by John Glynn | Aug 18, 2012 | Porsche People, Race and Rally
Young Porsche charger Marco Holzer has scored his first 911 pole position in ALMS, just one hundredth of a second ahead of respected works team mate, Joerg Bergmeister.
Bergmeister has one of the best CVs (and surnames) in the history of Porsche motorsport, but he couldn’t top twenty-four year-old Holzer’s times in the Flying Lizard RSR. Teamed with Lizards’ owner, Seth Neiman, this is the first pole position for Porsche in ALMS 2012, so things are looking good for a Porsche win at Road America.
What has changed? How are 911s suddenly first and second? Sad to say, as yet I don’t know. Perhaps some expert reading this will be able to enlighten us in the comments. I have emailed a man who might shed some light.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to have clinched my first pole in the American Le Mans Series. I’m really pleased for the team that our number 44 car is at the very front of the grid,” says Marco. “This track is fantastic and great fun. With the race running over four hours, it’s very long and a great deal can happen in this time. Still, pole position is a great place to start.”
Further down the field, Falken hero and works driver, Wolf Henzler, set the eighth quickest time, in a GT3 R shared with US driver, Bryan Sellers.
Bryce Miller turned the tenth quickest time in Paul Miller Racing’s 911, shared with Sascha Maassen. Sascha is the lead mentor on the Porsche Junior programme, which we have been video-blogging for the last few days. More later!
by John Glynn | Jul 28, 2012 | Porsche People, Race and Rally
It’s the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, and Porsche Supercup is right alongside. There are two rounds of the Supercup being held here: one extra to replace the Barcelona round, where the cars were deemed unsafe to race.
Safety concerns emerged on the Barcelona start grid, where some wheels were found to have been damaged in tyre mounting. Hard to imagine just how this can have happened, but a bit late to wonder out loud now. Porsche cancelled the round on the grid, and the Budapest double-header is being held to make up.
René Rast (below) has snatched pole for both races: one this afternoon after qualifying and the other tomorrow, before the GP. Thankfully, there is no repeat of Monaco where Supercup was not shown live on TV. British Eurosport 2 are showing the races back to back tomorrow (race 2 live) from 10:15hrs.
Eurosport’s coverage is not the greatest, but any coverage is better than none. This is a tight and twisty track that gets incredibly hot and collects plenty of dust off line: it’s a great place to watch 911s race.
Rast’s competitors were left stunned by his qualifying pace. “I have no idea how René does it,” said Sean Edwards, title challenger and 5th and 2nd in qualifying. “I was at the limit during my fastest lap, and still I’m fourth-tenths of a second off him. I’ve got nothing to lose now in the race. I’m going to go full attack right from the first corner.”
Norbert Siedler was similarly bewildered. “Don’t ask me how René achieves such times. Perhaps we can make up for it in the races but that’ll be very tricky.”
Here’s the grid line-up for races 1 and 2.
Grid line up for Saturday’s race
1. René Rast (D), Lechner Racing Team
2. Kévin Estre (F) Hermes Attempto Racing
3. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing
4. Michael Ammermüller (D), VELTINS Lechner Racing
5. Sean Edwards (GB), Konrad Motorsport
6. Norbert Siedler (A), VELTINS Lechner Racing
Grid line up for Sunday’s race
1. René Rast (D), Lechner Racing Team
2. Sean Edwards (GB), Konrad Motorsport
3. Christian Engelhart (D), Konrad Motorsport
4. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing
5. Kuba Giermaziak (PL), VERVA Racing Team
6. Kévin Estre (F) Hermes Attempto Racing
The races are shaping up mega: Estre, Thiim and Ammermuller in the top four for race 1 should make for a banzai half-hour of Porsche to start, and the 45-minute race on Sunday (shown live) with Edwards in hot pursuit could be a classic: one slip off the start grid and Rene will have to fight back past. Count on seeing some jaw-dropping racing should that occur.
Rast is pure genius behind the wheel and a joy to watch in full flow. If you’re not following the fastest one-make championship in the world, I think you’re missing out.
edit: find out why René Rast did not race for Porsche in Hungary!
by John Glynn | Jul 20, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Sitting at the kitchen table doing a bit of writing and watching Sky Sports F1 on the iPad, it was great to see some coverage pop up of the Porsche Supercup race at Silverstone between F1 practice sessions.
I watched the Silverstone Supercup race on Eurosport at the gym a few days ago. The coverage was woeful: almost inaudible sound with a rough picture quality. Watching it on good old Sky Sports F1 was the opposite: good insight from a decent commentator, nice in-car footage and enlightening post-race interviews.
The race was a tough one – Rast racing on used tyres versus the rest on new – but the guru took another win, chased home by Siedler who pulled a mega last-lap move on Edwards to take P2 ahead of the Brit.
Twenty years of Supercup has generated some great stories and terrific drives from worthy champions. I well remember watching Patrick Huisman in his heyday, as well as Wolf Henzler (below): still the man with most Supercup race wins in a season.
The most victories over multiple seasons goes to Huisman with 24 races: the first in 1996 at Hockenheim, the last in 2007 in Spa Francorchamps. René Rast ranks second with 18 wins, followed by Uwe Alzen and Wolf Henzler with 14 wins each. The class of these guys shouts from the language of the car as it laps at speed.
Best celebrity driver is Mika Hakkinen , who has just popped up on Sky Sports F1 as advisor to Bottas: one of the younger drivers. Mika – my all-time favourite – won two ’93 Supercups, in Monaco and Hungary.
Supercup is terrific: if you can get the right coverage. After all, what could be better than watching talent thrash the daylights out of a grid of 911s? Here’s to twenty more good years!
by John Glynn | Jul 18, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
The 2012 Midnight Sun Rally starts today. Three days of flat-out action with the cream of Scandinavia is about to begin, and Tuthill Porsche is in the thick of it.
This running of the Midnight Sun is dedicated to the late Ove Andersson, so has attracted even more rally stars than usual. Toyota Team Historic has four-time World Champion, Juha Kankkunen (1986, 1987, 1991 and 1993), Hannu Mikkola (1983) and the brilliant Mikko Hirvonen, who is getting ever-closer to his first World Championship.
Team Tidö, led by David von Schinkel, has supplied the Tuthill-prepped cars for Björn Waldegård (1979), long-time Porsche hero Åke Andersson and Stig Blomqvist, the 1984 World Rally Champion.
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It will be great fun to meet Kankkunen and Mikkola again,” said Björn. “These few days should be most enjoyable, and the rally will be very interesting to watch for the spectators.”
“With so many great names competing, the spectators will all be winners,” agreed Åke Andersson, celebrating fifty years in the Midnight Sun Rally. Åke came second in class on his 1962 debut, and his plan for this year is to chase the top honours. Given Ake’s Porsche CV, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be in the hunt!
I’ve got the batphone set for Sweden and am hoping to get regular news from this terrific event. If I wasn’t snowed under with other stuff to do, I’d be up there myself, enjoying the craic. Instead, I’m at a specialists tomorrow, sampling their full Hunter chassis set up and alignment rig (above) on my recently refurbed BMW M3 and then at Silverstone Classic all this weekend.
Mark and James from lightweight Porsche parts specialist, EB Motorsport, are racing in World Sportscar Masters at Silverstone, so we’ll be out there in force with the cameras, hoping for sun and tracking their Masters Historic title defence – going very well so far.
Remember our Ferdinand Facebook page is seeing plenty of energy at the minute, so follow that page for your regular Porsche news fix! I hope that time for regular Classic Porsche Blog action will return when we’ve got that operation up and running.
by John Glynn | Jul 10, 2012 | Porsche News, Project Cars, Race and Rally
The original 911 Turbo was a revelation. Introduced in 1974, the first 930 models had a 3-litre engine, producing 260 horsepower at just 5,500 rpm with relatively soft levels of boost and a 6.5:1 compression ratio.
The first journalists to sample the 911 Turbo were literally blown away. ‘To be shoved so hard in the back that you need highback seats to keep your head on, yet neither to feel nor hear anything more than a muffled hum, is a very odd sensation indeed”, wrote Roger Bell back then.
In 1977, the 930 grew to 3.3-litre engine capacity, and got some decent brakes. The addition of an intercooler took power to 300 horsepower, with 303 lb/ft of torque. 60 appeared on the speedo around 5 seconds after take off, and 160 would appear in short order: if you kept your foot in.
On paper, the 930’s big turbo and leggy four-speed gearbox is hardly ideal for use as a rally car, but that has not stopped Richard ‘Project’ Tuthill from picking one up in Eastern Europe and putting it through a rebuild process at Tuthill HQ in Wardington, just down the road from Ferdinand.
The car has been through a strip and interior tidy, with new seat rails and fire extinguisher install. The engine and transmission are out for an overhaul, the car is being completely rewired and made ready to rally in anger. It has also just had brand new Turbo brake calipers, straight from Porsche.
“One challenge is having the fastest car in a straight line,” says Richard. “But also, there’s more to rallying than the British Championship. Some great events take place in Europe, where Turbos are highly regarded. I think this will strike a chord with the fans: the few miles I did in it before we took it to pieces were amongst the craziest I’ve ever done in a rally car!”
I’ve driven a lot of Tuthill cars over the years but this lightweight Turbo off-roader is a whole other kettle of fish. I can’t wait to try it out!
by John Glynn | Jul 1, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
The Talented Mister Rast continued his current Porsche winning streak today with a resounding victory in Carrera Cup Deutschland at the Norisring.
It’s a great result for the capable and entertaining German, always a delight to watch at speed in a 911. Rast stormed off a simmering 35-degree grid from pole position and never looked back. Steering clear of a first corner incident, the winner led Siedler and Edwards across the finish line.
The win puts 2008 champ Rast back on top as we head into race 9, which Porsche says will stream live on their website at 9:05 German time tomorrow morning.
“That was a relatively easy race for me today,” said René. “I got away cleanly and I saw the mayhem behind me in the rear vision mirror. This gave me a major advantage and all I had to do was bring it home. The only problem was the heat.”
Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
