Porsche remains loyal to its successful customer teams and drivers in major international GT series. In the American Le Mans Series, works drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) want to defend their championship title with Flying Lizard Motorsports in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, worldwide the most successful GT vehicle in the 2009 season. Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) strive to defend their Le Mans Series (LMS) title in 2010 in the Felbermayr Proton 911 GT3 RSR. Like in 2009, Porsche works driver Patrick Pilet (France) supports the IMSA Performance Matmut team at the wheel of a GT3 RSR in the LMS.
On the occasion of the season-closing “Night of Champions” in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Wolfgang Dürheimer, Member of the Executive Board for Research and Development at Porsche AG, underlined the great importance of GT racing: “We at Porsche are keen that GT sport enjoys steady, long-term development. Indispensable pre-requisites for this are stable regulations, predictability, cost control – and common regulations between the F.I.A. and A.C.O. organisations.” In saying this, he asks the governing bodies to show more judgement and transparency in the categorisation of different vehicles, earlier establishment of regulations and a mutual agreement on containing costs.
Chief Executive Officer, Michael Macht, underlined the special significance of motorsport for Porsche AG: “Motorsport is a central element of our company’s DNA. And it will hold an important role in the future. I’m not the only one at Porsche to be tempted to race for overall victory again at the Le Mans 24 hour race.”
The successful Porsche makes cups will grow in importance in 2010. The family of championships, which are exclusively run with the world’s most produced race car – the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – increases from 13 to 19 worldwide. Aside from the GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, which celebrates its debut this weekend in Bahrain, five more series join the list of GT3 Cup Challenges: Great Britain, Japan, Scandinavia, Turkey and Switzerland.
Source : Porsche AG