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But it wasn't just GTLM racing that was fun. The
But it wasn't just GTLM racing that was fun. The GTD is another fun race: there's a whole host of different disciplines to race: the Grand Prix, the Sprint Cup, and the Nürburgring. And that includes a multitude of races that take place in the Grand Prix. With a total of 25 races to choose from, the GTD is also pretty big. A total of 29 cars raced for the year, and it was only the third time in the last decade that the Grand Prix has had 25-plus races.
And it wasn't just a total of 30 cars. It was 24 races and the second-fastest Grand Prix outside of the Sprint Cup. That's pretty big, too.
And it was also the second most raced by Team Penske in a single weekend (the team won the Nürburgring).
"I would think we've been a bit bit less competitive," says Williams owner John Pohl. "But we did a fantastic job of making sure we had the kind of cars that could take the Grand Prix and the Nürburgring."
Pohl was part of Pirelli's development of the Pirelli GT-R with Mark Webber. When the team took over the GT-R in 2007, Pohl was the team's general manager and general manager of the Team Penske Performance Group. Pohl led the team to wins in both GT3 and Sprints, while also developing GT-R. He says that after the team took over the GT-R in 2010, Pohl saw the importance of the GT-R as a means of keeping the team together. On top of that, he also saw that it would fit with a broader strategy of developing more cars.
"We were really, really happy with the car and what it did for the team," says Pohl. "We had a strong relationship with them and had some conversations with them and then we found out that in a few races they were really excited to give us this car and just take it to the Nürburgring and put it into production. And when that was done, they really embraced it and really enjoyed it and gave us the opportunity to take it to the Nürburgring for the year. So we came up with a couple of things that worked for us."
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