With the Sebring 12 hour race on 20th March, the American Le Mans Series takes off into the new season. America’s oldest sports car race is one of the greatest challenges for drivers and teams. Eighteen overall victories and 63 class wins make Porsche the most successful manufacturer in the history of the race. The first victory on the airfield circuit in Florida 50 years ago went to Hans Herrmann and Olivier Gendebien with the Porsche RS 60.
“This is the toughest race on the calendar, but we’ve done a lot of testing and are well prepared. But still, Sebring is always good for a surprise,” says Porsche works driver Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) heading to the 58th running of the classic. The title defender takes up the race sharing a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with his factory driver colleagues Patrick Long (USA) and Marc Lieb (Germany). Competing for Flying Lizard Motorsports, the trio lead the campaign of the Porsche customer teams in the GT2 class against strong opposition from BMW, Ferrari, Jaguar and Corvette. Porsche works drivers Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Patrick Pilet (France) are joined by Bryan Sellers (USA) to race for the Falken Tire squad. The second Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3 RSR is manned by Darren Law (USA) and Seth Neiman (USA), with Porsche factory pilot Richard Lietz (Austria) supporting them. Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands), double Porsche Mobil1 Supercup champion, shares driving duties with Timothy Pappas (USA) in the 911 GT3 RSR of Black Swan Racing.
“Sebring is the first race with my new team and that alone makes it special,” says Wolf Henzler, who won the classic in 2008 with Joerg Bergmeister. The team used the traditional winter tests on the Sebring International Raceway predominantly to conduct tyre testing. For Wolf Henzler, the progress they made was as positive as the first impression of his new squad. “The tests went well. The team is very organised and motivated. Of course, we need time to grow closer but we’ve had an excellent start.”
As the most successful GT racing sports car of the 2009 season, the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR has notched up victories and title wins in the American Le Mans Series, the Le Mans Series in Europe and the FIA GT Championship. In the USA, the vehicle also secured the ‘Michelin Green X Challenge’ environmental title for the vehicle that demonstrates the best overall performance and fuel efficiency. This is an achievement of which Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport, is particularly proud: “It’s giving the right signal to place more importance on the efficiency of a racing car.”
In the LMP2 class, the US customer team Cytosport field a Porsche RS Spyder with Klaus Graf (Germany), Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Greg Pickett (USA).
The twelve hour race in Sebring takes off on Saturday, 20th March, at 10.30 hours local time (16.30 hours CET).
Source : Porsche AG