Written on January 29th, 2012 at 8:33pm by Pepper Girl
Some of you have complained in the past about spoiling results of races you’ve DVR’d or otherwise recorded and not yet watched. So, if you don’t want to know Porsche’s results from the Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona International Speedway, then stop reading now. For everyone else, read on and feel free to browse our 2012 Daytona Albums on Facebook.
When the race started, Porsche commanded 6 of the top 10 qualifying spots in the GT class. Among them were Magnus Racing in P3 and Brumos Racing in P1. 24 hours later the two swapped positions and found themselves on podium (in 1st and 3rd respectively) along with another Porsche customer team, TRG, in 2nd place.
Magnus Racing Successful in Third Year of Existence
Team owner John Potter was understandable emotional after his relatively new team won what is arguably one of the “greates sports car races in the world”.
“This crew works so hard, and we have come so close to the top step of the podium in Grand-Am in the past, but to win for the first time, at this race is something special. Rene and Andy are great guys, and Richard really brought us home strong,” said Potter.
Driving duties for the #44 Magnus Porsche were split between John Potter, Andy Lally, Rene Rast and Richard Lietz. It was Lietz who had the last two hour stint of the race and led Porsche’s sweep of the GT podium. Lietz was pleased that the team chose him to finish the race and he thought the field of drivers was especially strong.
“I was honored to carry the team flag to the finish line, and we bested a field of world-class GT drivers,” said Lietz.
Andy Lally, who won the GT event last year, has switched teams and joined Magnus for a full season is excited about the win and thinks it’s a harbinger of things to come.
“This was a great victory for John Potter and Magnus, but it is only the first step in our quest for the Rolex Grand-Am GT championship and North American Endurance GT Championship,” said Lally.
Final Results of GT Class at the 2012 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona
Facts and Figures about Porsche in the Daytona 24 Hours
Overall Wins: 22 -first in 1968;most recent in 2009 (Brumos – Porsche Flat-Six powered Riley Chassis) and 2010 (Action Express Cayenne V-8 Powered Riley Chassis)
Class Wins: 73
Porsche 911 Wins: 39 Overall and Class Victories
Initial Overall Win: 1968
GT Class Wins: 26
SGS Class wins (class ran only in 2004): 1
20 Race Winning Streak (overall or class): 1966-1987
Finished 1-2 overall in 12 Daytona 24-Hours
GT class winner finishing second overall: 2001, 2004
GTX Series Winner: 1978-1981
GTP Series Winner: 1982-87, 1989, 1991
Special thanks to our intrepid photographer Roger Garbow for all the pictures on Facebook. Roger is the founder of Ridgefield, CT-based Full Throttle Marketing, and Vice President of Car Guy Nation. A member of the International Motor Press Association, Roger is a contributing writer for the Fairfield County Business Journal, Ridgefield Magazine and China’s most exclusive lifestyle publication, Fortune Character.
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Written on January 29th, 2012 at 5:21pm by Pepper Girl
Written on January 26th, 2012 at 5:14pm by Pepper Girl
When the checkered flag dropped last year at Mid-Ohio Brumos Porsche showed the racing world they had returned to their roots by winning the Grand-Am GT Series Title. This year at Daytona they’re well on their way again as Andrew Davis put his 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car on the GT class pole for the Rolex 24 Hours.
Davis, although qualifying first, was still disappointed with his opening lap.
“The guys did a great job getting me out onto pit lane in front, as we thought it would be important to get a clean lap with all the traffic, but my first lap wasn’t so great. The first time I was fastest in the session, I was surprised as I was not successful in finding someone to draft, but the car felt great and I figured we’d at least make the top ten. Then Patrick (Long in the Flying Lizard Porsche), and the Risi Ferrari went faster, but I found a drafting partner and squeezed out the best time in the end. With only a 15-minute session, we were fortunate to get in seven laps, and the new 2012 Brumos Porsche was perfect. I am humbled to be fastest in a field which includes Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette/Camaro, and BMW factory drivers. But I better enjoy it tonight, because it really means nothing once the race begins,” said Davis.
Top 10 GT Qualifying Results
1. Davis / Haywood / Keen / Lieb —Brumos Racing –Porsche GT3
2. Assentato / Lazzaro / Longhi / Segal —AIM Autosport Team FXDD Racing with Ferrari –Ferrari 458
3. Lally / Lietz / Potter / Rast —Magnus Racing –Porsche GT3
4. Bergmeister / Long / Neiman / Rockenfeller —Flying Lizard Motorsports with Wright Motorsports –Porsche GT3
5. Bruni / Fisichella / Matos —Risi Competizione –Ferrari 458
6 Cameron / Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker —Team Sahlen –Mazda RX-8
7 Collard / Holzer / Leitzinger / MacNeil —Alex Job Racing –Porsche GT3
8 Edwards / Marsh / Milner / Taylor —Autohaus Motorsports –Camaro GT.R
9 Asch / Baldwin / Burtin / Ragginger / Sellers —Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports –Porsche GT3
10 Bell / Maassen / Miller —Paul Miller Racing –Porsche GT3
Check out the PorschePurist.com Facebook Page for pictures from Qualifying and other Daytona Albums
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Written on January 21st, 2012 at 5:52pm by Pepper Girl
The 24 hour race at Daytona International Speedway started out in 1962 as a three hour race. In 1964 the race grew to 1250 miles (double the distance of the classic 1000 kilometer races of Spa, Monza and the Nürburgring). It wasn’t until 1966 that the first 24 hour event took place at Daytona. Over the past 50 years Porsche became the most successful manufacturer in the history of the race with 22 overall wins.
PorschePurist.com running loud and proud on the wing of a Guardian Angel Porsche during the Rolex 24 at DaytonaToday, the Daytona International is one of the world’s most famous race tracks. The 24 hour race is contested on the 3.56 mile track combination of oval with banked corner and the infield. The circuit is also the venue for the famed NASCAR Daytona 500 race with over 250,000 spectators annually.
Seven Porsche Works Drivers to Compete
Title defender Wolf Henzler competes for TRG Racing while Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) line up for Flying Lizard Motorsports. Alex Job Racing has Marco Holzer (Germany) onboard, with Patrick Pilet (France) taking the wheel of the second TRG-Porsche. Magnus Racing competes with Richard Lietz (Austria), at the same time his teammate in the new World Endurance Championship, Marc Lieb (Germany), lines up for Brumos Racing. Also taking up the race with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup is Audi factory pilot Mike Rockenfeller (Switzerland).
Lastly, in recognition of their brilliant performances in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Porsche AG gave the two-time champion René Rast (Germany) as well as “Rookie of the Year” Kévin Estre (France) the chance to compete at Daytona.
Race Schedule and TV Coverage
The race starts this coming Saturday, January 28th at 2:30 pm EST. Speed.com will offer flag to flag coverage on their web-site while Speed TV will air an hour pre-race show and then provide 7.5 hours of uninterrupted live coverage. Coverage will return to Speed TV at 9 a.m. Sunday with another seven uninterrupted hours.
Listen to the Sounds of Racing from the Rolex 24 at Daytona
Facts and Figures about Porsche in the Rolex 24 at Daytona
Written on January 9th, 2012 at 1:29pm by Pepper Girl
Flying Lizard leaves Daytona after a successful test of the No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Over the three-day test, drivers Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, Mike Rockenfeller, and team owner Seth Neiman took the Porsche through its paces in preparation for the 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona race, January 28-29.
Here’s what the Driver’s had to say
Patrick Long: “The driver objective for Daytona test days is two-fold: get a balance with the Porsche and get comfortable with the car. By the time we get to race week, we need to have completely sorted through ergomomics issues and be 100 percent with the car. This week, everything came together seamlessly: with Flying Lizard and John Wright’s team we worked through all of our objectives.”
“It’s a huge GT field this year. I’m confident that the Porsche will be competitive, but of course we won’t really know how things stack up until the race. Over the last few days, we stayed focused on our own program; I think we’re well on our way to having a solid car that drives well through the entire stint.”
Mike Rockenfeller: “It’s great to be back at Daytona. It’s been a while since I’ve driven a Cup car so it was important to have the time to get used to it again. We had time this week to try a lot of things on the car. We’ve still got some work to do to get to race setup, but overall I’m happy with what we accomplished. GT competition is really strong: both internally with all of the other Porsches and the other manufacturers. It’s going to be a wild race. We need to have an easy car to drive and find our rhythm early on. I’m happy to be back here and with the Lizards again.”
Joerg Bergmeister: “We are still learning the car and the tires but we made a lot of progress over the test. The competition in GT is going to be tough: there are over 20 Porsches alone and a lot of other manufacturers with good cars and lineups. All signs point to GT being even more challenging than the DP class was in 2011.”
Details about the Rolex 24 at Daytona
The Rolex 24 At Daytona gets the green flag on Saturday, January 28 at 3:30 pm ET. The race will be broadcast live in the U.S. on SpeedTV (select broadcast hours – see your local listings) and also in Europe on MotorsTV. Flying Lizard will broadcast the team radio live and offer a real time race blog: for details see http://www.lizardms.com.
Flying Lizard at Daytona
2012 will be Flying Lizard’s fourth year at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. In 2011, the GT team fielded their first prototype: the No. 45 Porsche-powered Riley DP. After a promising start from the pole (Bergmeister) and having set the fastest race lap, the No. 45 was retired at hour 23 after a challenging race. In 2010, the No. 67 Flying Lizard/TRG Porsche GT3 Cup finished second in GT. In 2005 the No. 75 Porsche finished thirteenth, and in 2004, the No. 74 Flying Lizard Porsche GT3 Cup was second in GT and third overall.
Bergmeister has won three times here: in GT in 2009 (with Patrick Long), in GT and overall in 2003, and in GT in 2002. Rockenfeller won overall in 2010.
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[Photo Source: © Bob Chapman, Autosport Image]
Written on December 17th, 2011 at 4:29pm by Pepper Girl
Besides launching a new Junior motorsport program for 2012 and naming Gianluca Roda as the best private race driver in 2011, Porsche made additional announcements regarding their continued investment into Hybrid technology for motorsport and the 2012 Porsche factory works drivers during the “Night of Champions Celebration” on December 17th in the R&D Center in Weissach.
According to the news, Porsche continues to invest in the development of innovative drive technologies in motorsport. A further developed version of the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid will return to race tracks in 2012. With this rolling race laboratory, Porsche aims to gain extra practical experience under racing conditions and make the hybrid drive even more efficient.
“There is no way around the hybrid technology in motorsport,” stressed Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development, on Saturday on the occasion of the end of year Porsche ‘Night of Champions’ celebrations. “With the 911 GT3 R Hybrid project, we have shown how you can test important future technologies on the race track and pave the way for motorsport success in the future. We will continue to determinedly blaze this trail and further develop the hybrid technology.”
The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR for the 2012 season celebrated its world debut in front of invited team bosses, race drivers and series organizers. The GT race car, which is now five centimeters wider at the rear and with almost an extra 15 centimeters on the front fenders, will be fielded by Porsche customer teams in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the American Le Mans Series, the Le Mans Series, the International GT Open as well as the Le Mans 24 Hours. In the USA alone, four new vehicles will be fielded by three different teams.
2012 Porsche Works Drivers
Like in previous years, Porsche will support its most successful customer teams in 2012 with works drivers. The line-up of pilots stays the same with Jörg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Wolf Henzler, Marco Holzer, Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz, Patrick Long and Patrick Pilet.
“To win races you have to have the right race drivers. And there’s no doubt that we have them,” stated Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche AG.
Most of the Porsche factory pilots kick off the season at the Daytona 24 hour race on January 28. Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long race a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for Flying Lizard Motorsports. Marco Holzer supports the Alex Job squad, with Wolf Henzler and Patrick Pilet driving for the TRG team. Marc Lieb competes for the accomplished Brumos Racing crew, with Richard Lietz teaming up with Magnus Racing. The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Rookie of the Year winner also competes at Daytona, with Kévin Estre takeing the wheel of a TRG Porsche 911.
Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland
In 2012, the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland heads into its 23rd season and will continue to run as support to the DTM. The contract with the series organizers was recently extended for another three years. Taking over the helm of the long established Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland is Andrea Hagenbach, who has worked in the organization of the series for the last 13 years. She takes over from Helmut Greiner who is retiring.
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Written on December 17th, 2011 at 11:43am by Pepper Girl
Since 1997 Porsche has provided intense support for youngsters in motorsport. 2012 will be no different. For the upcoming season two young drivers will receive support as “Porsche Juniors” during the Carrera Cup Deutschland campaign. As part of the program Porsche provides a significant portion of the seasonal budget for the young pilot’s team. Along with the financial assistance comes a coach to assist in training both on and off the track. The expanded 2012 program runs for four (4) years.
If performance is up to par, the young drivers may get the opportunity to move into the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup (the word’s fastest international one-make series) that runs as support to the Formula 1 series. Concurrently, some of the top performers will participate in the Carrera Cup Deutschland. Similar to full-fledged factory drivers, the younger pilots receive fitness tests with constantly changing training plans, media training and information on managing sponsor obligations.
“For us, supporting talented youngsters is an investment in the future. In line with our LMP1 project we want to expand our driver line up. After all, aside from our works commitment in prototype racing, we don’t want to neglect our GT racing activities and we also want to support our customer teams with works drivers in the future,” says Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport.
While it takes a lot of hard work, Porsche motorsport fans will recognize names like Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb and Patrick Long. These three factory drivers all got their start in the Porsche Junior program. Most recently, in 2011, Marco Holzer was called up from the minor league and into the majors as a full time Porsche works driver.
So, if you’re child is interested in racing, get them into that go-kart. Who knows, in a few years we could all be watching them in our next favorite Porsche race.
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