Porsche Racing had a disappointing run at yesterday’s Long Beach Grand Prix in California. Racing in the Tudor IMSA series ‘showcase’ at Long Beach, the 100-minute street race left little time to fight back from a low starting position.
While Richard Lietz and Patrick Pilet initially went well in qualifying, running P2 and P3 early on and driving the wheels off their Porsche 911 RSRs (see the video below), the cars started the race further down the field. The tight and twisty street circuit is tough for overtaking, so when Lietz put a move on Oliver Gavin’s Corvette at the start, there was no room for error. Sod’s Law, that is what happened.
“An accident at the start is something you can really do without, particularly on a street circuit like Long Beach,” said Lietz. “You know that the race is short and that overtaking is difficult, so you try everything to make up positions at the start. That didn’t work this time. I didn’t expect the Corvette to swerve towards me. I couldn’t avoid him and ended up in the wall.”
Looks more like he ended up in the Corvette (above), but Pilet made the most of his team mate’s misfortune, to come home in fourth place. “I was lucky in the first corner after the start. While Richard’s car was forced into the wall, I just managed to scrape through. Our car wasn’t easy to drive in the first laps, but it improved over the course of the race and the balance got better. In fact, we weren’t far off the top with our times. Still, on this narrow circuit it was impossible to overtake.”
IMSA Porsche Racing California
The number 911 RSR eventually finished eighth overall, with local driver and polesitter Bill Auberlene on the top step in the BMW Z4. No surprise to see a win from pole on this super short race. If you’re wondering why teams put all that time and money into racing an almost nonexistent event, look at where Long Beach is situated, just south of Los Angeles central. It’s the easiest place to market to those who won’t come to a circuit.
Not done the maths yet, but I think this keeps Porsche at the bottom of the championship table in the GT Le Mans class of the Tudor IMSA series. Next round is Laguna Seca at the start of May: another short race of just 2 hours 40 minutes, but with more room to get past the rest. We’ll have to see how things pan out with Michael Christensen in the number 911 RSR, while some of the boys come home for Spa WEC.
Watch the IMSA Tudor Sportscar Showcase Long Beach qualifying on video here:
The awesome Kévin Estre will join the Porsche works drivers for the second round of this year’s World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) at Spa Francorchamps. The current McLaren factory driver has been let off Woking’s leash to come play with 911s in Belgium.
Estre is a proper racing driver, as proved by his 2013 Carrera Cup Deutschland title. Anyone who wins this series – undoubtedly the world’s most challenging one-make championship – is a monster behind the wheel, especially when they beat Nicki Thiim as their Attempto Racing team mate.
Estre and the Porsche Works Drivers
I was surprised when Kévin did not get a Porsche works drive after winning that championship in such fine style. Stuttgart was rammed with pilots at the time, so I can see why they picked the lineup they went with. It is very exciting to have the 26 year-old Frenchman back in a 911: and the full-fat number 92 factory Porsche Manthey Racing RSR, at that.
Estre went to McLaren at the end of 2013 and made the most of the opportunity, outperforming expectations for the chassis. He also kept his hand in with Porsches, sharing a GT3R with Jaap van Lagen in GT Masters and picking up a couple of wins last year (below at Zandvoort).
Alongside the GT Masters wins and that 2013 Carrera Cup DE championship, Kévin was runner up in the Porsche Supercup that year, Rookie of the Year in 2012, and French Carrera Cup champion in 2011. Estre excels in the wet, so if it rains in Spa (not that unlikely), we are in for a proper 911 race.
Sharing the car is Sven Müller, the quick Porsche Junior who was very impressive in testing following his maiden win in Porsche Supercup at Monza last September. Muller was impressive at Spa, qualifying fourth and finishing just off the podium, behind Bamber, Thiim and Bachler. No shame there.
The Spa-Francorchamps round of the 2015 WEC season runs from May 1-2. You can watch the race live online if you know where to go: WEC rounds are also shown in full on Motors TV and Fox Sports.
Kevin Estre versus Sean Edwards Nürburgring video
Now for some video! Here’s Kévin racing Sean Edwards at the Nürburgring during his 2013 season. Christian Engelhart won this race, but the real action was behind, as Estre and Alex Riberas gave Sean a hard time. Running wide across the grass in the duel with Alex earned Sean a stop/go penalty, hence what happens at the end. Fantastic driving – Edwards was an old-school Nürburgring hero.
The 6 Hours of Silverstone was a gripping opening race for the 2015 World Endurance Racing championship. Incredible speed in the LMP1 class set a new distance record in an event that will go down as one of the best: scroll down for the Porsche AG video report.
Porsche Racing at Silverstone
Both Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrids qualified on the front row and had a good start. The number 17 Webber/Hartley car set the early pace, ahead of the number 18 919 of Dumas/Lieb/Jani. While the Audis got trapped behind a Toyota, Webber built a lead of more than 12 seconds up to quarter race distance, through a full course yellow and virtual safety car.
Just over an hour and half into the race, the 17 car entered pit lane earlier than expected. The leading 919 Hybrid was pulled back into the garage and taken to bits. Rear drivetrain issues (gearbox failure) was the reason given for what would become its early retirement, with all attention switching to the number 18 919.
Meanwhile, the 911 RSRs battled hard to run in the lead of both GT classes early on. The 92 RSR of Pilet/Makowiecki hit problems with a damper failure mid-race, but kept running at the back of the pack to pick up any stray points in the manufacturer championship.
The number 91 Lietz/Christensen Porsche 911 RSR took no prisoners with a robust drive to the podium. Lietz was on a mission from the start, supported by the stylish Danish driver. The Ferraris and Astons proved tough competition, with the AF Corse cars dominating the middle part of the race. A quick last pitstop by the Porsche Manthey team put Christensen into a Ferrari-splitting P2 for the final stint: a position he never relinquished.
As the incredible race hit the last twenty minutes, the number 7 Audi that had run a blistering pace all afternoon was hit with a stop-and-go penalty that could have handed the lead to the 919 Hybrid. Toyota had already done its final stop, as had the 919. The Porsche was running P2, but Buemi’s Toyota was closing the gap.
The eventual grandstand finish was the perfect end to an exceptional race. Sixteen seconds covered the top three positions: Porsche finished second, less than five seconds behind the winning Audi. Three LMP1 hybrid solutions showed amazing versatility: the torquey Audi strongest in the corners and in traffic with the Porsche insanely fast on the straights. If every race is like this through the 2015 championship, this could be the best endurance racing season ever.
Watch the Porsche AG video below and don’t miss the next round of the 2015 WEC from Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Nice to see this superb Porsche 993 GT2 race car tucked away in the pits at Donington on St Patrick’s Day. Even nicer to see it exit the pits and head out on track, driven by ‘Take That’ vocalist, Howard Donald.
I was at Donington with the former Formula 1 driver, Mike Wilds, and Dave Summers’ Porsche 997 GT2 built to celebrate Mike’s 50th year in motorsport, when I spotted a familiar wheel-rim-meets-front-arch shape peeking out of garage 1. Not too many 993s in the world running BBS Motorsport wheels so I hopped straight on pit wall for a look.
Call me surprised to see the Champion Motorsports-liveried Porsche 993 GT2 EVO parked in the garage, very low key. With some “do not disturb” body language from the mechanics and driver, I kept my distance but enjoyed watching the car do some laps through the day. My type of music is more alternative than modern-day pop charts, so I learned the driver’s identity later on, courtesy of the Donington media chief.
A previous ad for this Porsche for sale tells how it started life as a 993 Turbo S factory race car, running in the IMSA Supercar Championship of the early 1990s. John Wood drove the car in 1992/1993 before it changed hands, selling to Champion Motorsports.
Porsche 993 GT2 Evo history
With the help of Andial, Mike Colucci and Porsche Motorsport North America, the new owners converted the car to GT2 EVO spec, competing in the GT1 category of IMSA’s Exxon Supreme series. Champion brought in some superstar drivers including Hans Stuck, Brian Redman, Derek Bell and Dorsey Schroeder, taking a class win at the 1996 Sebring event before the 993 GT2 was sold into private hands.
I don’t know what engine the car is running now, but Andial built a killer motor for it back in the day: a 962-style flat-fan 3.6-litre running over 700 bhp, depending on mapping. Sounds pretty juicy. This 993 GT2 EVO had cockpit-selectable maps, which wasn’t too common back then. The chassis was apparently pretty lightweight for an IMSA turbo car with the NASCAR-style cage, thanks to carbon & kevlar panels. Power delivery is reported as more predictable than a 934 or 935: not that this would be difficult.
Here’s a short video from Ferdinand Porsche Magazine on Youtube of the Porsche 993 GT2 EVO leaving the pit garage at Donington. Subscribe to our Youtube page for more Porsche videos in the future.
Our second day on the 2015 Circuit of Ireland was day one of the rally. Robert Woodside and Allan Harryman would set out from service in the Tuthill Porsche 911 R-GT just after 9am and head into the hills of Downpatrick for the Buck’s Head stage, then on to the famous Hamilton’s Folly, before finishing around Lough Henney.
The rally would then regroup back at service and do a second loop of the same three stages that afternoon, before finishing with two runs through a special stage around Newtownards town centre that evening.
Mood was good in service as a group of us headed for Buck’s Head to watch the Porsche coming through. We would spend the next two days on the road following the rally, led by an expert recce guy and rally driver. It definitely made my Circuit something special: kudos to Robert for organising this, and main man Stuart Woodhead for driving our minibus!
Circuit is a round of the European Rally Championship (ERC) and not the World Rally Championship (WRC), which this Porsche usually rallies in. WRC cars are seeded according to pace, so the 911 and Robert were known to have enough speed to run in the main group, but the ERC crowd put them in behind the ERC cars and just ahead of the National Rally: local competitors in everything from WRC Subarus to classic Escorts.
This was no great hardship for Robert and Allan, but it meant we spectators had to get into position before the rally arrived and then wait 45 minutes for the Porsche to come through. This was not always a trouble-free and Buck’s Head was a perfect example. Couple that with spectator areas where you couldn’t even see the cars and no wonder fewer people go to rallies these days.
Anyway, we got into position and waited. The Porsche was cautious through the square junction on front of us and pace on the opening stage was steady: Robert was playing it cool and keeping it together over a muddy, slippery stage. Leaving that stage later than planned, we headed back to service for a couple of hours then headed back out towards Hamilton’s Folly.
If one stage sums up The Circuit, maybe this is the one. Second longest stage on the event at 17kms, it has the most spectacular scenery and the biggest jumps. Our vantage point was exceptional: we could see just over a mile of high-speed road section that would surely set Porsche hearts pounding.
The lead group came through with no issues – a few wobbly moments on the jump early on in the stage – but one breakdown right in front of us. This narrowed the road quite considerably, so I was a bit worried for the 911, but some spectators got the car running and by the time the 911 came through, it was clear. The boys were definitely pushing harder on the much drier roads.
Lough Henney was also good for the car, but we headed straight for Newtownards to watch the special stage. Our leader was awesome at parking us right by the front, so we walked in to town and prepared for Porsche arrival. As we ate our chips and awaited the sound of the flat six, the commentator announced the Porsche was on the start line. And then it went wrong.
“Here it is: the one we’ve all been waiting for – the superb Porsche 911 GT. The clock’s ticking down – and – oh no, there’s a problem. Robert Woodside can’t get the car off the line. Oh no, this is a disaster for Robert.”
It was a disaster. We went back to the stage start and waited. Allan ran through some resets, but we had definitely lost all drive. The boys brought the van down to the stage, we loaded the car and headed back towards service. What happened next? Find out in part 3.
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