There’s always a lot going on and this month is no different. Filled with interesting facts and figures about past and upcoming races, along with changes to team and crew, the Porsche Motorsport Newsletter is an easy way to keep on top of this year’s racing activities within the Porsche community.

Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid to race in the USA and China

Following the impressive performance at the Nürburgring 24 hour race where the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid led the overall classification for more than eight hours, the Hybrid-911 will now compete in the USA and Asia. Porsche has received an invitation to contest the season final of the American Le Mans Series at the 1,000 mile ‘Petit Le Mans’ race on 2 October. For November 7, Porsche plans to contest the season final of the new Le Mans Intercontinental Cup in Zhuhai, China. The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid will not be eligible for points, as hybrid technology is not yet included in the GT regulations.

Spa 24 Hours: Works drivers reinforce customer teams

With seven factory drivers, Porsche supports various customer teams at the prestigious 24 hour race in Spa (BEL, 31.7/1.8). Joerg Bergmeister, Romain Dumas, Wolf Henzler and the former Porsche Junior Martin Ragginger pilot a 911 GT3 RSR for BMS Scuderia Italia. Works drivers Richard Lietz, Patrick Long and Patrick Pilet take up the race with Raymond Narac in the 911 GT3 RSR fielded by IMSA Performance Matmut. Marc Lieb shares the cockpit of a Prospeed Competition 911 GT3 RSR with Porsche Junior Marco Holzer as well as Marc Goossens and Richard Westbrook.

ALMS: Double victory entering second half of season

Claiming a double win at the fifth round, Porsche guns into the second half of the American Le Mans Series season. In Lime Rock (24 July), Porsche factory pilots Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long snatched back the GT class points’ lead with their third victory of the season in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR run by Flying Lizard Motorsports. In the Porsche RS Spyder fielded by Muscle Milk Team Cytosport, Klaus Graf and Greg Pickett secured their best result of the season with first overall. At round four in Salt Lake City (10 July), Bergmeister and Long saw the flag as fifth in the GT class after two punctures. Klaus Graf and Greg Picket in the RS Spyder finished third overall.

Le Mans Series: Lietz and Lieb defend points’ lead after troubled start

Richard Lietz and Marc Lieb pocketed third at round three of the Le Mans Series in Portugal’s Portimao (17 July) in a Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to defend their GT2 class points’ lead. Repairs early on cost the duo more than a lap – at the finish line just one second separated them from the second-placed Ferrari.

Marcel Tiemann: Race driver surprises doctors with rapid recovery

Pikes Peak: Jeff Zwart sets new record time at famous ‘Race to the Clouds’

International GT Open: Double win for Porsche customer teams

Porsche Mobil1 Supercup: Important guests in Hockenheim – Armindo wins

Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama: Smith brothers dominate in Utah

Carrera Cup Great Britain: Tim Harvey writes history

Race notes:

• With a win and fifth place in Mugello (25 July), Gianluca Roda defends his points’ lead in the Italian GT Championship with the Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Autorlando Sport. Works driver Richard Lietz shares driving duties with Roda.

• Two wins in Rockingham (18 July) put Trackspeed pilot David Ashburn into the lead of the British GT Championship.

• James Koundouris wins the first two rounds of the Australia GT on Phillip Island (11 July) in a Supabarn Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S.

• Porsche remains unbeaten in the VLN Nürburgring Long Distance Championship: Lance David Arnold and Christian Menzel claim victory at the sixth round (17 July) in Manthey Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R.

• Carrera Cup Deutschland: Frenchman Nicolas Armindo snatched the points’ lead from Britain’s Nick Tandy with his second win of the season at round four on the Norisring (4 July).

• Carrera Cup Scandinavia: Fredrik Larsson wins both home races in Falkenberg (SWE, 9/10 July) and heads the championship over Robin Rudholm.

• In Imola at the Carrera Cup Italia, Alessandro Balzan and Stefano Comandini win races 7 and 8 respectively. Vito Postiglione retains the points’ lead.

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The car, which debuted a year ago at Mid-Ohio after Pickett purchased it from Dyson Racing, has now finished on the podium all ten times it has entered a race, with a class win at Sebring (LMP2) and now an overall victory at Lime Rock. Graf now trails Brabham/Pagenaud by only seven points in the championship chase with four races remaining (Pickett did not participate in one race, putting him behind in the points).

In GT, Patrick Long (USA) and Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) bounced back from a disappointing fifth place two weeks ago in Salt Lake City to score their third win of the season in the Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The victory also vaulted the pair back into the top spot in the driver standings by 14 points, and puts Porsche ahead of BMW in the manufacturers championship by one point.

Greg Pickett started in the Porsche RS Spyder, and drove for the first 45 minutes, avoiding the three accidents which brought out three early yellow flags, and ran fast enough to stay in contact with the leaders. Both the Dyson Mazda and the Intersport Lola were sidelined with mechanical problems, so Graf found himself in second place with fresh tires with two hours to go, and a Honda in front of him that seemed content to not change tires.

When David Brabham got into the Honda with fresh tires and an hour to go, he pushed Graf to the limited, cutting a 13-second lead down to a half-a-second with four minutes to go, when Graf was forced to the inside of the track at the same time Brabham was trying to pass on the inside, and the cars touched. Graf received a stop-and-go penalty for blocking, while Brabham suffered a flat tire. They both came into the pits, but Graf got back on the track before Brabham, clinching the victory.

“Greg Pickett did a great job keeping in touch with the leaders for the first 45 minutes, and I knew I would have to push for my entire two-hour stint to beat Pagenaud and Brabham. It was hot and traffic was bad, but the Muscle Milk crew came through with great green-flag pit stops. The team engineers from Porsche and Michelin were key to our win, and we are proud to be the first U.S. customer team to score an overall win for the Porsche RS Spyder – a great race car. We didn’t take tires near the end at Salt Lake City, and we decided to give ourselves better grip here late,” said Graf.

On the stop-and-go penalty at the end, Graf said he had nowhere to go.

“I was forced to the edge of the track– I did not even know Brabham was there. I didn’t mean to block him, but I understand the officials have to call what they see. I did not know he had a flat tire until afterwards, and my stop-and-go beat his flat tire change out of the pits,” said Graf.

ALMS GT Class

Patrick Long put the Lizard Porsche on the pole during a driving rain storm at the track on Friday, but pointed out that all the teams only had one dry warm-up session this morning to prepare the car for a dry race track for the two-hour, 45-minute event. Long, who finished the race at Laguna Seca in a similar fashion, edging out the BMW, thought this race topped that excitement.

“I thought nothing could top our dramatic win at Laguna Seca in May, but I am the first to admit I am wrong. We had to push 100 percent to the last lap to beat the BMWs, and Pierre Kaffer was not far behind in the Ferrari. While the Melo/Bruni Ferrari is our closest rival, relaxing when they dropped out early would have been a mistake, as we could have ended up fourth or fifth. Our pit stop strategy put us in the lead, and it was up to Joerg and me to bring the car home. Our Michelin tires worked well in both the wet for qualifying yesterday and in the dry for today’s race.”

Joerg Bergmeister, who has won the GT class five years in a row at Lime Rock – a series record, admitted that this was not his favorite track, but pointed out he has learned what it takes to win here.

“When someone asked me what it has taken for me to win five races in a row here at Lime Rock, I thought a bit, and realized it comes down to one work: patience. The track is so short and there are four classes of cars running together, so you have to pick your spots both to pass and to has move over for faster cars. The BMWs were more powerful in a straight line, but the straights here are very short, and we seemed to have better traction. With our extra pit stop on the early yellow, we had a bit more fuel at the end, and the stop did not cost us track position. Patrick did a great job holding off Auberlen at the end,” said Bergmeister.

ALMS GTC Class

In the GTC class for matched Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, the departure from the series of the points-leading Gonzales/Leitzinger car has left the championship wide open. It was the TRG entry piloted by Andy Lally and Henri Richard that took the victory, edging the Jeroen Bleekemolen/Tim Pappas Black Swan Porsche, which Bleekemolen had put on the pole. Lally and Richard now lead the GTC points.

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With temperatures in the mid 90’s and humidity to match, the hot and steamy track pushed cars and drivers to perform in extreme conditions.

In the process of winning the two hour 45 minute event at the historic 1.53-mile circuit, the independent Benicia, Calif. based team and drivers Greg Pickett and Klaus Graf became the first to claim a second MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge victory in 2010.

The MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge victory was the fourth of the 2010 season for Porsche which earlier this week confirmed plans to enter its exciting new Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid at the final race of the 2010 season.

“We are very pleased to win the Michelin Green X Challenge at Lime Rock, especially since we have now won it twice in GT for the 911 GT3 RSR and twice in LMP for the Porsche RS Spyder. Our goal is performance with efficiency, and today, the Muscle Milk Porsche did both,” said Paul Ritchie, president of Porsche Motorsport North America, Inc.

Developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and SAE International to accelerate the development of new technologies and fuels through competition, the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge recognizes the prototype and GT car that go farthest, fastest and with the smallest environmental footprint at each ALMS event.

“Once again, we saw that the same type of efficiency that produces speed in the racecar also helps produce a cleaner more efficient car,” said Silvia Mammone, manager motorsports, Michelin North America.

ABOUT THE MICHELIN® GREEN X® CHALLENGE

The American Le Mans Series is the only series currently recognized as “Green Racing” by the U. S. Department of Energy; Environmental Protection Agency and SAE International.

All five energy sources identified as part of the United States government energy policy (E10 ethanol blended gasoline, E85R gasoline blended ethanol, GTL (natural gas to liquid) biodiesel, E10-electric hybrid power, and Iso-butanol gasoline) have been used in ALMS competition.

The MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge trophies are presented to the respective Prototype and GT winners. The bases for the unique MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge trophies are made of rubber recycled from MICHELIN® GREEN X® labeled consumer tires.

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There’s always a lot going on and this month is no different. Filled with interesting facts and figures about past and upcoming races, along with changes to team and crew, the Porsche Motorsport Newsletter is an easy way to keep on top of this year’s racing activities within the Porsche community. Don’t forget to check out Porsche and Jeff Zwart’s record breaking results on the race up Pike’s Peak.

Le Mans 24 Hours: 911 GT3 RSR wins GT2, overall victory for works drivers

Works drivers Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler won the Le Mans 24 Hour GT2 class (12/13 June) in their Felbermayr-Proton 911 GT3 RSR. In front of 240,000 spectators, the trio set a cracking pace and brought the 450 hp Porsche home to victory without any technical mishaps. With seven manufacturers and 18 race cars in the excellently supported GT2 field, no other vehicle spent less time in the pits. Porsche also celebrated the overall victory of Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, who shared the cockpit of an Audi R15 TDI with former Porsche factory pilot Mike Rockenfeller. Timo Bernhard is the first racing driver ever to win the four long-distance classics, thus bringing home a genuine Motorsport Grand Slam: In 2003 he won the Daytona 24 Hours, from 2006 to 2009 he claimed four victories at the Nürburgring 24 hour race, he won the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring and now at Le Mans in an Audi. Bernhard has competed as a Porsche works driver since 2002.

Marcel Tiemann: Making good recovery

Marcel Tiemann’s recovery (36) is making good progress. On 17 June the race driver was moved from the university hospital Grosshardern to the rehabilitation clinic Bad Aibling (Bavaria) where his treatment is continuing according to plan. On 23 May, at the Imola round of the International GT Open, Tiemann’s Audi was shunted from the track by a competitor and crashed into a wall. Tiemann sustained serious craniocerebral injuries, a broken cervical vertebra and broken ribs. Marcel Tiemann scored four of his five overall wins at the Nürburgring 24 hour race in a Porsche 911 fielded by Manthey Racing.

ADAC GT Masters: Mühlner Motorsport takes points’ lead with 100th win

After the fifth round of the ADAC GT Masters on the Hockenheimring (29 May), the Mühlner Motorsport team celebrated their 100th win. Joerg and Tim Bergmeister gunned to the finish in their 911 GT3 R 0.8 seconds ahead of a Lamborghini. The Bergmeister brothers clinched third place at race two (30 May), putting Mühlner Motorsport back in the points’ lead and Tim second in the drivers’ standings.

British GT Championship: Two podium places for Trackspeed Porsche

Richard Westbrook and David Ashburn saw the chequered flag at race five of the British GT Championship in Spa-Francorchamps (5 June) in second at the wheel of their Trackspeed 911 GT3 R, followed closely by their team colleagues Oliver Bryant and Oliver Morley. Westbrook led until handing the car to Ashburn 15 laps before the end of the 150 minute race. Ashburn currently ranks third in the drivers’ classification.

Belcar Long Distance Championship: Goossens and Soulet claim second win

It was in the first lap at round two in Spa-Francorchamps (5 June) that Marc Goossens and Maxime Soulet snatched the lead with their Prospeed Competition 911 GT3 R. After 150 minutes, the pair celebrated their second victory of the season. Over many laps, Ruben Maes and Enzo Ide were running second in the sister Prospeed Porsche, but relinquished their position to an Audi to see the flag in third.

Italian GT Championship: Gianluca Roda remains in the lead

Gianluca Roda is still the man to beat in the GT3 class after races five and six of the Italian GT Championship in Magione (6 June). Roda crossed the finish line at race five in second place with teammate Raffaele Giammaria in the Autorlando Sport 911 GT3 R, but was later announced as winner because the original victor had overtaken under yellow. In the second 48-minute race on Sunday, Roda and Giammaria claimed third overall and again won the GT3 class.

Nürburgring Long Distance Championship: Photo finish win for Porsche

After 27 laps or 660 kilometres, victory was decided on the final metres at race four of the Nürburgring Long Distance Championship (12 June). In torrential rain, Chris Mamerow in his Mamerow Racing 911 GT3 R caught Hans-Joachim Stuck’s Audi shortly before the flag to win by just 0.24 seconds. Mamerow shared the cockpit of the Porsche with Marc Basseng.

Grand-Am: Andy Lally remains in title race after second win of season

In their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly won the GT class of the six hour race in Watkins Glen (5 June). Driving for TRG, the pair received support from former motorbike racer Bob Doyle. After six championship rounds and two wins so far this season, Andy Lally ranks a close third in the drivers’ standings.

Carrera Cup Asia: Double win for Marchy Lee in Zhuhai – Menzel still leads

After four straight wins for reigning champion Christian Menzel, Marchy Lee (Red Bull Racing) from Hong Kong dominated at races five and six in Zhuhai (20 June). Germany’s Menzel still leads the championship ahead of Craig Baird.

Carrera Cup Deutschland: Nicolas Armindo secures flag-to-flag win

With a flag-to-flag victory from pole position at round three of the Carrera Cup Deutschland on the EuroSpeedway Lausitz (6 June), Nicolas Armindo from France (Hermes Attempto Racing) put an end to Nick Tandy’s winning streak. Briton Tandy won the first two rounds of the series, and with second at the EuroSpeedway still leads the drivers’ classification.

Matmut Carrera Cup France: Sylvain Noël wins tyre poker in Le Mans

Carrera Cup Great Britain: Tim Harvey’s top form continues

Old-hand Tim Harvey seems to be unbeatable at home. The 48-year-old champion of 2008 won the seventh race in Oulton Park near Chester (6 June) in his 911 GT3 Cup run by Red Line Racing, with his arch rival Michael Caine retiring after an accident in the first corner. Again at race eight, Caine found no way past Harvey, who went on to claim his seventh victory this season.

Carrera Cup Japan: Yasuhiro Shimizu inches ahead

With his wins from pole position at races four and five in Fuji (12/13 June), the reigning champion and points’ leader Yasuhiro Shimizu extended his lead slightly to now sit six points ahead of Hideto Yasuoka. His young rival, who receives support from Porsche as a motorsport talent, remains within striking distance after securing two second places. Shimizu has four wins to his credit, Yasuoka one.

Carrera Cup Scandinavia: Robin Rudholm leads after thriller in Gothenburg

At race nine on the city circuit in the harbour of Gothenburg, Fredrik Larsson snatched back the lead from Robin Rudholm after winning the hefty duel over the entire race distance. Rudholm saw the flag in second, 0.3 seconds behind the winner. At race ten (both races 5 June), however, Rudholm returned to top the tables after Larsson pulled out before the start with a broken drive shaft.

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Zwart, now a seven-time Pikes Peak class winner, not only broke Rhys Millen’s 2009 class record by 38 seconds (after smashing his qualifying record by 18 seconds), but went faster than all but five of the entire field – three Unlimited Class and two Open Wheels cars, all with 600-plus horsepower. His 911 GT3 Cup car also beat all the production based race cars entries, 2WD and 4WD. Nobulhiro Tajima, from Japan, won the hillclimb overall in an eight-cylinder, turbocharged Suzuki 4WD one-off race car with an Unlimited Class entry.

Zwart said the key to his victory was the confidence that build up every time he drove the car.

“In my previous six victories – all in Porsche street-based turbo cars – I spent most of my practice time trying to tame the car to fit this difficult course; With this Porsche 911 Cup car, it was clear to me from the beginning that the car was challenging me to drive my best, and I went faster every time I stepped behind the wheel. Each time I thought I was asking too much from the car, especially when I carried maximum speed into one of those hairpins, the Porsche responded and challenged me to push even harder,” said Zwart.

He also repeated his amazement from Friday’s qualifying session that the normally-aspirated car didn’t lose horsepower from its 9,000-foot-elevation start and the 14,000-foot finish line. A combination of the 450-hp, 3.8-liter Porsche Cup car engine and expert engine map adjustments from Porsche Motorsport North America gave Zwart the performance of a lifetime.

Zwart again praised the Pirelli road racing rain tires, which he felt held their grip evenly on both the gravel and tarmac surfaces, a necessity as the course has been transformed from all gravel to half and half. Next year, with two more miles of the 12-mile course scheduled for paving, road-racing- based tires will make more sense than ever. The team made some adjustments to tire pressures on all four wheels prior to qualifying. Pirelli had developed a tire for Zwart based on the rain tire they use for the Rolex Grand-Am series.

“Without Luminox Watches, Porsche Motorsport North America, and Pirelli tires support, this victory would not have been possible,” said Zwart.

Porsche Motorsport started with a 2007 Cup car, updated it to 2010 specifications, and installed a new 450 horsepower 3.8-liter engine currently in use in the Patron GT3 Challenge, American Le Mans Series Challenge Class, and the Porsche Supercup series. The engine management mapping was modified to perform well in high altitude as the race starts at 9,390 feet and finishes at the summit, 14,110 feet above sea level, and ride height was increased for the gravel sections of the course. The underbody was also modified to protect the car from gravel and stones similar to rally competition. Zwart has now won his class at Pikes Peak – all in Porsches – in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2010, setting new class records four times. Most recently, before this weekend, he co- drove a Porsche Cayenne with Pikes Peak veteran Paul Dallenbach at the challenging TransSyberia Rally (Moscow to Mongolia) in 2007. He also has an SCCA PRO Rally Championship (1990) and a SCORE Baja 1000 class win (2004) to his credit.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, built on the same assembly line in Stuttgart as the street-legal Porsche 911s, is raced all over the world in the Porsche Supercup series as well as various Porsche Carrera Cup and Challenge Cups, including IMSA Patron GT3 Challenge. New last year was the addition of the American Le Mans Series Challenge class, where the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars contest the full endurance series run by the Le Mans racers.

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He is currently practicing in his specially-prepared Luminox Watch Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car (that’s it up above) as official practice opened today for the 88th running of the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. In a last-minute schedule change, the organizers held practice on the middle third of the course today (rather than the previously scheduled bottom third), which is all tarmac, and Porsche driver Jeff Zwart, a commercial film director from Woody Creek Colorado, and six-time class winner at the Pikes Peak, reported that his Time Attack 2WD class car was exceptionally quick, and handled the altitude well.

Not only did Zwart and his Porsche go faster than all his 2WD competitors, but he beat all the Time Attack 4WD entries, something he would love to do on Sunday for the race.

”The middle part of the course goes to about 12,000 feet, and the 3.8 liter Porsche motor never skipped a beat. Although we are not formally competing against the 4WD cars, the fact that we were faster than all of them speaks volumes on where we are this early in the week. The car handled so well we were able to start making small adjustments for Sunday’s race, something that is usually hard to do until all three practice sessions are complete,” said Zwart.

He pointed out that this section of the hillclimb, which has the most number of exposed drop-offs – cliffs of 2,000 feet or more without guardrails – also includes eight hairpins. With speeds of more than 100 mph between the hairpins, and then turns so severe the car almost comes to a stop, the strain on all the components is great. As the race is one sprint up the hill, Zwart and his crew must make adjustments that will work well in on both gravel and tarmac, and at the lower and the higher elevations.

“Brakes, suspension, tires, engine, transmission, and even driver stamina are all tested, and we all came out with top marks today in practice,” he reported.

With the schedule change, Zwart will now run the top third of the 12.42-mile course on Thursday, and the bottom part of the hillclimb course on Friday. The race Sunday begins at 9:00 AM MDT. Results will be posted on the official Pikes Peak web site – www.ppihc.com. To pace the race, IndyCar and NASCAR star John Andretti will be the Grand Marshall and behind the wheel of a sizzling new Porsche Panamera Turbo at the start of the Race To The Clouds in Colorado Springs. The Pace Car is provided by Porsche of Colorado Springs for the nation’s second-oldest motor sports event behind only the Indianapolis 500. His famous uncle, Mario Andretti, won Pikes Peak in 1969 when it was part of the USAC championship series.

With technical support from Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) and Pirelli Tires, and despite his previous nine starts at Pikes Peak, running a 2WD, normally aspirated, purpose-built race car up the “Mountain” will be a new experience for him as his previous experiences were all turbo based.

Porsche Motorsport started with a 2007 Cup car, updated it to 2010 specifications, and installed a new 450 horsepower 3.8-liter engine currently in use in the Patron GT3 Challenge, American Le Mans Series Challenge Class, and the Porsche Supercup series. The engine management mapping was modified to perform well in high altitude as the race starts at 9,390 feet and finishes at the summit, 14,110 feet above sea level, and ride height was increased for the gravel sections of the course. The under body was also modified to protect the car from gravel and stones similar to rally competition. Pirelli has provided road racing-style rain tires which worked very well both on paved and gravel surfaces during last week’s test, and are derived from the company’s Rolex Grand-Am GT series road racing rain tires.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, built on the same assembly line in Stuttgart as the street-legal Porsche 911s, is raced all over the world in the Porsche Supercup series as well as various Porsche Carrera Cup and Challenge Cups. New last year was the additional of the American Le Mans Series Challenge class, where the Porsche Cup cars contest the full endurance series run by the Le Mans racers.

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Filled with interesting facts and figures about past and upcoming races, along with changes to team and crew, the Porsche Motorsport Newsletter is an easy way to keep on top of this year’s racing activities within the Porsche community.

Nürburgring 24 Hours: Porsche swift but no happy ending

For eight hours, the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid led the Nürburgring 24 hour race, until almost two hours before the flag when engine damage halted the spectacular charge of the ‘rolling race lab’ fielded by Manthey Racing. Up until that point, the innovative hybrid-911 impressively demonstrated its efficiency. On one tank of fuel it turned, more often than not, one to two laps more than its rivals. Manthey Racing’s 911 GT3 R was punted out of the lead by a competitor seven and a half hours after the start. Huge success for the standard 911 GT3 RS: claiming 13th overall it exceeded all expectations. Manthey Racing had amassed four straight overall wins with Porsche from 2006 to 2009.

American Le Mans Series: Victory and points’ lead for Porsche pilots

A gripping finale at race three of the ALMS in Laguna Seca (22 May): Just before the finish, Patrick Long overtook the leading BMW at the restart after the last full course yellow in his Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to win by just 0.3 seconds after six hours. Long shared the cockpit with Joerg Bergmeister. With two victories this season, the works drivers are now the sole points’ leaders. In the Le Mans Prototypes (LMP), Klaus Graf, Sascha Maassen and Memo Gidley finished second overall in the Muscle Milk Cytosport RS Spyder.

Le Mans Series: Lieb and Lietz masterfully pocket victory number two

Cool, calm and brilliant: Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz demonstrated their craft at the second round of the Le Mans Series in Spa (9 May). Several rivals skidded off the track in rain. An almost one-hour power cut resulted in the interruption of the race, rendering strategies ineffective. Unperturbed, the two works drivers brought home their second victory of the season in the Felbermayr-Proton 911 GT3 RSR.

FIA GT3 European Championship: Win and podium for Bergmeister and Cunill

The FIA GT3 European Championship kicked off the new season with a thriller in Silverstone (2 May): After a wild three-way fight, Tim Bergmeister snatched the lead in the penultimate lap at the wheel of Trackspeed Racing’s 911 GT3 R and went on the win with Supercup pilot Siso Cunill. The duo clinched third at race two. At the rain-sodden second FIA GT3 weekend in Brno (22/23 May), the fastest Porsche was the 911 GT3 R of Pro Speed Competition, driven by Marco Holzer and Paul van Splunteren. The pair finished race four in sixth.

International GT Open: Two Porsche teams in top three at halfway mark

Championnat de France FFSA GT: Larbre Compétition celebrates first win

Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo: Gianluca Roda tops the points

Porsche Mobil1 Supercup: Siedler wins in Barcelona, Rast dominates Monaco

With a flag-to-flag victory from pole position on the legendary GP circuit of Monaco (16 May), René Rast wrested the points’ lead from Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen at round four with his Al Faisal Lechner Racing-Porsche. A week previously, Austria’s Norbert Siedler had celebrated his first win in this brand trophy series on the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.

Carrera Cup Asia: Christian Menzel triumphs in Beijing

Christian Menzel remains unbeaten in the 2010 Carrera Cup Asia. The German won races three and four in his StarChase 911 GT3 Cup on the Goldenport International Circuit in Beijing (22/23 May).

Carrera Cup Deutschland: Nick Tandy continues winning streak

Nick Tandy is the man to beat in the Carrera Cup Deutschland. Nicolas Armindo was able to maintain the Briton’s pace in the early stage of the second race on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia (23 May), until deteriorating tyres forced the Frenchman to reduce speed. Tandy won by more than eleven seconds. Robert Lukas (22 years) finished third after starting from ninth and was the first Pole in the history of the Carrera Cup Deutschland to climb the winner’s podium.

Matmut Carrera Cup France: Frédérick Makowiecki rules Spa

Everything ran perfectly for Frédérick Makowiecki (Luxury Racing) at the third race weekend of the Matmut Carrera Cup France in Belgium’s Spa (8/9 May), with two pole positions, two fastest race laps and two wins planting him at the top of the points. Kevin Estre finished in second place twice. Estre is Makowiecki’s toughest rival in the fight for the title and currently heads the junior classification.

Carrera Cup Great Britain: Michael Caine halts Tim Harvey’s string of wins

In torrential rain at Brands Hatch, Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) relegated reigning champion Tim Harvey to finish in position two with a ten second gap at race five of the Carrera Cup Great Britain (2 May). At race six held on the same day, Tim Harvey (Red Line Racing) notched up his fifth win of the season on a drying track ahead of Caine.

Carrera Cup Japan: Maiden victory for rookie Yasuoka

At race three of the Carrera Cup Japan in Fuji (2 May), reigning champion Y. Shimizu and newcomer H. Yasuoka continued their duel at the top. Although Shimizu took up the race from pole position, it was Yasuoka in his Garmin-911 GT3 Cup who claimed his maiden victory. Two points separate Shimizu at the top of the drivers’ standings from Yasuoka in second.

Carrera Cup Scandinavia: Four races, four different victors

Action-packed thrills in the Carrera Cup Scandinavia. With eight races already contested, Robin Rudholm (Xlander Racing) leads the standings one point ahead of Fredrik Larsson. Four drivers won at the last four races. Edward Sandström and Rudholm were victorious in southern Sweden’s Knutstorp (8/9 May). Reigning champion Jocke Mangs dominated in rain at Karlskoga (21 May), with Fredrik Larsson winning one day later.

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[Source: PCNA]

Four Ferraris, two Corvettes, two BMWs and two Porsches, all running within ten seconds of each other during much of the six-hour American Le Mans Series Monterey race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca yesterday, continue to provide fans at the track and a national TV audience the finest sports car racing ever seen in North America.

With nine minutes and 20 seconds left in the endurance event, Patrick Long (USA), driving the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, overtook the factory BMW on the re-start after a late yellow flag to score a three-tenths of a second GT class win – the team’s second-straight victory.

Long, and co-driver and fellow Porsche factory pilot Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), overcame an eighth-place grid position after a troublesome qualifying session to gain the season points advantage over their rivals. The pair won five races in a row last year en route to the GT class championship.

CBS Television will broadcast a tape-delayed, edited version of the event next Saturday, May 29, at 1:30 PM Eastern time.

Referring to his battles with first the Ferraris, then the Corvettes, and final the BMWs in the closing 60 minutes of the race, the usually calm and articulate Long was almost speechless.

“I can’t even describe the last hour of this race. I was on everyone’s bumper, and they were on mine. We were fast enough to compete, but would have not been fast enough to win if the Flying Lizard crew didn’t put us in that position by minimizing our time in the pits and calling perfect strategy. The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was perfect, and Joerg and I kept the mistakes to a minimum. I’ve never been in a race that was a pressure-cooker from green flag to checkered flag like this one,” said Long.

“We had back luck earlier in the week, including my mistake on a potential fast lap in qualifying, but we fought from an eighth-place start to the win over the best GT field I have ever seen. Our crew picked up time on the field for us on every pit stop, and our strategy was perfect. And Patrick had the best re-start ever to gain the lead and bring it home.”

With 10 yellow flags for various incidents during the race, the green flag re-starts played as critical role in teams’ final finishing positions as efficient pit stops did. Long pointed out that when the green flag drops for the first car, it’s time to race for everyone – you don’t have to wait until your car gets to the starter stand.

“On that final re-start, Joey (Hand, the BMW driver) left a bit of a door open for me, and I took it three- wide through the last corner,” Long said. “Then it was all about running away because I knew Joey wouldn’t be happy. We came from eighth on the starting grid and worked our way through a very competitive field,” Long said.

The final standings in GT showed Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche, BMW and Ferrari – in that order. Porsche now leads the manufacturers’ championship points with 65, while Ferrari has 55 and BMW 50. In the drivers’ points chase, Bergmeister/Long enjoy a ten-point lead over the Ferrari drivers Melo/Bruni, while BMW drivers Mueller/Hand are third.

Seventh in GT was the Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 G3 RSR of Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Bryan Sellers (USA). The team had been fighting the set-up for the twisty 2.238 Laguna Seca track ever since the car came off the truck, and, according to Henzler, despite the team’s hard work, they never really found that sweet spot during the six-hour event.

“We just could get the car balanced to turn competitive times to keep up with the others,” he said.

Henzler had jumped into the lead at the start of both previous races.

The other Porsche in the GT field, the Flying Lizard Motorsports entry with Seth Neiman/Darren Law/Timo Bernhard was forced into the pits twice during the event to fix damage from on-track incidents, and finished 11th in class.

While this exciting battle was raging in the GT class, a smaller, but just as intriguing competition was taking place for the overall race win. The Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder, with Klaus Graf/Sascha Maassen/Memo Gidley aboard, led the race overall at several junctions, and looked like they would compete for the overall win when bad luck struck.

Memo Gidley, the last-minute substitution of car owner Greg Pickett, spun the car during his first lap out in the middle of the race, going through the gravel trap. A small piece of gravel had lodged itself behind the shift paddle, causing the car to stay stuck in gear. Once the American was towed back to pit lane, the crew immediately assessed the problem, but had unfortunately fallen seven laps down to the leaders, and to 18th place overall.

But Maassen and Graf peddled hard through the field, aided by attrition at the top of the standings, and earned a second place finish overall.

“It ‘ain’t’ over until it’s over! That’s what they say. I think these kinds of races are the sweetest, when there is a little bit of a setback and you have to recover. Fun is not a straight line and we were up and down and in the end to finish second is, I think, a great achievement,” said Maassen, who won the first race ever for the RS Spyder at Laguna Seca in 2005.

In the ALMS GT Challenge class for matched Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, Black Swan Racing, in only their second race with their new 2010 race car, went flag-to-flag with Tim Pappas, and Dutch brothers Jeroen and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen to score an impressive win over some serious competition,

“We had a great start in Long Beach but some things went wrong; today it went really right,” said Jeroen Bleekemolen, the reigning world Porsche Supercup champion, who won the class pole and set the class’ fastest race lap. “It’s great to get the win and hopefully move up in the championship.”

Team owner Pappas couldn’t imagine much of a better start to the season.

“This is pretty cool. We came out for Long Beach without much preparation,” he said. “We had a difficult, frustrating race. We went home and worked hard and practiced. All the guys at Black Swan are great. The Bleekemolen brothers come over from Holland and it was a great race. We didn’t put a tire off and made zero mistakes in the pits so that turned out to a race win.”

The Black Swan Porsche led all six hours and ended up a lap ahead of TRG’s Porsche of Andy Lally, Rene Villeneuve and Henri Richard. The class points leaders, the Car Amigo/Mission Foods Porsche of Butch Leitzinger/Juan Gonzales/Rudy Junco, Jr. finished third.

The American Le Mans Series takes its tradition mid-season break for team who participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 12 – 13), and returns on July 11 to Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City for round #4.

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[Source: PCNA]

American Le Mans Series: Porsche’s Success through efficiency and express pit stop

The lightning work done on their 911 GT3 RSR in the pits of Flying Lizard Motorsports was the key to the first win of the season for Porsche’s Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long at round two of the ALMS in Long Beach (17 April). With fresh tires the reigning champions won the fight for GT honors after 100 minutes. Their rivals had only changed drivers. In the LMP class, Klaus Graf and Greg Pickett brought home third with their Muscle Milk Cytosport RS Spyder. Both Porsche cars won the Michelin Green X Challenge environmental award.

Le Mans Series: Double victory after eight hour sprint

Reigning champions Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz crossed the finish line first in their Felbermayr-Proton 911 GT3 RSR at round one of the Le Mans Series in southern France’s Le Castellet (11 April). After eight hours, the works drivers held a two-lap advantage over the team’s second Porsche, in which works driver Patrick Long together with Martin Ragginger and team owner Christian Ried conquered second.

International GT Open: First start, first win for Gruber and Deverikos

Successful debut for Austrian Thomas Gruber and Dimitros Deverikos from Greece at the season-opener of the International GT Open on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia (17 April). The duo snatched GTS victory at the wheel of the Autorlando Sport 911 GT3 R. In the Super GT class, Patrick Pilet/Raymond Narac yielded second with their IMSA Performance Matmut-911 GT3 RSR from race two (18 April).

Nürburgring Long Distance Championship: 911 GT3 R remains unbeaten

The new 911 GT3 R goes from win to win on the world’s toughest race track. Round three of the Nürburgring Long Distance Championship (24 April) went to Chris Mamerow and Porsche factory pilot Wolf Henzler with the 911 GT3 R of Mamerow Racing. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Marcel Tiemann had won the second race (10 April) in Manthey Racing’s 911 GT3 R.

Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid: podium at second race, F1 pilot impressed

The innovative Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid continues its success streak. Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler claimed third at round two of the Nürburgring Long Distance Championship (10 April) piloting the GT with its 480 hp normally aspirated engine and two 60 kW (82 hp) electro-motors at the front axle. Two weeks later, Formula 1 pilot Nico Hülkenberg turned his first laps on the Nordschleife in a Porsche race car – and was taken with both the track and the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid.

ADAC GT Masters: Heading into the new season with two Porsche wins

Niclas Kentenich and Sebastian Asch won the first race of the 2010 ADAC GT Masters driving an a-workx 911 GT3 R in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (10 April). Frank Schmickler/Kevin Estre secured second place in a Mühlner-Porsche 911 GT3 R. Race two went to René Rast/Tim Bergmeister at the wheel of a Mühlner-Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S. GT Masters debutant Rast gave an impressive performance with his slick-shod car on a wet track surface.

Italian GT Championship: Autorlando Sport wins in Misano

A brilliant performance by Autorlando Sport at the start of the season in Misano (24/25 April): Works pilot Patrick Pilet and Gianluca Roda proved unbeatable in the new 911 GT3 R at both GT3 races and brought home overall victory from the first race. Paolo Ruberti and Fabrizio Del Monte secured the GT2 win for Autorlando in the 911 GT3 RSR at race one, finishing second overall behind their team colleagues.

Belcar Endurance Championship: Clear win for Prospeed Competition

The Belcar Endurance Championship took off into the season on the Circuit Zolder (11 April) with the Porsche 911 GT3 R winning here as well. Starting from second on the grid in a 40-strong field, Marc Goossens and Maxime Soulet won the top GT3 class for Prospeed Competition almost one lap ahead of their rival in second.

Grand-Am: TRG back on winning track

The near-standard 911 GT3 Cup encounters purpose-built tubular frame race cars in the GT class of the Grand-Am. Nevertheless, thanks to a clever pit strategy, the long-established TRG squad claimed their first win of the season at race four on the Virginia International Raceway (24 April). Andy Lally shared the cockpit of the TRG-Porsche with Ted Ballou.

Carrera Cup Asia: Christian Menzel invincible in Shanghai

With two flag-to-flag wins from pole position at the Carrera Cup Asia race held as support to the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Shanghai (17/18 April), Christian Menzel launched his title defence campaign in the Star Chase 911 GT3 Cup. Porsche Asia Pacific announced a record grid line-up of 23 new 911 GT3 Cup racers.

Carrera Cup Deutschland: Nick Tandy wins gripping season-opener

While Nick Tandy (Konrad Motorsport) brought home his first win at round one of the Carrera Cup Deutschland (25 April) from pole position, a fight for the remaining podium spots raged behind the Briton. After 18 laps on the Hockenheimring, Niclas Kentenich clinched second starting from sixth, with Martin Ragginger ploughing his way through from ninth on the grid to claim the last podium step.

Carrera Cup Great Britain: Tim Harvey wins, Euan Hankey makes headlines

Seasoned racer Tim Harvey achieved four straight wins on the high-speed circuit of Thruxton (3/4 April) and in Rockingham (24/25 April) for Red Line Racing. But it was 23-year-old newcomer Euan Hankey who made headlines at his Porsche debut in Thruxton with positions three and two.

Carrera Cup Japan: Lightning start for rookie Yasuoka

At the season-opener of the Carrera Cup Japan in Okayama (3/4 April) the reigning champion fulfilled all expectations: Y. Shimizu won both races. But, like in England, he also had a rookie hot on his bumper: H. Yasuoka was the sole competitor to match the champion’s pace to secure second place twice.

GT3 Cup Challenge Australia: Déjà Vu for champion Matt Kingsley

Three wins on the Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania (10/11 Apr) catapulted reigning champion Matt Kingsley from zero points to the top of the table. After an accident he had left round one in Bathurst without any points. Kingsley’s leap into the lead is an exact repeat of his 2009 season-opening.

Race notes:

• Ex-Formula 1 driver Ricardo Rosset wins at his debut in the GT3 Cup Challenge Brasil in Jacarepaguá, with race two going to Clemente Lunardi (17/18 April). Alexandre Barros is the new points’ leader with two second places.

• Alessandro Balzan wins the first two races of the Carrera Cup Italia in Misano (24/25 April)

• Ludovic Badey and Kevin Estre are victors of the Carrera Cup France in Nogaro (4/5 April).

• Fredrik Larsson takes double win at season-opener of the Carrera Cup Scandinavia on Denmark’s Jyllandsringen (24/25 April)

• Cenk Ceyisakar and Yuzel Ozbek win the first race of the GT3 Cup Challenge in Istanbul (3/4 April)

• Jim Geddie dominates the first weekend of the GT3 Cup Challenge Great Britain in Brands Hatch (4 April)

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[Source: Porsche Motorsports]

Long and Bergmeister, the defending ALMS GT champions, were determined to rebound from a disappointing fourth-place finish at Sebring, and outlasted both the BMWs and Ferraris at Long Beach to vault themselves into a share of first place driver points after two events.

“Because this was the second event of the two-race probation for me from Laguna last year, the team decided it would be better for me to drive the first stint,” said Bergmeister, “but it was the quick driver and tire change at our pit stop, plus Patrick’s amazing pressure on the BMW, that gave us the victory.”

“I was able to get right on the tail of the #92 BMW after the pit stop with my new tires because we almost beat the BMW out of the pits, even though they did not change tires,” explained Long, who rode the bumper of the BMW and passed Tommy Milner with only ten minutes to go in the race.

“I had a little trouble at first because we failed to adjust the seat during the driver change, and since Joerg is almost a foot taller than I am, I was barely reaching the pedals until the first yellow flag of my stint. After that, I realized that, with the better tires, that, when I made the pass, I could make it stick. Then I noticed the Ferrari and Corvette were closing, and I needed to get more aggressive. There were a couple points of contact, and I passed him with two wheels off in the dirt. What a race!” said Long.

The Magnussen/O’Connell Corvette was second, and the Auberlen/Milner BMW third.

As the green flag dropped, Wolf Henzler (Germany), the driver who had put the Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on the front row of the GT grid, did exactly what he did at Sebring – out-accelerate the pole-sitting Ferrari to take first place. He held onto the top spot for his entire stint, out-gunning the competition in the corners and keeping them behind him on the straight-aways. Traffic in the pits caused them to lose several positions during their driver change, and he and co-driver Bryan Sellers (USA) finished sixth.

“Our goal was to have a better finish than Sebring, where we knew the car was fast, but we did not have a great result. We definitely achieved that goal with our sixth-place finish, but we know we had a car that could have easily finished on the podium. We showed that we could run with the leaders in GT, and we look forward to a top finish in a few weeks at Laguna Seca,” said Henzler, the 2008 ALMS GT champion with Bergmeister.

In the overall battle among the newly-merged prototype class entries, Klaus Graf (Germany) and Greg Pickett (USA) ran in the top three in the overall event with the Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder for the whole race, finishing third behind two former LMP1 cars with their LMP2 racer. Further refinement of the LMP rules could result in an overall victory for the Porsche RS Spyder – owner of 11 such wins – before the end of the season.

Butch Leitzinger (USA) and Juan Gonzales (Mexico) won their second straight ALMS GT Challenge in the Alex Job Racing Mission Foods Porsche 911 GT3 RSR when the team Alex Job Porsche, the Battery Tender entry of Bill Sweedler/Romeo Kapudija, got slightly off line and spun while leading the class with four minutes to go. Leitzinger, a veteran of late-race drama, was pleased to take home the win.

“The combination of these strong Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars and Alex Job’s careful preparation and execution of a race plan make it fun to be with this team. I miss running the prototypes, but it is the team, not the car, that completes the experience. I have spent a lot of my career with a great team – Dyson Racing, and this experience with Alex Job is turning out great as well,” said Leitzinger.

To round out a successful weekend for Porsche Motorsport, both the #6 Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder (LMP) and the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT) earned the Michelin Green X Challenge award, the first time Porsche has swept that honor for both categories. Both cars earned Michelin’s best Green Achievement scores from a formula which measures performance efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and petroleum displacement for both LMP and GT classes.

“It is unbelievable for us to not only win the Long Beach race but the Michelin Green X Challenge, as well, by being both efficient and green,” said Patrick Long, co-driver with Joerg Bergmeister of the GT category winning #45 Flying Lizard Porsche. “We are proud to be with a series, a manufacturer and a team that wants to lead the fight to show that it can be cool to be green and fast.”

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[Source: PCNA Motorsport]