Lindsey drives to a podium finish in Ohio

Santa Barbara race car driver Patrick Lindsey earned his fifth- and sixth-straight top-five finishes in the World Challenge GT Championship over the weekend in Lexington, Ohio.

Lindsey, driving a Horton/Sloan Securities Porsche 911 GT3, finished in third place in Saturday’s Round 8 of the series and fourth in Round 9 on Sunday in the Optima Batteries Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Presented by GameStreamer at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In Sunday’s race, Lindsey nabbed the fourth spot after Kuno Wittmer got caught in traffic, tangled with a Touring Car and left the race with suspension damage to his Dodge Viper. Wittmer is second behind points leader Randy Pobst for the series championship.

On Saturday, Lindsey was in a fierce battle with the K-PAX Racing Volvo S60s of Pobst and Andy Pilgrim for third place.

“It took a few laps to get around the Volvos, they were quick at the start, but I caught that barn-door draft behind them to out-brake them into Madness,” Lindsey said. “Later in the race, traffic played a big part in the strategy for everyone. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts. I was able to use it to close the gap on James (Sofronas, runner-up) and (race winner) Mike (Skeen)f, and then lose a little bit. They had a really good battle, and I think a few more laps and I would have been able to get in touch with them. The handling and tire management of that car is pretty fantastic.”

Lindsey started fourth in the race.

After the weekend, the Santa Barbara driver is fifth in the series standings.

Porsche cut into Volvo’s Manufacturers’ Championship lead, which now stands at six points (51 to 45). Dodge is third, with 37.