Nope, it’s not a trick question. It’s just one more piece of PR from our friends at Porsche. On the 15th of March, during the grand opening of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Brasil season, at Estoril Circuit in Portugal, the word Porsche was written using only Cup cars;the exact same cup cars competing in this season’s championship.
Watch the video below to see how 48 Porsche racing cars and 180 people put together a great video that’s currently going viral on social media sites around the web. If you have any trouble seeing the video via email, simply click on How Many GT3 Cup Cars does it Take to Spell Porsche?
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.
Sloan Urry finished 10th and 6th in races one and two and Tom Haacker finished 19th and 17th. Given the large field of entrants, and the notoriously bumpy track conditions at Sebring, the team expected multiple caution periods in both races. Instead, the first race ran entirely under green, affecting Sloan Urry’s strategy from the start.
In qualifying for Thursday’s race one, Urry lined up 6th on the grid, the order being determined by fastest practice times up to that point, and on his first timed lap, a red flag brought the session to a standstill. As he eventually was able to get back underway in the session, a flat-spotted left front tire compromised his qualifying run, and Urry ended up 13th. Due to Sloan’s mid-pack qualifying performance, the team crafted a strategy that factored in likely and multiple caution periods. With the race running caution-free, Sloan was able to pick off three drivers, finishing 10th overall and netting himself the 12th position on the grid for race two.
The team encountered slight gearbox problems on Urry’s #20 TruSpeed Porsche 911 GT3 Cup during race one, and swapped two of the ratios out in time for race two, the Porsche performing with trademark reliability in both races. Friday’s race went more closely to plan for the team with several caution periods shaking up the running order. Sloan passed four cars on track and another two that had off-track incidents, garnering a strong 6th place finish and picking up the Yokohama Tires Hard Charger award for being the driver who improved his position most from race start to finish.
Tom Haacker, driving the #80 G22 Racing / TruSpeed Porsche GT3 Cup, had a solid weekend at Sebring, improving his laptimes in each practice session and in both races. Having qualified 24th for Thursday’s race one, Tom improved his position through the race to finish 19th in class, and set his fastest time of the weekend to that point. In Friday’s chaotic race two, Haacker kept his nose clean and avoided the multiple collisions that would unfold in the field around him, and having qualified 24th for race two, picked up several drivers to finish 17th in class. With the goal of running inside the top 20 in his rookie race in the IMSA GT3 Challenge, Haacker headed home a satisfied racer.
Team Manager Tyler Tadevic said,
“We’re thrilled to leave Sebring with the finishes that the guys put in this weekend, and having achieved the goals we set as a team and for both Sloan and Tom, we’ll get ready Miller Motorsports Park with heightened expectations and a serious sense of confidence. Sloan had a great weekend and managed to race through some adversity on Thursday, then he kept his cool and earned the Hard Charger award from Yokohama Tires on Friday. Tom did what he set out to do, which was learn, improve his racecraft and book solid points, so across the board, we’re happy with how we went. It’s a short month between now and packing the trucks for Miller, and we’ve got our work cut out for us!”
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.
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