1989 by Forrest and Charlotte Lucas, Lucas Oil Products was created with the simple philosophy of producing the best lubricants and additives available anywhere. Lucas Oil offers the most diversified range of innovative engine oil, gear oil and additive products refined by years of specialized research, development and testing. The company’s high performance engine oils and gear oils are widely recognized as best-in-class in the automotive, powersports, marine, industrial, outdoor, and motorsports marketplaces. In total, Lucas Oil boasts more than 300 premium products, representing the largest variety of shelf products of any oil company in the United States with a distribution network across 48 different countries.

Lucas Oil’s commitment to motorsports includes long standing support for high profile regional and national racing series, and the distribution of exclusive motorsports content from across the globe via MAVTV, a Lucas Oil owned and operated television network. The company also serves as the exclusive oil and lubricant partner of Monster Jam®, The Dallas Cowboys, the Indianapolis Colts and Lucas Oil Stadium. For more information please visit www.LucasOil.com.

Mann, Girls Only Team, Fight Through Adversity at ADAC Total 24 Hour Race

Shift Up Now Athlete Pippa Mann and her  WS Racing “Girls Only”  teammates Celia Martin, Fabienne Wohlwend and Beitske Visser competed in the 51st running of the ADAC Total 24 Hour Race at the Nurburgring on May 21, 2023.

The event would mark Mann’s third year competing with the team in a GT4 car. After winning an NLS endurance series race in class as a warm-up race before the 24 Hour, and the qualifying race, the "Girls Only" team was ready for the 24 Hour race around the infamous, 15.7-mile Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit.

Mann and teammates had goals of winning their class, being in the top one-third of the entire GT4 field (including the SRO spec SP10 class) and in the top one-third of the 130 competitors overall.

On Thursday, practice and qualifying began under clear blue skies. Mann and Wohlwend would be the first drivers from the team to drive the Giti Tire BMW M4 GT4.

The teammates immediately set the bar for the pace in their class. Both had times fast enough for P1 over the nine-minute lap, and the sixth-fastest GT4 time from the session. This confirmed their intention of being able to compete with the SRO GT4 cars.

Night practice on Thursday evening was also dry, but with cold ambient and track temperatures. Martin was the first driver in the car and immediately matched her teammates’ pace from the earlier session. However, she had to pull off the track on her second lap. When the car wasn’t returned to the team until after the session, Visser was left without completing any laps since the qualifying race.

On Friday morning, the final practice and qualifying session was dry and sunny. Martin completed her mandatory two laps on the Nordschleife in qualifying. Then Visser drove the rest of the session, taking her first laps of the event, and completing her mandatory laps. For the third consecutive session, the Giti Tire “Girls Only” BMW M4 GT4 was the fastest car in the SP8T class.

When the pre-race warm-up session began on Saturday, Mann and Wohlwend had not driven since Thursday. So the team decided to bed one more set of Endless brake pads, and give both drivers one more lap before the race. The session passed without incident, and marked the fourth session where the team was at the top of the timesheets.

Unfortunately, instead of taking their starting-grid position based on lap time, a penalty meant that they would have to start at the back of the second run group. Visser was the starting driver and set first-stint goals of getting to the lead in the class, and through traffic into the SRO GT4 cars.

On Saturday afternoon, the green flag flew at 4:00pm Central European time under warm sunshine. Visser immediately got to work and went to the lead of the class by the end of the first lap. She then made steady progress forward through traffic while setting fast times.

However, it became clear early on that there was an unprecedented issue with the car’s transponder. The GPS was functioning and recording lap times, however the transponder issue was interfering with timing and scoring data. As a result, Visser’s car position was fluctuating wildly on timing and scoring screens as the transponder failed.

With a goal of not losing laps or taking the car to the garage, the team tried to fix the issue during the first pit stop, as Visser handed the wheel over to Wohlwend. However, once Wohlwend was back on track, it became clear a new transponder would have to be fitted to the car during the second pit stop.

While the timing and scoring continued to fluctuate, Wohlwend continued picking off cars and moving up the field. On lap six of her seven-lap stint, the car suffered a puncture from debris on the track, but she managed to make it back to the pits without further damage.

Martin was behind the wheel for the third stint of the race. When she left the pit box, the team was two laps down on the GT4 leaders, and the leaders in class, due to the transponder issues. The new transponder started working reliably and Martin was a woman on a mission. She ran the fastest time for the car so far in the race, and moved herself up the overall field as the laps ticked by.

Mann was the fourth driver into the car, driving the sunset stint. She picked up where her teammates left off. Her continued fast times moved the Giti Tire BMW M4 GT4 up the order.

As night fell and the temperatures cooled, the team moved to double stints, giving rest between stints to the drivers not in the car. In the dark and difficult conditions, the team continued their climb, taking back the lead in the class. They climbed back into the top 10 overall of all the GT4 cars, and inside the top 60 of the 135 race starters.

One hour before dawn, a slower-class car made a mistake while being lapped and hit the rear corner of the Giti Tire BMW M4 GT4. Onboard video showed there was nothing Martin could’ve done and the contact was hard enough to break the rear axle. It appeared that the severity of the damage, and time needed to make the repair, meant the team was likely out of the race.

However the WS Racing “Girls Only” team and management decided that, even though they would be many laps down and out of contention, they wanted to get the car back on track. In addition, they wanted to make sure they took enough laps, compared to the overall GT3 leaders, to be classified in the results.

The mechanics worked tirelessly after 13 hours of racing and 24 hours of being awake. Right around 10:00am local time, the car rejoined the race. Visser, as the most rested driver, was back behind the wheel. As a thank you to the team, she immediately set the fastest lap of the race for the car so far, then handed the wheel to Wolhwend, and then Martin.

Mann was back in the Giti Tire BMW M4 GT4 for a double stint to finish the race. After the pit stop in her second stint, Mann had what she described as “the luckiest lap I’ve ever had with traffic at the Ring.”

She set the new, fastest lap for the team by a couple of tenths from Visser, giving the the girls the sixth-fastest GT4 lap time in the race. She then slowed her pace to run with team’s sister BMW M4 GT4. The two cars also found one of the team’s other cars to set up a checkered-flag photograph, showcasing three of the 2023 Giti Tire WS Racing entries coming across the line together.

“We got so unlucky this weekend at times we couldn’t believe it,” said Mann. “But the determination and resilience of this team, and our girls was incredible. We were so fast all weekend, and to have all four drivers within two seconds on a nine-minute lap is incredible.

“Our engineer Tamires Lustosa gave us a strong car, and we were not only fastest in SP8T in every session, but also able to compete with the front portion of the SRO GT4 cars in SP10. We may not have gotten the reward we wanted in terms of the race result, but ultimately we executed another strong race, despite the adversity, and we showed our pace and potential every single session the car was on track.

"I want to thank Giti Tires, WS Racing, and Thorsten and Nicole Willems for inviting me back again this year, and also Bell Techlogix for their partnership with Shift Up Now which helped me cover the cost of travel to compete here. This event has quickly become one of my favorite races, and for me it ranks up there with the years I got to compete at the Indy 500.”

Mann will be returning to American soil this week. Alongside Loni Unser, she’ll be hosting guests from Bell Techlogix at the 2023 Indianapolis 500 this weekend.

The 52nd running of the ADAC Total 24 Hour Race is scheduled for May 9-12, 2024.

Victory for Mann, Teammates, "Girls Only" Team at the Nurburgring

Shift Up Now Athlete Pippa Mann, along with teammates Celia Martin and Carrie Schreiner, won in the SP8T GT4 class - and finished 4th overall out of the 14 GT4 cars entered - on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at the Nurburgring.

The trio, along with their all-female team of mechanics, engineers and crew, brought home the first win of the season in the Giti Tires “Girls Only” BMW M4 GT4. 

The race was the second round of the German NLS series, which takes place on the Nurburgring Nordschleife race track, on a slightly shorter loop than the ADAC Total 24 Hour race. The four-hour endurance race on the 24.4km course featured 132 cars entered across various classes. These included GT3 cars, Porsche Cup cars, touring cars and 14 GT4 cars split across the two GT4 classes that run at the Nurburgring for the NLS events, and the ADAC Total 24 Hour race.

Practice for the event on Friday featured the region's notorious “Eifel Weather,” a mix of fog and rain that gives the Nordschleife it’s nickname, “The Green Hell.”

During those conditions on Friday, Mann, Martin and Schreiner focused on turning as many laps as possible and getting comfortable in the team's new BMW M4 GT4 on the wet racetrack. 

Mann was second in the car, turning three laps on the Giti Tires wet-weather tire. She then returned for another run later in the session as the track started to dry. Mann made it through two third of a lap on the Nordschleife before heavy rain aborted the run.

Qualifying on Saturday morning featured similar conditions as all three drivers took to the track. Martin was the last driver in the car, setting the fast time and qualifying the team in the middle of the GT4 field.

As the noon race start time drew near, the forecasted heavy rain never came and the track continued to dry. Martin was the starting driver, and made the brave, but ultimately correct decision to start the race on “cut slick tires” instead of wet-weather tires. As the green flag dropped, she took the car to P1 in the class. During the first stint of the race, she was P2 overall of the GT4 cars.

Outside of the racing line, the racetrack was greasy and slippery. Several accidents caused various areas of the race track to be under speed-limited conditions. In these areas, drivers were not to exceed specific kph and were not allowed to overtake another vehicle. A mistake in one of these zones cost the team some time when they were forced to serve a 45-second penalty.

Mann was the final driver in the Giti Tires BMW M4 GT4, running the 90 minutes to the end of the race. The entire field stayed on slick tires throughout, despite several small showers on parts of the race track, and occasional sleet. Mann set the second fastest lap of the race for the team, and brought the car home with the first win of the season.

“I’m so thankful to WS Racing and Giti Tire for allowing me to come over for this race as a warm-up for the 24 Hour Race this May,” said Mann. “I also want to thank Bell Techlogix for their support of Shift Up Now, which helps pay for my travel for these events.

“The mixed conditions this weekend threw a lot at me, but I’m so much better prepared for the 24 Hour Race now, having gotten to compete this weekend in NLS2. The new BMW M4 GT4 is by far my favorite GT4 car I’ve ever driven, and I’m pretty pleased with getting below the nine-minute mark on this layout in the race today. I can’t wait to come back and do this again in May.”

Qualifying for this year’s ADAC Total 24 Hour Race will take place on May 18-19, 2023, followed by the race on the 25.3km track layout on May 20-21, 2023.

Pippa Mann returns to Nurburgring in 2023 with WS Racing

For the third consecutive year, Pippa Mann will compete in the Girls Only program with WS Racing on the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit on May 20-21, 2023.

In 2022, the team completed a successful ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race, culminating in a podium finish. As a result, WS Racing announced an unchanged lineup for the 2023 race on the infamous, 20.8k German track.

Mann is a seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor, and a race winning coach and co- driver with clients in various sports car series across America. In 2023, she will be returning to both the International GT Championship, and to the FARA Racing USA Championship.

WS Racing, founded and led by Nicole Willems, is on also a mission to prove that with equal opportunity, men and women can perform and compete as equals at the highest levels of motorsport.

This will mark the second year that Mann teams up with Carrie Schreiner, Celia Martin and Fabienne Wohlwend. The all-female Girls Only driving lineup will be competing with a brand new BMW M4 GT4, with continued sponsorship from Giti Tire.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to return to the Ring again for the third year running,” said Mann. “I can’t wait to see my team-mates again, and I’m so excited to get behind the wheel of the brand new BMW M4 GT4!”

“I want to thank the team, and all of their partners for welcoming me back for another year. And Bell Techlogix for their support of Shift Up Now, which is once again covering my travel costs to allow me to travel to Germany to compete, and be part of this amazing program.”

"We are very happy that Pippa completes our line up again this season and supports us with her experience and speed," said Nicole Willems. "Our goal is to continue the success of the past years. Pippa fits perfectly to our team and our visions."

Originally opened in 1927, and nicknamed “The Green Hell,” the 70-turn Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit winds its way through the forests and hills in the Eifel region of Germany.

Mann will be joining the WS Racing / Girls Only squad for one of the three warm-up races. She’ll then return to Germany for the 51st edition of the ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race in May. Practice and qualifying begins on Thursday May 18, 2023.

Third-Place Finish for Mann and ‘Girls Only’ Team at Nurburgring 24 Hours

Pippa Mann and her WS Racing ‘Girls Only’ Giti Tire team earned a third-place finish in their class on Sunday, May 29, 2022 in the ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. 

Driving a BMW M4 GT4, Mann and teammates Carrie Schreiner, Fabienne Wohlwend and Celia Martin, the event schedule meant there were no practice sessions outside of the official qualifying sessions to set the grid.

The weather was sunny and dry for the first, 90-minute qualifying session on Thursday morning, however the team encountered an electronic fuel pump issue, and were unable to run laps. The second session was three hours in length on Thursday evening, into the night and track conditions cooled considerably as the sun set. All drivers completed two laps while it was still light out, then one once darkness fell.

For Mann, these laps were her first on the Nordschleife in 2022, her first ever in the BMW M4 GT4 and after the red flag stoppage for fog overnight in 2021, her first ever lap on the track in complete darkness.

After using the final short 45 minute qualifying session on Friday morning to bed in brakes for the race, Mann took 5 laps on the Nurburgring Grand Prix of the Nurburgring during morning warm-up on Saturday morning to continue to learn the car before the start of the race.

Saturday’s 24-hour race began at 4:00 p.m. and welcomed back fans for the first time since 2019. An estimated 250,000 race fans were in attendance around the 15.8-mile racetrack and more than 130 cars participated, including 38 GT3 cars.

It was dry and cool for the race start. Martin was behind the wheel first, starting from P4 in class. The formation lap left at 3.40 for the long lap around the Nordschleife before the green flag. Martin advanced to P3 during her stint and handed the wheel to Wohlwend for her seven-lap stint.

Mann took the wheel third for seven dry laps in the daylight. Then Schreiner was the first to drive a double stint just before nightfall, followed by double stints from Martin, Wohlwend and Mann, running flawless laps and carrying them through the night. As dawn broke, the WS ‘Girls Only’ Giti Tire team was running second in their class, but dropped back to third once the sun rose, and their closest competitors found their pace again in the day-light.

With approximately four hours to go, as the “Eiffel weather” the region is known for started to play a part in the race. Conditions were extremely wet in parts of the race track, almost dry in others, and constantly changing with the rain fall moving weather across different areas of the race track at different times. Mann and Schreiner handled the two difficult stints of the race with the constantly changing conditions on slicks, and “cut slick” tires, and kept the car in third place, with no mistakes, for Martin to take over for the final stint. 

The team took the checkered flag in third place in their class, and 35th overall.

“I was thrilled to be asked to rejoin the WS Racing ‘Girls Only’ team for this event, and to have the opportunity to return to the Nordschleife for the 50th anniversary of their first 24 Hour race,” said Mann. “After the weather impacted the race so severely the past couple of years with long red flags, we were all hoping for a full 24 hour race this year, and our wish was granted.

“This is definitely a tough event to turn up to with no seat time at the track since the race the previous year, and no experience previously driving an M4 GT4, but the ‘Girls Only’ crew and engineering team worked with me to help me get comfortable in the car. Overall I’m very happy with how I drove in the race, especially in the extremely tricky wet/dry stint I had on Sunday. 

“The night laps here were also a real experience. This track is so very dark at night, and the headlights of the GT3 cars coming up fast are extreme. There was also a lot of code 60 and code 120 during my first stint at night, but during the second stint I was able to really find the rhythm and run comparable lap times to daylight." 

She added, “Overall, our entire driving lineup was strong and we all contributed to this result. The WS Racing ‘Girls Only’ pit crew was amazing. As a team, we ran a great 24 Hour race and maximized our result. We worked hard, made no mistakes and were rewarded with a result that we can be proud of.”

Mann plans to return to action on June 10-11, 2022 at the Daytona 14-Hour endurance race with TLM Racing in the World Racing League, driving the Monoflo Porsche Cayman GT4.

Pippa Returns to WS Racing Girls Only Team for ADAC TOTAL 24 Hour Race

Pippa Mann is returning to Germany this May to re-join the WS Racing Girls Only team for the 2022 edition of the ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany.

Featuring an all female driving line up, crew and engineers, the “Girls Only” project was founded by Nicole Willems in 2018 to prove that men and women perform at the same level in professional motorsports.

In 2021 Mann and her co-drivers won their class in the Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing “Girls Only” entry, and in 2022 she joins Celia Martin, Carrie Schreiner and Fabienne Wohlwend behind the wheel of a BMW M4 GT4 as the team tries to take back to back victories two years in a row.

“I’m really looking forward to driving with Celia and Carrie again, and with Fabienne for the first time”, said Mann, “and I can’t wait to get back to Germany to re-join WS Racing for our defense of last year’s win.  Racing at the Nordschleife is incredibly tough, but also incredibly rewarding, and I’m very thankful to have the opportunity to return to compete in 2022.

“As well as all of the team partners who make this program happen, I want to thank Bell Techlogix for their support of Shift Up Now, which has helped me cover the travel costs associated with traveling to Europe to compete in a race.”

Nicknamed “The Green Hell”, the Nordschleife itself is a circuit with a famed and formidable reputation. Originally opened on the 19th of June 1927, the circuit is 20.8km in length, and comprises more than 70 turns.

Testing starts for the 50th Edition of the ADAC Total 24 hour race on Thursday May 26th, and the green flag will fly for 24 hours off racing at 4pm local time (10am ET) on Satursday May 28th.

Podium Finish for Mann at Sebring 24 Hour Race

Seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Pippa Mann was part of the four-driver lineup for ProSport Competition, and helped earn a podium finish for the team in their first-ever, World Racing League 24 Hour race held at Sebring International Raceway on October 31, 2021.

Mann normally competes in the Championship with customers in her own BMW M2 with TLM Racing. When the team decided not to enter their cars in what would prove to be a grueling test of endurance for both drivers and cars, the British driver became available to join ProSport Competition.

With several of her 2019 Indianapolis 500 crew involved in leading the ProSport Competition entry, Mann transferred into a car she normally races against. She joined the driver line-up of Dwayne Moses, Zach Arnold and Jim Cox for the historic event.

Mann turned her first laps in the No. 143 RP Aston Martin Vantage GT4 during Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions. Her lap time from the first session placed the team eighth on the starting grid for the following day’s race.

With Moses at the wheel for the start on Saturday, and Cox driving second, the team picked up places in the opening stints. The team ran as high as third place before a flash fire from a fuel overfill forced Mann to park at a marshal station. Once she ensured the flames were out, a trip back to the garage area confirmed there was no permanent damage to the car. Now several laps down, the team returned to track with a goal of making up ground.

All of the teammates bested their practice and qualifying times during the race, working together to climb the order overall and taking back laps from the leading cars.

At 2:00 a.m., Mann was in the car for a double stint and took the final two laps back from the second-place entry by passing for position before the end of her stint. Arnold then took the wheel and continued the charge, putting two laps of safety between the Aston Martin GT4 and the third place competitor during his double stint.

As the sun rose on Sunday morning, the team was holding down second place with a two-lap lead. Mechanical issues from the brutal pounding of an endurance race at Sebring were starting to take their toll on the car. The last four hours of the race, from 8:00 a.m. to noon, were tense as the team took turns in single stints, nursing their ailing race car home without giving up the podium.

As the checked flag flew on the first-ever 24 Hour race at Sebring, and after 2000 racing miles at one of the bumpiest race tracks in America, ProSport Competition secured second place both in the GT0 class, and overall, in its first-ever World Racing League podium finish.

“It was so much fun to be invited to join this team for the first ever Sebring 24,” said Mann. “Having the opportunity to race such a great car, with team-mates who were so incredibly fast in every single stint of the race, and then coming away with second place overall. It was so great to be here with Race for RP and ProSport Competition for this race.”

Mann resumes her coaching and co-driving duties with client Jody Miller and his Porsche Cup Car for TLM Racing on November 5-7, 2021 at Circuit of the Americas for the penultimate IGT Championship event of the season.

Top Ten Finish for Mann in IMS Return

Seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Pippa Mann earned a ninth-place finish with teammates Sean Gibbons and Sam Owen in the Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour race on October 17th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Driving the No. 7 Valkyrie Porsche Cayman GT4 for OGH Motosports with NOLA Sport, Mann made her debut in SRO competition and her second International GT4 appearance of the season, after a successful ADAC Total 24-hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in June.

Mann’s first time driving the car was Friday, in rainy conditions. Saturday’s qualifying session brought completely different conditions – bright and cold – and lots of traffic. More than 40 cars on track in every 15-minute segment made for a busy and chaotic session.

Mann encountered a red flag after her first flying lap, then was unable to get another representative lap due to the GT3 traffic. Gibbons experienced similar issues, and with a lower average lap time from all 3 drivers than expected, the trio qualified 11th in a stacked field of 13 GT4 cars. It was clear that managing traffic would be key in the race.

Driving the first stint on Sunday, Mann advanced to P10 before handing the car over. By the halfway point of the race, the team was quietly climbing up the order, and she was closing in on sixth place when the ABS failed in turn one, causing the tire to delaminate and taking out the right-front radiator.

Instead of retiring the car, the Nolasport crew went to work, preparing the Valkyrie OGH Motorsports car to finish the eight-hour race. With continued attrition, the team was classified at P9 at the checkered flag.

“This was by far the toughest endurance race I’ve ever competed in,” said Mann. “The speed difference between us and the GT3 cars felt massive on this race track and there were just so many of them.

“When one of your primary goals for your team coming into the race is not to get hit by a GT3 car, that tells you something of what we were all dealing with out there - for them trying to navigate their way around us, and for us trying to compete in our race within their race. While speed and class differences are very normal in endurance racing, at this track, this weekend, it was certainly a major factor for all of the teams and drivers.

“I’m gutted we had the ABS issue, but it was just a freak thing where some pick-up that had accumulated inside our wheel well over the course of the race broke free and attacked our wheel speed sensor. I’m thankful it happened on a safe part of the racetrack, and that there wasn’t any further damage to car beyond that caused by the tire delamination. I’m very grateful to the hard work from the Nolasport crew for getting us back out on track to finish out the race, but I'm still gutted our chance for a better result ended this way.

“Sean and Sam both drove great stints out there, and we were quietly sticking to our plan, ticking off the laps and moving forward. I would like to thank them both again for the invitation to join them for this race. Also, thank you to Bell Techlogix and Indy Women in Tech for coming along on this eight hour adventure with me.”

Mann returns to action in just under two weeks when she resumes her coaching and co-driving duties at Sebring International Raceway for the 24-Hour World Racing League event on October 29-31, 2021.

Mann Returning to IMS in Latest Stop in busy Driving, Coaching Career

Story by Curt Cavin for IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com. 

To read the original article, please click here.

As Pippa Mann describes it, competing in this weekend’s Indianapolis 8 Hour Presented by AWS sports car race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course will be “slightly” different than her seven previous starts at the facility in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

She is joking, of course. This will be a lot different. However, the task at hand is similar.

“Go fast, don’t hurt the car,” she said.

England native Mann, who has lived in Indianapolis for more than a decade, has largely been out of the public racing eye since finishing a career-best 16th in the 2019 “500.” Her day job involves serving as a coach and co-driver in various U.S. road racing series, and she recently became a part owner of a BMW M2 CS team in the World Racing League, a collection of endurance races which will complete its season Dec. 3-5 at Circuit of The Americas. She serves as the team’s resident coach and co-driver.

In June, Mann was part of the driving quartet for the Giti Tire WS Racing Girls’ Only team which won the SP8 Class at the 49th ADAC Total 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. That’s the 12.9-mile, historic track in Germany that Jackie Stewart nicknamed “The Green Hell.”

A year ago, one of Mann’s former “500” crew members introduced her to Sean Gibbons, a Bronze-level sports car driver competing in the SRO GT4 America Sprint X Am Championship. Gibbons and OGH Motorsports teammate Sam Owen were seeking a professional driver to join them in endurance races such as this weekend’s Intercontinental GT Challenge event at IMS, and they struck a deal to make this a Pro-Am entry. Thus, Mann will make her official IMS road course debut in the No. 7 Valkyrie Porsche 718 Cayman GT4.

Mann will bring backing from Bell Techlogix, which she introduced to the “500” several years ago, and she will have Indy Women in Tech featured on her helmet for the first time. The Indianapolis-based initiative helps women enter, re-enter or transition their careers to tech and STEM roles by providing financial support, mentoring, training and education.

“That’s really cool to have them on my helmet for the first time,” Mann said.

Valkyrie is an artificial intelligence and machine learning firm based in Austin, Texas.

Mann said the variety of cars she has been driving is good preparation for this weekend’s event. For example, one of her clients races a Porsche Cup car in the International GT Series. She helps set up the car, provides the data laps and spends most of the weekend helping him go faster.

“Then on Sunday I get to hop back in and share the driving with him in a slightly longer endurance race,” she said.

Gibbons and Owen will get most of the team’s laps this weekend as they are full-season Sprint X drivers. Mann hopes to get a few laps in Friday’s 90-minute practice open to all competitors.

“They’re making me feel very welcome, but I’m certainly the guest driver in the program,” she said. “But this is what I do: I show up, I drive a variety of different cars, I go fast, don’t hurt the car. That’s what I do.

“For me, it’s really cool to get to take part in a high-level race like the 8 Hour right here in my (adopted) hometown, in my backyard and racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, even if it’s in a slightly different car in a slightly different direction. It also will be my first time on this road course on slick tires, which will be fun.”

Mann isn’t the only one facing a unique challenge this weekend. Normally, Gibbons and Owen compete in GT4 categories based on driver rankings. But this weekend, GT4 is a class of its own, which means they will be competing against what Mann calls “some pretty stout driver lineups that they wouldn’t normally be up against.” There will be 13 entrants in the class.

“We’re here and hopefully going to have a good day on Sunday,” Mann said.