Porsche has just announced it will race its 991 GT3 RSR (sexy spy shots) at Le Mans and in the 2013 World Endurance Championship.
For the 2013 racing season, Porsche AG will field two new GT racecars based on the newest generation of the Porsche 911 at the Le Mans 24 hour race and in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
The two new Porsche 911 RSR(s), which race in the GTE category, will be run by Porsche AG Team Manthey. The role of team manager goes to the experienced endurance specialist Olaf Manthey, who has celebrated five overall wins with Porsche at the Nürburgring 24 hour race, and recently fielded a 911 GT3 RSR in the International GT Open.
“The new 911 RSR is currently being developed by our engineers and tested by our works drivers,” says Porsche Head of Motorsport, Hartmut Kristen. “What better time could there be to introduce the new car than the Porsche 911’s 50th anniversary?”
This is a very exciting development for fans of Porsche Motorsport. World Endurance saw some great 911 wins in the wet last year, but we were usually caned by a faster Ferrari in the dry – Bahrain WEC was one exception. Bring it on now, Maranello!
A few dry wins won’t do sales of the standard 991, or upcoming 991 GT3 and Turbo road cars any harm, either. Good stuff!
Tuthill Porsche Safari contender, Franz Wunderlich, will follow in the tyre tracks of the original Paris-Dakar rally when he takes part in the Sonangol Africa Eco Race, which kicks off over Christmas.
Starting in Morocco on December 29th, the rally runs through North Africa en route to Senegal and a finish in the capital on January 9th, following the vision of Dakar founder, Thierry Sabine. Competitors in the classic category run along the same rugged desert tracks as modern competitors, but avoid the worst of the car-claiming dunes.
Racers benefit from identical logistic and medical support to those in the grand event. Sonangol Africa Race Classic competitors also enjoy the bivouac with regular participants, so there is some relief from cabin fever at the end of a day.
Sporting Director for this epic desert rally is René Metge (above): the famous Porsche wheelsman who claimed Dakar victory in the 959. Taking last year as a model, René has no plans to dish out easy rides.
“Just looking at the maps, we knew the 2012 edition would be difficult, and it was. What we did not anticipate was the weather, especially in Mauritania, where the sandstorm began to blow before we arrived and stayed ten days. The Mauritanian desert was then totally changed.
“Although I know the route by heart, I saw that some places became invisible and many dunes appeared where a few weeks ago, there was nothing. This bad weather forced us to cancel one leg. After several days of stress everyone was very tired including vehicles. The cancellation of the special stage between Akjoujt and Tenadi allowed them to start on the last Mauritanian leg with energy.
“The 2012 edition was difficult, but I think we took the right option. Dense race, “serious” navigation and intense crossing but not too long. We tried to have a minimum of rocky terrain all along the way but in Morocco, for example, it is quite impossible to avoid any rocky area.”
This event will be no cakewalk! We’ll be doing our best to follow Franz and his adventures, so keep it here for more updates.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
The largest gathering of Porsches ever at one race venue in Australia will occur at the inaugural Porsche Rennsport Australia Motor Racing Festival, to be held on the weekend of May 25/26 2013 at Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek).
Spurred by the success of previous Rennsport festivals in North America, as well as its own army of Porsche owner enthusiasts in Australia, Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) has decided to create a special event for all Porsche fans.
Racing and road Porsches of all types will share in a weekend of racing at the recently renovated and renamed Eastern Creek circuit, with more than 300 Porsches expected to participate.
The event will be promoted as a festival of racing with as much to see and experience away from the track as on it. The headline racing act will be a double header of Porsche GT3 Cup cars with rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship as well as Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia presented by Pirelli.
In all, there will be seven different categories of Porsche racing including Regularity and Sprints for Porsche Club cars.
Following the departure of Flying Lizards motorsport, Porsche has announced the end of development on the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR race car , so engineers can concentrate on the 991 RSR, expected in 2014. The Porsche release runs thus:
With a new race car based on the new, seventh-generation Porsche 911 (type 991) street car on the horizon, Porsche Motorsport has announced it will wind down development for the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (type 997) – a very successful venture which began in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 2005.
Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport: “Just like our recent Porsche RS Spyder program, we must appreciate the success of our race cars during their product cycle, but move on to new models when it is time to do so. The venerable Porsche 911 GT3 RSR has provided our Porsche customer teams with numerous wins and championships, and will remain competitive in 2013. Porsche will support the customer teams which continue to race that car, but the time has come and we now must focus our research and engineering development efforts on its successor, which makes its North American debut in 2014.”
In North America, the development partner helping to design, engineer and implement improvements in the current 911 RSR race car has been Flying Lizard Motorsports in the GT class of the ALMS. This partnership now is discontinued.
Jens Walther, president of Porsche Motorsport North America, was quick to point out that customer teams still wishing to run the current 911 race car will be able to continue to do so in the American Le Mans Series with full trackside engineering and parts support. PMNA shop service will also continue in 2013.
“We will be at the track with our usual support for 2013, and some of our current customer teams have already committed to run the 911 GT3 RSR (type 997) next year. Each of the current teams will be announcing their plans as we get closer to the ALMS Winter Test in February,” he said.
A few juicy discussion points there. The 991 RSR will debut in North America in 2014, so will it race in Europe next year? If Lizards are out on development, who will be in? Now there’s an LMP car coming, might we see a team like Penske running 918s and 911s across America through 2014? Might Porsche choose to do it themselves?
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
A subdued press release from Porsche Motorsport bearing good news from the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain suggests our favourite auto manufacturer has its own reservations on the situation there. Empty grandstands are no good for race fans.
AG’s quick round-up tells how Team Felbermayr-Proton celebrated its second win of the season in GTE-Am. “With their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, Christian Ried (Germany) and his Italian teammates Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti won the six hour race on the Bahrain International Circuit against strong opposition from Ferrari and Chevrolet. After a tough battle in the GTE Pro class, Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) pocketed third place, repeating their recent Sao Paulo result.”
“It was a difficult race for us,’ said works man Lietz. “We had to conserve the tyres from the first to the last lap and this made us somewhat slower than the front-runners.” Lieb extrapolated upon his teammate’s view. “We can be pleased with third place. During my first stint I had some problems with conserving the tyres which didn’t work very well and cost me time. Afterwards things ran better. We simply find it hard in such temperatures. We know we have the performance, but not in such extreme heat. We need to work on this. Hopefully it’s a bit cooler at the last two races in Fuji and Shanghai and then we should be back up there again.”
I watched a bit of the race on Motors TV. It started just before sunset, ran into the night and certainly looked tough enough. Plenty of Porsche drama late on, when the JWA-Avila Porsche pitted from 4th place and immediately returned to the pits. Initially it looked like retirement from team & driver tweets, but the car eventally rejoined and finished in the points.
Starting from third on the GTE-Am grid, Paolo Ruberti soon snatched the lead, which they held for the majority of the race and stretched to a one-lap lead by the flag. Having started their season with a win at Sebring,this was their fifth podium from six races. “The whole team is very pleased with this win,” said Paolo Ruberti. “It wasn’t an easy race under such extreme temperatures but we did our very best. Now we’re looking forward to the race in Fuji.”
Porsche pictures from the weekend were beautiful: top marks to whoever was behind the lens this weekend. The absence of spectators at this gorgeous circuit is perhaps the most interesting point to take away from the pics. They certainly seem shot in such a way as not to highlight the emptiness: one wonders how much of the decision to run at night was a factor here also. All of us must hope that the humanitarian situation there improves as soon as possible.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
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