by John Glynn | Jun 29, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
America’s Connor de Phillippi was denied a decent result at the Norisring this weekend, when chaos on a wet street course stopped the Californian’s Carrera Cup championship challenge in its tracks. De Phillippi was forced out of both races due to contact.
Both Carrera Cup races held on the exciting street circuit through Hitler’s former Nuremberg parade grounds brought the same face to the top step. Lechner Racing‘s Michael Ammermüller took debut back-to-back Carrera Cup wins in grand style, with a huge lead at the chequered flag in race 2.
I say huge: it was five seconds, but five more seconds separated second through to sixth. Carrera Cup Deutschland is the closest Porsche racing anywhere, so to finish five seconds ahead in these conditions with such strong opposition is super impressive.
First loser in race 2 was Earl Bamber, but the 23 year-old Kiwi who won a €200,000 Porsche Supercup scholarship at the start of 2014 is proving his massive talent every time he takes to the circuit. Starting seventh on the grid, Bamber had a great start, stayed focused and saved his tyres to pull skillful moves on Christian Engelhart and Porsche Junior, Sven Müller towards the finish, and finish second overall.
“It was like go-karts, battling all the way,” said Bamber. The post race video below shows how true that is, as Bamber, Engelhart, Muller and Ammermüller slip and slide on a greasy track within inches of each other. It is great racing and perhaps slightly worrying for Weissach.
Carrera Cup and Supercup is the breeding ground for future works drivers. If the baby-faced Müller can finish P3 in his first wet Carrera Cup race behind an undeniable 911 expert and the prodigious talent of Bamber, where will he racing in twelve months’ time? Weissach’s works squad had better watch out for these Carrera Cup kids: they are easily good enough to challenge for works drives.
Top of the driver’s table now is Konrad Motorsport’s Christopher Zöchling, another rising star. These are all names you will hear much more about! Zöchling leads by two points from Bamber, with De Phillippi a point down in third. Watch this race video from Porsche AG.
![Porsche Drive-In Movie Festival at Le Mans Classic]()
by John Glynn | Jun 24, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Nice idea from the team at Le Mans Classic this year, as the organisers have decided to erect an inflatable movie screen and show porsche drive-in movies in the Le Mans circuit infield on Friday and Saturday nights.
The inflatable screen will be installed near the famous Dunlop Bridge. Filmgoers will be provided with an audio headset, so not to be disturbed by the roaring sound of engines coming from the circuit.
Movies being shown at Le Mans will please Porsche fans. The Friday night menu includes:
- 21:30 – A Man and a Woman (Claude Lelouch)
- 23:55 – C’était un Rendez-Vous ; “It was a date” (Claude Lelouch)
- 00:00 – Bullitt (Peter Yates)
Saturday’s schedule features:
- 21:30 – Le Mans (Lee H. Katzin)
- 00:05 – C’était un Rendez-Vous ; “It was a date” (Claude Lelouch)
- 00:15 – Weekend of a Champion (Roman Polanski)
Steve McQueen in Bullitt and Le Mans will keep the crowds happy, but the other movies are also worth seeing. Rendez-Vous is short but sweet: the contrived early morning lap of Paris, supposedly driven in a V8 Mercedes, but the director allegedly dubbed it with the soundtrack of his V12 Ferrari 275GTB!
Weekend of a Champion is Polanski’s excellent documentary following Jackie Stewart through his 1971 Monaco Grand Prix weekend. It’s a considered look at motorsport of the era and gives an engaging insight into a driver at the top of his game, doubly concerned with safety and with beating his less safety-conscious rivals.
Each movie will be shown in its original version with French subtitles for foreign films and English subtitles for French films. “Who has never dreamed about the drive-in movie theatre?” asks Classic Le Mans. “It came to us from the United States, combining the two major national industries, auto and film. Le Mans Classic will recreate this atmosphere!”
Ferdinand Magazine is not at Classic Le Mans this year: Abu Dhabi beckons instead. Enjoy your CLM weekend and share your Porsche pics using Ferdinand Magazine’s Facebook page, our Twitter feed, or send them to us via email!
by John Glynn | Jun 22, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
Former Belgian Historic Rally Champion, Glenn Janssens, blitzed to victory on the last weekend’s Ypres Historic Rally in a Tuthill Porsche 911.
Close to the Franco-Belgian border, the beautiful city of Ypres is storied in European rallying. First run in 1965, the Ypres Rally has attracted the biggest names in rallying, with previous winners including Walter Röhrl in the Opel Kadett, and a trio of Porsche victors: Bernard Béguin, Marc Duez and the great Henri Toivonen.
The Ypres Historic continues the great rally’s tradition of running through Ypres marketplace at the start before heading to the first special stage at Boezinge. Driving his powerful Tuthill Porsche 911, Jannsens and co-driver Stéphane Prévot dominated proceedings from the evening start on Friday, taking stage wins in all but the final sections of the two-day classic.
Tuthill Porsche wins Ypres Historic Rally
Fending off challengers including five-time British champion, Jimmy McRae, in an Opel Ascona and experienced rivals in quick Ford Escorts and very fast E21 BMWs, Janssens and Prévot married speed and experience to build a dominant lead, before managing their pace on the closing stages to come home first overall.
“Stage results don’t show the skill and concentration required to win at this level,” said Richard Tuthill. “Glenn’s got exceptional natural pace, which is encouraged by complete trust in his Tuthill Porsche platform and partnership with such an experienced co-driver.
“A long-time European classic, Ypres Historic is the Monaco Grand Prix of the Belgian Historic calendar. To take a convincing win against strong competition underlines the pace of our cars and proves Glenn’s fire to win burns brighter than ever. Well done to Glenn and Stéphane from all of the Tuthill Porsche team.”
Tuthill Porsche now moves on to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, charity support with five Porsche rally cars running at this summer’s Carfest and launching a groundbreaking Porsche rally car on this summer’s European WRC events. Top secret at the minute, but all will be revealed!
by John Glynn | Jun 17, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
There was no mistaking the familiar form of Matthias Müller at Le Mans last weekend. While most CEOs and directors sat in air-conditioned marketing suites, entertaining guests and playing with their phones, the Porsche CEO was in the pitlane with the drivers and mechanics, supporting his team and its efforts.
Not only was Matthias in the pitlane, but he was wearing full team garb, right down to the Adidas shoes. Can you imagine the Ferrari chairman in a mechanics outfit? Luca in a Shell-badged workshirt, jumping in and out of the cameras? Not how Herr Müller played it – he was low key all weekend and seemed to spend most of Saturday and early Sunday morning in the pitlane.
Porsche Racing Tradition
This is the Porsche tradition of old: Ferry Porsche sitting amongst drivers, sharing the highs and the lows. No doubt Matthias and Co – including Klaus Bischof and a visit from Norbert Singer – had their share of the lows last weekend, but such is the nature of racing. With five rounds remaining in this year’s WEC series, anything can still happen. Porsche now has ten weeks or so to take the 919 a step further and further develop the areas flagged in last weekend’s racing.
It’s also worth remembering that Le Mans was twenty-four hours on track, while the rest are no more than six at a time. Six hours into Le Mans, Porsche was sitting very pretty. Let’s see where we end up after racing for six hours in Austin.
WEC Race Schedule 2014
Full details of the remaining races in the FIA WEC race calendar can be found at www.fiawec.com. In a nutshell, you should add these to your diary:
- September 20: 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas
- October 12: 6 Hours of Fuji
- November 2: 6 Hours of Shanghai
- November 15: 6 Hours of Bahrain
- November 30: 6 Hours of Sao Paolo
Circuit of the Americas is on Singapore Grand Prix weekend. Fuji matches the Russian Grand Prix. Shanghai matches the American Grand Prix, but the rest are all on their own. A busy year of motorsport still to come!
Pic credit: Anyone using Twitter should be following @PorscheRaces, the official Porsche motorsport feed. This Le Mans was a mass of content with some great pics shared online. Follow our own @CultofPorsche feed too.
by John Glynn | Jun 15, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Porsche was denied a win at the 2014 24 Hours of Mans today, when the leading number 20 919 LMP1 Hybrid retired in the last two hours of the race.
Mark Webber had just taken over the 919 from Timo Bernhard, who was thirty seconds in front of a charging number 2 Audi. TV cameras picked up Webber as the 919 slowed dramatically, stuck at 60 km/h. The former F1 star showed his class in remaining calm under the extreme pressure of the moment, running through a series of checks, but it was obvious this was a serious issue.
“Misfire, misfire, high oil temperature,” was Mark’s message over the radio as he headed for the pit lane. The car came home and was duly dismantled, but slumped shoulders a few minutes later said it all. Webber slapped his crew chief on the back and that was it: number 20 was out of the race. Partners Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley could only ponder what might have been.
Number 14 was still running, now in P4 in the LMP1 class. Marc Lieb was putting useful laps together when suddenly he reported gearbox problems. The car came back into pit lane and the engine cover was removed but again the lack of activity suggested something close to terminal. As mechanics polished the number 14, Lieb stood by with his helmet on, clearly hoping to get back on track for a final classification.
The 14 did get back out for photo opportunities with the chequered flag and appears on the final lap timings, but Eurosport claims it was not officially classified, so we wait to confirm that. Audi had the finish line all to themselves, with a 1-2 finish for cars 2 and 1 in that order. The number 92 Porsche 911 RSR of Fred Makowiecki took third place in the GTE-Pro category, behind Bruni’s Ferrari and Garcia’s Corvette.
Le Mans is disappointing for all fans of Porsche, but of course this is only round 3 of the 2014 World Endurance Championship. We now have almost three months to the 6 Hours of Austin at Circuit of the Americas on September 20th, so plenty of time to consider the data, develop the car further and go for the series title.
No one will hold this disappointment against the Porsche team. They gave the race everything, and 2014 was a great race for motorsport fans. Kudos to Weissach and on to the next one.
