Bad luck continue to plague Porsche’s top customer teams in the ALMS as it did in both Long Beach and Sebring. Both Flying Lizard Motorsports and Team Falken Tire lead the race at various times during the day. However, even with updated aero Packages providing better performance neither team could hold the lead. Team Falken Tire’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR suffered from tire wear and contact from other competitors late in the race knocking them out of podium contention with a seventh place finish. Also in the top three spots was the #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long. However, a stop-and-go penalty caused by an air-house contacting the rear wing of the FLying Lizard Porsche on the way out of the pits took the team out of position and into a sixth place finish. If you’re viewing this post via email you may want to visit Porsche’s Results and Pictures in the ALMS at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to take advantage of our media gallery viewer for easier browsing.
Porsche’s hopes for a strong showing in California were drowned out on Friday when the qualifying round was rained out. Torrential rains forced the scheduled two hour and fifteen minute practice session to end after less than sixty minutes. The same rains came back later Friday evening just in time to cancel qualifying due to the conditions. As a result, starting positions were based on championship points vs. time on the track. On a circuit where room to pass is notoriously hard to find, Porsche’s best teams started in 5th (Miller/Maassen), 6th (Neiman/Holzer), 8th (Henzler/Seller) and 10th (Bergmeister/Long), limiting their chances for success from the start.
Under sunny skies on race day things looked much better when the green flag dropped onto a dry track. Even though Flying Lizard had no time get their Porsche set-up properly, Patrick Long gained six places during his stint to put the #45 car into fourth place.
Unfortunately, the same bad luck that haunted Flying Lizard in Sebring was still present in Long Beach; this time in the form of a flat tire. Debris from a previous accident slashed Long’s tire forcing him into the pits. Given how hard it is to pas on the Long Beach track, Patrick had no chances to get ahead and make up lost time. His Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR finally crossed the finish line in seventh place, followed by Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Bryce Miller (USA) in Paul Miller Racing’s 911. In the second Flying-Lizard racer, Porsche factory pilot Marco Holzer (Germany) secured ninth place with his teammate Seth Neiman (USA).
Porsche’s best finish came at the hands of factory driver Wolf Henzler in his team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Henzler’s sixth place finish was the best Porsche could do given the conditions.
Head of Motorsport at Porsche, Hartmut Kristen, said:
“During free practice the track was wet and the qualifying was stopped due to heavy rainfall. So our teams didn’t get the chance to find a suitable set-up for the new 911 GT3 RSR’s first race in Long Beach and they weren’t able to explore the full potential of the vehicle. Apart from that, we need to work with the American Le Mans Series to find a solution that gives us a comparable classification to our competitors. Three of our opponents are competing with a much larger air-restrictor than ours and hence with significantly more power output.”
Round three of the American Le Mans Series takes place on 12 May in Laguna Seca/California.
GT Class Result at ALMS Long Beach
1. Gavin/Milner (GB/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, 84 laps 2. Hand/Müller (USA/D), BMW E92 M3, 84 3. Sharp/van Overbeek (USA/USA), Ferrari F458 Italia, 84 4. Magnussen/Garcia (DK/E), Chevrolet Corvette, 84 5. Fernandez/Turner (MEX/GB), Aston Martin Vantage, 83 6. Henzler/Sellers (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 83 7. Bergmeister/Long (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 83 8. Maassen/Miller (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 83 9. Holzer/Neiman /D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 81 10. Brown/Cosmo (USA/USA), Ferrari F458 Italia, 80
It’s a question we get asked a lot and one we’ve never had a very good answer for, until now. For numerous reason, most of them obvious, teams don’t want to talk about the money aspect of racing. The fact is, racing is expensive. Very expensive.
I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “How do you make a small fortune in racing? Start with a large one!” There’s a reason for that. Without factory support, private teams burn through money at an alarming rate. Tires, fuel, crew, transportation, parts, lodging, food, training, practice, etc. These all ad up, and fast. We talked to one private team that entered a single Porsche at Sebring this year (they do it right and don’t skimp) and they said spending a quarter of a million preparing for, and participating in, This famous endurance race is easy (and that doesn’t include the cost of the car). They emphasized that costs can go much higher depending on what happens in the race (blown engines, accidents, etc.).
$250,000 plus for one race for a private team? That’s huge money! With those kind of costs, the purse for the 12 Hours must make it worth it, right?
Apparently not. After much searching and digging we finally found a copy of the 2012 Sebring Schedule and Supplementary Regulations. This particular document outlines some of the details not covered in other information supplied by IMSA. One of the gems is section 2A.3.26 Prizes and Cups. As you can see in the image above (you can click on it for a larger version), the entire Purse for all five classes totals $284,000. That’s barely enough for a team competing with only one car and that’s the entire purse. Those competing in LMP1 and GT can win the most with a 1st place podium position bringing $25,000 each. The top 5 positions, in all classes, put you in the money, but 5th place in any class is only good for $2000. That’s not even enough to buy one of the three sets of tires you’ll use during the race.
We all know that most racers don’t race for the money. Hell, most of them pay to play. Still, are you as surprised as I am at how little the prize money is?
Porsche and the new 911 GT3 RSR did well at Sebring in the World Endurance Championship, but podium for the ALMS GT class was not to be. Porsche fan favorite, the No. 45 Flying Lizard racing Porsche, was pretty much knocked out of the race before it even started. At the green flag, before even crossing the starting line, the No. 45 sat grounded on the track for nearly 30 minutes after being hit from behind by the No. 58 Luxury Racing Ferrari. Towed to the pits, it was nearly another 30 minutes to fix the severe rear suspension damage caused by the accident. Joerg Bergmeister drove the Porsche back into the race just under the one hour mark, but had lost 26 laps on the GT leader as a result. Fortunately, the Flying Lizard team was able to complete enough laps to earn 10th place points toward the overall championship. In the end, Porsche’s best finish in the ALMS GT class would be 5th place by Paul Miller Racing. If you can’t see the video below, you can watch it on our site in the post Pictures, Video and Results for Porsche a the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring.
Fortunately, Porsche fared better in the World Endurance Championship with a second place finish in the GTE Pro class by Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Patrick Pilet in the Felbermayr-Proton team Porsche and a first place finish by Christian Ried (Germany) and his Italian teammates Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti in the second Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (2011 model year) run by Felbermayr-Proton in the GTE Am class. Complete results for the classes Porsche participates in are at the end of this post, after the pictures.
Round two of the World Endurance Championship takes place on 5 May 2012 in Spa-Francorchamps/Belgium. Round two of the American Le Mans Series takes off on the street course in Long Beach, California Round two of the World Endurance Championship takes place on 5 May 2012 in Spa-Francorchamps/Belgium on April 14th. See our post explaining the World Endurance Challenge if you’re confused as to the different classes and different championships. If you’re viewing this post via email you may want to visit our post, pictures and results for Porsche at the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring, directly on our site to make use of the gallery function for viewing the pictures.
World Endurance Championship Results
GTE Pro class 1. Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci (I/MC/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, 307 laps 2. Lieb/Lietz/Pilet (D/A/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 306 3. Mücke/Fernandez/Turner (D/MEX/GB), Aston Martin Vantage, 291 4. Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander (I/I/SF), Ferrari F458 Italia, 215 5. Melo/Makowiecki/Vernay (BRA/F/F), Ferrari F458 Italia, 183
GTE Am class 1. Ried/Roda/Ruberti (D/I/I), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 298 laps 2. Bourret/Gibon/Belloc (F/F/F), Chevrolet Corvette, 297 3. Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy (F/F/P), Chevrolet Corvette, 288 4. Kaufmann/Waltrip/Aguas (USA/USA/P), Ferrari F458, 283 5. Krohn/Jönsson/Rugolo (USA/S/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, 265 6. Binnie/Palttala/Camathias (USA/SF/CH), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 251
American Le Mans Series Results
GT class 1. Hand/Müller/Summerton (USA/D/USA), BMW E92 M3, 307 laps 2. Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor (DK/E/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, 307 3. Gavin/Milner/Westbrook (GB/USA/GB), Chevrolet Corvette, 307 4. Müller/Auberlen/Alzen (D/USA/D), BMW E92 M3, 306 5. Maassen/Miller/Bell (D/USA/GB), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 302 6. Brown/Segal/Lazzaro (USA/USA/USA), Ferrari F458 Italia, 302 7. Law/Neiman/Lally (USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 302 9. Henzler/Sellers/Ragginger (D/USA/A), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 289 10. Bergmeister/Long/Holzer (D/USA/D), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 251
Teams GTE Pro 1. AF Corse, Ferrari, 25 points 2. Felbermayr-Proton, Porsche, 18 3. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin, 15
Teams GTE Am 1. Felbermayr-Proton, Porsche, 25 points 2. Labre Competition, Chevrolet, 18 3. AF Corse-Waltrip, Ferrari , 12
American Le Mans Series Points’ standings
GT class 1. Joey Hand, Dirk Müller, Jonathan Summerton, BMW , 24 points 2. Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, Chevrolet , 20 3. Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Richard Westbrook, Chevrolet, 17 5. Sascha Maassen, Bryce Miller, Rob Bell, Porsche, 12 7. Seth Neiman, Andy Lally, Darren Law. Porsche, 8 9. Wolf Henzler, Bryan Sellers, Martin Ragginger, Porsche, 6 10. Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, Marco Holzer , Porsche, 5
If you’re anything like me, you may have had a hard time keeping up with all the acronyms being thrown around this weekend during the 12 Hours of Sebring (and the build up to it). For instance, what’s the WEC and why is it discussed in conjunction with the American Le Mans Series (ALMS)? Is it the same series? The cars are all racing together, right?
World Endurance Championship Explained
The World Endurance Championship is a new series making its debut this year. The inaugural race was this weekend at Sebring (the reason we heard so much about it). Similar in format to the Le Mans Cup, the WEC season concludes in October at the 6 Hours of Shanghai after an 8 race season. A total of six titles, based on point tally, will be awarded. Two of the awards are the much coveted Manufacturers’ World Endurance Champion and Driver’s World Champion. The other four awards are a “World Cup” for the GTE Pro Class (see below), a Trophy for the leaders in LMP2 and GTE AM and a final Trophy for the best privateer team (one that is not supported by the factory). Both sports prototypes and GT vehicles race in this series. They are divided into four classes that all start together but are classified separately and only score points for their respective class and series:
LMGTE Pro class: This class is reserved for slightly modified standard sports cars with 440 to 500 hp and a minimum weight of 1,245 kilograms (e.g. Porsche 911 GT3 RSR).
LMGTE Am class: Like the LMGTE Pro, but the regulations stipulate that there must be no more than one professional driver per vehicle.
LMP1 class: Sports prototypes with up to 550 hp and a minimum weight of 900 kilograms.
LMP2 class: Sports prototypes with around 440 hp and a 900 kilogram minimum weight.
So, in this weekend’s race there were more than 60 cars on the field but some were racing for WEC points and others were racing for ALMS points. Audi was the overall winner of the 12 Hour race, but their points go toward the WEC vs. the ALMS series. Hopefully, this explanation helps some. If we just confused you more, sorry, we’re still sorting it out too. Checkout this site for more info and standing.
Across the span of a 17 year racing career Hans Herrmann twice crossed the finish line first as the overall winner at Sebring, both times in a Porsche. The first of his victories took place in 1960 where he won the legendary 12 hour endurance race in a Porsche 718 RS60. He then repeated his win in 1968 at the wheel of a Porsche 908.
Many consider Herrmann’s 1960 victory at Sebring one of the most important in the history of Porsche motorsport. Herrmann’s Type 718 RS60 (a 1.6 liter car) was raced for the first time at this event. His win and the 2nd place finish of Porsche teammates Hobert/Schecheter (in a similar RS60) cemented Porsche in the minds of fans and competitors as they both crossed the lines in front of competitors with almost twice the engine displacement (the 3-liter class).
Born in on February 23, 1928 in Stuttgart, Herrmann compiled more than 80 overall wins and class victories for Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Borgward and Abarth. However, his greatest victories were all at the whee of Porsches; at the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, the Carrera Panamericana and in Le Mans, where he achieved Porsche’s first overall victory in a 917 in 1970. After his triumph at Le Mans, Hans Herrmann retired from active racing at the age of 42. Today he can be found at racing events around the world either receiving honors or helping honor others.
Almost every sport has its own group of “SuperFans” and the ALMS is no different. In fact, if you’ve attended the 12 Hours of Sebring any time in the last 20 years then there’s a good chance you’ve seen some beer drinking cows walking around on their hind legs. No, it’s not the hot humid air and yes, you might have had too much to drink, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are walking, talking, beer drinking bovines strolling around the track hoping you will “moo for a brew”. This year, the race isn’t the only one celebrating an anniversary at Sebring. ALMS SuperFans, The Sebring Cows (Team Bovine to you and me), are turning 20. We reached out to the cows on Twitter to ask a few questions and here’s what they had to say.
PorschePurist.com’s Valerie Roedenbeck gets caught in a Sebring Stampede
PP:What is the history of the cows?
Cows: [In] 1992, Original Cow and a few of his fraternity brothers later to be known as, Old Cow (should not need ask why), Stunt Dick Cow (do you really need to ask?) and Stingy Cow (yep, squeezes boogers out of Lincoln’s nose), were at yet another Sebring and this year he brought along his Halloween costume because he would, “never wear that again.”
As Original Cow and Co. were walking around Green Park, several good looking young ladies wanted a picture with the “cow guy”. Being the enterprising men that they were, one of them thought that a beer should be offered in return for the photo. Thus, moo for a brew was born.
As they continued around, attentions were drawn, photos were taken and beers were consumed. The very next year the herd was born. To the herd was added those mentioned above and Big Cow (my father). Slowly, over time, a core group of the cows [came to] exist. Big Balls Cow (its his beads), Holy Cow (beer be with you!), Zoo Cow (from the nearly world famous Animal Section of Dick Howzer Stadium at Florida State University where baseball is played), Builder Cow (he builds stuff for a big corporation), Wrestler Cow (was a wrestler, not professional), Dr. Cow (he’s our vet), and Dalmatian Cow (his suit is handmade and looks more like a dalmatian). This year, rejoining the herd after a brief absence will be Wisconsin Cow (from duh!) and Bionic Cow (one leg!). If ever we have a first year cow, he is given the moniker of Virgin Calf. Big Balls Cow was the first Virgin Calf. There have been others who have come and gone and their names shall remain nameless (because we cannot remember them).
PP: When did you start?
Cows:Me personally, Holy Cow, I started going to Sebring in 1984 at the ripe age of 6. I was raised just south in Lake Placid, FL. I was to remain a non-cow until 1999 when I was of age to join the herd. The cow with the most experience at Sebring is Old Cow, who began attending in 1959 [but not as a cow]. The majority of the herd were fraternity brothers and started attending in the late 60′s early 70′s. Most were present when the race did not run in 74! My generation of cow started in the mid-80′s, we had to wait to be cows till the late 90′s for obvious legal, ethical and moral reasons. Three other of my generation began attending in the late 90′s as they were not raised in the area.
PP: What inspired the cow suits?
Cows:See above. The original cow suit has been donated to the Sebring International Raceway Museum.
PP: How many cows are there?
Cows:Since 1992, there has never been no cow at Sebring. After 1992, at least one and as many as 18 (we decided that was too many). This year a Baker’s dozen are expected with a Virgin Calf.
PP: Do you do this for yourselves or is it charity related? If charity related, who do you raise money for and how do you do it?
Cows:We do this because people will give us a beer or two. We wear the cow suit at Sebring because we are the cows. Happily, we need no further reason. We do this for fun’s sake. So that we can have fun, spread fun, and enjoy fun. We wish to be respectable (somewhat), fun, honest and safe. The suit is easy to wear, but hard to live up to. Other philosophical drivel, blah, blah, blah.
PP: Are there any misconceptions about the cows you would like to clear up?
Cows:Happily, we do not work for nor are endorsed by Chick-fil-A, Dell computers, the Wisconsin, California or any state’s dairy boards. We are just cows, not pawns in the grand scheme of some corporations marketing plans.
PP: What would you want people to know about the cows?
Cows:The commercials are lying. The happiest cows come from Green Park!
PP: What’s the strangest things you’ve ever been part of at Sebring?
Cows:Often, young ladies will feel enticed to show us their udders. Well this urge to share udders is not just restricted to the younger ladies. Some of the seasoned citizens of the Sebring Nation got together to give the cows a good showing of udders. There were about 6 of them… ladies I mean, not udders. Anyway the short of it was one of the most spectacular showing of udders that many of us have ever witnessed. That, and I was almost thrown on a bonfire for BBQ…
PP: Do the cows attend any other races besides Sebring?
Cows:The cows did make an appearance at Petite LeMans in October of 2010. Only 5 or 6 were present. They report that it’s a totally different event. We have plans on attending the 24 Hours at Le Mans, however we are unable to secure sponsors at this time. Anyone???
PP: Do you hang out with the Drunk Monks of Sebring or is there a rivalry between you two?
Cows:There are some of us who do hang with the Drunk Monks. In fact, as far as I know, I am the only ordained Cow Monk. Therefore, Holy Cow. They are a more diverse group of folks (allowing women into the order) and we like them a lot. The Cows have no beef with them. In fact we share a motto. Be respectful, have fun, be honest and be safe. [Editors Note: We too have been ordained into the "order" and have the towel to prove it!].
PP: Has anyone ever tried to “tip” a Sebring Cow?
Cows:UMM… see the video below. The cow in question is fine, he was a cow the following year and has yet to rejoin the herd. His name is forgotten to time.
Email
Checkout 
