by John Glynn | Apr 22, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
The 2014 Sydney-London Marathon Rally is in full swing. As the cars approach the last of thirty-three stages raced in Australia, two Tuthill Porsche 911s hold station in the top five, split by just over a minute.
Previous winner of the event, Francis Tuthill, is following the rally and and supporting his Porsches as they play a long game behind a trio of Z-cars. It’s impossible to win a month-long classic rally event in the first two weeks, but very easy to lose it through unreliability or lack of concentration.
The beautifully built 911s of Joost Van Cauwenberge and Simon Connolly cut a handsome shape through the Australian bush in these photos. Sydney-London is the third outing for the white car of Joost and he’s come a long way since his Moroccan debut, when the initial support plan involved a Sprinter van and champagne. Love that Belgian style!
Simon makes his marathon debut on Sydney-London and is doing a really superb job. To be fifth, just twenty minutes behind the leader after nine hours of competitive rallying keeps him in touch with opportunity. Both cars are well placed to move up should problems arise as the Australians leave their native soil and we head towards familiar Porsche territory.
I know my Aussie mates will be torn between supporting their guys and supporting the Porsches. I have no such worries!
by John Glynn | Apr 20, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Away from the Porsche LMP1 hybrid’s debut, the evergreen 911 soldiered on at Silverstone today. Porsche Team Manthey took a solid 1-2 ahead of Darren turner’s Aston Martin, with new boy Frédéric Makowiecki piloting the number 92 Porsche 991 RSR shared with Marco Holzer and Richard Lietz to a GTE Pro win.
“That is exactly how I imagined my first race as a Porsche works driver,” said Frédéric. “A great race, but really challenging. We started on a dry track, then it began to rain which made our tyre choice difficult. We changed the rubber quickly without losing too much time. Even switching back to slicks went smoothly thanks to our swift pit crew. A big compliment to our whole team: that was a great job.”
“It’s fantastic to kick off my first WEC season with a victory,” enthused Marco. “After two laps it began to drizzle, which made it very difficult to drive consistent lap times. My first priority was not to fly off the track. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to compete under such changeable conditions. You enter a corner that looks completely dry on slicks only to suddenly find your car going sideways and you’re looking ahead out of the side window. That was pretty hair-raising.”
The number 91 Tandy/Pilet/Bergmeister car started from the front row, but a stop/go penalty saw them in the pits eight times versus number 92’s six. Finishing P2 was a pretty good achievement, all things considered.
“We had a very good car, regardless of whether the track was dry or wet,” reflected a philosophical Mr Tandy. “In my first stint I enjoyed a great fight with a Ferrari. The rain gave us a few hairy moments, but I love it when unexpected things happen and you have to adjust your strategy. It proved really difficult not to make a mistake. I’m pleased that everything went so well, especially here at Silverstone. Driving on this circuit is always fun, particularly in such difficult conditions.”
The WEC now moves on to Spa on May 3rd. I’m at Donington with EB Motorsport at the FIA Masters Historics that weekend, but we’ll find a way to watch the boys do battle.
by John Glynn | Apr 20, 2014 | Porsche People, Race and Rally
Just spotted Frédéric Makowiecki’s name listed as a works driver in one of the Silverstone releases. I had no idea Fred Makowiecki was a 2014 Porsche works driver – a quick search through the Porsche database shows no press release for the signing. He is listed on the Porsche works racing drivers’ homepage, though.
Fred Makowiecki now Porsche works driver
Always fast in a Porsche and a former French Carrera Cup champion, Makowiecki (above, left) was most recently attached to last year’s works Aston Martin squad, where he took wins at Circuit of the Americas 6 Hours and the 6 Hours of Fuji. Seems Aston let a few people go this year – their loss here for sure – and Fred was snapped up by Stuttgart.
Porsche Motorsport boss, Hartmut Kristen, called this one perfectly, as Fred took a win on his first time out for Team Manthey Porsche Racing. Edit: just found mention of the signing in a later Porsche press release (below).
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Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki (33) will join the ranks of Porsche Motorsport’s GT squad this coming season and pilot a 911 RSR. Makowiecki, who prefers to be called Fred Mako, is a regular competitor behind the wheel of Porsche race cars. He has collected more than nine years of experience in the cockpit of the 911. One of his greatest achievements was clinching the title of the Porsche Carrera Cup France in 2010.
“Frédéric Makowiecki is one of the fastest and most experienced GT pilots,” says Porsche Head of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “He has a great deal of experience on virtually all international race tracks and he knows precisely how to drive a Porsche 911 fast. I’m very much looking forward to working with him.”
by John Glynn | Apr 20, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
In a choice between a weekend at the Silverstone 6 Hours or taking my first trip home to Ireland for two years, Ireland won. In a choice between watching the last hour of the Silverstone 6 Hours or watching a replay of the Chinese F1 Grand Prix, China won. In the first race between the all-new Toyota TS040 LMP1 Hybrid and the all-new Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid, Japan won, and won well.
Arriving back from Ireland at 4pm today in the heaviest rain I have seen so far this year did not bode well for the Silverstone 6 Hours, which was running from 12 to 6. We live just a few miles from the Northamptonshire circuit, and I could well imagine the conditions Porsche’s endurance racers would be facing on track. The organisers eventually ended the race half an hour early.
A quick look on Eurosport when we got in the door showed Toyotas numbered 8 and 7 running 1-2, so I stuck with watching the Chinese Grand Prix, and Ricciardo sticking it to Vettel. My quick glimpse was how they finished at Silverstone. Autosport reckoned that switching to intermediate tyres in a light shower after an hour of racing gave the showstopping team of Buemi, Davidson and Nick Lapierre an upper hand that was never relinquished.
Porsche’s LMP1 debut was decided when Jani lost a wheel and the car then retired after repairs. The remaining 919 of Bernhard/Webber/Hartley battled on, finishing two laps behind the winning Toyota and a lap down on the second-placed car.
Looking at the data, the number 8 Toyota ran 167 laps in 6 hours, with 6 pitstops. The car did an average speed of 202 km/h and had a best lap of 1:44.606. Toyota number 7 had a best lap of 1:44.326 with the sole 919 to finish clocking a best lap time of 1:45.245 at an average speed of 201.5 km/h. It appears Porsche is almost a second off the pace, but we’ll see how the 919 goes at the next event.
Third place is still second loser, but there’s a long way to go in this season, and a long way to go at Le Mans. The 1000-horsepower Toyota may turn out to be untouchable, but Porsche can be happy with a podium first time out.
by John Glynn | Apr 11, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Media accreditation for the 2014 FIA 6 Hours of Silverstone dropped through the virtual letterbox this morning. The 6 Hours will be our first opportunity to see Porsche’s 919 Hybrid LMP1 technology put to the test in its maiden race on Sunday, April 20.
“It’s completely different, totally new,” says Romain Dumas (below). “We have to be focused, motivated, as it’s very difficult for a driver to adjust and understand all these things. For sure it is the most intelligent driver and team who will win the race.”
“For us as drivers in the cockpit, it’s quite busy,” adds Mark Webber. “Still we have to brake as late as possible and keep the rhythm up to a very high level: that’s our job. The good guys will still find a way to be very, very quick.”
Engine Sound Porsche 919
Running a combination of 2-litre V4 turbo petrol engine and two separate energy recovery systems, the 919 has a sound all of its own. I like this video capturing the 919 Hybrid on track at Paul Ricard alongside the 991 RSR for comparison. What do you think on LMP1 noise versus 911?
